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

[timnelsonic]

Originally Posted by eopian

If I haven't stressed my point enough, just bite the bullet and wire your house up, it's definitely a worthwhile project.

You're probably right. I've been putting it off because it will be challenging (two story house). Since I can send one wireless stream w/o breaking a sweat, I can probably get away w/ wiring only one or two rooms, at least in the short term.

[fyodor]

I'd recommend giving one of the ethernet-over-coax bridges a try. I got some of the MoCA (NIM-100) devices off ebay and they work fantastically. I don't know of anybody that's had bad experiences with them. Basically, as I understand it, Verizon used to use them in their FIOS installations, until they started using STBs with MoCA functionality built in. The surplus got sold to liquidators, who sell them on Ebay. They're extremely reliable and easy to set up. You plug them in and voila, the devices think that they're connected by ethernet. I have a messy setup with lots of splitters, bidirectional amps, etc. They're definitely fast enough for HD streaming.

I believe that D-Link is also now selling retail MoCA devices.

Originally Posted by timnelsonic

You're probably right. I've been putting it off because it will be challenging (two story house). Since I can send one wireless stream w/o breaking a sweat, I can probably get away w/ wiring only one or two rooms, at least in the short term.

[tledford]

I've *got* to find something better than the ArcSoft software that shipped with the unit.

Unit is working fine, but clunky software indeed.

Does the downloadable trial version (6.3) support the HD PVR?

TIA,
Tony

[matt91]

Originally Posted by tledford

I've *got* to find something better than the ArcSoft software that shipped with the unit.

Unit is working fine, but clunky software indeed.

Does the downloadable trial version (6.3) support the HD PVR?

TIA,
Tony

Grab the beta version. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32871

[Kirby]

Has anyone messed with setting your source to 720p vs. 1080i? I currently have my STB set to upscale/pass everything at 1080i, and I wonder if I might have a bit more quality (less pixelization) feeding the HD PVR a 720p signal. I dont get it often, but there have been a few fast moving scenes in a movie (MI 3 I think it was) and would like to try and eliminate those. I also am set to the best quality setting in the sage recording quality for the HD PVR.

[Chriscic]

Despite the fact that my unit is defective and I can only record for 1-3 minutes before it craps out, I did some firewire vs. HD-PVR quality comparisons, and I must say I can't see any quality difference at all. I'm impressed.

Now if I can only get a working unit.

I posted details about the comparison I did over in the general discussion HD-PVR thread.

Cheers,
-Chris

[tledford]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Has anyone messed with setting your source to 720p vs. 1080i? I currently have my STB set to upscale/pass everything at 1080i, and I wonder if I might have a bit more quality (less pixelization) feeding the HD PVR a 720p signal. I dont get it often, but there have been a few fast moving scenes in a movie (MI 3 I think it was) and would like to try and eliminate those. I also am set to the best quality setting in the sage recording quality for the HD PVR.

All, I'm new to SageTV and after a few hours of playing with it am really impressed with how well it is working with the HD PVR. But I can't find a path to a place in SageTV that will allow me to adjust the quality settings for the input device. Can someone point me there?

Oh, and by the way, I've used 720p and 1080i both from my DirecTV H20 and haven't decided which looks better (and plays back best) yet; need to play with it some more. But one thing I *did* notice -- when I change the DTV receiver's resolution while the HD PVR is on, it hangs up. But if I turn the HD PVR off, *then* change the resolution, then turn the HD PVR back on, it copes just fine.

Thanks in advance,
TL

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by tledford

All, I'm new to SageTV and after a few hours of playing with it am really impressed with how well it is working with the HD PVR. But I can't find a path to a place in SageTV that will allow me to adjust the quality settings for the input device. Can someone point me there?

Its in the Detailed Setup menus somewhere, I forget the exact location.

Oh, and by the way, I've used 720p and 1080i both from my DirecTV H20 and haven't decided which looks better (and plays back best) yet; need to play with it some more. But one thing I *did* notice -- when I change the DTV receiver's resolution while the HD PVR is on, it hangs up. But if I turn the HD PVR off, *then* change the resolution, then turn the HD PVR back on, it copes just fine.

That doesnt sound good, that it cant handle resolution changes on the fly. People that want to use native resolution output wont be pleased.

[tledford]

That doesnt sound good, that it cant handle resolution changes on the fly. People that want to use native resolution output wont be pleased.

Thanks for the hint on the setup, Kirby. As to the resolution switching issue, don't forget that people seem to be having significantly different experiences with the first batch of these devices. I'd be curious to know if your HD PVR exhibits the same characteristics in this regard as mine.

