MVP now supports DivX and WMA

[korben_dallas]

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ..._mediamvp.html

I wonder how long before DVD playback can be streamed to the MVP?

[SHS]

Ture DVD playback over local network is never going to happing you may as well forget it and just give it up becuase there LAW that keep this from happing beside that the MVP dosen't support AC3 any way.

[heffe2001]

I thought it did Divx before? Transcoding it over to mpeg? Or does this new release do it in hardware?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by SHS

Ture DVD playback over local network is never going to happing you may as well forget it and just give it up becuase there LAW that keep this from happing...

What are you talking about?
http://www.kaleidescape.com/

[heffe2001]

I'd LOVE to have one of those boxes, but they are way too expensive .

[stanger89]

I just built my own.

[dcdave]

Kaleidescape is also being sued by the DVD-CCA for alleged violations of the DVD specfications.

[stanger89]

That's funny (well actually sad) because Kaleidescape worked with the DVD-CCA all the way to make sure they stayed 100% inside the spec, and now the CCA is pretending they've never heard of Kaleidescape.

It's also really stupid because Kaleidescape can only be good for DVD sales, and if they sue K out of business they're going to do nothing but piss off a bunch of rich people who spent a lot of money on DVDs.

[korben_dallas]

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/suppo..._mediamvp.html

Requirements to play DivX movies:

* DivX playing requires a fast PC (minimum 1.8GHz or faster recommended)
* you need to have a DivX player on your PC
* your DivX movies need to have an .AVI extension
* if the video and audio are jerky on playback, your PC is too slow to "transcode" the DivX video at its current frame size. You will need to reduce the image size of your DivX movies. For example, if playing 640x480 DivX movies is jerky, reduce the size of your DivX movies to 320x240.
* once DivX videos are playing, they will typically consume most of the CPU power available on your PC. Therefore, you should not expect to be able to do other tasks on your PC while playing DivX videos.

http://www.hauppauge.com/PDFs/mediam..._divx_tips.pdf

* DivX codec is required; choose Standard Codec from http://www.divx.com/divx
* simultaneous playback of DivX files from multiple MVP's is not possible
* only videos of exactly 320x240 and 640x480 can be scaled to full screen; other frame sizes will be letterboxed
* speech synchronization may be lost after ff or rwd



I wonder if Frey will be able to overcome some of these restrictions with their extender version. Otherwise, I'll be skipping the MVP and looking forward to a different extender or SageTV set top box.

[SHS]

Well if read there FAQ you have found out that kaleidescape is more of closed system and paid very high price for DVD CCA license to do this.

[Opus4]

I don't believe any of this DivX playback on the MVP is new -- if you read the MVP plugin thread, I think you'll see that it was mentioned a while back that the Hauppauge software could do it via transcoding. (But the plugin doesn't do that, I believe.)

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

I wonder if Frey will be able to overcome some of these restrictions with their extender version. Otherwise, I'll be skipping the MVP and looking forward to a different extender or SageTV set top box.

You mean the restrictions related to sytem requirements to transcode the DivX file to something the MVP can play in its hardware decoder? I don't think there would be any way around the transcoding requirements, since the MVP doesn't do DivX decoding in its hardware. The only way around that would be if Hauppauge updated the MVP's hardware to include that capability. There were rumors of a new MVP a while back, but nothing was announced at CES, so it remains to be seen whether there actually is a new MVP coming and, if so, what it would be capable of. (On the other hand, I don't know of the transcoding process could be made any more efficient to ease some of the requirements you listed above.)

- Andy

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by SHS

Well if read there FAQ you have found out that kaleidescape is more of closed system and paid very high price for DVD CCA license to do this.

But where do you get that it's illegal?

[JasonJoel]

Very unlikely. The MVP is kind of a one trick pony (MPEG video).

They MIGHT make it possible to transcode multiple video files at once, but it would take a monster server (like 4+ GHz).

So long story short, if you watch a lot of DIVX, the MVP will never be a good solution for you. If you want DIVX you should takea serious look at the Pinnacle Showshifter, it is about the only stand alone media device that decodes DIVC in hardware (no transcoding).

So you might be waiting a LONG while for an extender... The MVP is going to be the only one at launch time, which is this Spring. THEN they will look at other. I wouldn't bet on seeing any extenders besides the MVP in 2005...

Jason

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/suppo..._mediamvp.html

Requirements to play DivX movies:

* DivX playing requires a fast PC (minimum 1.8GHz or faster recommended)
* you need to have a DivX player on your PC
* your DivX movies need to have an .AVI extension
* if the video and audio are jerky on playback, your PC is too slow to "transcode" the DivX video at its current frame size. You will need to reduce the image size of your DivX movies. For example, if playing 640x480 DivX movies is jerky, reduce the size of your DivX movies to 320x240.
* once DivX videos are playing, they will typically consume most of the CPU power available on your PC. Therefore, you should not expect to be able to do other tasks on your PC while playing DivX videos.

http://www.hauppauge.com/PDFs/mediam..._divx_tips.pdf

* DivX codec is required; choose Standard Codec from http://www.divx.com/divx
* simultaneous playback of DivX files from multiple MVP's is not possible
* only videos of exactly 320x240 and 640x480 can be scaled to full screen; other frame sizes will be letterboxed
* speech synchronization may be lost after ff or rwd



I wonder if Frey will be able to overcome some of these restrictions with their extender version. Otherwise, I'll be skipping the MVP and looking forward to a different extender or SageTV set top box.

[SHS]

There a specific regulations that protect against rebroadcasting of DVD that why it has be a closed system which clear stated in the DMCA copyright laws (Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998).
Kaleidescape is kind of a closed system but then again it not really a ture closed system like Home DVD Player.
You see just becuases Kaleidescape got DVD CCA license the MPPA can turn rigth round and fouce them to put a stop this so you see it no win game any way you look at it.