SageTV HD Media Extender

[geogecko]

I agree. I'm waiting for the D-Link 855 to come out, then will upgrade the Wireless-G network I currently have, and finally get rid of that WRT54G that goes bonkers every time the power goes out...

[garyellis]

The Dlink box doesn't have component out and Narflex specifically said the HD MVP would have component out...

Gary Ellis

[YourNameHere]

Can't wait to see the specs on this thing. Fingers crossed for mkv support so I can play my x264 video files. x264 in mkv container seems to be the standard now for packaging mpeg4 video. I have a ton of video files in that format so I will for sure be ordering 3 of the HD MVP if there is mkv support.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by geogecko

I agree. I'm waiting for the D-Link 855 to come out, then will upgrade the Wireless-G network I currently have, and finally get rid of that WRT54G that goes bonkers every time the power goes out...

I just replaced my WRT54G v5 with a D-link DIR-625. I wanted to get the 655 but I thought it was a little expensive. I'm loving it so far. Far far better throughput than the Linksys. I've noticed a difference even in web browsing. The Linksys WRT54G turned into such a POS after all their cost cutting in the later versions.

Now if my cable internet would work correctly. I've been having some quality of service issues lately that are really beginning to tick me off.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by YourNameHere

Can't wait to see the specs on this thing. Fingers crossed for mkv support so I can play my x264 video files. x264 in mkv container seems to be the standard now for packaging mpeg4 video. I have a ton of video files in that format so I will for sure be ordering 3 of the HD MVP if there is mkv support.

The standard container for H.264 video is mp4. TS is also an official container for H.264, as well as M2TS, and EVO.

[Enormous]

I'm going to jump on the band-wagon with my wishlist:

-Product arrives
-Powers on
-Plays HD recordings

That is all. I want to reclaim my gaming box (since it's the only machine with a powerful enough video card for HD and is serving as the Sage Client machine right now)! Although it has been pretty sweet playing Portal on the 47" LCD!

[valnar]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Suppose I'll get the questions out of the way:

• What video codecs are supported? (VC1, H264, MPEG2, MPEG4, WMV)?
• What audio codecs are supported? (DD, DTS, MP2, MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA Lossless, DD+/EAC3, etc?)
• What containers are supported? (MPG, TS, TP, WMV, DVD/VOB, EVO, M2TS?)
• What resolutions are supported? (480i/p, 720p, 1080i/p, PC resolutions, custom resolutions?)
• How about a "native" output that will output the video in whatever format (480i/p,720p,1080i,1080p) it is without processing (for processing by an external scaler)?
• Is the full compliment of AR controls available?
• What sort of audio output is available? (HDMI, S/PDIF, Analog)
• If HDMI audio, what sorts of HDMI audio?

Narflex,
Since you already let the cat out of the bag, it would be nice to know the answers to some of stanger89's questions. For instance, if it supports H.264 but not VC1 or MPEG2 (unlikely), then that would not alleviate the need for a local Sage Client on a PC. If it can do all the video codecs mentioned above, then most of us can give up trying to get an nVidia 8600GT or ATI HD2600 working and just wait 'till November.

My fear is this will work for 80% of our content, but still require us to have a HTPC for the rest. Please let us know.

-Robert

[tmiranda]

Originally posted by Enormous:

-Product arrives
-Powers on
-Plays HD recordings

My wishlist as well

Maybe add:
- Reliably connects to Sage Server.

[SpiffyRex]

Assumptions:
HD Media Extender has hardware mpeg-2 and divx decoding.
Plenty of CPU horsepower in SageTV MC.
Unlimited network throughput.
HD video card in SageTV Client machine, HDMI or DVI connection to TV.

Assertions:
H.264 material will get transcoded in the SageTV MC and sent as mpeg-2 to the HD Media Extender.
H.264 material gets sent unmodified for local processing in the SageTV Client.
Because of the transcoding, the video quality of the HD Media Extender will be lesser than the SageTV Client.

Comments please. Are these assertions true? If the video quality is lesser, will it be by a high degree, or just barely noticeable?

[MH2006]

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

Assumptions:
HD Media Extender has hardware mpeg-2 and divx decoding.
Plenty of CPU horsepower in SageTV MC.
Unlimited network throughput.
HD video card in SageTV Client machine, HDMI or DVI connection to TV.

Assertions:
H.264 material will get transcoded in the SageTV MC and sent as mpeg-2 to the HD Media Extender.
H.264 material gets sent unmodified for local processing in the SageTV Client.
Because of the transcoding, the video quality of the HD Media Extender will be lesser than the SageTV Client.

Comments please. Are these assertions true? If the video quality is lesser, will it be by a high degree, or just barely noticeable?

