Quick question on the MVP

[73cuda]

I've been reading here on the forum and here...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauppauge_MediaMVP

And I think it finally hit me... Am I correct that the digital video data from STV is transmitted direct to the MVP or the HD extender and you don't even need a real good video card because the video card isn't even used ?

And therefore the picture is much better than any card can do ?

[Opus4]

Yes, the MVP and HD100 extenders have hardware decoders built into them. The MVP is limited regarding what media formats it can natively play & those that it can't play in its own decoder are transcoded by the SageTV server, using the cpu, not the video card. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there are currently any video formats that are transcoded for playback on the HD100; it plays pretty much all the files natively via its own decoder.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by 73cuda

And therefore the picture is much better than any card can do ?

That doesn't follow. The extenders have hardware decoders; so do most graphics cards. Nothing says the ones on good graphics cards can't be just as good or even better than the ones in the extenders.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

The extenders have hardware decoders; so do most graphics cards. Nothing says the ones on good graphics cards can't be just as good or even better than the ones in the extenders.

This may be true for HDTV, but for a connection to an SD TV, which is all the MVP can output, there are few, if any, graphics cards that can output as good a signal, considering interlacing, deinterlacing, and all that. That's why I used an Xcard on my main system until the HD100 came out - video cards just were not going to match it + it took the entire playback load off the cpu. My other TV used an MVP; I made sure to not use a video card for any SD output.

BTW: the HD100 has better SD TV output than the MVP.

For HD TV, I can't really make a comparison since I don't do anything with HD.

- Andy

[valnar]

Originally Posted by Opus4

This may be true for HDTV, but for a connection to an SD TV, which is all the MVP can output, there are few, if any, graphics cards that can output as good a signal, considering interlacing, deinterlacing, and all that.

I respectfully disagree. I thought the output of the MediaMVP was atrocious. The HD100 is much better for any kind of output.

Robert

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by valnar

I respectfully disagree. I thought the output of the MediaMVP was atrocious. The HD100 is much better for any kind of output.

Robert

I'll respectfully disagree with you. At least on my TV, just a regular 32" SD, the MVP looked much better than the computer I had hooked to it previously. The issue I always had with hooking a computer to the TV is that the "scan lines" of the video being output never lined up quite right to the scan lines of the TV. So what I'd end up with is a blurry image compared to watching TV directly from cable. The MVP is a native NTSC device so the video lines up precisely with the scanlines of the TV. It has a much sharper picture than I ever got from having my computer hooked to the TV.

The HD100 is better than the MVP even for SD picture quality but the difference isn't quite as dramatic as the difference between a PC and the MVP. I did notice a difference but I really couldn't tell you what about the picture made it look better than the MVP.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I'll respectfully disagree with you. At least on my TV, just a regular 32" SD, the MVP looked much better than the computer I had hooked to it previously. The issue I always had with hooking a computer to the TV is that the "scan lines" of the video being output never lined up quite right to the scan lines of the TV. So what I'd end up with is a blurry image compared to watching TV directly from cable. The MVP is a native NTSC device so the video lines up precisely with the scanlines of the TV. It has a much sharper picture than I ever got from having my computer hooked to the TV.

The HD100 is better than the MVP even for SD picture quality but the difference isn't quite as dramatic as the difference between a PC and the MVP. I did notice a difference but I really couldn't tell you what about the picture made it look better than the MVP.

My comparison is to the cableTV feed from my provider through coax. The MediaMVP was not up to snuff. Too red (orange'y), dark and muddy. My previous composite/s-video HTPC used a Matrox G400 card, which wasn't quite fair perhaps because it has (had) the best analog output of any card to date. 'Old card though.

Robert

[CollinR]

I tried to tell you this in the other thread man.

Dunno whats the deal with Valnar, he is the minority in his opinion. Maybe bad MVP??? I dunno.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by valnar

The MediaMVP was not up to snuff. Too red (orange'y), dark and muddy.

I've heard some people had their MVPs replaced & had better output, so maybe your MVP had a problem. The output of my MVP did not have this issue.

My previous composite/s-video HTPC used a Matrox G400 card, which wasn't quite fair perhaps because it has (had) the best analog output of any card to date. 'Old card though.

That's probably one of the 'few' I referred to.

For someone buying an extender now, I would recommend the HD100 over the MVP. I'm obviously biased, but the HD100 has better output, more output connection types, can handle more media file types natively (videos other than mpeg2 & maybe a couple other formats need to be transcoded on the server PC for the MVP), can handle the core animations, and has other native capabilities that the MVP doesn't have. (OK, so it isn't available right now, so if you need an extender today, the MVP is it.)

- Andy

[AngelofDeth]

Originally Posted by valnar

My comparison is to the cableTV feed from my provider through coax. The MediaMVP was not up to snuff. Too red (orange'y), dark and muddy. My previous composite/s-video HTPC used a Matrox G400 card, which wasn't quite fair perhaps because it has (had) the best analog output of any card to date. 'Old card though.

Robert

As has already been said... Your description of the output sounds exactly like what affects, or used to affect some units. I would agree if that was what the real MVP output looked like(I have one of these), a PC could probably match it. But if you have a "good" unit, I don't think a PC can match SDTV output, not with a standard video card anyway.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

As has already been said... Your description of the output sounds exactly like what affects, or used to affect some units. I would agree if that was what the real MVP output looked like(I have one of these), a PC could probably match it. But if you have a "good" unit, I don't think a PC can match SDTV output, not with a standard video card anyway.

I had it replaced by Hauppauge with a new unit at the time (when people were saying good things like you). No difference.

In any case, I see no reason to get them now.

Robert

[AngelofDeth]

Well, just because they replaced it doesn't mean it was fixed. But I would agree that your better off (without having used it) the HD extender now, even if you don't have an HDTV...