What formats can SageTV stream to the MVP without having to Transcode them?

[codacoda]

Anyone know?

[gplasky]

Mpeg2. The MVP is a hardware MPEG2 decoder device.

Gerry

[codacoda]

Thanks,

Do you have a preferred software for ripping DVD's to MPeg2?

Anyone.

[gplasky]

DVD vobs are already MEPG2. It's athe AC3 soundtrack that the MVP can't handle. I don't even bother trying to play DVDs on the MVP. I'm hoping for a solution (soon) and if I have to invest in the new MVP with spdif.

Gerry

[codacoda]

I guess my issue is this. I was coping to MP4 AVC. That is currently a no go on the MPV. Then when I got the new Wireless MVP is switched to Divx.

I'm finding that unless I shut EVERYTHING else down on the Server (ShowAnalyser) and make sure that NO one else is watching anything else on Sage, then the .avi file will not play without stoping and starting, and basically becomes unwatchable.

I notice that SageTranscoder is running at 70 to 100% of system resources.

Even if I do make sure that nothing else is going on with the server (it is dedicated-P4, 512meg), I still will get some stops and stats.

So I thought I'd just give up and rip my DVD's to Mpeg 2 and be done with the problem.

Am I doing something wrong?

[gplasky]

Don't know. Any transcoding will take a lot of horsepower. 70-100% is not uncommon. You say you have a P4 but do not mention speed. Having a P4 is not enough if the speed is slow. I think I remember at least 3 GHz being recommended. As I mentioned above just ripping the DVD to mpeg2 isn't enough. In fact if you could just re-encode the audio for a DVD to mp3 audio would work. But I enjoy the surround sound on my main system so I would have maintain another copy of the DVD just for the MVP. I can wait for a better solution.

Gerry

[jquinlan]

Originally Posted by codacoda

Thanks,

Do you have a preferred software for ripping DVD's to MPeg2?

Anyone.

I pre-rip my DVD's to SVCD (full suround sound) in the "My Videos" menu for kids and new release DVD. I hate to leave the originals out anymore. I have tried about 20 DVD rippers and had numerous problems with frame-rate, audio sync, SAGE FF/RW control problems because the video is not pure enough MPEG for SAGE/MVP, and ripping time. Most of them take about 2x-3x the length of the movie in time to rip.

I sometimes use WinCopyDVD, it has the fastest ripping engine I have found. (30-45 min. a movie) The only problem I have is there is no aspect ratio control of the video, so sometimes 16x9 videos are cropped/padded too much on the top and bottom.

So I use ImTOO DVD Ripper 4, it takes about 1x the length of the movie so it is better than most and the size of the rip file is pretty good, about 1.5 to 2 Gigs per movie. It also has an aspect ratio control so my videos look better.

One program I have found that I also like but it takes about 2x the time to rip is AVS Video Converter 4. It support almost all portable devices as well as the DVD and SVCD I needed to rip, so it has other uses then just for SAGE for me.
All of these come with trials so you can test them for your use.
I also use command line options to execute my ripping programs at lower priorities so it does not affect SAGE that much. So far it has not affected audio or video quality.

By the way, all of these programs pull directly off of the DVD to the mpeg file in one step. To get around the DVD security I use AnyDVD, this way any copy, shrinker, ripper I use will work with any DVD. I own then so I am trying to protect my invenment by not leaving the originals out, I hate what the DMCA has done to things.

[codacoda]

[QUOTE=jquinlan]I pre-rip my DVD's to SVCD (full suround sound) in the "My Videos" menu for kids and new release DVD. I hate to leave the originals out anymore. I have tried about 20 DVD rippers and had numerous problems with frame-rate, audio sync, SAGE FF/RW control problems because the video is not pure enough MPEG for SAGE/MVP, and ripping time. Most of them take about 2x-3x the length of the movie in time to rip.

So I use ImTOO DVD Ripper 4, it takes about 1x the length of the movie so it is better than most and the size of the rip file is pretty good, about 1.5 to 2 Gigs per movie. It also has an aspect ratio control so my videos look better.

QUOTE]

Thank you for the great feedback.

A couple of questions about ImToo DVD Ripper 4. (ITDR)

With ImToo DVD Ripper 4 do you get the sync sage issues mentioned above?

Do the ITDR files play well in MVP?

Are you happy with the quality of the video?

And also, can ITDR be run completely from command line? That would be very nice indeed. If so, can you pass along the command line structure?

Thank you again for the information.

[jquinlan]

Originally Posted by codacoda

With ImToo DVD Ripper 4 do you get the sync sage issues mentioned above?

Once it has been ripped, I don’t try to view them while it is ripping (also ImTOO default to .vob extension for SVCD that I rename to MPG and then pull down the JPG picture from the Internet), they work perfectly even if I am recording up to three TV sources and watching 2 SVCD's on 2 different MVP's.

Originally Posted by codacoda

Do the ITDR files play well in MVP?

ITDR and AVS work perfectly, pause, FF/RW, skip Forward/Back and the time bar tracks correctly. WinDVDCopy's dont tract corectly on the MVP.

Originally Posted by codacoda

Are you happy with the quality of the video?

I am. Even on a 37 LCD wide-screen. I do notice some resolution edge blurring due to the SVCD downgrade but the family does not notice it so I am happy. If I want a high resolution picture for a 100" projector screen then I pull out the DVD and use high-def cables with a DVD player or computer.

Originally Posted by codacoda

And also, can ITDR be run completely from command line? That would be very nice indeed. If so, can you pass along the command line structure?

I have not looked into it. I can batch ripp once you tell it the volumes, I used it rip two DVD from two drives. It does not try to find the main movie, it selects everything once you tell it to read the DVD. So I don’t know if the intelligence is there.

[dvd_maniac]

I was thinking of replacing my bedroom PC with a wired MVP. I have an AMD dual core 4400 on the Sage server which sometimes does H264 encoding. The video that I'd be watching is encoded in the mp4 container at about 600-800kbps. Should I expect this to work properly or not?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

I was thinking of replacing my bedroom PC with a wired MVP. I have an AMD dual core 4400 on the Sage server which sometimes does H264 encoding. The video that I'd be watching is encoded in the mp4 container at about 600-800kbps. Should I expect this to work properly or not?

The ASP format of MP4 works well for me but that might be allot easier to transcode I suppose.

[dvd_maniac]

Yes ASP is similair to Xvid or Divx so I would think it would be much easier.