R5000 - Any updates on MPEG4 / H.264 with Dish Network?

[DualQuad]

Narflex,
What can the R5000 owners do to help facilitate getting this worked out?

Thanks,
DualQuad

[CanadianEh]

Originally Posted by DualQuad

Narflex,
What can the R5000 owners do to help facilitate getting this worked out?

Thanks,
DualQuad

I'm guessing you guys should file bug reports, as Sage normally would request. I'd love to see updates on this topic, as they come along. I would switch to Dish if this becomes a proven, stable way to record HD. 4 OTA / 4 QAM stations just isn't cutting it.. *sigh*

[Narflex]

Yes, please file bug reports.

[NEOSG]

For the benefit of forum members, here is a support ticket I just filed

MPEG4 recorded files are not able to be played via Sage6.1

Test scenario. Test system has CoreAVC with Halli installed, along with NVidia DVD Decoder for MPEG2.

Recorded file using R5000 app directly, and added to Sage6.1 test system via Media Import. File identified by SAGETV as

MPEG2-TS[H.264 16:9 1080P@29.97fps, AC3/385Kbps@48kHz 5.1]

Media Player Classic plays file AOK, and Media Player Classic file properties show

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1440x1088 [Video]
Audio: Dolby AC3 48000Hz 6ch 384Kbps [Audio]
Subtitle: DVD Subpicture [Subtitle]

This is a test recording with a .ts file extension.


When attempting to playback via SageTV, here s the error message

There was a Playback Error in playback.
Details:
sage.PlaybackException:Error(-4,0x800402170: There was a problem rendering the video portion of the content for playback.

Additional note, in Media Library, thumbnail is not generated for test this file.

[HawgGuy]

In my most recent experimentation I have been seeing the following 3 behaviors with h.264 mpeg4 on my system:

r5000hd:
Some programs refuse any playback (sage.PlaybackExcetion Error -4,0)
Some playback with perfect audio, no video
Some playback with audio & video herky-jerky unwatchable

If I open the r5000 status window during playback, I notice that for case 1 the streams are mis-identified as MPEG-2 0 X 0
cases 2 & 3 are correctly identified as MPEG-4 (h.264) video profile 77, level 4.00 AC3 audio.

If I manually rip a video as mpeg-4 (h.264) AVC/AAC from my Mac it plays back flawlessley in SageTV.

[NEOSG]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

In my most recent experimentation I have been seeing the following 3 behaviors with h.264 mpeg4 on my system:

r5000hd:
Some programs refuse any playback (sage.PlaybackExcetion Error -4,0)
Some playback with perfect audio, no video
Some playback with audio & video herky-jerky unwatchable

If I open the r5000 status window during playback, I notice that for case 1 the streams are mis-identified as MPEG-2 0 X 0
cases 2 & 3 are correctly identified as MPEG-4 (h.264) video profile 77, level 4.00 AC3 audio.

If I manually rip a video as mpeg-4 (h.264) AVC/AAC from my Mac it plays back flawlessley in SageTV.

HawgGuy,

What h.264 decoder are you using? Did you make any modifications to sage.properties or sageclient.properties to get the files to play?

Thanks

[HawgGuy]

Originally Posted by NEOSG

HawgGuy,

What h.264 decoder are you using? Did you make any modifications to sage.properties or sageclient.properties to get the files to play?

Thanks

Cyberlink decoders. No modifications to sage.properties or sageclient.properties.

[NEOSG]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

Cyberlink decoders. No modifications to sage.properties or sageclient.properties.

OK, Thanks

[Fluffdaddy]

So as of 05-14-2007 5:18PM:
Bottom line, Dishnet Playback via sage for mpeg-4 (h.264) content is not working No fix No workaround no nothing..............right??

Boy did I throw money down the rat hole on this HDTV project

$200 211 ird
$550 R5000 mod
$49 sage/r5000 software

[CanadianEh]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

In my most recent experimentation I have been seeing the following 3 behaviors with h.264 mpeg4 on my system:

r5000hd:
Some programs refuse any playback (sage.PlaybackExcetion Error -4,0)
Some playback with perfect audio, no video
Some playback with audio & video herky-jerky unwatchable

If I open the r5000 status window during playback, I notice that for case 1 the streams are mis-identified as MPEG-2 0 X 0
cases 2 & 3 are correctly identified as MPEG-4 (h.264) video profile 77, level 4.00 AC3 audio.

If I manually rip a video as mpeg-4 (h.264) AVC/AAC from my Mac it plays back flawlessley in SageTV.

HawgGuy,

Have you filed a bug report with Sage on this? It sounded like they'd love to work with us on this issue. Fortunately/unfortunately, I don't have satellite HD yet, so I can't assist.... but if the issues are resolved, then I might take the plunge and move away from Comcrap

[HawgGuy]

Originally Posted by CanadianEh

HawgGuy,

Have you filed a bug report with Sage on this?

