Aver Media CaptureHD - small review

[JonnyCam]

http://www.avermedia.com/AVerTV/Product/...spx?Id=499



So, I got one of these cards to archive some of my HDCP recordings.
It's go HDMI in, up to 1080i along with HD component, composit, s-video etc.
It's also got a BDA DVB-T tuner, and an analog tuner.

The HD & Analog side of things are not usable in GBPVR obviously.

I had it in my HTPC, but the dual core 2.9 didn't cut it for the software encoding on the fly.
The device will encode a HDCP 1080i stream to 15 Mbps mpeg2.
On my quad core, 2.6 it took 25% of cpu wqhile doing this. The motion was not as crisp as original playback, so not as great for sports as I had hoped.

The manual of the device says it will not record HDCP content over HDMI, but I will able to get to record a HD recording of the all whites game & some of CSI new York from TV3 via myskyHD -

I thought that TV3 had the copy protect flag set - which is why it downgrades over component to my bedroom TV, where Sky Sports HD transmits at 1080iu still. (so I thought the TV3 stuff would fail with HDCP problems)
It can real-time encode to H264, but only up to 720x576 - more made for an ipod capture.

I have re-encoded the rsulting mpeg2 from the football to H264, 4200MB MKV, and then made that into a Bluray structure and chucked it on a DVD which my standalone bluray plays nicely. (looks not too bad, same small problems with motion)

So, while the HDMI capture is not as good as I thought, as they release new versions of the mpeg2 encoder, it may get better - but does act as the only way of getting content for archiving from the myskyHD box.

The HDMI / Component capture devices do not seem to be available as normal devices in windows - ie, not visible in graph studio - only the DVB-T & analog tuner (+ s-vid, composite)

I paid $190 NZD incl GST / delivery



Can anyone tell me what the capture over component of 1080i sports is like using the HD-PVR from hauppauge? Is it reliable?

Thanks

[pBS]

can it do 720p? sports usually look best on 720p...
[no interlacing/deinterlacing needed, which is the odd looking motion you see]
progressive formats are 60fps so look great for high motion. 1080i is only 30fps.

also it says only "real-time H.264 recording compression technology up to resolution of 320X240"
which looks like vcr tapes, but 720x576[480 ntsc] w/h.264 could look as nice as a commercial dvd...
[much better than typical analog caps]

interesting device, lets you pass-thru watch hdcp content, but only record unprotected stuff...
also may have better results with component hi-res inputs if you've got em..being analog doesn't hurt much,as long as it's same resolution..

seems that someone would make a hardware encoder chip that can do hd formats..
geez, even my aver m780 card can do 15mbps encoding...just not the frame size..
always wondered why NOONE has come up with an encoder chip yet...even pro stuff is almost non-existant..
you'd think a hardware encoder/transcoder chip with a just a bit more oomph would be simple to make...
[i know it'd sell like hotcakes,especially if it could be used as a filter]

[sub]

seems that someone would make a hardware encoder chip that can do hd formats..
geez, even my aver m780 card can do 15mbps encoding...just not the frame size..
always wondered why NOONE has come up with an encoder chip yet...even pro stuff is almost non-existant..
you'd think a hardware encoder/transcoder chip with a just a bit more oomph would be simple to make...
[i know it'd sell like hotcakes,especially if it could be used as a filter]

They do make hardware encoder chips which do high def video, like the H.264 encoder that Hauppauge used in the HD-PVR, which can successfully encode 1080i/720p. They chose to use component inputs since the majority HDMI sources carry protected signals, which they wouldnt be allowed to record. It'd be a support nightmare explaining to the users that they can record HDMI sources, but just not the ones they want to record...

[pBS]

yea, but that's what i was saying, that's it...the only one for consumers..
otherwise it's all broadcast equipment...[$$$]
and no transcoding...tho i wonder if a graph could be built to leverage the encoder on that one..[tho i highly doubt it,probably a directshow issue]

oh well, guess the avivo hardware/nvidia badaboom-etc. is still only accell transcode available..

oh and just tried 4 different video cards, ati 4xxx's and nvidia gt2xx's and so far:
windows xp = 0 working right like previous gen cards
windows vista/win7 = all working great...

so looks like xp drivers are not being fixed anymore, now it's a vista world...
[BLAH! GAG, Cough!, Bloatware..]
and most of the cards still use dxva1 for a lot of content types...
[and evr looks same as in xp, not full accell, but looks great]

[JonnyCam]

They chose to use component inputs since the majority HDMI sources carry protected signals, which they wouldnt be allowed to record

interesting device, lets you pass-thru watch hdcp content, but only record unprotected stuff...

Yeah, it what I couldn't understand - the manual says on the component it won't record macrovision protected content, or HDCP protected HDMI video, yet it allowed me to record from the HDCP enabled connection from the myskyHD box at full res.
I suspected sports would work, but thought it would say no to TV3, as it's got the downgrade flag set (and the HDCP fail message come on when watching via component), but it worked fine.

can it do 720p? sports usually look best on 720p...

Yeah, I'll give it a go, it wasn't interlacing I was seeing I didn't think, more the encoder not quite keeping up.
I'll change to decoder to put 720p and re-record.
Don't think this device will capture the AC3 bitstream unfortunately, even if I pass it through the HDMI.
I could capture it through my spdif in, but seems like more trouble than it's worth.

[whurlston]

I'd be interested in seeing the filtercheck.log for that device.

[JonnyCam]

As attached, doesn't look like the hdmi & component ports are exposed, but then again - I don't know what I am looking at!
(although the secondary analog capture & xbar looks interesting)

I'll have a play anyway, currently capturing some football at 720p through component.

[JonnyCam]

Well, that was easier than I thought.
As per this graph, I'm getting the same video as is playing in avermedia center, and playing through HD component.

However, it looks to receiving a 720x576 frame from my 1280x720 input, but avermedia is captuing at the correct size.

EDIT: By disconnecting the pins from the secondary capture, I could change the output frame size to 1280x720 and change frame rates etc. (could also set to 1920x1080)

Guess this could now be used with the graphrecorder plugin, as GBPVR is much nicer to use for schedules etc (on my main machine, not the HTPC)

[sub]

Yeah, it what I couldn't understand - the manual says on the component it won't record macrovision protected content, or HDCP protected HDMI video, yet it allowed me to record from the HDCP enabled connection from the myskyHD box at full res.
I suspected sports would work, but thought it would say no to TV3, as it's got the downgrade flag set (and the HDCP fail message come on when watching via component), but it worked fine.

You're correct that the HD-PVR would only give you whatever the resolution the component video cables are carrying.

In the early days of BluRay there was bit kerfuffle in the US about this down scaling of component for HDMI protected content, since at that stage the majority of people own HD tv's with only component video inputs, and the various parties back away from the down scaling idea. I dont think its done in the US, so this hasnt been a problem HD-PVR users have had to contend with. (but would be a problem with MySky here in NZ)

[whurlston]

Guess this could now be used with the graphrecorder plugin, as GBPVR is much nicer to use for schedules etc (on my main machine, not the HTPC)

Yeah, I was wondering if any directshow filters were exposed. Thanks.