Another promising HD300 Replacement

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

I have the same model and haven't seen any problems with playback or skipping. I have gone through and updated my BIOS and all drivers. I've spent a bit of time tweaking the video playback (somewhere in there there's a Quality vs Performance option and I'm now set to quality)
I'm using the FFDSHOW decoders and I was sure to set use hardware acceleration. I did have to add LAV as a supplement because some MP4 files wouldn't play back correctly. My biggest issue with it is that it doesn't do 5.1 sound through the HDMI port (I've got it plugged in to my AVR)

I'm using a USB UIRT to do my sage channel changing and I've found something similar to your finding with regards to Bluetooth keyboard/mouse. When I plug the Bluetooth dongle in directly I have very limited range but it came with some sort of extension piece that now allows me to sit on the couch and control it.

I have seen issues with using the SAGETV player so I have it set to use DirecTshow Player instead but I notice that I can't seem to switch audio streams or get close captioning to work. Everything seems to play smoothly and without issue otherwise.

Thanks for all the info there. I've already found and tweaked everything you're talking about and also have the latest drivers installed, as well as the newest BIOS. Since my original post, I went back to the default MS decoders for everything and they, as well as ffdshow and LAV, are exhibiting the same graphics glitches when FF/REW ceases. However, I found that the MS decoder couldn't play some H.264 files, specifically TV show rips, but the LAV decoder can. ffdshow crashes Sage when trying to play these. Also, I've now noted that the glitches (so far) are specific to ST:TNG with all decoders. This is also my only set of files with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

I'm bitstreaming everything to my AVR over HDMI and it works flawlessly, even for HD audio. If your receiver is capable of it, I'd try doing the same and take that decoding job off the hands of the PC.

[sacrament055]

Are you saying that you can select something other than stereo speakers with the HDMI Audio? Or despite that bitstreaming 5.1 works?

You're not using the SageTV player with FFDSHOW are you?

All the configuration issues is the reason I went extenders to begin with but I feel like I'm very close now. If the 5.1 audio through my AVR would work I can put my HD300 in another room.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Are you saying that you can select something other than stereo speakers with the HDMI Audio? Or despite that bitstreaming 5.1 works?

You're not using the SageTV player with FFDSHOW are you?

All the configuration issues is the reason I went extenders to begin with but I feel like I'm very close now. If the 5.1 audio through my AVR would work I can put my HD300 in another room.

When you're bitstreaming the audio, you don't select any speaker arrangement on the computer because the receiver will be handling all that. You just tell the audio decoder to send the signal "as-is" and the audio is sent completely untouched over HDMI and the receiver interprets it and then outputs it to the setup the AVR is set up for. It's just like if you had a Blu-ray player hooked up to your AVR. If the receiver is capable of decoding DTS-HD and you have a 5.1 setup connected to your AVR, that's what you'll hear (and probably see DTS-HD light up on the AVR, as well). If you only have a 2.1 setup, the AVR will output it just to those speakers.

For ffdshow audio, set the mixer to "same as input" (or disable the mixer) and the output to pass-through everything. I also have mine set for PCM first under compatibility. With LAV, you should see similar settings.

I don't use the built-in SageTV player for anything except online videos.

Once you're bitstreaming, setup is pretty easy on the PC.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by jchiso

So, in summary, the unit would work as an HD-300 replacement, but to match the funtionality you'd have to add an audio device and controller(s), which would add another $70 - $100 to the $199 purchase price. Of course, if you put SageTV Media Center (server) on it you'd have more flexibility than you would with an HD-300, plus you'd have a very capable Windows desktop system on which you could install other multimedia apps (such as Kodi) that run superbly on this platform.

You can also run pretty much whatever streaming apps that you want like Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, MLB, NHL, etc. which is hard to do with a SageTV extender.

[sacrament055]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

When you're bitstreaming the audio, you don't select any speaker arrangement on the computer because the receiver will be handling all that. You just tell the audio decoder to send the signal "as-is" and the audio is sent completely untouched over HDMI and the receiver interprets it and then outputs it to the setup the AVR is set up for. It's just like if you had a Blu-ray player hooked up to your AVR. If the receiver is capable of decoding DTS-HD and you have a 5.1 setup connected to your AVR, that's what you'll hear (and probably see DTS-HD light up on the AVR, as well). If you only have a 2.1 setup, the AVR will output it just to those speakers.

For ffdshow audio, set the mixer to "same as input" (or disable the mixer) and the output to pass-through everything. I also have mine set for PCM first under compatibility. With LAV, you should see similar settings.

