Placeshifter and HDDVR?

[pat_smith1969]

So does the place shifter not work with .ts files? I just dropped $30 on placeshifter and it works well for all the files created by my Hauppauge PVR-150s but doesn't work for any files created by the HD DVR (which are .ts files). I get audio but no video, just a black screen.

Does the server have to transcode them to a format the place shifter client understands and that is what is hozing my signal.

[71_Cuda]

I've got the same question - only I'm kind of getting the opposite. I get video, but not audio. And the video is in slow motion (the progress bar moves 1 second for every 2-3 seconds of real time) and choppy.

I just came to the forums to look for a solution - and I found your posting. I'm off to look for solutions elsewhere, but will check back here.

[Djc208]

The newer builds are supposed to work with HD PVR files. However that assumes the PCs at either end can handle the stream.

Placeshifter will transcode those files to fit the bandwidth unless you tell it not to, and about the only way that will work is if you're on a LAN with the server. Otherwise the server has to be robust enough to transcode the H.264 stream which requires a fairly powerful CPU.

[71_Cuda]

Originally Posted by Djc208

The newer builds are supposed to work with HD PVR files. However that assumes the PCs at either end can handle the stream.

Placeshifter will transcode those files to fit the bandwidth unless you tell it not to, and about the only way that will work is if you're on a LAN with the server. Otherwise the server has to be robust enough to transcode the H.264 stream which requires a fairly powerful CPU.

My server and client both have intel Q6600 CPUs and 3 GB or RAM (actually the server has 4 but only uses about 3 because it's 32 bit). I would think this would be enough. The HD mpeg streams from my ATI HD Wonder card come through great, and they're bigger files initially than the TS h.264 files from the HD-PVR. So I wouldn't think horsepower is the problem.

Still looking for a solution...

[Djc208]

Run some searches of the forum, I think one guy ended up tracking it back to the codecs on the server. Your setup should have the HP to do it. Have you tried monitoring the server and client CPU loading during playback? It could be that the transcoder isn't using multiple cores and one probably won't cut it.

If you try and play the HD PVR file back from the network using some other program on the client does it work?

You can't really compare MPEG2 and h.264. The calculations used to perform the compression is drastically different. h.264 uses more advanced compression and therefore requires more processing HP to work with. This is why most new graphics cores have dedicated hardware for h.264 playback.

[BrianDC]

So I JUST got my HDDVRs running on my server yesterday after a lot of effort.

They are working WONDERFULLY with my HD200 extenders, however I seem to be having difficulty playing the .ts files on my computer via Placeshifter.

I realize that if I want to transcode for remote viewing, I would need an extremely beefy server (which I don't have) however I do have a beefy workstation.

I can view the .ts files via TME on my workstation without problem, however if I try to watch through sage on my placeshifter, I get a black screen followed by a video error. Is there something I need to do for placeshifter to view these files? (Server also has TME installed, however it's a WHS server that I'm using for hardware encoding / file storage only)

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by 71_Cuda

I've got the same question - only I'm kind of getting the opposite. I get video, but now audio. And the video is in slow motion (the progress bar moves 1 second for every 2-3 seconds of real time) and choppy.

I just came to the forums to look for a solution - and I found your posting. I'm off to look for solutions elsewhere, but will check back here.

I had the same issue with my HD-PVR recordings and placeshifter until I changed my STB to output only 720p. Seems as though the SageTV transcoder doesn't work well with 1080i recordings, but seems to manage nicely (on my server specs - see sig) when the recordings are 720p.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by Slugger

I had the same issue with my HD-PVR recordings and placeshifter until I changed my STB to output only 720p. Seems as though the SageTV transcoder doesn't work well with 1080i recordings, but seems to manage nicely (on my server specs - see sig) when the recordings are 720p.

It doesn't work well with 480i either. I don't think it likes interlaced H.264 video. I think I'm going to wait for a fix. I still have a 4:3 TV and would rather 480i broadcasts stay 480i. Besides, I don't like the way my SA STB deinterlaces 480i to 720p.

[71_Cuda]

Originally Posted by Slugger

I had the same issue with my HD-PVR recordings and placeshifter until I changed my STB to output only 720p. Seems as though the SageTV transcoder doesn't work well with 1080i recordings, but seems to manage nicely (on my server specs - see sig) when the recordings are 720p.

Thanks for the tip. 720p seems to have helped out the video tremendously. I have two HD-PVRs. I had previously set one of my boxes to 720p and the other one was set to 1080i. Playing both live and recorded TV, 1080i stutters (and even freezes/goes black) and 720p is fairly smooth. Unfortunately the audio is still out of sync.

Did you have problems with audio sync?