[Kirby]

unfortunately i cant really test native resolution, and I dont think my DCT-6200 supports that. I guess I could look at using my Tivo S3 for some testing and see what happens. But thats going to be a pain for me to get setup, and might take a while.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Kirby

unfortunately i cant really test native resolution, and I dont think my DCT-6200 supports that. I guess I could look at using my Tivo S3 for some testing and see what happens. But thats going to be a pain for me to get setup, and might take a while.

Originally Posted by Kirby

That doesnt sound good, that it cant handle resolution changes on the fly. People that want to use native resolution output wont be pleased.

Note my Moto6412 appears to be doing native resolution switching - I would hope that the 6200 does. I know this because I have my HD100 set to that and the HDTV is in 480i mode complete with the GRAY pillar boxing on an SD recording and 1080i mode on an HD recording from the HD-PVR. I don't remember doing anything special but I will look tonight and if I find it maybe you will have the same option on the 6200's. I hope so anyway because I don't want to have to get the DVR boxes to get it when I trade in my DCT22xx STB's when I get some more HD-PVR's. Also I had some problems with my HD-PVR when I was channel surfing that could be attributed to this but most of the time it switched without any problems.

[Kirby]

ok, I think for SD programs, I can force the DCT-6200 to either send 480i or 480p. But all hd channels have to be hard set to (1080i, 720p, 480p, or 480i). I have my output setting set to 1080i, and 4:3 override is "off". If I put 4:3 override to 480p, I think it will send out 480p for SD channels.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Kirby

ok, I think for SD programs, I can force the DCT-6200 to either send 480i or 480p. But all hd channels have to be hard set to (1080i, 720p, 480p, or 480i). I have my output setting set to 1080i, and 4:3 override is "off". If I put 4:3 override to 480p, I think it will send out 480p for SD channels.

That sounds about like what I remember how I setup my DCT-6412. Sorry didn't think about the 720p and 1080i difference.

[Chriscic]

If anyone is interested, I now have firewire vs. HD-PVR clips for 1) Letterman, 2) CSI-Miami, and 3) Golf. All are 1080i.

I just can't see any difference in quality, or maybe if I can the HD-PVR is 98% as good.

I can upload these files if someone can give me a good (e.g. free and easy) video sharing site.

Cheers,
-Chris

By the way, I realized the Total Media Extreme VHS function will just as easily record from firewire if you have the drivers for your device installed.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Kirby

ok, I think for SD programs, I can force the DCT-6200 to either send 480i or 480p. But all hd channels have to be hard set to (1080i, 720p, 480p, or 480i). I have my output setting set to 1080i, and 4:3 override is "off". If I put 4:3 override to 480p, I think it will send out 480p for SD channels.

I checked an 1080i with a 4:3 override of 480p was how I had it set.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Its in the Detailed Setup menus somewhere, I forget the exact location.

Detailed Setup -> Multimedia -> Recording Quality will allow you to set the recording quality default per tuner.

But from what I interpret from Andy, Sage will use your "normal" quality settings with the HD PVR, since the HD PVR (coincidentally or not) has about the same bitrate range as the SD Hauppauge devices.

For example the SD "MPEG-2 Max Quality" setting was about 12Mbps so would result in a 12Mbps HD PVR recording, etc.

BTW, I got mine yesterday. It appeared out of the blue. No tracking number, no shipping email, just showed up, I had no idea my order had been filled

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I checked an 1080i with a 4:3 override of 480p was how I had it set.

I'll have to get mine switched to that setting and try it out. Was out of town all weekend so I couldnt check it.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Kirby

I'll have to get mine switched to that setting and try it out. Was out of town all weekend so I couldnt check it.

Wish it was possible to just do true native mode on a moto box but this at least gets the SD as 480p and HD as 1080i. Not perfect but better than all one resolution.

[padre]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Wish it was possible to just do true native mode on a moto box but this at least gets the SD as 480p and HD as 1080i. Not perfect but better than all one resolution.

Yeah, it would be nice - I've been recording my SD channels via Motorola 6416 in 480p and it looks great from the HD PVR. I have a Hauppauge 250 connected to the svideo, and the resolution from the HD PVR in SD look a bit better (I just have to adjust the aspect ratio in the dvd authoring program). All in all, nice results.

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Wish it was possible to just do true native mode on a moto box but this at least gets the SD as 480p and HD as 1080i. Not perfect but better than all one resolution.

I agree. I am thinking of getting a second unit and hooking my Tivo S3 to it, and using native mode. Then I can have 2 tuners total inside Sage, but lose out on the second tuner in the Tivo (because I would have to eliminate all tivo favorites).