HVR-1600 ATSC config? Please help...

[DGuindon]

Hello all,

First let me say kudos to sub for all of his hard work on gbpvr. I am a computer scientist (glorified R&D programmer) for a living and I know what it takes to created/maintain a program suite of this size... very impressive sub!

Okay, now to the issue at hand. I just purchased this Hauppauge card yesterday and installed it last night in my Dell XPS410 (I am in the US). I have been reading a lot of boards on TV Tuners and Video Capture cards and new that the WinTV2000 app was pretty bad... but experiencing it firsthand told me I had to find something better. I am glad I found gbpvr!

I have setup the analog I have been searching and reading through this forum for hours and I believe I read that gbpvr cannot use the built-in mux for the HVR-1600 and therefor cannot record channels. Is this true?

Also, I was able to get the Capture Source setup for analog channels using "Direct Recording Plugin" and populate the channel list for my area (comcast) using Zap2It as the EPG. How do I configure the ATSC Capture Source? Do I use the same board # (Capture Device #1)? What is
BDA"?

Any help/guidance anyone can give me to setting up the ATSC digital to gbpvr would be great! I want to use this program, but I need to be able to record from analog and ATSC.

Thanks!

[sub]

First let me say kudos to sub for all of his hard work on gbpvr. I am a computer scientist (glorified R&D programmer) for a living and I know what it takes to created/maintain a program suite of this size... very impressive sub!

Cheers.

The ATSC side of the HVR1600 uses BDA drivers, so you need to create an additional capture source, using the BDA Recording Plugin. Tick the 'only show devices detected in this machine' checkbox and it should show your 1600. 'OK' out of that screen, then setup your zap2it EPG source. Click the 'update epg' button to pull in the listings, then click the 'map digital channels to EPG channels' button and it should initiate a channel scan.

After the scan, for each channel listed in your EPG (on the left of this screen), you need to click the drop down 'tuning request' and select the digital channel it relates to.

I have setup the analog I have been searching and reading through this forum for hours and I believe I read that gbpvr cannot use the built-in mux for the HVR-1600 and therefor cannot record channels.

There is no built-in mux as such, but the Hauppauge software does come with an MPEG mux directshow filter. Unfortunately their mux is crashes if you try to use it in any third party apps - something to do with shared memory they use from other components they normally have present when their software runs.

Most ATSC users use either the DVR-MS mux or TS mux options.

[DGuindon]

[quote=sub]Cheers.

[QUOTE]The ATSC side of the HVR1600 uses BDA drivers[/QUOTE]

Yes, foolish noob question... I figured it out after my post and have it setup already.


[QUOTE]There is no built-in mux as such, but the Hauppauge software does come with an MPEG mux directshow filter. Unfortunately their mux is crashes if you try to use it in any third party apps[/QUOTE]

That is depressing!


[QUOTE]Most ATSC users use either the DVR-MS mux or TS mux options.[/QUOTE]

From what I have read in the forums the DVR-MS mux saves the recordings in a M$ TV format, not in MPEG2. Does the TX mux save in native MPEG2? Is there a performance hit when using a non-Hauppauge mux?

Thanks for your help!

[sub]

Most ATSC users use either the DVR-MS mux or TS mux options.

From what I have read in the forums the DVR-MS mux saves the recordings in a M$ TV format, not in MPEG2. Does the TX mux save in native MPEG2?

They're actually all MPEG2 files, but in different container formats. For example, the TS Mux produces MPEG2 Transport Stream files. You're probably meaning to ask if they 'save as an MPEG2 Program Stream', which is the .mpg container files most people are familiar with.

The DVR-MS mux saves .dvr-ms files. This is a microsoft format, but actually works really well. If you really dont want .dvr-ms files, GB-PVR contains autoconversion logic that can be used to autoconvert .dvr-ms files to .mpg files after the recording completes. This is a quick remux that only takes a minute or so, but is sometimes problematic for ATSC users. You need the Cyberlink mux installed to do this.

The TS Mux saves .ts files (transport stream). These are actually very common for digital tv recordings in lots of apps. Its effectively byte-for-byte the same format as the broadcast was received in. Again, you can configure GB-PVR to auto convert this to .mpg if your want. This is a quick remux, using the included ffmpeg software.

Is there a performance hit when using a non-Hauppauge mux?

No. The Hauppauge mux is just a software one like all the others. It doesnt have any special benefit from being supplied by Hauppauge. It doesnt perform any better or worse than the others.

[UncleJohnsBand]

They're actually all MPEG2 files, but in different container formats. For example, the TS Mux produces MPEG2 Transport Stream files. You're probably meaning to ask if they 'saves as an MPEG2 Program Stream', which is the .mpg container files most people are familiar with.

The DVR-MS mux saves .dvr-ms files. This is a microsoft format, but actually works really well. If you really dont want .dvr-ms files, GB-PVR contains autoconversion logic that can be used to autoconvert .dvr-ms files to .mpg files after the recording completes. This is a quick remux that only takes a minute or so, but is sometimes problematic for ATSC users. You need the Cyberlink mux installed to do this.

The TS Mux saves .ts files (transport stream). These are actually very common for digital tv recordings in lots of apps. Its effectively byte-for-byte the same format as the broadcast was received in. Again, you can configure GB-PVR to auto convert this to .mpg if your want. This is a quick remux, using the included ffmpeg software.

No. The Hauppauge mux is just a software one like all the others. It doesnt have any special benefit from being supplied by Hauppauge. It doesnt perform any better or worse than the others.

One thing to note on this topic....if you are planning (or would like to) stream your recordings via the GBPVR Web Interface (EWA) then (for now) they need to be in the .mpg (program stream) format. VLC is not yet able to transcode the .dvr-ms files so they can not be streamed.

[sub]

I'm guessing VLC can stream .ts files though.

[probeGT]

Hi all. . . so I am brand new to gbpvr as of about an hour ago but I already love it. I apologize for the NOOB question, but I just want to clarify: If I get a Hauppauge 1600 card, I WILL be able to record ATSC, I'll just have to play around with the stuff you're talking about, right?

They're on sale at Circuit City this week for $59, and I think I want to get one.

Thanks!

[sub]

If I get a Hauppauge 1600 card, I WILL be able to record ATSC

Yes.

[Cahill84]

Where can you download the Cyberlink mux to convert MS dvr files?

[sub]

I dont have a download link for you, but if you do forum search you should be able to find one.

With an ATSC device, you'd probably fare better doing a TS Mux recording, then having GB-PVR autoconvert that to a .mpg file.