Is the PCH a super mvp?

[mvallevand]

I guess I'm confused now...I kinda thought that the PCH was pretty much a super MVP but it sounds like that may not be the case. I haven't followed all the PCH discussions so perhaps this has already been discussed...

I thought this question was important enough it needed to be in it's own thread. From a media playing perspective the MediaMVP and the NMT family are world's different and the NMT is definitely far superior in its ability to play modern file formats. I'd go further and say the NMT can play more than most modern computers.

However what they do share is that Hauppauge and Syabas have not done a great job of providing the software to front end the hardware. Sub to his credit understood the potential and rewrote the Hauppauge server and really maximized the potential of the mvp while still using the Hauppauge dongle.

Also the Hauppauge software is really abandonware now and I figure it will be months before the NMT firmware is much better than it is today and least from a general GBPVR user's perspective. However I am also now limited too because a lot of mvpmc's emulation mode can't be ported because Syabas isn't sharing the information that is crucial. So what you are seeing now is a good hardware player with a great and familiar front end but I wouldn't go as far as saying it is a super mvp.

This isn't a GBPVR specific issue. Reading the NMT forums, people will say they prefer their old interfaces (XBMC, Swiss Centre, Wizd etc) but in the end the old hardware isn't capable of playing what the NMT can so they use the PCH

But and this is a big but, the PCH will never be better than a perfect GBPVR HTPC I hope everyone realizes that. Still nothing compares for under $200.

One other issue is the nature of emulation mode and that is that there is no guarantees that it will even continue to work as well as it does today as the Syabas firmware progresses. Just today I saw a post http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?t=3671 which if implemented could kill some of the current live tv functionality. Because there isn't very active GBPVR community on the NMT forums, Syabas could easily end up making a simple change for market share. It is going to be caveat emptor for quite a while I think.

Martin

[Sheik Yerbouti]

It's not a super MVP yet, but Syabas said this:

Bottom line, running of User's generated apps should be made easy,
so that it benefits all users.

(http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?t=1701)

The complete post makes me believe Syabas will provide better support in the future. If that's true, we could be having a super MVP in our hands. Today I've removed the MediaMVP from my living room, so it already provides enough functionality for me at this moment. Things can only get better, is what I believe. But since you contact them every now and then, you´d be a better judge of that.

I´d like the NMT forum to have a more active GBPVR community. We could use our own subforum there

Chris

[pBS]

'PLAY/PAUSE toggle on OK button' is the page you wished to link to?
couldn't see why any of that would totally break gbpvr functionality..

i still don't see why hardware manufacturers are sooooooo tight with the means to use their chips fully...i mean, why make something only to keep the info needed to utilize it secret? you would think the more people could use something, the more it would sell...

all this makes me wonder how many 'peeps' they have working on this at all?
seems like you guys make more headway in your free time...lol

well, here's to hoping things continue to improve....

[sub]

I'm actually pretty happy with the PCH. I'd already say its worlds better than the MVP. There is a couple of minor things that are better on MVP, but there is a whole heap of stuff that the PCH does better. The PCH definitely a lot better than an MVP.

I´d like the NMT forum to have a more active GBPVR community. We could use our own subforum there

I dont know about the subforum bit, but I do agree in general. I'd definitely like to see more PCH owners that use GB-PVR making the occasional post about the GB-PVR on the NMT forums. The more posts the manufacturer sees about GB-PVR, the more willing they will be to help with any requests we have. Currently most of the traffic is over here, where they have no visibility.

[sub]

'PLAY/PAUSE toggle on OK button' is the page you wished to link to?
couldn't see why any of that would totally break gbpvr functionality..

The reason for this is that when playback of a live tv file is started on the PCH (using the PCH 'mono' player), mvpmcx2 monitors keys going being pressed on the remote. Most keys are handled directly by mono, but if mvpmcx2 notices a number followed by 'ok/enter', then mvpmcx2 is able assume it is channel change, so it asks GB-PVR to change channels, kills mono, then starts playback of the new file.

Currently the 'ok/enter' key isnt used for anything during playback, but if they change that, it starts to make things difficult for us monitoring key presses in the background and trying to add functionality.

[mvallevand]

I agree with sub that the PCH is a great client but I think it's time to consider it as a new client for GB-PVR and not simply compare it to the mvp. It is ready for the living room as is. Information isn't coming at all from Syabas and even if it does it might not be worth the effort to try to make it an mvp if you consider what is lost.

The issue with the post , which really expanded to cover the entire Section C on the remote is this is needed by GBPVR if we get control back from mono for lots of things, the OSD TV guide, the TV details at the bottom, navigating while audio plays, controlling a slide show etc.

Martin

[zed]

When I said 'super MVP' I guess I really meant 'HD MVP'...that's what I want from it...functionality similar to the MVP but the ability to play back HD files that I've recorded in GB-PVR. I'm really not much of a GB-PVR power user, I use it only to record TV shows so I can watch them later. I don't use any of the plug-ins, I don't use it for music or photos, I don't use it to watch DVDs or live TV, and I use the default skin. What I want from the PCH is a small, quiet, reasonably priced set top box that will interface with GB-PVR to play back my recordings, HD or otherwise...pretty much a drop-in replacement for the MVP. Based on some of the other PCH threads and the responses to my original post that Martin quoted at the top of this thread it looks like it'll mostly do that but I may have to make some changes in how I record HD stuff (I use the MS mux to record to dvr-ms file now). I also have one of the HD-PVR boxes on order and I'm sure there'll have to be some changes when I get it. At any rate, I'm looking forward to the PCH (hopefully this week, they charged my card over a week ago) and I'm pretty confident it'll live up to my expectations.

[martint123]

Thanks for starting this thread up.
I placed my order (and it's in the UK as I speak) because I needed another MVP (or should I say, small, quiet box to interface GBPVR to the TV, painlessly). I'm like Zed, a basic user, rather than poweruser, just wanting something that works like an MVP, but that could be more future proof if/when public HD is broadcast in the UK and if/when I buy an HD TV.

I take heart that sub likes the PCH and has one in the hope that continued support for it will be forthcoming.

Thanks all.
p.s. I still haven't done any PCH reading yet ;(

[mvallevand]

The issue with the post , which really expanded to cover the entire Section C on the remote is this is needed by GBPVR if we get control back from mono for lots of things, the OSD TV guide, the TV details at the bottom, navigating while audio plays, controlling a slide show etc.

Thanks philly_phenom, this is another example of the kind of post I was talking about.

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewto...ight=gbpvr

(Of course mvpmcx2 uses the number keys to to change channels too)

Martin

[philly_phenom]

Thanks philly_phenom, this is another example of the kind of post I was talking about.

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewto...ight=gbpvr

(Of course mvpmcx2 uses the number keys to to change channels too)

Martin

I try to hang out on the NMT forums & keep at least a minimal gbpvr presence for things like that.

The most frustrating thing for me (w/ PCH vs MVP) is the lack of cropping. This especially comes into play when watching content that was letterboxed to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio. Playing back on my 16:9 screen gives me a letterboxed picture inside a pillarbox leaving me with a small window on my 40inch screen.

Granted, the MVP doesn't crop, but since it outputs 480i, I can use the zoom on my TV to fill the screen width & crop of the letterbox - but then I don't get the upscaling that the PCH does.

I honestly don't understand why that isn't a higher priority on Syabas' list...