Just started using HDPVR and am wondering...

[pat_smith1969]

I have a HD extender and to get it to view the captures from the HDPVR I had to update its firmware. I also have a number of hauppauge SD extenders, will I be able to use those to view items captured (non HD of course) from the HDPVR? Or did I hoze myself?

[sleonard]

All the reports I've read say that transcoding the HD H.264 is too much for even some high powered servers. I haven't seen any reports of transcoding SD H.264 for the MVP's.

S

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by sleonard

All the reports I've read say that transcoding the HD H.264 is too much for even some high powered servers. I haven't seen any reports of transcoding SD H.264 for the MVP's.

S

Yep. What he said.....The reports so far is that even with a Core 2 Processor @ 2.4ghz (a pretty decent machine), is unable to transcode on the fly. The transcoder is not multi-threaded, so even a quad core won't help anymore than a dual core. The best anyone has gotten so far very jerky play back. However, I am not sure anyone has tried SD captured video with the HD-PVR. Most of us are buying the HD-PVR and only using it for HD (and using our old tuners for SD). You MIGHT get lucky with SD encoded HD-PVR and a fairly stout server....

I'm in the same boat as I have 3 MVP's, but as stated I am going going to use the HD-PVR for HD content and only for those channels I can't get OTA (Discovery HD, ESPN HD, etc.).

[pat_smith1969]

I suppose I could use the hddvr for just HD. The SD capture is exceptional compared to my Hauppauge capture cards though. But since I cannot watch any ting recorded by this device on my MVP I must just limit it to HD and let my other capture cards do all the SD stuff, bummer.

I did try to watch live TV on my MVP (wiht the capture device being the hddvr). The MVP simply wouldnt tune that channel. You would press WATCH and it would just sit there. No errors or anything.

[wado1971]

I have to believe (hope) that sagetv will come up with an answer to playing back the HD-PVR recordings with an extender or placeshifter license. If not, I just hosed myself out of the cost of a placeshifter license and would need to purchase a client license and considerable hardware for my office machine to view recordings. An extender is not an option in the office because I normally view sagetv in a window while working on the same machine.

I guess another option would be to force an identical SD recording along with every HD-PVR recording and then find a way to filter the shows which the placeshifter sees..... but that's ridiculous. The introduction of this device is huge and I can't believe sagetv would allow it to obsolete a successful product (PS).

[BFisher]

You're on the bleeding edge right now... using software that isn't even released yet on a product that has only been available for a week or two. Give Sage some time...

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by BFisher

You're on the bleeding edge right now... using software that isn't even released yet on a product that has only been available for a week or two. Give Sage some time...

Your right of course. I just like the PQ from the HD-PVR so much that I've been browsing newegg to upgrade a machine which does not really need an upgrade (hopefully).

I guess I just needed someone to talk me in from the ledge and assure me to....... "put down the mouse and slowly back away from the CreditCard"

[Slipshod]

Actually, I've had pretty good success transcoding the H.264 HD content from my R5000 once I set it to static bitrates (no automatic tuning). I have one of the newer 2.6GHz 45nm quad-cores, and it nearly spikes one of the cores initially, but then settles down and swings up and down, probably averaging 60% or so.

PQ is good (for the resolution), and there's no stuttering. I've only tried it locally so far, at 384Kbps. I'll be trying it remote this week - business trip coming up.

[timnelsonic]

I have a new Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz w/ 4G of RAM. Non H.264 HD content (e.g., HDHomerun) works fine on the MVP. The H.264 content from the Hauppauge HD PVR does not...it is REAL slow and jerky. I can't envision even a faster processer being able to do the job, the experience is that bad.

If you can afford it, get the HD extenders. I have three and they work great. That's a much cheaper route than trying to beef up the server.