Hauppauge WinTV HD PVR (H.264) screenshots, Samples, Q&A

[Brent]

A bit off topic here, but I need some input and it IS related to the HD-PVR

I hear people say CableCard is better then what you can get from the HD-PVR because it doesn't have to transcode it or change it to analog from digital. I know that statement in theory is true and digital would always be preferable. But for someone using Cablecard on an HTPC, aren't they still having to decrease the quality some so it won't take up too much space on the hard drive? If this is the case, couldn't the HD-PVR be almost as good if not just as good as the output most CableCard users are getting?

[fyodor]

I'm confused. Don't cable card systems just store the transmitted Mpeg-2 TS stream on the hard drive? It's not alterable or transcodeable afterwards (one of the major complaints about Cablecard PCs.)

Originally Posted by Brent

A bit off topic here, but I need some input and it IS related to the HD-PVR

I hear people say CableCard is better then what you can get from the HD-PVR because it doesn't have to transcode it or change it to analog from digital. I know that statement in theory is true and digital would always be preferable. But for someone using Cablecard on an HTPC, aren't they still having to decrease the quality some so it won't take up too much space on the hard drive? If this is the case, couldn't the HD-PVR be almost as good if not just as good as the output most CableCard users are getting?

[Brent]

Originally Posted by fyodor

I'm confused. Don't cable card systems just store the transmitted Mpeg-2 TS stream on the hard drive? It's not alterable or transcodeable afterwards (one of the major complaints about Cablecard PCs.)

No it's probably me that's confused. So those TS streams are what they are - no compression, transcoding, cutting, copying or anything.

I guess that would give you less flexibility, but probably the best video quality you could get.

So video quality winner goes to CableCard
Flexibility of file and tools goes to HD-PVR

The output I've seen on the HD-PVR is pretty darn good so I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Just wanted to get my facts right.

[Beefcake550]

you're right,

R5000 mod and cablecard systems would be highest image quality
hd-pvr has most flexibility.

I am deciding between a cable card system and the hd-pvr for my new house, and the HDPVR is winning because then I can have any source for the incoming HD signal (cable, DirecTV, or Dish) and it'll still all "just work" (theoretically).

I may be placing my order any day now.

[thomaszoo]

Theoretically the cable card would be the best. But if I can't watch it on the tv I want without moving the PC it is on, then the picture from the HDPVR starts looking much better!

I currently have firewire recording set up and it works well when the program is not 5c'd. It too is theoretically a better picture (unless the program was 5c'd).

Now if they could only find my HDPVR...

Wayne

Originally Posted by Brent

No it's probably me that's confused. So those TS streams are what they are - no compression, transcoding, cutting, copying or anything.

I guess that would give you less flexibility, but probably the best video quality you could get.

So video quality winner goes to CableCard
Flexibility of file and tools goes to HD-PVR

The output I've seen on the HD-PVR is pretty darn good so I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Just wanted to get my facts right.

[karpodiem]

Cablecard would be worthless to me since I already record ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. off the air.

And I believe most of the channels I would want to record outside this, ESPN, TNT, Big Ten Network HD, are encrypted, and can't be recorded.

[Eric the Red]

I'm able to view all HD clips downloaded from torrents, newsgroups etc.. However, I can't play the clips from the HD-PVR.

I checked the bitrate of the video stream (of that baseball clip someone posted) and it was averaging about 8Mbits/second.. whereas, I was viewing h264 movies that I encoded at about 12Mbits/second (so I guess its not because my computer isn't fast enough). Is this is a problem with my codecs package??.. But then again VLC doesn't even play these clips without crashing. What codecs pack are you guys using on XP to decode/play these videos?

ANY HELP WOULD be appreciated!

[heed316]

Any help on getting them to play in Sage would be appreciated too. The test clips play in every other player I have. Graphedit says they are using the PowerDVD8 decoders and it plays fine in that. But when it comes to playing the files in Sage, it plays maybe 1 or 2 seconds then the pictures freezes and the audio keeps on going, but the picture just sits still. Anyone know why every other program plays these files except Sage?

[Brent]

Try the instructions from this thread - to see if it's codec related

[heed316]

I already had it setup for the Cyberlink h264 codec. I've redone that a few times too just to make sure. Weird thing is when I play the file in a different player, the ac3filter and haali icon appear in the taskbar, but when sage plays it, nothing appears. I think Sage just isn't using what I'm telling it to use.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by heed316

I already had it setup for the Cyberlink h264 codec. I've redone that a few times too just to make sure. Weird thing is when I play the file in a different player, the ac3filter and haali icon appear in the taskbar, but when sage plays it, nothing appears. I think Sage just isn't using what I'm telling it to use.

Don't use Cyberlink - use Arcsoft as it was MUCH better performance for me.

[paulbeers]

So is the included IR Blaster working or not? It seems to be hit or miss...Is it hit or miss mainly whether another Hauppauge device is in the system? I'm concerned because I have a PVR500 in my server and really don't want to give it up....

