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

[appelm]

Are people successfully using the optical input of the HD-PVR yet even for 2-channel pcm? I haven't tried it because my cable box doesn't have optical output.

[bialio]

It works fine for stereo LPCM in my setup.

btl.

[Jesse]

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.

I had a similar problem. I have my H20-600 set for native output and I did have problems when changing channels and the new channel was at a different resolution than the currently tuned channel. On my pc client sage would lock up hard during these channel changes. I found that at some point I had changed the renderer from VMR9 to overlay. I switched back to VMR9 and no more lock ups. So, in my case at least, the HD-PVR is handling native output switching from the STB.

Jesse

[ncohafmuta]

i plan on using this device with a new HTPC/HT setup (first one) with comcast and a HD stb. none of which i've purcahsed yet (i don't even have a TV!)..anyway, questions for people successfully using this..

1. how are you outputting the hd-pvr's audio to your pc? is the audio (stereo only as i understand it) over usb with the video?

2. can anyone who has comcast say what hd stb they have (looking for a non-pvr one, 'cause i'll let the htpc do that) that has optical out, components, and firewire on it, so i can request that model of stb?

3. i hear everyone in this thread talk of playback and recording, but no mention of watching actual live tv with this device with sage (which i haven't used yet)..is this just a given??

Thanx!

-Tony

[stroths]

Originally Posted by ncohafmuta

i plan on using this device with a new HTPC/HT setup (first one) with comcast and a HD stb. none of which i've purcahsed yet (i don't even have a TV!)..anyway, questions for people successfully using this..

1. how are you outputting the hd-pvr's audio to your pc? is the audio (stereo only as i understand it) over usb with the video?

Video & audio is output via the USB connection for encoding purposes. The unit does it all internally and saves the combined file to the PC its connected to. It does have component video as well as optical and RCA audio outputs, but they aren't needed for what we are doing.

Originally Posted by ncohafmuta

2. can anyone who has comcast say what hd stb they have (looking for a non-pvr one, 'cause i'll let the htpc do that) that has optical out, components, and firewire on it, so i can request that model of stb?

I have TWC, but it was Comcast in the recent past before they were bought over. For all intensive purposes, its still the Comcast infrastructure.
The box you want is the Motorola 6200. It has firewire, optical, component, rca, etc. Plus there are drivers available to control it via firewire which is the best way to change channels IMO.

Originally Posted by ncohafmuta

3. i hear everyone in this thread talk of playback and recording, but no mention of watching actual live tv with this device with sage (which i haven't used yet)..is this just a given??

You can, but it will be a bit behind. I haven't timed mine, but I believe its about 10-15 seconds behind because it needs that time to encode.

[timnelsonic]

Originally Posted by ncohafmuta

i hear everyone in this thread talk of playback and recording, but no mention of watching actual live tv with this device with sage (which i haven't used yet)..is this just a given??

Live TV works great through this device. I've been watching the NBA playoff games with no issues.

Originally Posted by fyodor

I'd recommend giving one of the ethernet-over-coax bridges a try.

I assume these work only in pairs. In other words, if I want to hook up two TVs to my router, it will take four devices. Or can I use three (one at the router and one at each TV)? It doesn't seem like that would work, but I defer to someone who has used them.

Originally Posted by fyodor

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

I checked and the D-Link devices aren't available until Q3 2008. I think I will grab a couple of the NIM-100 devices on ebay and play around with them.

[fyodor]

I'm not sure what you mean by connecting your TVs-I'm assuming that you mean that you're connecting some sort of ethernet device (client, extender, etc) at the TVs.

You don't need separate associated pairs. If you have three locations, you only need three devices. So, say you have a server in one room, a client in another room, and a router in a third, you just need one at each location. The server and client will both be able to talk to each other and access the internet through the router.

Also, if you have two devices at one location (say for example an XBOX360 with your extender), you can connect a switch at the remote location and just plug the coaxial bridge and two devices into the switch.

Originally Posted by timnelsonic

I assume these work only in pairs. In other words, if I want to hook up two TVs to my router, it will take four devices. Or can I use three (one at the router and one at each TV)? It doesn't seem like that would work, but I defer to someone who has used them.