Anyone out there have tips/pointers on syncing audio on Placeshifter from an HD-PVR?

[Slugger]

I haven't had problems with audio sync, on the limited tests I've run. I don't use placeshifter a whole lot, and even less for HD content (would rather wait until I'm home and watch the HD content on my HD tv).

[coaxial]

When I try to use placeshifter from the internet, I get video but it is slow and way behind the audio. The audio sounds fine. I tried tweeking the settings in placeshifter, but no luck.

Anyone have some custom settings that work?

Otherwise it appears placeshifter does not work across the internet for the HD-PVR and .ts files. (yet)

This would be a nice feature ..

I am guessing that on a lan it may work?

[BrianDC]

Coaxial, are you able to play the TS files off your local lan, without transcoding them?

If so, was there anything you needed to do to get it to work?

I'm really trying to get placeshifter to play my HD-PVR files without any luck so far..

[coaxial]

I will try again, but I think both placeshifter and the client failed to play them even on a local lan, but I was suspecting codecs, because at least it tried to work across the internet.

Ill post again.

Also the mpeg conversion seemed buggy. It went to "400%" before finishing and then was unable to play it at least from one computer. Any hope of direct burning .ts files from sagetv too?

[TechJunkie]

I have successfully played HD-PVR files on my LAN using Placeshifter. Note it only worked with SD channels. This is the same results I get with my MVP.

[coaxial]

TJ, do you know if the SD files were in .TS format? I believe that is the only format it records in..

[TechJunkie]

Yes they would be in the TS format, but I believe that the STB drops to 480p when it is turning in a SD channel. So it is my understanding the the files would be smaller and less data to transcode.

[naPS]

I'm having the same issues as the OP. I have Sage setup on WHS with a single HD-PVR. Playback from the HD-PVR is great on the server itself, and on a HD-200. There's quite a bit of stuttering for the first 5 seconds or so of the video, and then it smooths right out and plays.

However, when I'm trying to use placeshifter over the local LAN, the video / audio plays, but the video is very choppy, and the audio starts in sync, and then goes out of sync after about 30 seconds.

Both the server / client are on QX6700's w/ several gigs of ram, and 8800GTX or higher video hardware. Local LAN is wired gig-e.

I'm running the production version of Sage and Placeshifter.

[coaxial]

It sounds like that placeshifter was not designed for hi-def but all the old mpeg cards..Hopefully the next release will fix it. I would not buy placeshifter right now for my hd-pvr. It doesn't work..

The workaround? Use T-versity and a PS3! The PS3 (playstation) plays all my sage files great even over wireless.

[ghostlobster]

I have been incredibly disappointed with Placeshifter. When I set up my WHS box, my plan was to use 2 client licenses for my main TVs, then the included Placeshifter for our spare bedroom TV. However, I could never get Placeshifter's quality and performance to come close to being 1/2 as good as the full client, hence, I had to purchase another client license.
Everything is on an internal LAN, and all of my full SageTV Clients play perfectly. The server is not very robust, so I always tell Placeshifter to not transcode anything. All of the remote PCs are pretty beefy, though, so theoretically, it shoudl work fine, right? Wrong. I've installed the Arcsoft decoders on the Placeshifter PC to ensure that it can work with HDPVR files, and TMT plays them fine. However, when trying to view any HDPVR content via Placeshifter, the video is in jerky slow motion and then audio starts out about 1 second ahead of the video and continually creeps ahead indefinitely. I even have A/V sync issues and stuttering issues with HDHR content, and SD content is not all that impressive.
Was placeshifter intended to act as a client replacement or just a method of providing remedial viewing of content from a remote PC? Even in the latter role, I don't see it as a viable solution, however. If I had paid $30 for it, I'd be pretty ticked off.
Don't get me wrong, I love Sage and (nearly) all things Sage. The WHS slution is wonderful, the fact that they support the HD-PVR is awesome, the client/server architecture is outstanding, the open-ness of the platform enabling all of these great 3rd party plugins is what realy puts the icing on the top for me. However, Placeshifter is the only SageTV product that I've used so far that falls way short of the mark.

[gplasky]

Well the client name, Placeshifter, says it all. Its main purpose was to allow watching your SageTV recordings over the Internet. If I'm not mistaken Placeshifter uses openGL for the video. I would guess openGL is more comaptaible across the different OS clients. For the video card it needs something with working OpenGL in the drivers for 3d accelleration to work, otherwise it uses Overlay. I would probably think of the video in Placeshifter as lowest common denominator and not designed for high quality screens. I would look at the HD200 first and then a PC client with the client software and an ATI HD 3xxx or 4xxx video card for best picture.

Gerry