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

So is the included IR Blaster working or not? It seems to be hit or miss...Is it hit or miss mainly whether another Hauppauge device is in the system? I'm concerned because I have a PVR500 in my server and really don't want to give it up....

Running on Vista x64 the included IR Blaster is working fine and I have two PVR500s in the system but only using the HDPVR blaster not any others on the system.

[foolio]

What audio codec do you use to get audio? I tried playing some sample clips with the arcsoft codec - video is butter smooth but no audio.

thanks

[Eric the Red]

Okay I have an update... I got all the HD PVR sample clips to work with the CoreAVC codec pack on Windows XP. I had to change from the k-lite pack to CoreAVC because it would lag, crash and produce a distorted picture with any sample clips from the HD PVR.

For some reason, Coreavc works great on these sample clips but... now I can't get some other clips to work (like some from torrent/newgroup sites) that were previously working with the k-lite pack. Can I install multiple codecs or is this a bad idea?

I miss my k-lite pack in one way but also hate it in another way now ... doesn't work with the HD PVR ... Please post any solutions!

[stanger89]

Codec packs are evil.

[gplasky]

See this post:
Divx H.264 beta

Project Rémoulade

I only have the clips to play and they play very well. Sign up for it and test. (I'll have the HD-PVR up this weekend.)

Gerry

[timnelsonic]

I set up my new Hauppauge HD PVR last night. Following are some comments and first impressions. I wasn't sure if I should start a new thread or not, so my apologies if these comments are disruptive here. This seemed like a good place where lots of people were looking for feedback on the new device.

I have pretty good, but not super-hard-core hardware: a new Dell Presario quad core w/ 4GB of RAM. I'm running the latest beta version of SageTV and using HD extenders throughout the house. One is wired through a gigabit router, three others are wireless (more on that later). All extenders are using the latest beta firmware. I have an existing HD Homerun recording OTA HD. It works great except for an issue with one channel (CBS in Los Angeles), which I believe is a reception issue, not a technical problem.

I had some minor issues with the HD PVR setup. First, I tried installing just the drivers (no software). The device would not work in this configuration. I then installed the full Hauppauge software package, w/o the scheduler, but the install hung up midway through, so still no luck. After a couple of reboots and reinstalls, everything worked fine. The final configuration was all software installed except the scheduler.

At that point playback and recording were fine but, as reported by a few others, I could never get the built-in IR blaster working. It just did nothing at all (as opposed to working sporadically). Luckily, I had a USB UIRT on hand from a previous setup so I used that. I had this up and running in just a few minutes.

The total install took a couple of hours, including some heavy testing. This would have gone quicker had I given up earlier on the Hauppauge IR blaster. If you have the option, I'd recommend going the USB UIRT route.

As far as I can tell, it works fine. I stress-tested the system and was able to do the following simultaneously:

• Record 2 HD OTA streams (via HD Homerun)
• Record 1 HD DirecTV stream
• Watch 3 other HD streams at once throughout the house via the extenders
• Watch 1 HD stream on the server itself

The CPU on the quad core never went over 30%. Very nice.

The bottleneck now is wireless bandwidth. I can do one stream w/o a problem using wireless-n. With two simultaneous streams I get stuttering. I am going to try 5GHz wireless-n next or, if forced, wire up at least part of the house, which will be pretty painful.

I stress-tested the system overnight by recording three shows simultaneously all night long with no issues. Everything looked fine this morning, although I haven't watched any shows all the way through, so there may be issues hidden deep inside some files.

So, all-in-all I'm very satisfied. I need to solve my network bandwidth issues, but that's my problem, not Hauppauge's. I'll report back in a few days with any issues.

[fyodor]

Cablecard isn't necessarily the best available quality-the cable company transrates the ATSC streams, so you're actually getting worse quality than with OTA. Back when I was doing ATSC/QAM I could see a noticeable difference in quality and I don't have a particularly sophisticated eye for these things.

I would be interested in seeing if anyone has some sort of side-by-side comparison between the HD-PVR and the purely digital transfer of the same material.

Originally Posted by Brent

No it's probably me that's confused. So those TS streams are what they are - no compression, transcoding, cutting, copying or anything.

I guess that would give you less flexibility, but probably the best video quality you could get.

So video quality winner goes to CableCard
Flexibility of file and tools goes to HD-PVR

The output I've seen on the HD-PVR is pretty darn good so I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Just wanted to get my facts right.

[eopian]

Originally Posted by timnelsonic

The bottleneck now is wireless bandwidth. I can do one stream w/o a problem using wireless-n. With two simultaneous streams I get stuttering. I am going to try 5GHz wireless-n next or, if forced, wire up at least part of the house, which will be pretty painful.

I felt the same way initially, but the wireless headache is NOT worth it. I now have most of my house (it's an older colonial mind you) wired with CAT5e. The biggest PITA was the master bedroom but a mirror and a fish tape got the job done (after three separate attempts). Having everything wired with CAT5e on a gigabit network is working fantastic and I couldn't hope for more. If I haven't stressed my point enough, just bite the bullet and wire your house up, it's definitely a worthwhile project.