R5000 mod or Hauppauge HD PVR

[viperdiablo]

I have been debating this for awhile now. I currently have Starchoice satellite. As I posted in a previous thread, the special right now going on at Nextcom for the R5000 mod would only cost me about $50 dollars more vs the hauppauge HD PVR route. I just want to know if it is actually worth the extra money? One of my concerns is channel changes. Does it take longer to change channels on the R5000 mod? Is the usb-uirt with the Hauppuage HD PVR quicker? Thanks for any insight you guys can give.

[bastian74]

I think there is a significant quality drop on the hd pvr vs direct from the STB. Of course the decoder is different (pc vs stb) but I'm skeptical that is the entire difference. Others dissagree, but I've never seen a side by side comparison of a capture from a R5000 and the same stream saved from a HD PVR.

Doing it all again, i'd probably just get the dtv pvr. Maybe I still will and just use my htpc as a ps3. It's fast enough.

Channel changes aren't going to be fast either way. That is why you use the guide. The days of channel surfing are over.

[viperdiablo]

Thanks for the reply. Using the guide is what I would be doing. So selecting a channel from the guide how long are we talking about to change channels. Are you saying that you may ditch the whole sagetv pvr.

[jerryt]

Channel changes are faster and more fool proof on the R5000 because it has a direct connection.

Channel change times with Sage are slow. like 6 to 8 seconds. That is the way it is. Sage is best for scheduled recordings, channel surfing is out of the question. For channel surfing use the STB directly.

HD-PVR vs R5000.

My HD-PVR has had problems, currently I am not using it and looking to RMA it for a later version due to 5.1 audio distortion. Recently the HD-PVR started dropping the recordings after the first few seconds.

R5000 just works, if only I could figure out how to get h.264 closed captions working.

Picture quaility of both is outstanding.

Originally Posted by bastian74

Channel changes aren't going to be fast either way. That is why you use the guide. The days of channel surfing are over.

Bastian, means that you use the guide to determine what you want to watch instead of channel surfing.

[btrcp2000]

I have both, and pretty much agree with what jerryt says. Channel changing is just slow, but it's worth it. There is a new beta out for the r5000 that I installed last night. Supposedly it does something to speed up channel changes, but I haven't messed with the config yet. It seems a hair quicker, but I might be hallucinating. But the point is they're aware of it and trying to do something. Not sure there's much to be done for either r5000 or hdpvr because if I understand correctly, most of the delay is sage buffering the digital stream.

One problem with the HDPVR that I re-learned last night is that if you have to uninstall/reinstall or upgrade drivers, you usually have to run hauppauge's hcwclear program first to get rid of old drivers. Problem is, that takes any other hauppauge drivers with it, so if you also have a pvr150, that will need to be reinstalled as well. Not really a big deal, but I wouldn't have been so gung ho about messing with the HDPVR last night if I knew it was going to be another late one.

EDIT: I use the usb-uirt with my hdpvr, and it changes the channels right away on the box, but it doesn't help the buffering issue

[viperdiablo]

So by using the guide, finding what i want to watch and selecting that channel. It would take about 8-10 seconds to tune in (using the R5000)?

[vorius]

I can't say anything about Hauppauge's device but I have been using R5000 for I think 2 years now unless 1 year really went that quickly. Hell I cant keep track of time anymore, I just know it was one November.

ANYWAY, I am unhappy with R5000 because I have some many problems with it. The channel changing is embarrassingly slow- I count 12-15 seconds on average. But also it has problems changing channels in the first place: it often truncates a digit or two from the beginning of a channel I want to tune to. So if I try to tune to a 4 digit channel number like 1645, sometimes it instead tunes to 645 or even 45. And I have to tune to another channel and retry sometimes 10 times or MORE. Really annoying.

There is also an issue of the STB they modded tuning to an incorrect channel even though the channel it tuned to has the right channel number. For example, on my unmodded STB in the other room if I tune to channel 4 I get NBC. If however I tune to channel 4 on my R5000 modded STB, it shows that I am on channel 4 however the video it is streaming is from channel 2! (The CBS logo in the corner... CBS shows..) The guide data is correct, SageTV is tuning correctly, even the R5000 software is tuning to the right channel number, but the resulting video is from the WRONG channel! Very weird stuff indeed.

Basically I am at the point where I am regretting ever even getting high definition FIOS TV, I reminisce back on the day I had regular dual cable tuners on standard definition cable and everything was so fast, so simple and so RELIABLE. Now it's just a heap of frustration and disappointment. I know the R5000 guys, SageTV and everyone is doing all they can to minimize these problems but it really looks like the digital copyright nazis have won this battle. The golden age of HTPC is over.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by vorius

I know the R5000 guys, SageTV and everyone is doing all they can to minimize these problems but it really looks like the digital copyright nazis have won this battle. The golden age of HTPC is over.

