SageTV+HDHomeRun+MediaMVP's

[steingra]

Hello

(I dont have an HDHR yet...am going to be buying one next few days, just doing some research right now in the sagetv forums. I am planning on using it for OTA only)

Was hoping someone could explain how the Media MVP's can show content from an HDHomeRun device that is hooked up with SageTV server? I have four of them and they work great with my current SD sagetv setup. Anxious to get some HD content recorded.

Since recordings from the HDHR are high def format, and then saved onto the sagetv hard drive...how is it that a MediaMVP can play these video files? When they were not created to play HD content.

I havent found a good explanation of that process yet on the forum. Am curious how that works.

**************************
Also...as I understand it, the HDHR is just taking the HD OTA data (in mpeg 2 format) and passing it through the network to SageTV. So that means nothing is done to the data at that point in the process besides just writing it to the hard drive of the sagetv server.

Is that true?

**************************

Thank you for any clarification on these points.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by steingra

Hello

(I dont have an HDHR yet...am going to be buying one next few days, just doing some research right now in the sagetv forums. I am planning on using it for OTA only)

Was hoping someone could explain how the Media MVP's can show content from an HDHomeRun device that is hooked up with SageTV server? I have four of them and they work great with my current SD sagetv setup. Anxious to get some HD content recorded.

Since recordings from the HDHR are high def format, and then saved onto the sagetv hard drive...how is it that a MediaMVP can play these video files? When they were not created to play HD content.

I havent found a good explanation of that process yet on the forum. Am curious how that works.

SageTVTranscoder converts the HD video to SD MPEG-2 for the MVP to play. You need quite a bit of server horsepower to do that.

**************************
Also...as I understand it, the HDHR is just taking the HD OTA data (in mpeg 2 format) and passing it through the network to SageTV. So that means nothing is done to the data at that point in the process besides just writing it to the hard drive of the sagetv server.

Is that true?

yes

[steingra]

Originally Posted by stanger89

SageTVTranscoder converts the HD video to SD MPEG-2 for the MVP to play. You need quite a bit of server horsepower to do that.

I read some threads on forum about an HD MVP Extender. Im wondering how that will effect the sagetv server? If the sagetv server has to transcode the files so that the SD MVP can view them, then maybe the HD MVP will just be able to play them *as-is* since the HD MVP should be able to read the raw data that sagetv server saved to the hard drive, and just play it.

I would rather wait for an HD Extender vs. trying to upgrade my Sagetv server, because overall it has served me very well and is working great. Once I get my HDHR setup, I will have to try it out and see how my server handles the transcoding while trying different quality settings. And if the server is brought to its knees or not. Based on what I read so far, its going to REALLY get hammered if I dont use lower quality (its a 2.4Ghz P4 chip 1GB RAM) Asus a78nx board.

[crmartin]

I read some threads on forum about an HD MVP Extender.

If the sagetv server has to transcode the files so that the SD MVP can view them, then maybe the HD MVP will just be able to play them *as-is* since the HD MVP should be able to read the raw data that sagetv server saved to the hard drive, and just play it.

The HD MVP will not require transcoding, and accepts the raw streamed data from the server. At least that is how I understand it, and I think you are on the right track with your plan.

[stanger89]

I think somebody's been hiding under a rock for the past few days

[mayamaniac]

It's a bit confusing to understand when you don't own an MVP Extender. Before owning one, I was a bit confused myself, particularly how the interface is rendered.

As for the HD on the MVP, you need quite a powerful server to transcode HD to it, more info HERE.

[flavius]

The E4300 can do two threads (=>transcoding jobs our show watched) without a glitch only when over-clocked which it's not an issue.

IMHO, it's not worth it, though, if you can get your hands on the SD transport stream as well.

[steingra]

Is it possible to take the HD data file recorded in sagetv via an HDHomeRun (OTA antenna), and archive it to a DL/DVD?

Just wondering if any conversion/encoding etc is needed before copying the HD show onto a DL/DVD.

I know the HDHomeRun shows are much larger on hard drive since they are HD shows not SD. But assume the HD file is small enough to fit on an Dual layer DVD...just wondering if anyone has any recommendations to do this task.

Thanks again! :-)
***********
Also now that I am starting to accumlate a few football games in OTA HD, I may look at getting a HD extender. But one step at a time. I need to use the HDHR for a little while and make sure it works reliably. Before I add yet another complexity to my setup.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by steingra

Is it possible to take the HD data file recorded in sagetv via an HDHomeRun (OTA antenna), and archive it to a DL/DVD?

Just wondering if any conversion/encoding etc is needed before copying the HD show onto a DL/DVD.

Depends on if you want it to play in a DVD player or not. If not, then you can just burn the file to the DVD, you should be able to fit about a 1-hour show on a DL DVD.

If you want it to play in a DVD player, then you're going to have to transcode it to SD. Don't really have any recommendations for that, Nero might do it.

[bcjenkins]

New version of VideoRedo supports DVD authoring.

[steingra]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

New version of VideoRedo supports DVD authoring.

I went ahead and tried the VideoRedo TV version with a HDHR show that I recently recorded. It worked pretty nicely. Had built in support for making menus, backgrounds, etc and burn support for actually making the DVD.

I tested it on 2 dvd players. On the xbox360 it said it was unreadable. But on a dvd player it read it fine. Overall I could tell the difference between a SD show and this HDHR tvshow that was converted to a SD dvd format. It looked pretty decent, and sometimes close to the original HD tv show. BUt it did have some jaggies around people that were off in the distance, and sometimes moving trees and stuff in the background also got jaggies. But shots of the people (it was a golf tvshow) looked nice.

So anyway, thanks for the tip on the new DVD support. I am very pleased with how easy it was to use. Im going to upgrade for 30$ and get this new version. It fills my needs for doing this kind of task.