[timnelsonic]

Originally Posted by fyodor

I'm not sure what you mean by connecting your TVs-I'm assuming that you mean that you're connecting some sort of ethernet device (client, extender, etc) at the TVs.

Oops, I was playing a little too loose with my terminology. Yes, I have HD extenders at each TV.

Originally Posted by fyodor

You don't need separate associated pairs. If you have three locations, you only need three devices. So, say you have a server in one room, a client in another room, and a router in a third, you just need one at each location. The server and client will both be able to talk to each other and access the internet through the router.

Thanks, that's what I needed to know.

Originally Posted by fyodor

Also, if you have two devices at one location (say for example an XBOX360 with your extender), you can connect a switch at the remote location and just plug the coaxial bridge and two devices into the switch.

Makes sense.

Thanks for your help.

[ncohafmuta]

Originally Posted by stroths

Video & audio is output via the USB connection for encoding purposes. The unit does it all internally and saves the combined file to the PC its connected to. It does have component video as well as optical and RCA audio outputs, but they aren't needed for what we are doing.


I have TWC, but it was Comcast in the recent past before they were bought over. For all intensive purposes, its still the Comcast infrastructure.
The box you want is the Motorola 6200. It has firewire, optical, component, rca, etc. Plus there are drivers available to control it via firewire which is the best way to change channels IMO.

great..so when they update the driver, we'll get DD through USB, and i can pass that on to my AVR.

Originally Posted by timnelsonic

Live TV works great through this device. I've been watching the NBA playoff games with no issues.

awesome, what kind of delay did you see in live tv between changing the channel and the new channel's content showing up?

Thanx again,

-Tony

[Opus4]

BTW: I have removed a couple unrelated questions. Please post non-HD PVR questions in other threads because the HD PVR threads get long enough w/o side topics. Thanks.

- Andy

[heed316]

Is there any more samples out there other then those that are on the geektonic blog?

[fyodor]

Glad to help. Post back when you get it set up let us know how it works for you.

Originally Posted by timnelsonic

Oops, I was playing a little too loose with my terminology. Yes, I have HD extenders at each TV.



Thanks, that's what I needed to know.



Makes sense.

Thanks for your help.

[karpodiem]

For those of you who were looking for something to edit the h.264 transport stream, try this:

http://www.h264tscutter.de/show_artikel.php?id=5

[Brent]

There are reports that the new HD-PVR driver on the Hauppauge site 1.0b
provides for SPDIF (PCM not DD). It supposedly works with the Arcsoft program at least. I'm going to install the new driver to see if it gives SPDIF using SageTV as well as Arcsoft. Can't find any official verification of what 1.0b does other than that though.

[karpodiem]

Shameless request - Can anyone who has the Big Ten Network in HD make a clip?

[appelm]

Originally Posted by Brent

There are reports that the new HD-PVR driver on the Hauppauge site 1.0b
provides for SPDIF (PCM not DD). It supposedly works with the Arcsoft program at least. I'm going to install the new driver to see if it gives SPDIF using SageTV as well as Arcsoft. Can't find any official verification of what 1.0b does other than that though.

did this work? any news on when DD might be supported?

[phelme]

FYI. For those of you with orders still in the pipeline, my unit which was ordered on June 22nd, shipped today.

[gjvrieze]

Originally Posted by appelm

did this work? any news on when DD might be supported?

I too am very interested in this...

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Brent

There are reports that the new HD-PVR driver on the Hauppauge site 1.0b
provides for SPDIF (PCM not DD). It supposedly works with the Arcsoft program at least. I'm going to install the new driver to see if it gives SPDIF using SageTV as well as Arcsoft. Can't find any official verification of what 1.0b does other than that though.

Originally Posted by appelm

did this work? any news on when DD might be supported?

No 1.0b didn't include DD. Last work I got (week of July 4th) was at least a few weeks from that day. So I'd say hopefully July, but not a sure thing. I do know they are working on it though.

[rubell]

so does everyone record SD at the same settings you record HD? i know it takes more disk space, but since that's pretty cheap today its not a huge concern. just wondering if people use 2 sources or not.