VIA MII 10000/12000 Hardware MPEG-2 Decoder

[fsaldana]

Has anyone used SageTV 2.0 and the VIA MII board's

I have just received the hardware and installed everything.....should I be concerned b/c sage tv has over 60% cpu utilization when recording?

I have the pvr-350........how do I enable the hardware decoding that the board offers.

I am also trying to get an idea of optimal settings and benchmarks.....for the sageTV /MB combo

[carlgar]

To enable the 350 output go to detailed setup -> multimedia and enable the tvout option for the 350.
You will probably want to enable the UI to the 350 also. If so, you want then probably need to adjust the overscan settings.

[nielm]

... and plug the TV into the '350 -- the 350 hardware decoding is only for video viewed through the 350's tv-out.

(I have an M10000 and also get 50-60% CPU usage when viewing 2GB/hr videos in Sage on the Windows desktop... Using PowerDVD with Hardware Accelleration enabled; Overlay renderer in Sage; DXVA mode B; DXVA bob+weave deinterlace. Remember that an M10000 only has equivalent CPU power to a 500Mhz PIII)

[fsaldana]

I have made the overlay changes and enabled the 350 for video output and OSD...........


......The video is perfect size but the menu is not scaled properly....it is to big for the screen.......I can only see about 25% of the "volume control" and the same for the controls on the left hand side of the screen........can i tweak any 'menu' properties or something?

[nielm]

do you mean the video from the PVR-350? If you are in PAL-land, there are some settings to make the menu size work for the 576 line PAL output... Search the forums for 350, Pal, (I found this thread which may help!)

[stanger89]

Originally posted by fsaldana
I have made the overlay changes and enabled the 350 for video output and OSD...........


......The video is perfect size but the menu is not scaled properly....it is to big for the screen.......I can only see about 25% of the "volume control" and the same for the controls on the left hand side of the screen........can i tweak any 'menu' properties or something?

Try Setup-> Detailed Setup-> Multimedia-> Overscan Settings

[RenHoek]

On the MII, you can also change the size of the video output under Display Settings in Windows (not just Sage):

-Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop and select Properties.
- Select Settings and press the Advanced button.
- Select the S3Display tab
- Click on the TV icon to select TV out options
- Press the Advanced button
- Fiddle with the size & position controls.

-Ren

[fsaldana]

nielm........I am in a NTSC region....

.....I will give the Overscan settings in Sage a try.

RenHoek....I am using only the PVR-350 for output, I am not utilizing the video out on the M/B because the quality was very different. I may have to give it another try becase I am having DVD playback problems(blank screen) when using only the PVR-350 for output.

[gplasky]

PVR-350 will not play DVD thru TV-out. You'll have to use your mb tv-out for DVD. That's one of the drawbacks for the PVR 350.

Gerry

[kny3twalker]

you can rip the DVD and play back the audio via your sound card
you will have to use the audio delay built into Sage to get the sync correct
but you would not need to use the pvr350s audio output after that

I think a DVD ripper built into Sage would be an awesome addition for pvr 350s users

[justme]

I think a DVD ripper built into Sage would be an awesome addition for pvr 350s users

I agree 100%. Trust me it's totally doable, as kny3twalker describes. The problem is that right now with Studio in private beta. A company could reasonably agrue that Frey allowed an illegal act. Once Studio goes public I'm sure we'll see this feature added. I know I've thought of doing it. I'll stop here, so as not to derail the thread. Oh, and yes I know you could consider many DVD ripping uses legal. But with recent changes of the law, etc I'd rather not have Frey directly involved in this.

My apologies for going OT.
/justme

[fsaldana]

ok......so only programs such as winDVD or powerDVD will use the hardware decoder that the M/B provides.....

.....And as of now these programs will not play video out of the pvr-350.....I will have to use video out from the M/B to watch DVD.....and I suppose the same with divx.

So I guess the next question.... can the pvr-350 remote control be 're-programmed' to control programs such as winDVD/PowerDVD/Divx player?

[Opus4]

Originally posted by fsaldana
So I guess the next question.... can the pvr-350 remote control be 're-programmed' to control programs such as winDVD/PowerDVD/Divx player?

For more info on configuring that remote, see the links in my sig lines -- specifically, the one for extending it. Edit: I'll have a new/more complete doc for the ini file probably later today; maybe tomorrow.

