PowerDVD 8 decoder - 3 different versions

[TechBill]

I been using PowerDVD 7 decoder and thinking about upgrading to 8 so I would have HD support in future when I add a HD tuner card or PVR-HD to my SageTV.

On Cyberlink site they offer 3 version Regular / Deluxe / Ultra and I can get 20% off the Regular one but not the Deluxe or Ultra so I am wondering if I should be able to get by with the Regular version?

What important to me is the closed caption support and to be able to playback HD recordings.

I only need the decoder not the other features or the player itself since I use SageTV to playback.


Thanks for any inputs!

Bill

[Eckwell]

Bill,

I have had the HD-PVR up and running for some time and can confirm for you that there is NO Closed Caption data in the H.264 HD file it creates. The only way I have been able to get CC on those recordings is to have the DirecTV box CC turned on all the time. Then, it works great because they are burned in... unless you wish they were not there.

I use an HDHR dual OTA tuner now and use it for local HD and it works great. Although I play back through the HD-100 most of the time with the CC plugin (works really well). If I playbakc on the server, I have been using the CC plugin too since the ccextractor.exe program has pulled the CC from the OTA flawlessly.

I know we talked about this once before, but I thought I would share my current setup. I do have cyberlink 8 installed, but the version is irrelevant and most likely you could just use the trial one as a test.

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by Eckwell

Bill,

I have had the HD-PVR up and running for some time and can confirm for you that there is NO Closed Caption data in the H.264 HD file it creates. The only way I have been able to get CC on those recordings is to have the DirecTV box CC turned on all the time. Then, it works great because they are burned in... unless you wish they were not there.

I use an HDHR dual OTA tuner now and use it for local HD and it works great. Although I play back through the HD-100 most of the time with the CC plugin (works really well). If I playbakc on the server, I have been using the CC plugin too since the ccextractor.exe program has pulled the CC from the OTA flawlessly.

I know we talked about this once before, but I thought I would share my current setup. I do have cyberlink 8 installed, but the version is irrelevant and most likely you could just use the trial one as a test.

I am going to have both SD and HDTV recordings so I wanted to know if the Standard PowerDVD 8 will play the SD recordings with Closed Caption and the HDTV recording with or without CC because I know some HDTV tuners will work and some will not work but it important to me that SD recordings with CC still work and it can playback HDTV recording too then Ill experiment on HDTV CC using plugin or whatever it take to get CC on it.

So I could buy the cheap standard version and it should have CC on SDTV like the PowerDVD 7 but still can playback the HDTV recordings?

I am also curious .. you are able to record the Closed Caption from HD STB in your PVR-HD recordings hardcoded into the video? I know you can't turn it off anymore and it permently embedded into the video recording but does it look good playback?


Bill

[TechBill]

I wrote to PowerDVD support asking them which version I should get to be able to playback HDTV on SageTV and they said they suggest Ultra 8 to be able to playback HDTV on SageTV.


Bill

[scat]

Could anyone share the video and audio settings they are using to playback HD content in SageTV?

Thanks
Scat

[Eckwell]

Originally Posted by TechBill

So I could buy the cheap standard version and it should have CC on SDTV like the PowerDVD 7 but still can playback the HDTV recordings?

As long as the SD is recorded with a tuner OTHER than the HD-PVR as it records in H.264 which carries no CC. Remember that if you by the HD-PVR it comes with the ARCSOFT decoding software you can use for the HD recordings. you can set that in the properties file in Sage. For the SD (MPEG) stuff it can use your old PowerDVD 7.

Originally Posted by TechBill

I am also curious .. you are able to record the Closed Caption from HD STB in your PVR-HD recordings hardcoded into the video? I know you can't turn it off anymore and it permently embedded into the video recording but does it look good playback?

The CC in the PVR-HD recordings looks exactly as it does on the screen if you were to watch LIVE TV directly from STB to TV.