Question about recording w/Plextor

[jettman]

I currently have a Hauppauge PVR 350. I am looking into the Plextor TV402U or the TV100U.
1. What is the difference between the TV100U and the TV402U?
2. Do they both record in Divx format or can they record in MPEG 2 as well?
3. When I buy one of the above I will then have 2 tuners, will either of the above work well with my PVR 350?
4. What is the difference between Divx and MPEG-4?
5. Anything else I should know about using one of the above Plextors?

I also have Sage client on my laptop if that makes a difference.

TIA

[TripleTapper]

1) & 2) http://www.plextor.com/english/produ...nvertXComp.htm

3)SageTV will recognize your Plextor as a second tuner IF you get the TV402U. I had a few issues getting the Plextor to work on my setup, but nothing major. It currently works flawlessly

4)Not sure

5)I reccomend downloading the latest drivers off thier website. The latest drivers came out like a year agao, but the drivers that shipped with my unit were even older!

[MrApollinax]

4) http://www.doom9.org/codec-faq.htm#divx-v3

What's the difference between DivX and MS MPEG4 v3?

There's none, really. DivX is basically a step farther from the original hack of the MS MPEG4 v3 codec, which, after the beta phase did not allow to encode to AVI anymore so that limit was hacked out. Gej then changed the name and the fourcc code in order to allow both codecs to coexist.

[folly12345]

Jettman,

I have 2 pvr 150's and a Plextor tv402u. Despite the promise the unit shows, I have never been happy with the Plextor. Its volume is significantly softer than the Hauppauge cards and I have ongoing av sync issues if mpeg4 timeshifting is enabled. With Sage 4.13 it gets an error any time it is used to record and the recording fails. If you have a slot available, I would recommend another Hauppauge card.

I do not have any experience with the Hauppauge usb devices anyone here able to comment on them?

[dvd_maniac]

I have 2xSB2 1x500,1x150 and the Plextor TV402U. I bought the Plextor last year in hopes of recording directly to mpeg-4. The Plextor hit the dusty shelf shortly after that.
Recording directly into DIVX or MPEG-4 does not really give significant space savings. Since it is doing a 1-pass capture the bitrate has to be high to maintain quality. The resulting file is too big to archive (IMHO) compared to capturing mpeg-2 and doing a proper 2-pass encode using 3rd party software. Also, and I do not know if it's fixed yet, but I have had too many problems with the Audio sync issues, the limitation of 6mbps recording and no bundled remote.
IMO, the Plextor unit is good for nothing and I would recommend staying away from it.

[jettman]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

I have 2xSB2 1x500,1x150 and the Plextor TV402U. I bought the Plextor last year in hopes of recording directly to mpeg-4. The Plextor hit the dusty shelf shortly after that.
Recording directly into DIVX or MPEG-4 does not really give significant space savings. Since it is doing a 1-pass capture the bitrate has to be high to maintain quality. The resulting file is too big to archive (IMHO) compared to capturing mpeg-2 and doing a proper 2-pass encode using 3rd party software. Also, and I do not know if it's fixed yet, but I have had too many problems with the Audio sync issues, the limitation of 6mbps recording and no bundled remote.
IMO, the Plextor unit is good for nothing and I would recommend staying away from it.

Thanks for the info guys.
I will probably go with another Hauppauge, maybe the 150 or the 500.
What third party software do you use to change mpeg-2 into Divx?
I have heard of AutoGK but don't know much about it.
Also, I heard that someone on this forum made a utility to do that.
Sorry, I am new to this.

[TripleTapper]

dvd_maniac you are being way too harsh on the Plextor. I am a noob to the PVR scene and the Plextor is the only device that I have experience with. I had a few hiccups getting it working with Sage, but nothing major. It records and does everything it says its going to do all with hardware Divx support and USB ease of install. I am 100% happy with it. No audio sync issues at all. I would think that if someone already has a internal TV tuner with remote, adding a Plextor would be the perfect addition for adding a second tuner.

I forgot to mention, if you would like to part with your good for nothing Plextor, please mail it to me!! I'll even pay for shipping!

[Opus4]

I have a few PVR-USB2 devices & they work great... never had a problem w/any of them.

- Andy

[dvd_maniac]

dvd_maniac you are being way too harsh on the Plextor.

