VNC from the PCH 100

[mvallevand]

I figured out enough about getting VNC running on the the PCH to create this demo of what the mvpmc might look like on the PCH.

http://www.youtube.com/v/INktQLmlhkA

Because I can't run VNC on Vista this is running in a W2K virtual machine on Vista and I couldn't run pvrx2 and barely was only able to start gbpvr in overlay mode

The actual lag is in the video capture, the tv responds faster than the mvp. I'm also capturing the video on the same machine so nothing in this demo is "sales" oriented.

This is not emulation mode and it is not optimized at all, just zlib vnc.

Martin

[Sheik Yerbouti]

This is not emulation mode and it is not optimized at all, just zlib vnc

But it's great to see your progress every now and then! Great work, Martin.

[mvallevand]

Here's another video probably more "fun" then the last one. What I did was capture all the screen updates from mvpmc to invidual files as Hauppauge protocol streams and then open them individually from a share. You will note that speed and quality aren't the issue I thought they be.

http://www.youtube.com/v/kBnULv-Xy24

This is still slower and lower quality then is possible since the native mode of the PCH is different from the mvp, I have to do a pixel by pixel conversion from YUV to ARGB32.

All the pieces of the UI now seem to be in place and now this is really like emulation mode.

Martin

[jksmurf]

All the pieces of the UI now seem to be in place and now this is really like emulation mode. Martin

Cool Bananas!

k.

[mvallevand]

It is a lot of fun. I also updated my comparison page http://mvallevand.googlepages.com/pch.html and what you can really see if scroll from the original through all the images coming that I don't like via the PCH Sserver and now finishing off with the Popcorn Hour I think the PCH is now the best.

Martin

[sub]

This is still slower and lower quality then is possible since the native mode of the PCH is different from the mvp, I have to do a pixel by pixel conversion from YUV to ARGB32.

For the next release I'll add an ARGB32 mode for you since thats what GB-PVR uses internally anyway. Its currently a very time consuming process for GB-PVR to convert the RGB to YUV for sending to the MVP... only to have you convert it back from YUV to RGB on the PCH.

[forzaKGB]

Would this mean the picture quality will be better than the MVP and less stress put on the GB-PVR server machine if you use PCH?

[Sheik Yerbouti]

All the pieces of the UI now seem to be in place and now this is really like emulation mode.Martin

Wow, the speed is very impressive. I can't wait to see the real emulation.

[mvallevand]

For the next release I'll add an ARGB32 mode for you since thats what GB-PVR uses internally anyway. Its currently a very time consuming process for GB-PVR to convert the RGB to YUV for sending to the MVP... only to have you convert it back from YUV to RGB on the PCH.

Great we can work out a encoding protocol the current one in emulation mode is only ARGB16

Martin

[jksmurf]

Would this mean ...[snip] <that> less stress <will be> put on the GB-PVR server machine if you use PCH?

Mr KGB asks a question I have been mulling over for some time now and really don't know where to ask for opinions, as not that many folks really know what the PCH can do.

To me you can either set up GBPVR with a media extender like the MVP or PCH, which goes into the TV or as a stand-alone which goes direct into the TV. Some folks have even talked about running off a client but I'm not sure about how that works.

So you have:

1. GBPVR Server PC + MVP/PCH =>TV. Noisy Server in the Basement, quiet extender by the TV.
   
2. GBPVR Server PC + GRAPHICS CARD =>TV. You need to try and find a powerful, but quiet PC you can put by the TV.

For 1, I understand you don't need as powerful a PC for playback, as the extender does the work, especially if you record HD streams, as no conversions are needed. IF however you record in (say) MPG and want to make smaller files (say XVID) which the PCH plays natively, the machine has to be powerful enough to convert these "reasonably quickly", but not that powerful to do it on the fly (unless you output to the MVP, which ONLY plays MPG).

For 2, I understand you need a reasonably grunty PC to perform the conversions above, but you need an especially fast Graphics Card to play DIRECT to the TV.

Would that be a fair summary?

If I wanted to buy a middling but QUIET PC for scenario 1, what sort of PC is required? Still quite grunty?

k.