R5000-HD capture via USB2 & SageTV

[Kirby]

Its very obvious right now that the MPEG4 encoders are having some issues. There are bits of colors encoded wrong, some sound drops, etc. These are just killing mplayer in playback.

Right now I am watching ESPN2 and their poker program, and I am getting FPS rates bouncing from 35 to 60. So its not there yet, needs to be at 60, but this is definitely better than my tests a week ago. I am sure on faster motion its going to drop big.

[NEOSG]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Right now, my MPEG4 is playing back through mplayer (SageTVPlayer). It was ok on ESPN2, and then on NGC HD for a few minutes, then everything freaked out. StarzHD and NFL HD are reporting their file types incorrectly on the DVR app, so maybe something needs to be changed from Nextcom.

Thanks for the info

[KJake]

This is really exciting to see that getting HD from Satellite is going to be a reality. I was discouraged by the high price of 169 so I was considering going to cable HD -- but then seeing all the issues of firewire and 5C, I completely lost all hope of getting HD in Sage (besides OTA locals).

I'm currently a DirecTV subscriber and I know that our locals here are MPEG4 (...and I need to upgrade to the 5LNB dish to get them...). I see there are some issues with playback of MPEG4 from Dish, has there been any recording of MPEG4 from DirecTV?

[edit] I did some more forum surfing and it appears that the MPEG4 playback issues may not be related to the Satellite provider, but rather the lack of MPEG4 support in Sage and the mplayer that they bundle...is that correct? If that's the case, then I guess I will wait to order anything and see what happens in the next Sage betas. Are there any comments on Dish vs. DirecTV? I have only once in my three years of subscribing had a problem with signal, what are your experiences with Dish?[/edit]

[Kirby]

You cant get a DirecTV MPEG4 receiver modified at this time.

With Dishnetwork, its not a problem. Only problem with Dish now is that we really need a working playback method for the MPEG4 because they are actively transitioning everything HD into mpeg4. Hopefully some new HD is coming to them very soon as well, now that they just doubled their HD bandwidth this past week with their new MPEG4 encoders.

[KJake]

Very cool...it definately sounds like I should wait for this MPEG4 stuff to settle out with Sage before I go and spend $1000+ on new equipment...but if it does end up working, all my recordings are going to look so much better than the PVR-250 route. This might be a good reason to switch to Dish too, since I'll be a new customer, I'll get free receiver boxes.

[KJake]

Hi Kirby - I was wondering if you have had more success with MPEG4 playback in the new 6.1RC ? I have read that HD playback is getting better now...

Thanks for your updates.

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by KJake

Hi Kirby - I was wondering if you have had more success with MPEG4 playback in the new 6.1RC ? I have read that HD playback is getting better now...

Thanks for your updates.

To be honest, I havent even had time to try any of the 6.1 releases. My sage server and HTPC are offline right now. Sorry I cant give more updates.

[HawgGuy]

Just got my r5000 working yesterday and noticed something unusual while watching a CFL game on the World Sport network (Voom). The picture was good, but stuttering, while watching using the NVIDIA Purevideo decoder but perfectly smooth as glass using the stock Sage decoder. I played around with the various options for the purevideo decoder with no apparent effect.

Using Nvidia 7600GT with latest drivers, FSE.

[Fluffdaddy]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

The picture was good, but stuttering, while watching using the NVIDIA Purevideo decoder but perfectly smooth as glass using the stock Sage decoder.

I noticed the same. Right now I'm using "stock decoders" for all R5000 HD recordings.

[MarkV]

I'm trying to Watch Live TV from an R5000 DTV. Config is SageTV server, a client with the R5000 on it, and another PC running SageClient (or an HD extender).

Recordings work fine. Watching Live TV shows the R5000 recording app start up and record data. I can even view the data using sage if I stop recording.

However, if I try to Watch Live TV on any client or extender, I get a "No Signal". I changed the settings that were suggested by the nextcomwireless.com SageTV page, but they made no difference.

I am recording to a drive local to the SageClient and not the SageTV server. Is this the issue ? I've tried adding the network drive to the SageTV server's recording directories, but that made no obvious difference.

