BM1000-HDMI (HDMI Encoder) Review

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by will

These devices sound great, much better than the HD-PVR 1212, I just wish they make one that could do 5.1.

Originally Posted by wayner

I wonder why they don't? Is it because that these encoders are not generally meant for encoding TV?

As SHS said, they're not for recording TV. Their (limited) documentation focuses on real-time encoding for online streaming (as a source, not for recording purposes). So, in addition to not supporting AC3, they don't support 29.97/59.94 frame rates.

The HD-PVR was/is a nice unit- it's just too bad it was never completely reliable for me.

Originally Posted by wayner

These devices actually seem very similar to the HDMI-ethernet devices that are used to distribute video through your house, often connected to matrix switches.

I don't think those encode the video signals, so I think this sort of device is pretty different.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I don't think those encode the video signals, so I think this sort of device is pretty different.

Ok, you're right. That makes sense.

So essentially these devices are doing a D>A>D process, aren't they?

I see these as being our future while we stay on SageTV. Especially since it looks like these devices are moving towards supporting 4K. It seems like this will be the only option to get 4K content into SageTV from cable or satellite boxes.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by wayner

So essentially these devices are doing a D>A>D process, aren't they?

No, it's all digital. But I think I see your broader point. These devices basically do the same thing as the HD-PVR, just with HDMI as the source instead of component. That's still a digital signal, but there's lossy transcoding going on.

Originally Posted by wayner

I see these as being our future while we stay on SageTV. Especially since it looks like these devices are moving towards supporting 4K. It seems like this will be the only option to get 4K content into SageTV from cable or satellite boxes.

Perhaps. I think I'm happy with mine. The quality appears a bit better than the HD-PVR, albeit with some jerky video at times (possibly from the 30fps encoding). And it's been completely reliable so far, except when I was actively mucking around with it.

I guess some people out there have been able to use HD-PVRs reliably. I don't know if they just put up with occasional failures, or if they just don't happen to them. Based on my experience alone, though, I'd recommend the HDMI encoders over the HD-PVR.

I wonder how many Sage users left are cable TV subscribers versus just OTA. Though, I guess there are other good options out there if all you care about is OTA.

[wayner]

I have been lucky as I have been using HD-PVRs for about a decade with relatively few issues, other than power supplies and the occasionaly hiccup.

I have had more issues in the last year with occasional hiccups in the recording since I have gone to a new server on unRAID from my old Windows setup. Maybe there is some kind of mojo that you need between the HD-PVRs and your server and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But it could also be my cable boxes going bad as they are a decade old as well and I have had a few of those die recently. (You used to be able to buy cable boxes from Rogers cable my cable company, but they don't seem to sell them anymore).

The main use of my system, at least in terms of recording, is kids' shows and sports. OTA doesn't work for sports since sports, except for NFL, are increasingly on cable channels. But it may make sense for me to move to streaming services for sports since even paying about $300/yr for NBA and NHL is cheaper than what I pay for cable.

[peternm22]

Does anyone know how to setup Nginx to reverse proxy to the BM3000 setup page?

I've been trying to setup Nginx reverse proxy for all my services web interfaces (SageTV, Duplicati, Edgerouter, Unifi controller, BM3000). The only two I can actually get to work properly are SageTV and Duplicati.

This is my Nginx configuration for the BM3000:

    server {
        listen       443 ssl;
        server_name  bm3000.mysecretdomainname.com;

        ssl_certificate      cert.pem;
        ssl_certificate_key  cert.key;

        ssl_session_cache    shared:SSL:1m;
        ssl_session_timeout  5m;

        ssl_ciphers  HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers  on;

        location / {
		proxy_pass http://192.168.1.201/;
		proxy_set_header Host $host;
		proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
		proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        }

When I access it, all of the data on the page is blank (see attached image). I checked the javascript of the BM3000 page, and it has this line in it:

url:"http://"+hostip+"/get_status",

Which leads me to believe it can only access the status page via the IP address, and not a hostname/domain.

If I go to https://bm3000.mysecretdomainname.com/get_status it loads all the data perfectly fine.

Is there any workaround for this?

Edit: It appears to work if I turn off SSL.

[wayner]

Continuing in my research for 4K versions of these devices it seems that there are now two 4k devices available on AliExpress.

UHE264-1-4K ~$380
UHE265-1-4K ~$480

The UHE261-1-4K only supports H.264 encoding. It has the same form factor as the BM-1000/3000.