Not in my opinion. I watch and record TV just fine with my HDPVR's. I can see your frustration with the R5000 mod though. A couple of years ago, I was actually considering the same thing with my FIOS. The only thing which held me back was the fact that it cost so much. Even the fact that it wasn't supported was not enough to deter me.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by vorius

I can't say anything about Hauppauge's device but I have been using R5000 for I think 2 years now unless 1 year really went that quickly. Hell I cant keep track of time anymore, I just know it was one November.

ANYWAY, I am unhappy with R5000 because I have some many problems with it. The channel changing is embarrassingly slow- I count 12-15 seconds on average. But also it has problems changing channels in the first place: it often truncates a digit or two from the beginning of a channel I want to tune to. So if I try to tune to a 4 digit channel number like 1645, sometimes it instead tunes to 645 or even 45. And I have to tune to another channel and retry sometimes 10 times or MORE. Really annoying.

There is also an issue of the STB they modded tuning to an incorrect channel even though the channel it tuned to has the right channel number. For example, on my unmodded STB in the other room if I tune to channel 4 I get NBC. If however I tune to channel 4 on my R5000 modded STB, it shows that I am on channel 4 however the video it is streaming is from channel 2! (The CBS logo in the corner... CBS shows..) The guide data is correct, SageTV is tuning correctly, even the R5000 software is tuning to the right channel number, but the resulting video is from the WRONG channel! Very weird stuff indeed.

I have not had any trouble with channel changing with my R5000 mod to a VIP211K, I did the "do it yourself" install.

I would return your unit to Nextcomm and have them figure out the problem.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by viperdiablo

So by using the guide, finding what i want to watch and selecting that channel. It would take about 8-10 seconds to tune in (using the R5000)?

Just measured the time again, 6 to 8 seconds at the client. sometimes 6 and sometimes 8.

[viperdiablo]

So Jerryt you have had no channel tuning problems? Always tunes to the correct channel?

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by viperdiablo

So Jerryt you have had no channel tuning problems? Always tunes to the correct channel?

Yes, it always tunes to the correct channel.

[bastian74]

I don't suppose one of you people with a r5000 and a hd-pvr could post a 1-2minute video sample where you were the hd pvr was connected to the same stb that had the r5000 mod and record a show from the r5000 and hd pbr simultaniously.

I would love to compare the output of a raw capture to the recompressed hd pvr capture. Something with people's faces in it, not sports

FYI, when I compare output from the STB to the output from my ATI 3870HD this is the difference:

STB to Monitor Direct


From HD PVR recording / ATI 3870HD with hardware accel on.



UPDATE: I've found a solution for the crappy DXVA quality.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36698

[95TBird]

Hi All:

I have a question for those of you using the R5000s with Dish.

I'm about to convert all 4 of my vip211s & I'm not sure that I understand exactly what software I'm going to need to buy from Nextcomm.

Since I will be running 4 STBs in total, do I just buy the "multi-instance version" ??

Also, anyone else out there running 4 211s ??

Any problems ??

Appreciate the input !!

-Bruce

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by 95TBird

Hi All:

I have a question for those of you using the R5000s with Dish.

I'm about to convert all 4 of my vip211s & I'm not sure that I understand exactly what software I'm going to need to buy from Nextcomm.

Since I will be running 4 STBs in total, do I just buy the "multi-instance veersion" ??

Also, anyone else out there running 4 211s ??

Any problems ??

Appreciate the input !!

-Bruce

Yes, you buy the multi-instance version.

[HawgGuy]

I had the r5000 for about 18 months before trying the HD-PVR.

I went back to the r5000 after about a month. The quality of the HD-PVR was good - but I was already spoiled by the un-re-encoded goodness of the r5000.

[wayner]

Any downside to using the R5000 boxes?

I went the HD-PVR route and I have never considered this since I have always been on cable but it actually seems cheaper than cable since an HD cable box costs around $250 as does an HD-PVR.

But I like the option of staying away from H.264 files as they require more CPU to playback, have other issues (can't placeshift, can't convert, can't comskip) and even then there is an issue with stuttery playback.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by wayner

Any downside to using the R5000 boxes?

Quite expensive. You're basically locked into a provider. And frankly, the future isn't all that bright for the R5000. For all intents and purposes, it doesn't work with DTV, barely works with cable, and doesn't work with the newer Dish boxes.

[wayner]

I am in Canada and both sat companies - Bell ExpressVu and StarChoice seem to have boxes that work with the R5000. Don't forget that the HD-PVR option is about $500 - $250 for the HD-PVR and $250 for the HD cable box (we can buy them here in Canada). Not cheap either and H.264 files have their own issues.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

You're basically locked into a provider.

I installed my r5000 in it's own box, so I can move it between receivers fast.