Extenders -my opinion

[bgowland]

My only negative is with leaving the NMT powered up with my HDMI tv it seems to get upset. I, power it off, but the family just seem to switch the TV off so the NMT needs a little button pushing to get the HDMI handshaking up.

I got so pee'd off with this, I switched to component...

On the odd occasion I've had problems with this I discovered a work around with my TV. It's a DTV in the sense it has a built in Freeview tuner and there's a button on the remote which allows switching to the DTV source (shutting off all external inputs, i.e., HDMI, SCART, component etc). After that, reselecting the HDMI input the PCH is connected to brings things back into line.

[ACTCMS]

On the odd occasion I've had problems with this I discovered a work around with my TV. It's a DTV in the sense it has a built in Freeview tuner and there's a button on the remote which allows switching to the DTV source (shutting off all external inputs, i.e., HDMI, SCART, component etc). After that, reselecting the HDMI input the PCH is connected to brings things back into line.

I'll have a look at that - most of my TV's now have built-in freeview tuners...

[User]

Still using 1.4.7 a pvr150 and two MVPs here, recording sdtv output to tube tvs. Hoping something viable comes along that can replace the MVPs maybe a refurb.

[mvallevand]

It's not a particularly good day to talk about Windows HTPC's today since my patch Tuesday update took over 15 minutes with lots of black screens and no on screen hourglass. I always do the upgrades but I am never 100% comfortable.

Anyway I have a lot more trouble with my ION2 PC and HDMI then I have ever had with my PCH, it is especially bad on retaining the overscan settings so that the Windows task bar stays visible. I'm not impressed with the HDMI quality either compared to my NMT. As for outputs I don't think you can compare a typical PC with video/audio output choices on the current extenders (HDMI, component, s-video and composite/SPDIF analog out), plus proper 24 fps video and the lossless HD formats.

Martin

[re-Barr]

For those of you that have such lovely experiences with your PCH can you tell me how you have the mvpmcx2 installed please? I have it installed on the npvr server and have just had a terrible time getting it to work right. the PCH has such low WAF that she won't use it anymore. I have wondered if the usb stick would make things any better.

[martint123]

For those of you that have such lovely experiences with your PCH can you tell me how you have the mvpmcx2 installed please? I have it installed on the npvr server and have just had a terrible time getting it to work right. the PCH has such low WAF that she won't use it anymore. I have wondered if the usb stick would make things any better.

I have mine on a small laptop drive in the PCH. It is almost identical using a USB stick.
I had to go this route as the server hibernates when not in use, so the share is not available.
I guess I could have put the share on a NAS added later, but the added complications and since I already had NMT storage wasn't worth the effort.

[mvallevand]

I've opened a separate thread for re-barr's question http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...work-right I'd like this thread kept on topic to get other feedback. I'm sure we will find a solution.

Martin

[mvallevand]

I found an interesting quote on the Boxee blog after they released their "last" PC version which seems pretty relevant.

"We believe the future of TV will be driven by devices such as the Boxee Box, Connected TVs / Blu-Rays and 2nd screen devices such as tablets and phones. While there are still many users who have computers connected to their TVs, we believe this use case is likely to decline as users find better alternatives. People will continue to watch a lot of video on their computer, but it is more likely to be a laptop than a home-theater PC and probably through a browser rather than downloaded software."

Martin

[martint123]

I think I would go along with their thoughts as well.

[soccerdad]

I see the biggest issue with an internet based "download or stream what you want, when you want it" model, is that people like to surf and discover new shows. That is managable in today's world of scrolling through a program guide. Going to the internet, or a device screen and scrolling through the millions of different shows is not very appealing, even if you can sort them by catagory. There was something to be said about wandering through a video store to see what to rent. Some of the best stuff you watch is what you stumble across.

To come back on subject, I got an xbox for Christmas to use as an extender to my WMC7 system. The setup was so easy, it was anticlimatic. You do have to wait for the xbox to boot, then press a media center button on my harmony, but that is it. You go straight into the WMC7, just like on the server machine. And to leave, you hit the off button on the remote, the TV turns off and the xbox turns off and the computer goes to sleep when it needs to. Pretty good on the WAF. I understand that microsoft has an advantage with this since they control the hardware and software, but the operation is a good model to learn from.