Placeshifter non-transcoded video

[Maxrom]

I have a quick question regarding using PS without transcoding. Does the recording quality I specify in STV Client directly affect the amount of bandwidth I need to stream non-transcoded video over the network with PS, or does PS get it's stream directly from my hardware PVR card, therefore meaning that the quality settings for recordings in STV Client has no bearing on the bandwidth required for PS to stream uncompressed video?

Also, I noticed that with my current setup, I can *almost* stream uncompressed video ok over my 'g' WLAN, but if I transcode, I cant stream reliably over about 500k, and that actually gives me a poorer picture than non-transcoded! Surely, non-transcoded video has much higher bandwidth requirements than the transcoded 500k video.... or is this all related to my question above?

Thanks...

[Opus4]

Nothing is played directly from the tuner; it all gets saved as a recording to a file first. So, non transcoded video is just that: video streamed/played at the rate the recording was made, which could be the default quality that you've set for SageTV, or the recording quality set for the Manual Recording or Favorite.

Transcoding reduces the video quality to fit into a smaller bandwidth, so it will not look as good as the original recording.

- Andy

[Maxrom]

Ok, thanks for that.

So, using the non-transcoded video option in PS will stream the video at the bitrate it was recorded at (so, in STV Client, the recording quality option dictates the bitrate the video will be streamed at).

Using the transcoding option in PS then re-encodes the recorded video (which will already have transcoded from the tuner) to the bitrate specified in PS?

Is my understanding correct? If so, if I want to play non-transcoded video over my wlan smoothly, could adjusting the recording quality setting in STV Client allow me to achieve this?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Maxrom

Ok, thanks for that.

So, using the non-transcoded video option in PS will stream the video at the bitrate it was recorded at (so, in STV Client, the recording quality option dictates the bitrate the video will be streamed at).

Using the transcoding option in PS then re-encodes the recorded video (which will already have transcoded from the tuner) to the bitrate specified in PS?

Is my understanding correct?

Yup.

If so, if I want to play non-transcoded video over my wlan smoothly, could adjusting the recording quality setting in STV Client allow me to achieve this?

Maybe, generally wireless issues are not due to bandwidth problems, but link reliability problems.

[Maxrom]

Excellent, thanks for the info. I'll adjust the recording quality tonight, and give it a go.

I'd rather stream without transcoding within PS, as that way, my PC is powerful enough to stream, and watch live tv at the same time. With transcoding, streaming has problems when live tv is playing on STV Client because my processor isnt quite up to the job. The only problem I was having is that at the moment, the bitrate is a little too high for my wlan to keep up, and the transcoded video in PS was giving me really poor quality tv (albeit nice and smooth - just lots of nasty mpeg artifacts). Now I'm a bit clearer on how PS and STV Client work, hopefully I can get that sorted out

Thanks again.