Legal IPTV?

[fla]

using component video instead of HDMI to get around the HDCP issue. ....  Have you run into the problem they describe, or not really?

Legend has it that some made in China hdmi splitters "forgot" to implement HDCP. The first rule about fight club...

[mvallevand]

I don't think any current STB's even support component output because of Widevine L1 requirements.

The best around for HDCP is definitely going to be using one of the cheap http HDMI capture devices, not the HDPVR, if you are willing to give up 5:1 audio.

Martin

[Joram]

Much appreciated. I'd like to look into these cheap HDMI capture devices. Any brands/models that you or others reading this thread can suggest?

But here's a possibly hopeful data bit for the Hauppauges. Your reply sent me searching for a view of the back of the Verizon FiOS TV One box (VMS 4100), and on page 5 of that PDF it seems to have component output, what do you think?

The key for me would be to make sure that we end up getting these specific boxes, and not the confusingly similarly named VMS 4100ATV boxes that Verizon is pushing, which are streaming boxes based on Android TV. If I remember right the user commentaries for these ATV devices on Reddit and the Verizon forum, they're pretty awful.

One more technical question, if I may: the HDMI (or component) capture card would be passing along a video signal to the PC. Because recording of this signal can be scheduled ahead of time, am I right to assume that the PC doesn't need to be actually displaying the signal on the PC's screen in order for the program to be recorded?

Reason for this question is that I'm curious if, during a recording with one of the capture devices, we can still browse the Web to look up an actor on the IMDB without affecting the recording process, or if we need to leave the PC alone to do the recording. I suspect that we can, but want to check with people such as yourself with actual experience on this.

Thanks again.

[mvallevand]

That looks like composite out with 2 audio ports to me which aren't going to be HD. Also the reason the cablecos are "pushing" new boxes is that they want to stop running coax in and to the house. Eventually I expect they will force you off like mine did to me last year. For FIOS that means now more digital adapters too.

The HDMI signal and audio and video is encoded to digital stream so the PC is not getting HDMI. The cheapest HDMI captures don't fully encode HDMI to a compressed video that NextPVR can use so those devices would use PC resources to compress to h264/h265 which might be impacted by PC use during recoring. The network HDMI decoders do this encoding well as do the Hauppauge devices. For suggestions start reading here https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.ph...#pid596348 I actually got a newer version the LinkPI REC1 since it gave pure HDMI 4K@60 passthrough. The deals on these vary and can be quite good, but Trumps import tax (tariff) won't help you.

I'd focus on how you would do the IR blasting before buying a capture device. Remember the advantage of the Hauppauge devices is you get a blaster which may or may not work with your STB, they are cheaper used even with the splitter, you get 5:1 audio and NextPVR Windows has built in support.

Martin

[Joram]

You're right that the VMS4100 has composite and not component video output, see page 2 of the manufacturer's use manual here.

So it looks like there's a lot more research to do yet. I was honing in on a Hauppauge model since (1) it came with its own IR blaster and (2) it seemed to feed quality video to the PC.

Another area I need to research further is based on your sentence here:

The network HDMI decoders do this encoding well as do the Hauppauge devices. 

So I guess I don't yet have a clear enough picture of how things work. Not sure what a "network" HDMI decoder might be, but more fundamentally I thought that the idea was that HDMI was out as an option because it was encoded, and the Hauppauges' component input could have been a solution because it offered good-enough video but now that's off the table because the STB only has composite output. And yet now we're rounding back to capture devices that only do HDMI. Clearly I'm missing something again. Or still.

If the compression is to take place on the PC, we can get a new computer with a more powerful CPU. Would a good GPU help, or not really?

The devices that you mentioned in the posts that you linked are available on Amazon (U.S.) for prices ranging from $15.99 to $29.99, all of which are much lower than the Hauppauge models. Here's what I found: this one and this one and this one. But then as you noted there's the question of the IR blaster.

In case it makes a difference, I should add that we're not doing 4K or 5:1 audio.

Bottom line is, I don't know if I should be looking for a Hauppauge or for one of the inexpensive devices.

