MVP and HDTV

[KarlD]

Have to say GBPVR and HDTV is awesome, I made my first donation today.

After 5 weeks of tinkering in the beginning I have terrestrial HDTV set up now for 6 months now. After that much work I have it well backed up but I’m afraid to touch it. The down side is everyone wants to watch TV on the plasma because the picture is so good; and no one wants to watch live TV.

I started setting up a second client machine for the kids out in the shop loft, but don’t have the kinks worked out yet.

I bought a 22” LCD for the bedroom but like others my better half refuses to have another computer in the bedroom. Currently I’m running it off a Toshiba DVD-RW Tuner DVR so she can “Just watch TV”; I don’t blame her.

My question is; has anyone been watching HD DVR-MS files on the Hauppauge MediaMVP? Is this a good way to go? Will it convert 1080i to 720 x 480 or thereabouts? I would hard wire it @ 100mb. An alternative is running the display off a computer in an adjacent room, but I can see a lot of running back and fourth.

Thanks

[roy]

The MVP can not play DVR-MS, or any HDTV files. It can only play SD MPEG-2 files, AFAIK. You can set GBPVR to automatically convert DVR-MS files to MPEG-2 files, or you can do it manually through transcode in the Video Library. I'm still trying to figure this out, but I don't think converted HD files will play on MVP as they are still HD. If the original file is SD, then the converted file should play on MVP. :confused:

Another issue I'm seeing, is recordings that start as SD, then switch to HD, and maybe back again, as broadcasters flip a switch, causing a problem with resolution and even time stamps.

I'm also searching for the method to get digital (HD and SD) recordings to play on the MVP, so look forward to any guidance here as well.

[KarlD]

Thanks for the info. I've seen a lot of switching from HD to SD as well, it's like the guy at the station doesn't know what the switch is for.

I'm dropping another HD tuner in my main box to get overlapping shows. I'm using another brand so I don't have driver conflicts.

I saw an 8GB memory stick on sale for $85; with this kind of compaction in memory it seems you should be able to make a system without a hard drive for cheap. The other problem is getting rid of CPU and Power supply fans.

I happen to work in the Wholesale Plasma Display business in IT, and I won a 42" through the company; that is how I got started in all this. We had some computers that were about twice the size of a hard drive that you could Velcro on the back of the display. They were spendy and still had a hard drive grinding.

[wtg]

As an aside, are you finding the X1300 sufficient for HD output? What decoders are you using?

[KarlD]

I'm using the Cybex for HD and Nero for Mp4 ripped DVD's. It took me a long time to get the stuttering to stop; that is why I’m afraid to mess with it any further. I rebuilt the machine 4 times before I got it right. I messed with Avivo and had to turn most of FDDShow off. I backed it up and turned off MS update one it worked. The X1300 worked fine.

I've started another machine but by the time I loaded everything I only get sound on HD ms-dvr files. I think things went awry when MS update installed Media Player 11. I had also poked at the codec priorities. I should have backed it up after SP2, now I will probably have to start over. When I get it right I’m going to clone it so I have three machines. I have the good fortune of having a view of Seattle 8 miles away so I get 20 or so channels with a small antenna pointing out the window.

I just built my first Winlirc circuit and playing around with Hip. I love the Hauppauge remote and the ini file that is so easy to modify. The only reason I have the Pro150 card in is for the remote. I want to duplicate the actions with HIP and use it on other machines. You can buy spare remotes on the Hauppauge site for $10. The more I can standardize the happier my wife will be.

I write files out the serial port to the plasma so I don’t need a remote for it, and I can tell it exactly what I want instead of toggling through menus. The problem is new motherboards only have 1 serial port so I’m not using Winlirc on my main machine yet. I just picked up a USB to Serial converter which should cinch the deal.

[dgeezer]

I'm also searching for the method to get digital (HD and SD) recordings to play on the MVP, so look forward to any guidance here as well.

Roy, Had a little luck today with converting HD files to something playable on the mvp. I encoded using ffmpeg with this syntax:
ffmpeg.exe -i "input_file.mpg" -target ntsc-svcd "output_file.mpg"
This played on the mvp and the sound worked and was in sync using the standard dongle.bin.

I also tried the mvpmc dongle in emulation mode and it would play back the SD atsc recordings ( with ac3 audio) but the audio was always out of sync. However it did play back the ntsc-svcd file in the proper aspect ratio whereas the regular dongle.bin cropped off the edges.

[roy]

I encoded using ffmpeg with this syntax:
ffmpeg.exe -i "input_file.mpg" -target ntsc-svcd "output_file.mpg"

Wow! This looks like the ticket. Tried it quickly tonight and the converted file plays with good audio and video on MVP. Only thing is it looks like there might be a timeline issue, but that may be due to me stopping the conversion and not letting it complete.

Currently I am recording in DVR-MS, and converting to MPG. FFMPEG didn't want to work on the DVR-MS file.

This is good timing, as my new antenna arives tomorrow, so more stations will be within reach.

Thanks very much

[oster]

My question is; has anyone been watching HD DVR-MS files on the Hauppauge MediaMVP? Is this a good way to go? Will it convert 1080i to 720 x 480 or thereabouts? I would hard wire it @ 100mb. An alternative is running the display off a computer in an adjacent room, but I can see a lot of running back and fourth.Thanks

I have no problems watching DVR-MS files through the MVP. I think GBPVR transcodes these for the MVP on the fly. I actually have a 54G wireless connection from the GBPVR server to the router which is then hardwired to the MVP. Every now and again (when the wirelss signal is not so good) the video/audio stutteres on the MVP but this is only occasionaly. If it were all hard wired I don't imagine I'd have any problems at all. All the best.

[sub]

Unfortunately high def DVR-MS files are unlikely to work, since it actually requires two transcodes to occur to convert it to a standard def .mpg file (remux followed by ffmpeg transcode), ruling out the possibility of doing this on the fly.

[pBS]

mencoder will allow you to input dvr-ms files and transcode and scale on the fly in one step...

i just converted one SD file and audio and video had no problem...not sure about HD as i don't have any test files but it should work ok..scaling works tho..

just use your regular mencoder lines to convert...