Mvpmcx2 and avchd, mts and mp4 files

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Hi Martin,

Since the start of mvpmx2 I've bought a lot a of new equipment, like new phones, a video camera and photo camera's. They all produce fill types which aren't supported by the mvpmcx2 player and nextpvr, but the native pch player can play them. Is there any chance nextpvr and mvpmcx2 will support these in the future? Since they can contain a lot of different file types, I guess the chance isn't very high, so my next question is: is a new client coming our way? I always loved the thin client concept of nextpvr/gbpvr but because of these file types, I'm considering setting up a PC client, so I won't need to convert my original files anymore. But if a new thin client is coming, I'd rather wait and volunter for the test team

Chris

[mvallevand]

The short answer is I'm not sure. Cheap ARM devices like the Raspberry Pi and Android sticks and STB's set the price point so slow that I'm not sure there is a market for something a little better that would attract enough NextPVR users who want to use the NextPVR UI. I wish the RPi was a better player. It's not just an mvpmcx2 issue. You probably haven't followed it but an American company Ceton tried to make their own extender and failed, cheap is a big challenge.

Also fragmenting the demand I see a NextPVR users to moving to other UI's like Plex and XBMC and I don't see XBMC users picking up the NextPVR UI. This makes some sense because of their enhanced library and great plugin support. I don't see many authors coming forward with creative ideas for NextPVR plugins or users caring too much, I will likely drop some of my plugins for the NextPVR build. As long as NextPVR continues as a basic player designed for a single user the benefits of the MVP/NMT interface is diminished.

If you have the money the alternative HTPC is still good (and mandatory for 10bit h264) but IMO I think the Intel NUC http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/23/intel-nuc-review/ and NUC-alikes are good but again IMO $600 for the basic Celeron is way too expensive to be used as just a video player. I wouldn't buy a lesser box though especially if I wanted it to last the four or five years you got out of the NMT. Two months ago I wouldn't even have considered this purchase since the NextPVR client was so frustrating to use, now at least I can watch live tv.

Back to the original point about playback media types. If I do continue (and I do have the time if the demand is there) my plan would be to integrate the xbmc demux and player so I'd be able to play anything xbmc plays with the NextPVR UI. I was trying that before and was having some success but Frodo wasn't actually that good with mpeg-ts files. The next version will have a current ffmpeg so things could be a lot better.

Martin

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Martin. Fortunately, I'm not in any hurry, so there's plenty of time to check my options, which I actually enjoy doing.

Chris

[whurlston]

I could create an ffmpeg wapper for the web interface for those types of files, provided they all use mpeg2/h.264 for video and mpeg1/ac3/aac for audio, that will remux them to mpegts on the fly like I do with the youtube videos. Martin would then need to call the new location to play them instead of the standard "/stream?" (or whatever it is).

As for a PC client, I just build two using an AMD A6-5400k ($75) and an ASRock FM2A85X-ITX ($110). You can also use the mATX version (FM2A85X Extreme4-M) for a little less. Add 4GB RAM and a small hard drive (I used SSD) and you have a nice little client capable of playing just about anything.

[mvallevand]

Thanks for the offer whurlston, but to me, transcoding on the fly isn't worth the effort, since you can't skip/resume etc. If you have time I still wouldn't mind some sort of BD-Lite support even if it wasn't 100% seamless.

As for the client, that still looks to be around $400 when you add in Windows, cases/power supply, input devices, shipping and I expect it will be quiet but not silent. I can't imagine a target price for anything I would work on to be above about $200 and people will certainly complain that is too high.

Martin

[whurlston]

Thanks for the offer whurlston, but to me, transcoding on the fly isn't worth the effort, since you can't skip/resume etc. If you have time I still wouldn't mind some sort of BD-Lite support even if it wasn't 100% seamless.

That's next on my list of priorities once I get out the next YouTube release.

As for the client, that still looks to be around $400 when you add in Windows, cases/power supply, input devices, shipping and I expect it will be quiet but not silent. I can't imagine a target price for anything I would work on to be above about $200 and people will certainly complain that is too high.

Yeah, it's definitely not a PCH replacement, but not bad as far as a PC client goes.

[pBS]

that $600 was for the i3 version + extras, the celeron 8xx version is much cheaper, i can find them for around $189..[tho i suspect no complete hardware acceleration,it should handle everything fine w/software decode]
and i like this alternative to the intel version from zotac[tho i hate zotac]
http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-Dual-Core-Ce...=de_a_smtd $189
as it adds ability to install a 2.5 drive inside, adds an ir remote, and esata...
[now if only intel video would get a video quality boost, a little post-processing would be sweet. my ati cards look amazing comparatively]