Yes, I have. I have also been contacted in response and sent a test h264 file from the r5000hd dish stream. Haven't heard back.

I *suspect* that there is something non-standard about the dish r5000hd h264 streams. Sage plays back h264 video that I produce on my Mac just fine. Also, my Mac has problems playing back the h264 streams from the r5000hd. The only thing that plays back the h264 streams from my r5000hd reliably is the Cyberlink PowerDVD player.

[HawgGuy]

Originally Posted by Fluffdaddy

So as of 05-14-2007 5:18PM:
Bottom line, Dishnet Playback via sage for mpeg-4 (h.264) content is not working No fix No workaround no nothing..............right??

Boy did I throw money down the rat hole on this HDTV project

$200 211 ird
$550 R5000 mod
$49 sage/r5000 software

Oh ye of little faith. Sage will play back all of the SD streams from the r5000hd flawlessly (and probably better PQ than via your Svideo STB input) and non-h264 HD streams (which are dwindling).

It is my sincere hope that, eventually, Sage will be able to play r5000hd h264 streams on the near future (or at least in time for football).

[Fluffdaddy]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

Oh ye of little faith..

I know I know

But, I did not kick out the cash to playback SD streams. But I will wait it out.........what choice do I have?

I will also send in a bug report

[mikesm]

That's odd. The R5000 mod only captures the data stream that goes to the decoder in the STB. It gives you what the box is decoding, and I thought the format for h.264 was like that of MPEG2, same format for both SD and HD.

I'm puzzled that Sage can play SD and not HD, unless it was some sort of codec issue.

thanks
mike

[HawgGuy]

Originally Posted by mikesm

That's odd. The R5000 mod only captures the data stream that goes to the decoder in the STB. It gives you what the box is decoding, and I thought the format for h.264 was like that of MPEG2, same format for both SD and HD.

I'm puzzled that Sage can play SD and not HD, unless it was some sort of codec issue.

thanks
mike

All of the SD streams are standard MPEG-2. Some (dwindling) HD streams are MPEG-2 - these are playable by Sage, but HD channels (increasingly) are being sent as h264 MPEG-4 streams. These are not (currently) playable by Sage. (NFL-HD, ESPN2, FOOD-HD, HGTV-HD to name a few).

I suspect any future new HD programming from DISH will be h264.

[Lucas]

I am not sure the R5000 mpeg4 h.264 stream is peculiar but I don't have any issues playing h.264 mpeg4 in the form of .ts files.

This ability materialised with 6.1.

[redondo_se]

I've been watching this thread as I'm considering Sage + multiple R5000-HD + HDHomeRun + Dish Network as my future whole-home TV solution. I haven't played with Sage at all yet, but is it not possible to configure it to use certain codecs directly or through the windows merit system? FFDSHOW does a pretty good job with most H.264 I've seen. I've been using the version from afterdawn, but I think this is the new official development version, ffdshow-tryout.

I've had mixed success with passthru of AC3. Both FFDSHOW and AC3Filter can handle passthru or decode both AC3 and DTS. AC3Filter did a better job of DTS passthru for me.

Thanks,
Sean.

[HawgGuy]

Originally Posted by Lucas

I am not sure the R5000 mpeg4 h.264 stream is peculiar but I don't have any issues playing h.264 mpeg4 in the form of .ts files.

This ability materialised with 6.1.

Do your .ts files come from a dish/r5000hd source?

I don't have any issues playing h.264 mpeg4 with sage with the exception of the files created by my r5000hd modded dish vip 211.

[lobosrul]

I haven't played with Sage at all yet, but is it not possible to configure it to use certain codecs directly or through the windows merit system?

Yes, you can to a degree. However, I've been unable to switch my demuxer. I'd like to use Haali splitter for everything, but sage always uses its own demuxer. If I uninstall it, then i get no playback. You can always tell which filters are being used by setting ffdshow to "decode" uncompressed audio, you will get an icon no matter whats being played that lists each filter being used.

Someone sent me a short clip that was recorded from an r5000 and I've yet to be able to play it back in Sage.

[spacerad]

The h.264 streams broadcast by Dish Network appear to be PAFF interlaced. Most available h.264/AVC decoders cannot handle this type of interlacing. PowerDVD 7 Deluxe does not work. Neither does ffdshow or any avcodec derivatives. The only decoder that I've personally encountered that can properly decode these is from Elecard, which is actually licensed from MainConcept. The Elecard decoder appears to be tied to their playing and editing products, due to licensing restrictions. A demo of their player is available on their web site (www.elecard.com). The directshow filters are also available from MainConcept, though I don't know the price. Recent versions of CoreAVC Pro are also supposed to be able to handle PAFF interlaced h.264, but sales on their web site has been down for a very long time, with no relief in sight.