X-Card just ordered

[justme]

Does Matrox still sell those cables? I believe I fried my G400, since the computer won't get past POST when it is installed. I'll have to warn you that I'm a procrastinator... but as a last resort, I might be able to find my cables if they aren't available anywhere else.

Thanks for the offer to help, but I have the G400 SVHS cable. I didn't word that sentence very well, I guess I was sleeper than I thought. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about procrastination. I started building(G400 was the first part) my dedicated Sage box over 6 monthes ago, and I'm just now nearing the finish line. I would have been done by now, but the first motherboard I bought(way back) didn't like two PVRs. I have to order the new motherboard, since I just(this week) picked up a new harddrive(Maxtor 200GB) and letting it set would be like throwing away money. On the good side, my procrastination allowed me to get slighly faster/larger components at the same price. And I didn't have to charge as much, since I saved up more cash. So procrastinating can sometimes be a good thing.

[Crowdx42]

Well my X-Card arrives this morning via FedEX. My question now is what sort of encoding bit rates are most people doing? Will the 3.2 per hour setting give me any better picture than if I set it to 2gigs per hour? Anyone got any tweaks to set this up fro best quality on a PVR 250?
Thanks for all the help
Patrick

[Opus4]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
My question now is what sort of encoding bit rates are most people doing? Will the 3.2 per hour setting give me any better picture than if I set it to 2gigs per hour?

That depends on the show. My normal rate is 3G/hr, because I can tell a difference between that & 2G/hr. On the other hand, my daughter's cartoons look nearly perfect at 2G/hr, since they are mostly large chunks of the same color, i.e. low detail.

It will probably boil down to this: test out the encoding rates & choose the one you can live with both visually and for how much disk space it takes up. Need more hours of recording? You'll have to either lower the rate or buy another drive.

- Andy

[Crowdx42]

Well 3 gig per hour is about 58 hours on a 175 gig partition.
That would mean a 1 hr 30 (hopefully) on DVD disk.
Currently the PII 350 seems to be struggling with the 3 gigs per hour, will the X-card cure this? The recorded shows are on a network drive (10/100 wired network).
A final question which is more software than hardware, BUT is there any way to skip commercials with Sage? Anything automatic that actually works? Is everyone just skipping forward manually?
TIA
Patrick

[SHS]

Belive or not I usely most CVD
The Xcard can take anything all way 12MBit/sec or 5.6GB perhour.
There is no build in skip commercials with in Sage beside that took for ever to do any way, BeynodTV has it but I don't like it I just skipping forward manually.

[Crowdx42]

Does BeyondTV's support for the X-Card work the same as Sage? Or does it support it at all?
Patrick

[Crowdx42]

Ok, just stuck the XCard into my machine, when I try to play Sage I am getting a black screen on the computer monitor? Does it default to the tv output when I watch tv?
Also the remote that comes with the X-card, can it be used as a remote for the Sage client? It uses a com port to interface with the computer?
Card looks cool though :-P
Patrick

[Opus4]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
Ok, just stuck the XCard into my machine, when I try to play Sage I am getting a black screen on the computer monitor? Does it default to the tv output when I watch tv?

Didn't you hook it up to your TV?

Also the remote that comes with the X-card, can it be used as a remote for the Sage client? It uses a com port to interface with the computer?

You already asked that & I already answered that.

- Andy

[Crowdx42]

So the XCard remote is basically a USB-UIRT controller and is natively supported by Sage? (btw, I can't find a reply to this question, getting old, forgetting stuff )
Patrick

[SHS]

Did install lates Xcard drv?.
Sage need be setup like this below

BeyondTV's support XCard well NO it dosen't.
No can't use Xcard remote with sage and it not USB-UIRT controller.
Sage will give greenish black screen unless you have the VIP hook to you video card that only way it will work on the PC monitor other then that default output is to S-Video/Composite other then if want it to work with Component YUV or RGB output you need run Xmedia and set it up first and play one DVD then close Xmedia then start Sage so that it will make use of it.
To make Xmedia work on your PC monitor you need push Xcard remote button "VGA/TV" that make it go in to FULL screen on PC monitor there is no windows mode unless you have VIP hook up.

[Crowdx42]

Cool, thankyou so much for the info.
Last thing I am looking at now is the dvd playback, I set it to region 1 and my PAL dvds will not play using the card? Is there a way to get it to play pal and ntsc without changing regions?
A final dvd question is with Sage playing back dvds, it will also use the DTS etc of the XCard?
Apart from this, I found it excellent, picture is much better than the output I was getting from the tv out of my vid card and the fact that it will output other formats also is a very cool feature.
Nearly to the stage where I will be putting the box into a hidden area so that I can just use it for the PVR it is intended for.
I suppose remote control config comes under software forums?