I would guess that the Sage HD media extender would be based on a sigma 8622 System-on-chip, which is capable of decoding h264 natively so I would actually expect quality of h264 video to be better than SageTV Client above. That hardware can also be pushed to decode mkv, which some other makers are doing. These boxes with the 8622 typical sell over $200 though =/

[Addict]

So, maybe this is a stupid question but I'm not familiar with any extenders... Will you be able to install STV's, STVi's, theme's, etc?

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Addict

So, maybe this is a stupid question but I'm not familiar with any extenders... Will you be able to install STV's, STVi's, theme's, etc?

Yes, just like the MVP.

[malbec]

Narflex-

Thanks again for giving an update. I very much appreciate it. However, after tracking this thread for a while now, I feel obligated to apologize to you for goading you into providing more information.

Sorry,
Malbec

[hedlung]

Don't want to be boring, but as a non-native english speaker, it's becoming a little annoying with all these jokes... I soon cannot tell what is "real" wishes and not...

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by hedlung

Don't want to be boring, but as a non-native english speaker, it's becoming a little annoying with all these jokes... I soon cannot tell what is "real" wishes and not...

Posts #ed:
154
157
158
159
160
162 (I think...LOL)
163
164
165
166
168
169
170
171
172
175
176
177

Could be considered "joking" wishes. All others are either just remarks to them, or actual references to the actual device in the title of the thread... May have missed a couple, but for the most part, in general, the latter half of page 8, and most of page 9 has been about this non-existent device (of course the real one doesn't exist either, yet, that we know about). Hope this clears things up. I'm sure when it does come out, that a new thread will be started, that will not contain the ramblings that this one has become. Of course, that one will be full of complaints about what it doesn't do, and what people wished it would do, which could lead us back full circle to where we are today...

[poluxproject]

It Is November..... Can we have a spoiler picture of the extender
Polux.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by hedlung

Don't want to be boring, but as a non-native english speaker, it's becoming a little annoying with all these jokes... I soon cannot tell what is "real" wishes and not...

Here you go... all the jokes and asides about what an extender, client, or server really are have been moved here.

- Andy

[hedlung]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Here you go... all the jokes and asides about what an extender, client, or server really are have been moved here. - Andy

Many thanks!!! Then I can read it and laugh securely

[autoboy]

Ok guys, I really need to know this next information before I buy my new receiver. We know that the HD extender will be able to scale to 1080p, but I'm assuming the scaling will be average and will not be able to pull all the information out of 1080i film based material. So, I'm buying a new receiver and they all seem to come with upscaling built in, and a couple of the new Onkyos come with the very good HQV ReonVX chip that can do reverse telecine on 1080i TV and can really improve the picuture of both, SD material as well as 1080i HD material.

So, does the HD extender have an option to allow the passthrough of TV in its native format (480i, 720p, 1080i) or does it scale everything to the output setting on the extender (1080p in my case)? If the HD extender scales everything, then there is little reason for me to buy the better receiver with the Reon chip because it will never get used and I can save $500, but if it can output the native resolution of the content, then the Reon chip will be able to do a much better job than my TV, the extender, or a standard upscaling receiver could ever do and it will be worth the extra $$$. So, it is already November, what could be hurt by letting us know what the scaling features are?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by autoboy

Ok guys, I really need to know this next information before I buy my new receiver. We know that the HD extender will be able to scale to 1080p, but I'm assuming the scaling will be average and will not be able to pull all the information out of 1080i film based material. So, I'm buying a new receiver and they all seem to come with upscaling built in, and a couple of the new Onkyos come with the very good HQV ReonVX chip that can do reverse telecine on 1080i TV and can really improve the picuture of both, SD material as well as 1080i HD material.

I'm pondering getting the Gennum VXP/HDMI upgrade for my AVM 20 to go with the new extender

So, does the HD extender have an option to allow the passthrough of TV in its native format (480i, 720p, 1080i) or does it scale everything to the output setting on the extender (1080p in my case)?

I really hope it offers both options.

If the HD extender scales everything, then there is little reason for me to buy the better receiver with the Reon chip because it will never get used and I can save $500, but if it can output the native resolution of the content, then the Reon chip will be able to do a much better job than my TV, the extender, or a standard upscaling receiver could ever do and it will be worth the extra $$$. So, it is already November, what could be hurt by letting us know what the scaling features are?

Consider this, scaling itself, is easy, lots of products can do that well today, deinterlacing SD well is getting to be pretty common, what's still not common is proper deinterlacing of 1080p. So you could, theoretically (if there is no "Native" output option) set it to 1080i, and 480i, 480p, 720p would all be handled well, and you could leave the tricky 1080i handling to the Reon in the receiver.