Newer MVP's With Digital Out?

[Taddeusz]

Does anyone have any experience using one of the newer units that includes a digital out? How does it function? Does it pass-through DD and DTS?

The reason I'm asking is I just ordered one. I understand the newer ones have a digital audio out included on them. Just curious how well it works.

I wanted to wait till the HD extender became available but my patience has wained. I will still get the HD one when it comes out but for the time being I really wanted to get my SageTV server off being connected through my home theatre system and rid myself of all weird problems of running the video directly on the computer. My TV is still SD so it's not a huge deal.

Just wanted to get an idea of what to expect.

[hemicuda]

since the last full release I've had nothing but good luck with mine other than the dim image in another thread. i'm not too sure that's my MVP though cause I've had recordings show up dark, 'ghosty', and blurry on my PC. SD cable looks muddy on my new Samsung HD. the digital coax works great. tv and DVDs never sounded better. I too cannot wait for the HD extender. i'm holding off on getting an HD capture til then. WAF is sinking over the 'SD content on HD set' issues though. Really sux that HD sets have issues w/ SD content. my 1920x1200 laptop and 2560x1024 dualhead desktop never took issue w/ pic quality.

back to your Q... I don't know yet if it passes DD or DTS, but DVDs seem to sound correctly on my system using it's no processing setting. I was satisfied with my setup when it was hooked to an SD set.

[Taddeusz]

My biggest dislike about playing video from my computer to my SDTV is that the video is scaled and deinterlaced on my PC to 1024x768 before going to the TV. I've tried other resolutions but the max 1024x768 has just always looked the best. But because of all this the scanlines of the original video don't necessarily line up with the scanlines of the TV. This means the video isn't going to be as sharp as it would be if you were watching it live or on a device like a Tivo. This is the main reason I've finally just broken down and bought an MVP (which should be on the delivery truck as I type) so close to when the HD extender is supposed to come out. That and I'd like to get the computer itself along with the seemingly miles of cable moved out of my living room.

I'm really excited to see how it works and really hoping it is a unit with digital out.

[hemicuda]

one other thing. even on regular broadcast it seems to output 4ch 'stereo.' either that or my sony (I know, *puke*) is mixing the 2 rears itself.

I only got the sony because it had the right price, best combo of inputs that I needed, and the slim form factor I had to have for the shelf. I wanted an Onkyo, but the receiver wouldn't fit anywhere and it was $200 more. Darn optical and coax digitals are on the same input though so I can't easily get 5.1 from the TV.

[maninblack_30]

Taddeusz, on my setup it just automatically passes through DD 5.1 if the stream is there, however I don't get any DTS. The sound quality is as good as any source I've got (guess digital is digital is digital) but it does seem to be a little suseptible to interference (when the aircon or something large cycles), the audio drops for maybe a second, the MVP I modded with an optical out doesn't, but I think I have some general noise issues with my antenna distribution system, something is "leaking" interference into it from the power. I think it's probably the cheap RF amplifier/splitter I have.
Anyway, I digress,

I think you'll love your MVP once you get it working, they are a real gem for SD.

[Taddeusz]

Yea, I'm excited. Unfortunately, it arrived after lunch today. UPS delivered it to my apartment office. They close at 5PM on Fridays, the same time I get off work. So I have to wait till tomorrow morning to pick it up. A little bit of a delay but I'll live. It would have been nice to have been able to watch Stargate and Painkiller Jane on it tonight.

[tipstir]

So you have MediaMVP with Digital Coax Output or Toshlink Optical?

[bcjenkins]

The newer ones have coax

[Taddeusz]

Well, I just got my MVP. I don't know why I waited so long to get one. No de-interlace ghosting, no color banding. Looks awesome!

It does have the digital audio out. Tried playing one of my ripped DVD's. Works great!

[maninblack_30]

Tipstr, were you asking me?
It's got an old motherboard digital out thingy with coax and Toslink - the Toslink doesn't drop out with the interference

[FidgetyRat]

my newer MVP has the "RCA" style s/pdif out on it. Im guessing this is considered coax?

Either way, I don't own any digital receivers.....


...


yea...

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by FidgetyRat

my newer MVP has the "RCA" style s/pdif out on it. Im guessing this is considered coax?

Either way, I don't own any digital receivers.....


...


yea...

Yea, that's what I got. That's how I had my SageTV server hooked to the TV. It works great with my Sony receiver. I haven't tried anything with DTS but it passes Dolby Digital straight to the receiver just fine. I also noticed that I don't get the audio lag problem that I was getting with the computer. If I paused a DVD several times, whether it be ripped or not, the audio would lose sync and I would have to stop playback completely and start the DVD from the beginning. Kind of annoying but the video quality made up for it.

So far I am really happy with it. It's the best purchase I've made in a while.

[tipstir]

Originally Posted by maninblack_30

Tipstr, were you asking me?
It's got an old motherboard digital out thingy with coax and Toslink - the Toslink doesn't drop out with the interference

Okay, thanks for the info, what firmware model is the one with digital coax?

[Taddeusz]

I can't remember the exact number but mine is 2.0x, I think it's 2.05 but don't quote me on that.

[valnar]

I just bought a MVP (my first one) from the Sage store and received it today. I assume I have the latest one. It has coax digital-out (which I don't use) and is rev H3.

Maybe it's my cheap 19" Samsung TV, but I'm not too impressed with the video output of it. I only have composite input. It looks a little dark, colors are a bit orange, and the volume is definitely softer than live TV. It doesn't have the punch of live TV on the Samsung tuner. It's good enough to watch some recordings, but I wouldn't want to watch live TV all the time this way. Fortunately, this isn't my main method of watching Sage output. My local HTPC on my 36" HDTV looks much better.

-Robert

[Taddeusz]

A month or so ago I bought a calibration DVD and calibrated my TV. Then when I got the MVP I properly calibrated both the tuners in my server. They are still a little dark but much better than the over brightness that they had before. Recording off my two STB's looks awesome on the MVP. The video is nice and sharp from the MVP because the scanlines actually match up like they would if I were watching live TV.

[valnar]

That wouldn't be my problem. All my HTPC hardware is properly calibrated and has been for years. I have a pair of Hauppauge PVR-250 tuners for analog and the HDHomeRun for HD. Since the latter doesn't need to be calibrated at all, I can only assume it's the MVP.

-Robert

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

A month or so ago I bought a calibration DVD and calibrated my TV. Then when I got the MVP I properly calibrated both the tuners in my server. They are still a little dark but much better than the over brightness that they had before. Recording off my two STB's looks awesome on the MVP. The video is nice and sharp from the MVP because the scanlines actually match up like they would if I were watching live TV.

Just ordered a calibration DVD, and was curious how you used it to calibrate the tuners on your server? Any insight would be appreciated; did you hook up a DVD player to feed the tuners or what?

[Taddeusz]

I have both my tuners hooked up to STB's so it was just a matter of plugging my DVD player into each tuner in turn. Make sure if you have any direct sunlight in your living room that you do the calibration after dark or else your TV and tuners will end up being over-bright. That's what happened to me. Things are still a little dark for me.


The only thing I wasn't sure about was setting the contrast on each tuner correctly. The brightness is easy but the contrast, ie white level, is difficult to determine. I was thinking I might need to hook a monitor to the server and try to calibrate it that way.