Recording quality

[stustunz]

What file does the tool modify? Does it go through GBPVR, or what?
it adjusts the registry for you


I thought Hauppauge tuners were supposed to be at least equal to anything else. Is that not true, then?
they are good if you have a perfect signal almost all pc analog tuners are like this
when my tv signal is really got its hard to pick the difference but as soon as you split the cable or the signal drops slightly it gets blocky and looks like crap


I assume you mean recording digital channels with digital tuners? So, not much hope for the analog channels?

no im just saying if you want perfect recordings all the time go digital tuners
its not always possible due to where and what is broadcast

[jfm]

What file does the tool modify? Does it go through GBPVR, or what?
it adjusts the registry for you


I thought Hauppauge tuners were supposed to be at least equal to anything else. Is that not true, then?
they are good if you have a perfect signal almost all pc analog tuners are like this
when my tv signal is really got its hard to pick the difference but as soon as you split the cable or the signal drops slightly it gets blocky and looks like crap

My signal is split 3 ways at the source - living room and 2 bed rooms. Then, the LR cable is split 3 ways - DVR, TV, HTPC. Then, the HTPC cable is split to accomodate 2 tuners. I have an amplifier, but I haven't installed it yet. I thought I would install it ahead of all of the splits.

I assume you mean recording digital channels with digital tuners? So, not much hope for the analog channels?

no im just saying if you want perfect recordings all the time go digital tuners
its not always possible due to where and what is broadcast

I've been seriously thinking about this. Of course, there're not a lot of digital channels available under my setup. But, while we're on the subject, how big are the files produced by digital recordings? If 2 hours of analog recording would be 5.3 gb, how big would a comparable digital recording be?

[stustunz]

depends on the stream its decided at the broadcasters end
example 720x576i (pal SD) news 70mins long one channels its 2.6gig other channel same length is 3.5gig
unlike when its encoded by the card they are always similar

just buy a bigger hard drives they are cheap now

[JonnyCam]

Quote:
(and how are they connected to the input?)

Not sure what you mean here

I mean how is the HTPC / DVD recorder being fed - both through antenna? Do both antennae have the same number of splits in them?

[jfm]

I mean how is the HTPC / DVD recorder being fed - both through antenna? Do both antennae have the same number of splits in them?

Yes. The same.

[stustunz]

if possible remove the splitter and plug the cable straight into the pvr150 then do a recording
you may need a better quality splitter or amp

[jfm]

Here is something that may shed some light on the problem: On the PVR500's, there are severe quality problems on channels 2-6, 13-16, and 53-54. Shows up as diagonal dotted lines all across the screen. No such issues for the DVD recorder or the TV tuner. I assume I didn't notice this before because I was using other channels for the tests.

[jfm]

Update:

As I said earlier, I had a 3 way splitter and a 2 way splitter ahead of the HTPC, so I removed these and replaced with a single 4 way. Fixed the lower channel signal problem.

Question - The PVR500 cards record, I believe, in MPEG-1 format. I'll bet that the Pioneer DVD recorder records in MPEG-2 format. The reason I say that is that, when you burn a DVD, it begins the burn immediately and doesn't have time for any transcoding, so files must already be in MPEG-2 format. If that is true, then would that account for a difference in recording quality between the Pioneer and the PVR500's?

EDIT:
Apparently, the PVR500 records in MPEG-2. Any enlightenment here will be appreciated.

[sub]

The PVR500 records MPEG2 files.

[stustunz]

pvr500 records in mpeg2 its a standard they have to meet certain things

get a signal amp a good one and put it before you split the signal
you can normally get away with splitting 2 times without one not four plus the fact that the pvr 500 need a really good signal also check the cables you are using going into the pvr500 they need to be well sheilded ones aswell not cheap ones