How to play transcoded HD on MediaMVP?

[LehighBri]

I recently got my wired MediaMVP up and running and love it. Most of the shows I record are in HD. I understand how to transcode the HD files but it's not too clear on how to play the transcoded HD on my MediaMVP.

What experiences have people seen work best to be able to watch HDTV on their MediaMVP?

[stanger89]

You just play them. Sage automatically transcodes them (or tries to) on the fly. Be aware you'll need a LOT of horsepower for it to work well, probably 3GHz order or better.

[paulbeers]

The easiest thing to do is just try to play an HD file on your MVP. If your server is powerful enough, it should just play. While I am not sure what it takes to oplay "standard" quality, I know that on the fly transcoding to "High" Quality takes about a 2.4 GHZ AMD Athlon64 or a 2 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo. I know my AthlonXP 2200+ couldn't handle Transcoding on the fly even at "standard" quality.

Otherwise there is an option to "convert" your HD recording. I tried it one time when I was using my AthlonXP 2200+ as my server, but the 2 hours it took to transcode the file from HD to DVD Quality (for a one hour show), made me realise it was not much of a viable option (I didn't want to have to wait that kind of time everytime I wanted to watch an HD show on my MVP) and so I went out and upgraded my server.

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

The easiest thing to do is just try to play an HD file on your MVP. If your server is powerful enough, it should just play. While I am not sure what it takes to oplay "standard" quality, I know that on the fly transcoding to "High" Quality takes about a 2.4 GHZ AMD Athlon64 or a 2 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo. I know my AthlonXP 2200+ couldn't handle Transcoding on the fly even at "standard" quality.

Otherwise there is an option to "convert" your HD recording. I tried it one time when I was using my AthlonXP 2200+ as my server, but the 2 hours it took to transcode the file from HD to DVD Quality (for a one hour show), made me realise it was not much of a viable option (I didn't want to have to wait that kind of time everytime I wanted to watch an HD show on my MVP) and so I went out and upgraded my server.

I have a Core 2 Duo 6300 so I hope that should have enough horsepower for the MVP. Worst case, it sounds like I can "convert" the recordings overnight since I mainly use the server to record TV when I'm traveling on the road.

[ybrew]

LehighBri, when do you plan to try your 6300?
I'm gonna be building a system soon and trying to decide on a processor (AMD 5000+ or 5600+ or Intel E6400, 6600 or 6700.

I'm curious to hear your results on the 6300.

thanks!

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by ybrew

LehighBri, when do you plan to try your 6300?
I'm gonna be building a system soon and trying to decide on a processor (AMD 5000+ or 5600+ or Intel E6400, 6600 or 6700.

I'm curious to hear your results on the 6300.

thanks!

I plan to try my E6300 w/ 2GB RAM server tonight. I want to test HD streaming to the MVP (via real-time transcoding) and also the streaming but while I am recording another show and running ShowAnalyzer on it all at the same time. I'll keep you posted.

[ybrew]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

I plan to try my E6300 w/ 2GB RAM server tonight. I want to test HD streaming to the MVP (via real-time transcoding) and also the streaming but while I am recording another show and running ShowAnalyzer on it all at the same time. I'll keep you posted.

Please do.

What is ShowAnalyzer? Is that like comskip?
I'll build an E6600 (likely) in the next few weeks, so really curious about your results.

(Edit - yes it is. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...t=showanalyzer)

[paulbeers]

Worst case scenrio is that you can't transcode to High quality but rather Standard. You could also try doing a very small amount of overclocking (10% or so) if you notice any studdering at High quality. My e4300 is overclocked to 2.4Ghz with stock voltage.

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by ybrew

I'll build an E6600 (likely) in the next few weeks, so really curious about your results.

ybrew - I just did some preliminary testing. When playing a live HDTV show through my HDHomeRun (w/o MediaMVP), server CPU is around 20-25%. When I add in streaming another channel's live HDTV show, server CPU is around 50-60% and occasionally peaks at 70%. Overall I'm happy so far. Note that I'm using Standard Quality as the setting for transcoding to my MediaMVP.