Thanks for all the help
Patrick

[SHS]

You better lever it on NTSC region becuase if mess with to much it lock region after 5 time on DVD drive unless you made it region free.
You need find some way to disable dvd drive region good lucky with that and I don't own any PAL disc.
Sage and Xcard and DVD no you must use the Xmedia Player I know you going ask why not well there an API diff which Xcard dosen't support the DirectShow DVD Navigation it base on old MCI codes.
Are you asking if Sage will make use of S/PDIF output on the Xcard if so then yes it will.
Xcard dosen't play DD 5.1 or DTS but it can output it if you use the S/PDIF output.

[Crowdx42]

Ok,,, everything is working so far, my final question with Sage is about file formats, does it only support MPEG? I have a few Xvid avi files and they are not showing in the library, even though I can play them in Windows Media player.
Beyond TV supports Divx.
Will I lose all support of my XCard if I use Beyond TV, thinking of downloading the trial, I presume both apps will be ok installed on the same system?
Patrick

[Crowdx42]

Is there a known hack to make the XCard region free? (Not wanting a link, just wondering if you know if it exists)
Also wondering about playing DVD Movies from a shared drive across a network? The Sigma software doesn't seem to like this, comes up as can't find link? Would like to have the Box with the PVR and Xcard behind the entertaiment unit with only access to DVDs across the network.
So far this has not been working for me.
Patrick

[SHS]

Make the XCard region free NOPE not I know of but then agaian I never really look try asking the Xcard forum over on Sigma.
"DVD Movies from a shared drive across a network" harddrive YES, DVD drive NO.
I SAY ONE MORE TIME BeyondTV DOSE NOT SUPPORT XCARD WHAT SO EVER AS RIGTH NOW.
DivX file has not been add in rigth in order to make use of the Xcard Playback under sage.
You may need change the FourCC for Xmedia to play Xvid files so what need is a AVI FourCC Code Changer
http://www.divx-digest.com/software/avifourcc.html
change over to divx

[Crowdx42]

Ok thanks for the info. Does any linux apps support the XCard? I presume Windows Media Server doesn't support the XCard either?
Thanks so much for all the help, I know some questions seem like repeats, but I am not always clear with the answers.
Sorry
Patrick

[Maladin]

Originally posted by Deadbolt
so then why is everyone yelling for x-card osd? Seems like it can be done now. Is it just the yearning for a universal solution not requiring special video cards?

-Deadbolt

There are a few disadvantages to the VIP solution.

1) XCard supports component output. Going through the video card limits you to S-Video.

2) Newer video cards don't seem to support VIP, limiting you to older video cards which tend to have lower quality TV encoder chips.

3) Signal degradation by going through the video card (maybe insignificant).

The best solution still remains, native XCard OSD in SageTV. I will continue yelling for this.

[SHS]

Maladin
1: Yes that very Ture.
2: That 100% rigth there nothing we can do about that other wine and cry at video card maker about.
3: There should be no Signal degradation only H+ had that problem with Video Rez above 1024x768 but most depent on the monitor some do really good job where other just flat out suck.

[Maladin]

Originally posted by SHS
2: That 100% rigth there nothing we can do about that other wine and cry at video card maker about.

The VIP standard is now over five years old, which is a lifetime in the graphics industry. Modern CPU's and GPU's have largely eliminated the need for external digital video devices. Any new system you buy today has sufficient power to decode DVD quality video with a software decoder. Hence VIP support is seen as an unnecessary expense in an industry with razor-thin margins.

The fact is, the TV out quality of an inexpensive video card, coupled with software decoding, is "good enough" for the mass market. Only the enthusiasts are going to pay a premium for a dedicated hardware solution such as XCard, and those same enthusiasts will be reluctant to settle for s-video.

The value of XCard to me isn't the HW decoder, which offers only marginal improvements over my Athlon XP 1700+ with a software decoder at NTSC resolution. The major advantage of XCard is the ability to display progressive scan video, and avoid the complications of wrestling with my desktop and power save modes to allow my monitor to blank without affecting my TV viewing.

The XCard / VIP solution therefore doesn't seem to offer any real advantage over software decoding, unless you have an older system (which probably includes an older video card with VIP support).

[Crowdx42]

Just found this on EBay, will this card work with XCard for video output through the video card?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting
?
Not a bad price.
Any advice?
Patrick