xcard, to be or not to be.

[rhsmcc]

I’m usually not one to play with fire but thought that this one time I would add some wood to the fire. I’m very happy with SageTV and even more so since I’ve downloaded the trial version of TVedia. Very clumsy interface but wow that xcard component output on a 50” LCD is great. The only reason I started this venture is because I’ve recently been frustrated with using my Gateway Networked DVD player to play movies from the Sage video directories. Movies recorded off the HBO and Showtime 16x9 HDTV channels look great. Only the very fine detail is lost compared to the original high definition signal. DVD quality. The problem is that the Gateway cannot ff, skip or rewind the mpg files without locking up because it doesn’t seem to find its place. This is rectified by remixing the files with VideoReDo. But this is too much work. Now usually I should be happy with my setup because I’m using he 350 svideo output to the TV and the quality of shows recorded from the HDTV TWC cable box are good. I even went to the trouble of trying to use the DVI and VGA out from the video card into the TV but no software decoder comes close. It seem that the more time you spend watching HDTV the more critical you become regarding your picture. I pan to continue to use SageTV but also considered getting TVedia as a media player for the xcard. $60 is a little step just for that. I guess what I’d like to know is there a real potential for the xcard implementation in sage? Charging for a plug-in would not be unreasonable.

[mlbdude]

I would investigate your issues with using component or DVI out of your PC. Doing so blows away SVideo from the 350 (which has a super cheesy decoders). The XCard with component can do as good a job but you can't get anything but video out of it.

For DVD's check out this guide. It could get you started.
http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=ffdshowdvd_1

[sticky]

I would be a paying customer for that.. I am about to start my review of TVedia.. Now you have me frightened .

[x[corwyn]]

Check out GBPVR. I'm starting to right now, and I'm sooooooo stoked to have an OSD for the xCard. I really can't understand why the other PVR software developers can't understand why people would want to use this if they don't have an HDTV. Its a cheap card that does component out and offloads CPU. Its also stable. It also outputs Divx format. Its really a damned good tool for PVR work.

[RobDMB]

I've too tried Tvedia. It is solid in its xcard support but sagetv just it much more polished for pvr. Hopefully eventually it will have xcard support.

[dgeffs]

I am thrilled that so many people are beginning to look at the Xcard output and coming away with the same conclusion. It's just hard to ignore a great OSD and picture quality that seems to be absolutely stable. I would agree that TVedia lacks many of the features of Sage but it looks damn good for simple stuff.

I'm running DVD's (both from a player and ripped), CD's and MP3 output through the card with no issues. Someone needs to light a fire under the Sage people to support this card.

Dale

[Cayars]

Not an ideal solution but non-the-less doable right now is forgetting about the X-Card/SageTV integration and moving up to a dedicated box like the Pinnacle ShowCenter which uses a sigma video chipset that is pretty much the same as the X-Card in a PC.

The ShowCenter is very cool and blows away the Hauppauge MVP client (costs more too). The picture is stunning and the ability to play back DivX recordings is top notch.

[dagar]

But can we use the Pinnacle ShowCenter with Sage or a similar PVR?

[GbrNole]

cayars - some perusing shows me that you are quite experienced where the showcenter is concerned.

spill the beans will ya?

i'd be really interested in using one of those since it's so much more capable than the mediamvp. well that and my dvd's are all backed up to xvid