I saw an earlier post (2 yrs back) about UNC drives and how I needed to record to a local drive, but I am recording to a local drive.

Any thoughts? I pinged SageTV support earlier tonight.

[gjvrieze]

Originally Posted by MarkV

I'm trying to Watch Live TV from an R5000 DTV. Config is SageTV server, a client with the R5000 on it, and another PC running SageClient (or an HD extender).

Recordings work fine. Watching Live TV shows the R5000 recording app start up and record data. I can even view the data using sage if I stop recording.

However, if I try to Watch Live TV on any client or extender, I get a "No Signal". I changed the settings that were suggested by the nextcomwireless.com SageTV page, but they made no difference.

I am recording to a drive local to the SageClient and not the SageTV server. Is this the issue ? I've tried adding the network drive to the SageTV server's recording directories, but that made no obvious difference.

I saw an earlier post (2 yrs back) about UNC drives and how I needed to record to a local drive, but I am recording to a local drive.

Any thoughts? I pinged SageTV support earlier tonight.

Your install may be a little different then mine, but I know that you HAVE to have the dump.ts (or whatever you named it) in the actually Sage server recording directory, for Sage to connect to the stream coming from Sgraphrecorder....

[MarkV]

Originally Posted by gjvrieze

Your install may be a little different then mine, but I know that you HAVE to have the dump.ts (or whatever you named it) in the actually Sage server recording directory, for Sage to connect to the stream coming from Sgraphrecorder....

Do you mean the SageTV server needs to have the file in the path it thinks it records to ?

For example, I can tell I've slightly pooched something. I record on my client to "E:\R5000 Recordings". I had to create that directory on the server for some reason as well. Should I use a UNC path on the client or server? I prefer to record local to the client.

[gjvrieze]

Originally Posted by MarkV

Do you mean the SageTV server needs to have the file in the path it thinks it records to ?

For example, I can tell I've slightly pooched something. I record on my client to "E:\R5000 Recordings". I had to create that directory on the server for some reason as well. Should I use a UNC path on the client or server? I prefer to record local to the client.

I do not believe UNC paths work, you will need to mount the drive that you record into from Sage, and have Sgraphrecorder dump there as well, this is set from the graph you created with Graphedit....

[R5000-HD]

Release version 3.1d is available for download.
Users of the latest versions of SageTV may have experienced some of their R5000-HD recordings ending early. SageTV can close and re-establish the network connection periodically causing the R5000 DVR to stop the recording because it appeared that the media center had terminated. Also, multi-tuner users may have experienced the erroneous "port already in use" message. Both issues have been addressed.
Please see our support page (download area) for links to the appropriate packages and updated release notes. Windows 7 users - please use the "Vista" packages.

We are also offering a Year end clearance on Pre-modified Dish 211 receivers. This is our most popular combination for use with SageTV.
Get an additional 10% off plus free shipping until year end. These are new, unactivated and fully warranted units. While supplies last.

-R

[viperdiablo]

Anyone tried this new update for the r5000? if so how much faster is there in channel changing?

[Fuzzy]

Been running 3.1d for a few months now, and it seems to work just fine (improved some problems that were in 3.1c such as losing the tuners now and then). As for channel change time, I don't know, as I never see the channel change...

[viperdiablo]

"i never see the channel change"

Fuzzy are you saying this because you never change channels while watching live tv? Do you have the r5000 for dish?

[Fuzzy]

I'm just saying I never watch livetv, so the channel change is not something that I ever encounter. And yes, i do still use thr R-5000 (three of them).

[viperdiablo]

Still pretty reliable? Would you recommend the r5000 over the hd pvr from hauppauge?

[Fuzzy]

no, not really.. I don't think it's THAT much better, and the HD-PVR will allow you to move services (where I'm definately at this point sticking to Dish).

Don't get me wrong, the R-5000 is certainly good, and is by far the best quality you can get into sage, short of OTA, but it is quite expensive, especially if you DON'T do the DiY installation. I think most would be better served (and It'd be cheaper) with a couple HD-PVR's with 2 sat/cable stb's and an HDHomeRun getting locals (prefferably from OTA, if not, then QAM). The USB-UIRT is very relable for channel changes.