Choosing between a MVP or HD100 for a SD TV

[brandypuff]

I'm trying to decide between a MVP (SD) and a HD100 Media
Extender.

I have a SD TV and a basic stereo system. I also have a Hauppauge 1600
card in my computer capable of recordig SD cable TV and over the air HD.
The HD quality is unbelievably great, btw.

If i choose the MVP Extender:
1. Will i be able to watch the HD recorded content on my SD TV?
2. Will I be able to watch live TV HD on my SD TV?


If i Choose the HD100:
1. Will it be able to play HD recorded content on my SD TV?
2. Will I be able to watch live TV HD on my SD TV?
3. Will it scale 19:9 to 4:3? or letterbox?

Also, How does the AC3 audio in HD recorded files sound when
piped through a TV or stereo? I noticed that this sound is
generally weak in volume (but i don't have a 5.1 sound
system to test it.

Thanks. Brandypuff

[matt91]

Others will reply in much more detail, but here are a couple of thoughts that I have:

To play HD content via an MVP requires that your server transcode to SD first. This, apparently, requires lots of horsepower. (Live TV would need even more to transcode on the fly, I think.)

Playing HD content via the HD extender doesn't require any transcoding first. You can play HD content on a SD set. You should be able to watch live HD.

As I said, others can give more details.
Matt

[gplasky]

You want the HD Extender. 'Nuff said.

(Get one before they're gone again.)


Gerry

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

If i choose the MVP Extender:
1. Will i be able to watch the HD recorded content on my SD TV?
2. Will I be able to watch live TV HD on my SD TV?

Yes, but you'll need a pretty massive server because the HD needs to be transcoded, on the fly, to SD for the MVP. That and I think the transcoding can be kind of fiddly.

If i Choose the HD100:
1. Will it be able to play HD recorded content on my SD TV?
2. Will I be able to watch live TV HD on my SD TV?
3. Will it scale 19:9 to 4:3? or letterbox?

Yes to all, you pick the resolution, aspect ratio of the TV, and the extender letter/pillarboxes as appropriate (you can override if you don't like it's choice).

Originally Posted by gplasky

You want the HD Extender. 'Nuff said.

That pretty much sums it up, if you want to handle HD, you want the STX-HD100.

[nebulink]

I purchased 6 HD extenders and I only have 3 HD tv's. The reason for this was to offload the processing to the extender and not the server.

fyi, I have never owned an MVP. Once Sage released the HD extender to me it only made sense to go it vs the mvp for the multi codec support righ out of the box.

[brandypuff]

ok, thanks. it sounds like the HD100 is the way to go. The only other question i have is how is the audio of HD content when piped through the tv or nomal RCA jacks on a stereo?

[gplasky]

It can play stereo clear up to AC3 5 channel.

Gerry

[Yooper]

The HD100 can play your SD video in 1080i or 1080p mode. It looks outstanding!

[sam99]

easy answer is that mvp can not playback HD files in HD, but an HD extender can play back SD files in SD. So if there is even a remote chance that you will be upgrading to an HDTV any time in the near future, then go HD extender and save yourself the unused 100$ mvp when you have to buy the hd extender for your new tv

That being said, the server in my sig transcodes on the fly to my mvps just fine 99% of the time. Have very rarely seen momentary "glitches" when viewing HD material through them and even those were hardly noticeable.

[electron]

I play HD files on my MVP hooked up to a SD set all the time, and it isn't a problem at all. I also didn't see any unusual CPU usage on my AMD 64 3400 based system (which also runs 2 virtual machines on a permanent basis), so you don't need a 'massive server', unless people are talking about just the Live TV part.

With that said, if you can afford it, get the HD100. If you are pushing your budget, or aren't planning on upgrading that TV within a year, and have a decent server, I would get the MVP (in a year or so, they might have a better version of the HD100), it's the route I went for my SDTV.

[Taddeusz]

I guess it depends on how happy you are with the "Normal Quality" setting for transcoding to the MVP. My X2 4200 would do ok set at Normal but would choke on 1080i/p when set to High. 720p would usually be fine on High. I now have an HD100 and am much happier. No more transcoding. My H.264 converted DVD's look excellent!