Recording HDTV with no HD-PVR

[mbowling]

I recently started using my HVR-2250 to receive clear QAM stations from the cable TV company. A few of the stations I get are HD stations. I started recording TV shows from the HD stations using SageTV with no HD-PVR. The video quality is much better than the SD channels and I seem to be getting 5.1 sound. I understand that what I am viewing is not "true" HD, but it is certainly good enough for me. Does anyone else do this?

The only problem I have had in recording the HD content is viewing it on my PC client. On some shows the the video will occasionally jerk or stutter. The SD content plays fine. Is this because my PC client is having trouble processing the higher quality content? I noticed that when playing the recorded SD shows the processor is running at 20% usage. When playing the recorded HD shows the processor runs around 60% usage. The HD shows do not stutter when viewed on the SageTV server. Would the HDTV shows recorded without the HD-PVR play smoothly if I replaced the PC client with the HD200?

[mistergq]

You are recording clear QAM hd stations. I have not heard it is not as good quality. For me, the FIOS clear qam local is significantly poor considering my OTA locals, but that is because they are compressing them to save bandwidth for other services. Also, be aware that cable companies are reducing the number of clear qam hd stations to only local stations to save bandwidth and to create more revenue for STBs and cable cards. One day you may wake up and they are gone.

As to your question, unquestionably the HD recordings will play on HD 200, and they will play perfectly on the HD 200.

If you want smoother video playback, you may want to upgrade your video card. I was surprised when I moved from 8800 to 9600 video card, the hd recordings significantly improved. (Then again, I also add quad core from dual core)

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by mbowling

I recently started using my HVR-2250 to receive clear QAM stations from the cable TV company. A few of the stations I get are HD stations. I started recording TV shows from the HD stations using SageTV with no HD-PVR. The video quality is much better than the SD channels and I seem to be getting 5.1 sound. I understand that what I am viewing is not "true" HD, but it is certainly good enough for me. Does anyone else do this?

These are "true HD" channels. They're usually the same you would get via an antenna. Only difference is these are encoded in MPEG vice H.264.

As for the stuttering issue, it may be the graphics card, but it could also be the network connection (is it wired or wireless?), some background process on the client (anti-virus, etc.) momentarily messing with the feed, or simply just a poor decoder that works well for SD but has problems with the HD audio or video stream.

That's one of the big reasons the HD200 is so popular. There's much less complexity and little trouble shooting. It just works.

[Rico66]

You're PC client specs are OK for the desired HD playback. Something on the configuration side seems to cause the stuttering. Which mpeg2 decoder and which CCC/ATI driver verision version are you using?

[mbowling]

Thanks for the info everyone. The comments from Djc208 and Rico66 about the decoder helped me solved the problem. I changed the "MPEG2 Video Decoder" setting from "Default" to "SageTV MPEG Video Decoder". The HD video is now playing great!