I don't use the built-in SageTV player for anything except online videos.

Once you're bitstreaming, setup is pretty easy on the PC.

so is that just select spdif pass thru in the ffdshow audio decoder then telling sage to use ffdshow for audio decoder?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jchiso

I usually take an HD-300 with me on vacation and business trips, but I think I'll take this instead, since it provides the featureset of the HD-300 along with the functionality of a Windows desktop system ...

question....how do you use/interface a HD300 on vacation?

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

question....how do you use/interface a HD300 on vacation?

Activate the Placeshifter function on the server and add the server Locator info on the HD-300 ...

[wayner]

Can you also just put in the IP address and port of your server?

I am worried that the Locator method will go away if/when Sage shuts down the servers

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jchiso

Activate the Placeshifter function on the server and add the server Locator info on the HD-300 ...

I use Placeshifter on a laptop. So the HD300 takes the laptops place? And I'd use my laptops license on the HD300 (or HD200)?

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

I use Placeshifter on a laptop. So the HD300 takes the laptops place? And I'd use my laptops license on the HD300 (or HD200)?

Correct ...

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jchiso

Correct ...

Where do you enter the Placeshifter license info into the media extender? I'd like to be able to use my HD200 when travelling where there's little English language television. thanks

[mechling-burgh]

You don't have to use a place shifter license it's built into the hd200 and hd300. Only the MVP and HD100 needed licenses to work. The place shifter works on first come first server bases. If you had only one place shifter license you could use an mvp, hd100 or place shifter one at a time but not more than that. If I recall all I did was enter the sage place shifter ID in the hd300 when in stand alone mode and it worked. It has been a while since I did thou.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Where do you enter the Placeshifter license info into the media extender? I'd like to be able to use my HD200 when travelling where there's little English language television. thanks

Plex works very well for doing this as well and has native apps for most mobile devices that you would want, assuming that you want to use mobile devices as well.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by mechling-burgh

You don't have to use a place shifter license it's built into the hd200 and hd300. Only the MVP and HD100 needed licenses to work. The place shifter works on first come first server bases. If you had only one place shifter license you could use an mvp, hd100 or place shifter one at a time but not more than that. If I recall all I did was enter the sage place shifter ID in the hd300 when in stand alone mode and it worked. It has been a while since I did thou.

is there any way to test a remote connection from home? I use no-ip.dns servers - how would I direct the HD200 to no-ip to confirm I am connecting remotely, as opposed to my home network?

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

is there any way to test a remote connection from home? I use no-ip.dns servers - how would I direct the HD200 to no-ip to confirm I am connecting remotely, as opposed to my home network?

You could try THIS suggestion and providing you have a separate modem + router configuration, you should be able to do it with your current dynamic assigned IP address as only the router need to be restarted for the change to apply.

Hope it helps
Eddy

[mechling-burgh]

I thought it used the same setup as place shifter. You typed in the ID and the sage service located your computer for you.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

is there any way to test a remote connection from home? I use no-ip.dns servers - how would I direct the HD200 to no-ip to confirm I am connecting remotely, as opposed to my home network?

The way I do this is to use a network connection from my phone or iPad. Set it up as a wifi hotspot and connect other devices to it. This can be a bit of a pain in the butt if the other devices, like a Sage extender, want a wired connection.

[mechling-burgh]

I have and HD300. I start it in stand alone mode. Go to servers and add a new server. Give it a name then key in the locator ID you get from Sage under detail Setup. If you have a DNS setup you can check use IP address and key in your IP address. You should be able to test this on your network it will just go out then come back in.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by mechling-burgh

I have and HD300. I start it in stand alone mode. Go to servers and add a new server. Give it a name then key in the locator ID you get from Sage under detail Setup. If you have a DNS setup you can check use IP address and key in your IP address. You should be able to test this on your network it will just go out then come back in.

ok, thanks. this is what I did - created a new server, and input my no-ip.org address (******.no-ip.org)
it connected fine, and didn't ask for a password, although I believe I have "connect automatically" set in advanced.
Alternatively, if I entered the locator ID instead of my no-ip account name in the new server, should it also connect?
Oh, There has to be a port opened on the router as well, correct?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

The way I do this is to use a network connection from my phone or iPad. Set it up as a wifi hotspot and connect other devices to it. This can be a bit of a pain in the butt if the other devices, like a Sage extender, want a wired connection.

I have the USB wifi Sage dongle, so that should work in your scenario?