HD PVR file this can't be the right size but it is

[tvconfuse]

So today i recorded alien vs predator PII just to see how big the video file would be and how the quality compares between the two.

This makes no sense but, the 1 hour and 30 minute movie (minus end credits and stuff in the front) came out to be 8.9 gigs. I recorded the movie on the constant setting.

The BD movie on the box lists it at an AVC bitrate of 29mbs..

I must be losing a ton of quality here...

The movie that I recorded does look softer than what's on the BD

[mikejaner]

not a ton, but theoretically some. The softness is probably a combination of the analog transfer and the lower bitrate. To me the loss is hardly noticable. Also note, BluRay's have so much room, they can afford to crank up the bitrate, but at what point does it become superfluous. Think of a 256k MP3 vs. a 320k one. Most people wouldn't notice.

[bastian74]

Err, the file size will be completely dependent on what your quality setting was on the hd pvr. It sounds like you had it set to around 6 GB/hr

I'm going to hook up two 19" monitors side by side. One to the PC via the HD PVR and one to the HDMI of thr STB. Then I'll be able to clearly see the difference. Assuming the STB can display on a 19" computer monitor.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by bastian74

Err, the file size will be completely dependent on what your quality setting was on the hd pvr. It sounds like you had it set to around 6 GB/hr

I'm going to hook up two 19" monitors side by side. One to the PC via the HD PVR and one to the HDMI of thr STB. Then I'll be able to clearly see the difference. Assuming the STB can display on a 19" computer monitor.

I wouldn't use a PC for Playback as a comparison against your STB. You are talking Software Decoding VS. Hardware Decoding. From what I have seen, the STB wins every time in this situation.
To make the comparison fair, I would use an HD100 for playback to level the playing field to Hardware vs. Hardware decoding.

[tvconfuse]

If you're talking about the "record settings" then i have it set to 13.5mbs for average and peak at 20.2mbs

I don't know where else i can change the settings GB/hr unless i missed something

[QUOTE=bastian74;309503]Err, the file size will be completely dependent on what your quality setting was on the hd pvr. It sounds like you had it set to around 6 GB/hr

[dvd_maniac]

I think that they up the bitrate on purpose to make it harder for people to rip and up to the internet.
Most people would not want to host a 25GB video file.
I have ripped a few BD's and compressed them to around 5GB with the same resolution and then played the 2 videos on my 57" 1080 HDTV via the HD100 and asked a few people if they could tell the difference... They could not.

I'm going to hook up two 19" monitors side by side.

I think that 19" might be too small to be detailed enough.

[bastian74]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

I think that 19" might be too small to be detailed enough.

I just uploaded photographs: http://www.net-express.com/hd-pvr/
As for the fairness of the comparison, I'm comparing end result to end result which is what I'm concerned about. A DirecTV PVR would not loose any quality at all as it captures the stream unchanged - as does the R5000 mod.

I'm sure I could get used to it after a while, but my favorite shows I'd still want to see live.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by bastian74

I just uploaded photographs: http://www.net-express.com/hd-pvr/
As for the fairness of the comparison, I'm comparing end result to end result which is what I'm concerned about. A DirecTV PVR would not loose any quality at all as it captures the stream unchanged - as does the R5000 mod.

I'm sure I could get used to it after a while, but my favorite shows I'd still want to see live.

The end result is skewed if you are using software decoders. They are not as crisp and detailed as hardware based decoders like the HD100. You could be getting a very clean recording, but if your decoder sux, then you might as well not compare it with the DTV box. The arcsoft decoders are quite crappy.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

I think that they up the bitrate on purpose to make it harder for people to rip and up to the internet.

I doubt it, it's just simple economics. It takes far less effort to get a good result at high bitrates than low ones. Low bitrates require a lot of manual "hand coding", re-encoding chunks, to make them look good.

With BD, they've got a budget, 25 or 50GB of space, and all they have to do is fit the movie and extras in that space. If they can use 30Mbps AVC and fit the movie and extras, there's no incentive to go through the effort to reduce the bitrate.