The UHE265-1-4K supports H.265 encoding. It has a more polished form factor and is a bit smaller and also includes an SD card slot for some reason.

It also appears that you can get these devices in a different form factor to go into a 3U rack so that you could have up to 16 encoders.

[KryptoNyte]

Regarding the more expensive model that Wayne mentioned above;

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...848904092.html

Can someone that has any other Chinese unit comment on what the pull-down menu might contain on the "L+R" audio channel? Probably just wishful thinking ..

[wayner]

These units are also used in the Video Storm Net Play system. I was engaging in a conversation with them on the Control4 forums and they said:"Our code encodes the audio as both 5.1 and 2.0 (downmixed)."

If I interrupt that correctly it means that they (Video Storm) have their own software or firmware that allows these units to encode audio in 5.1. I wonder if it is possible for someone else to figure out how to do that as well.

[SHS]

Originally Posted by wayner

These units are also used in the Video Storm Net Play system. I was engaging in a conversation with them on the Control4 forums and they said:"Our code encodes the audio as both 5.1 and 2.0 (downmixed)."

If I interrupt that correctly it means that they (Video Storm) have their own software or firmware that allows these units to encode audio in 5.1. I wonder if it is possible for someone else to figure out how to do that as well.

Unless you plan on mortgage your house you just give up on DD5.1

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by SHS

Unless you plan on mortgage your house you just give up on DD5.1

I have mostly made my peace with this reality.

[wayner]

To be honest I use SageTV mainly for sports and I am ok with stereo but it would have been nice to get better sound. The strange this is that we can now do take a step up in resolution to 2160p, but a step down in audio, at least compared to an HD-PVR.

Any consensus on whether it would be better to use the H.264 or H.265 version of these boxes for SageTV? Either way you won't be able to use extenders anymore at 2160p, you will need a PC or AndroidTV client.

[trk2]

Originally Posted by SHS

Unless you plan on mortgage your house you just give up on DD5.1

Never give up! Never surrender!

Multichannel AAC would work for me, but most of these box datasheets talk about stereo AAC. Since AC3's patent has expired I expect we'll see capture devices start supporting it at some point, maybe. Hopefully?

[wayner]

How do you folks surmise that Video Storm is able to do this? They aren't a huge company with infinite resources. Why is an Open Source solution not possible for these boxes?

[trk2]

Originally Posted by wayner

How do you folks surmise that Video Storm is able to do this? They aren't a huge company with infinite resources. Why is an Open Source solution not possible for these boxes?

I think what KryptoNyte and I are hoping is that these units actually support multi-channel AAC encoding and the confusion is because of unclear wording in the datasheet.

[wayner]

Possibly - that may also be referring to the 3.5mm audio jack. Shouldn't they be able to encode the audio signal that comes in via HDMI and just pass that along or re-encode it in whatever format it is, including 5.1, or even Dolby Atmos.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by trk2

Never give up! Never surrender!

Multichannel AAC would work for me, but most of these box datasheets talk about stereo AAC. Since AC3's patent has expired I expect we'll see capture devices start supporting it at some point, maybe. Hopefully?

+++++++1!

[SHS]

Originally Posted by trk2

Never give up! Never surrender!

Multichannel AAC would work for me, but most of these box datasheets talk about stereo AAC. Since AC3's patent has expired I expect we'll see capture devices start supporting it at some point, maybe. Hopefully?

LoL
That true AC3's patent has expired but nobody doing any as far I know of nor is any one making any kind Real-Time Hardware Dolby Digital Encoder so only Sound card had that option with Dolby Digital Live.

[texneus]

Is everyone really looking to encode? Wouldn't you want it just to pass the AC3 audio through without manipulation ala Colossus? As far as I know this would not violate any patents, so the fact that it doesn't do this currently is, well, strange...

[peternm22]

Had my first "glitch" with the BM3000 today. I have two of them, and one of them decided to stop recording audio and video playback was stuttering.

I power cycled it and all seems to be well again (apart from a few recordings that are ruined).

Anyone else run into this? I'm hoping it isn't a sign of it failing.

I've had the units for about a year, and this is first time I can recall a problem occurring with any recordings that weren't weather related (I'm on satellite). So definitely more reliable than my old R5000

[Zogg]

I also have two of these. I think I had to power cycle one once but it's been quite a while.

My concern is that they are very warm to the touch. I've been thinking about rigging up some fans to blow on them.