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

of course you can use the remote with another winDVD software
or you couls just sage through the TV out of your video card

but if you want to try the ripped DVD thing than here's a couple ways to do it
as well

I know it says that the topic is about mp3 playback too but it would work for DVDs as well

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...&threadid=6132

not sure if either of these would get you synced or if you would have to do it still

(well the one where you encode the audio would)

also justme what if the DVDs that were ripped were deleted immediately afterward(well maybe not immediately maybe like three days or once completely watched of course)
I know that is not a solution but but it would be nice for 350 users
auto rip when DVD put in the computer then auto delete when finished watching so to avoid the legal issues maybe?

[justme]

kny3twalker,
I personally feel that using the 350 to watch DVDs you own or even rent(as long as the DVD is deleted from your drive when returned) is legal. But I'm not a lawyer and the MPAA/RIAA don't really seem to care about the law(or at least laws or precidents they don't like). There's been many cases where it was obvious they sued not because they knew they would win or were even right, but because legal costs would force the company to stop the undesired behavior.

As a SageTV user I firmly believe this is a fair use and should be allowed. However I can see why Frey would want to steer clear for now. What users do with the Studio when it's public is another issue. I'm certian this will be doable using the 350's video output and your souncard's audio out. You could even cause it do start a program upon detecting a DVD and preform certian actions. You could then have the Sage STV auto adjust the audio delay for playing CSS free video(I'm assuming you didn't break the law to get CSS free video) coming out the 350. There's many ways this can be done. It at the very least could be done without a DVD menu structure, and I'm certian a more skilled person could possibly even get the menus to work. Of course all of this is referring to doing this with a DVD that you have the legal right to do these actions.ie Ones you authored yourself or certian DVDs destributed by more open minded artists.

All of the above is my personal opinion. I'm not a Frey employee and do not represent them in any official manner. In other words... Don't break the law, find a legal way do do things or don't do it.
/justme

[fsaldana]

I believe this thread has answered the question that started this thread.....Thanks everyone for all the help and time.

Just a recap..........

I have sageTV 2.0 working for tv recording and mp3 playback.

I fixed the menu settings with the overlay suggestion.

I have winDVD with the extended remote options working....OPUS4 and kny3twalker you two ROCK!! for the remote info.

Of course there are few more things I need to do and will open new threads for those....

If anyone cares...

- MAME
- AUDIO CD playback(can I reference the cd player where the jukebox looks for files...want to use sage front end)
- DivxPlayer(Should be like winDVD just another app)
- Streaming Audio(should be like winDVD...just another app)
- Remote Scheduling through firewall utilizing Hauppauge scheduler

thanks again

[mls]

Originally posted by kny3twalker

also justme what if the DVDs that were ripped were deleted immediately afterward(well maybe not immediately maybe like three days or once completely watched of course)
I know that is not a solution but but it would be nice for 350 users
auto rip when DVD put in the computer then auto delete when finished watching so to avoid the legal issues maybe?

Current law (the DMCA) does not permit defeating or bypassing copy protection (such as CSS or Macrovision used on commercially produced DVD's) without paying appropriate licensing fees for the means to do so. Not even for ones own "archival" purposes.

This is why the courts have banned the sale of products like 321Studios DVD X-Copy.

In order for either Hauppauge or Frey to include such an option would require them to pay some form of bulk licensing fee (for the legal software needed). The cost of which would then have to be passed on to the the consumer (along with additional licensing requirements). That would raise the purchase price of their products considerably.

That would also open them up to a large number of other legal issues which I am sure neither of them has enough finances to handle all the extra attorney and court fees.

Until the stupid laws are changed, it clearly would not be in the best interest of Frey to even consider adding any feature directly within their own software that would allow ripping DVD's.

On a side note... Ripping audio CD's is perfectly legal because "standard" audio CD's never had any form of built-in copy protection (although the sale or distribution of the ripped audio would be illegal because of copyright laws).

[kny3twalker]

well I see other PVR applications that have this feature(Myth)
and I do not see why when at least studio goes public that some one adds ripper to a STV
it is convenient for 350 users if they plan to use there sound card audio consider how many other problem they have a;ready it would be nice

and I would think it would be nice for myself as well

[stanger89]

Myth is a free, open-source project, not a comercial venture, not to mention that it's a very small market.

And I don't think anyone is saying that no one should/could add ripping once Studio is public, just not to expect it in any sort of official way (from Frey) or any way that could be construed as officially supported (from the private beta users). All justme is saying (which I tend to agree with) is that it doesn't make sense for Frey to take the risk of adding such controversial features themselves.

[kny3twalker]

I agreed with that the whole time

I hear many times about 321 Studios problems and court cases

I know that it would be a user that would have to add it