Probably right there, Like I said it was over a year ago. But from my experience the only reason to buy it over a Hauppauge is the mpeg-4/divx recording. Now I have been converting shows for a few years and I am use to good quality videos at low bitrates 350MB/hr. This device was going to save me oodles of time encoding video. NO SUCH LUCK. You have to have a bitrate just "A Little" lower then mpeg-2 to get decent quality. Suffice to say, I was highly dissapointed. But as far as the Audio sync issue maybe it is fixed. I still would not recommend it.

I forgot to mention, if you would like to part with your good for nothing Plextor, please mail it to me!! I'll even pay for shipping!

Ebayed it for 75.00

What third party software do you use to change mpeg-2 into Divx?
I have heard of AutoGK but don't know much about it.

http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=Downloads

Very easy to use. Download it and test it out and if you get stuck let me know...

[TripleTapper]

Just curious, what do you consider good quality? Like I said, I am new to this PVR thing and am learning with every post.

The Plextor can record "Home Theater" quality at 1.9GB per hour, but scales all the way back to "Handheld" quality at 120MB per hour. I personally find the Divx "portable" quality at 960MB/hour to be great. If I can ever figure out how to strip commercials I should be much lower then that

Bummer I missed out on your Ebay deal. I would love to pickup a second unit so that I can record multiple programs at the same time.

I will check out Autogk thanks.

[dvd_maniac]

960MB/hour to be great

I've tried that setting. I get better quality at 1/3 that size. 350MB/hr when encoding myself. It's not the Plextor's fault and Sage is great for supporting it. It is just not possible "YET" to do good quality encodes in real-time without using high bitrates.

If I can ever figure out how to strip commercials I should be much lower then that

You should be able to edit out commercials in your divx files pretty easily using VirtualDubMod. When you install AutoGK it is a free program that is included. You might have to go into the program files folder under AutoGK to find it as I do not think it creates a shortcut.

Another word of advice. I find using the Max mpeg-2 recording quality (Not available with the PLextor unit though) and encoding that gives better results.

Good quality in = good quality out.

[TripleTapper]

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't it take hours to encode to a Divx file from a MPEG-4 file? If thats the case, I guess I find the 960MB file very acceptable for what I do. If not, I will have to think about a Hp150 for a second tuner card. Just curious, what is Max Mpeg-2? The Plextor can only do 47.6MB/hour for thier Max.

Thanks again DVD Maniac for answering all my questions. Your comments are very helpful.

[dvd_maniac]

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't it take hours to encode to a Divx file from a MPEG-4 file?

I meant encoding from mpeg-2 to mpeg-4 (Divx/Xvid)
It takes my P$ 2.8 about 1:40:00 to encode a 1 hour show. And the quality is better at 300MB then if you record to 960/hr using the Plextor (IMHO).

curious, what is Max Mpeg-2? The Plextor can only do 47.6MB/hour for thier Max.

Max Mpeg-2 is a SageTV recording quality. It uses 12mbit/s which the Plextor can not do. It tops out at 6mbit/s if I'm not mistaken.
Good luck with whatever you do.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

It is just not possible "YET" to do good quality encodes in real-time without using high bitrates.

Or very expensive pro/broadcast grade equipment (which I don't have )

From what I've heard of the plextor, it seems you can get about the same quality as MPEG-2 at about half the bitrate. Which is actually about right for MPEG-4. It's generally considered to be 2-3x more efficient than MPEG-2.

Now the difference is that the cheap hardware encoders we use, are not very efficient. At about 3GB/hr (6Mbps or so) the 250 will provide quality that a pro/broadcast/offline encoder can give at about 2-3Mbps (MPEG-2 still). Digital cable runs about 2Mbps or so per channel.

If you go to MPEG-4 (especially AVC or alternatively VC-1), you can get that down to under 1Mbps.

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't it take hours to encode to a Divx file from a MPEG-4 file?

With a modern processor (3GHz class) you can encode SD in realtime pretty easy. With a dual-core...

Oh and the max recording quality of the 150/250/500 is 5.6GB/hr (12Mbps IIRC).

[pseudonym]

Originally Posted by TripleTapper

Bummer I missed out on your Ebay deal. I would love to pickup a second unit so that I can record multiple programs at the same time.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...814&CatId=1428

Only $40 after rebate, until 2/28/07.

Originally Posted by TripleTapper

I will check out Autogk thanks.

I have used AutoGK many times, it is easy to use and quite good.

--pseudonym