[mvallevand]

The devices that you mentioned in the posts that you linked are available on Amazon (U.S.) for prices ranging from $15.99 to $29.99, all of which are much lower than the Hauppauge models. Here's what I found: this one and this one and this one. But then as you noted there's the question of the IR blaster.

I didn't follow your link but I wouldn't recommend any device that doesn't do h264 with h/w decoding and I don't expect that in your price range.  By cheap I was meaning around $90 US (at least when I bought one) these cheaper devices might be fine with OBS Studio for short recordings but not NextPVR.

Network encoders like the LinkPI I referenced they deliver video and audio via IPTV like network streams to the PC.  The Hauppauge devices are physically attached via USB or PCI.

Martin

[Joram]

The devices that you mentioned in the posts that you linked are available on Amazon (U.S.) for prices ranging from $15.99 to $29.99, all of which are much lower than the Hauppauge models. Here's what I found: this one and this one and this one. But then as you noted there's the question of the IR blaster.

I didn't follow your link but I wouldn't recommend any device that doesn't do h264 with h/w decoding and I don't expect that in your price range.   By cheap I was meaning around $90 US (at least when I bought one) these cheaper devices might be fine with OBS Studio for short recordings but not NextPVR.

Network encoders like the LinkPI I referenced they deliver video and audio via IPTV like network streams to the PC.  The Hauppauge devices are physically attached via USB or PCI.

Martin

Thank you. I'm not sure how/where the LinkPI fits into the scheme we envision (see below), using it looks less straightforward than the Hauppauge devices.

The usage model that we're trying to replicate (or preserve) consists of three TVs, each with its own standalone cableco DVR or CableCARD-outfitted PC. They are not networked and don't need to talk to each other, in fact we prefer it this way.

With that in mind and knowing other details of our setup as discussed in this thread, what would you recommend we do? We're ultimately going to be getting newfangled DVRs and losing the CableCARDs, and would like to supplement the DVRs' pitiful amount of storage with PC-based systems that will record in high def. Preferably using NextPVR which seems ideally suited for the task, which is why I've been such a pest.   

Will the Hauppauge HDPVR2 work for our purposes?

[fla]

Say you have a Verizon DVR on TV Input hdmi-1 controlled by the verizon remote. (limited recording capacity)

Say you have a PC with NextPVR+HDPVR2 on TV Input hdmi-2 controlled with which remote? (massive recording capacity)

Isn't it a bit clunky to toggle the TV from hdmi input 1 to input 2 depending on when you are accessing your massive NextPVR recordings library or your pitiful verizon recordings library? Also clunky is two remotes (or two devices on a universal remote)?

Isn't it easier to only use NextPVR all the time for all recordings with a single remote rather than supplement recordings with dual setups?

[Joram]

You could definitely say that's a bit clunky.

One way to simplify things would be to ignore the DVR's recording capabilities and use just the PC to record programming. Is that what you mean? Or do you mean that there's a way to functionally merge the list of DVR recordings with the list of PC recordings into a single catalog that would be viewed on the PC?

Eagerly awaiting details!

[mvallevand]

@Joram I don't know enough about your current and proposed system to make any real recommendations. The way I read it the old hardware you are talking about is the VMC4100 which uses local 1TB media storage and not cloud storage. There are also IPC41000 devices that can access it. My gut says you have one VMC4100 somewhere but also have standalong NextpVR PC's on cable card (with wifi) and don't use NextPVR clients.

Current cableco approaches are no longer client/server they use IP delivery which sound like the VMC4100ATV which are all clients to the cloud.

There is typically no way to grab recordings from either the STB server or the cloud storage.

@fla there are are use cases to have access to the current cable STB plus my capture deivce has pasthrough. There is catchup TV and often you can play any show in the guide, on demand and schedule and access cloud recordings in addition to just one tuner in the STB used by NextPVR. Often you't don't need to a waste any HDMI tuners for NextPVR, since many TV's support NextPVR clients or Kodi directly.

Martin