Quick Question

[MartyJ]

What is the requirement of this extender to be able to play HD content from the media server?

I have a HD tuner card that can record HD content (which I have recorded a few shows). When I play the HD recording back on my server it is choppy which I guess is because my video card on my server is not that beefy.

Does the extender's performance rely on the video card that is in the server? I just want to make sure that I have everything I need to make the extender work great with HD content.

The server I am running on is a P4 3.0 ghz with 1.5 gig of ram.

Also do you have to use HDMI cables out of the extender in order to play HD content or can you use composite (RGB) cables?


Thanks in advance,

Marty

[kevine]

I will allow others to elaborate on the HDMI but I can tell you that the HD extender does not rely on your video card in the server at all and that server configuration should be fine.

Sage playback of HD is tricky and may not be worth troubleshooting to see it play back smooth but have you tried VLC or WMP to play back and HD recording?

[stuckless]

Does the extender's performance rely on the video card that is in the server?

The HD extender uses hardware decoding, and as such, does not require anything from the server in terms of resources. This is not true for the normal MVP extender, since it did require the server to transcode on the fly, if the video format was NOT in mp2 format.

My sage server is not capable of displaying (decoding) HD content at all... but the HD extender works just fine.

Also do you have to use HDMI cables out of the extender in order to play HD content or can you use composite (RGB) cables?

Although I haven't confirmed this personally.... But I would assume that the HD extender will play HD content just fine via the component cables.

[MartyJ]

This is what I was hoping to hear.

I am eagerly waiting on the HD extenders to come in.

I will try VLC or WMP for playback on the server to see if that helps.

I initially thought that the issue was the fact that I am running a ATI Radeon X300 series card. This is probably the issue but I will give VLC and WMP a try.

Thanks Again,

Marty

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Although I haven't confirmed this personally.... But I would assume that the HD extender will play HD content just fine via the component cables.

I have tried it with component, and it works. On my TV (Sony SXRD, not sure about others) it's pretty wonky when you have native resolution enabled - everytime it switches res the TV loses sync (in a fairly spectacular way) for a second or two. The menu sizes also shift around, so you need to adjust your overscan for the worst overscanning resolution.

HMDI doesn't have either of these behaviors. Not really sure how much of it is Sage's fault, if any. I think it's mostly how your TV deals with it, or just plain "that's how it works".

[pjpjpjpj]

Marty,

Just to concur with above, my server can not handle HD content at all (if I accidentally try to tune in HD programming via VLC, it crashes spectacularly). But it's flawless through the HD Extender.

It caused me a few problems in the SageTV setup - there is some point where one step of the wizard tries to tune a station or something - it crashed my server - but I rebooted and resumed the wizard setup from after that page and everything worked fine. Once I got it set up the first time, I have always done any revising of the setup/wizard through the extender rather than on the server.

stuckless - is that true, that MVPs require the server to do the encoding? I did not know that. I was considering buying an MVP in the future for a future SD TV (for the future nursery). What level of encoding does it have to do, since the MVP itself can not do HD? Does the server have to take on an HD stream and encode it (say, OTA HD) and send it out HD, and the MVP downconverts it? Or does the server only encode the stream at an SD level? (I hope that makes sense)

[gplasky]

The MVP can only handle mpg2 files at SD resolution. Any other file type or resolution is transcoded by the server and streamed to the MVP. If all your recording is SD TV programs then you will be fine and no transcoding is needed.

Gerry

[stuckless]

stuckless - is that true, that MVPs require the server to do the encoding?

Thanks Gerry for clarify the SD extender hardware decoding... So, yeah, the SD extender has hardware decoding for mp2.... but if you have HD content, or files in non mp2 format, such as divx, xvid, etc, then the mvp will require the server to transcode on the fly. As Gerry said, if you are using SD tuners to record, then you'll be fine.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by gplasky

The MVP can only handle mpg2 files at SD resolution. Any other file type or resolution is transcoded by the server and streamed to the MVP. If all your recording is SD TV programs then you will be fine and no transcoding is needed.

Gerry

Originally Posted by stuckless

Thanks Gerry for clarify the SD extender hardware decoding... So, yeah, the SD extender has hardware decoding for mp2.... but if you have HD content, or files in non mp2 format, such as divx, xvid, etc, then the mvp will require the server to transcode on the fly. As Gerry said, if you are using SD tuners to record, then you'll be fine.

Drat. I only have HDHR as tuners, and they record everything that is HD in HD. So I guess I will either need to get more HD Extenders or get a new, "beefier" server.