DVD playback and PVR-350

[Droid]

I have read all the threads an am confused. If I have a dedicated PC (EPIA M1000) with a DVD player in it, is it true I cannot watch a DVD out the s-video port of the PVR-350? My EPIA has s-video out but I was hoping to use the s-video out of the 350 as I have been told it is better. Can some one point blank tell me how to configure my one s-video input to my TV?
Thanks

[Crashless]

I'm currently working on a solution that uses both Sage and myHTPC. When I get it set, all the myHTPC functions and video will go out through my s-video graphics card, and all the sage functions will go through the 350. Hopefully I'll get a blog type thing up in the next week or so, but basically your only solution is to buy a stereo reciever that will switch inputs for you. You could use Girder to automate this, and I'll have a detailed 'how to' when I get to it. But it is coming along pretty seemlessly so far.

But the short answer: You can't get a DVD's video out through the 350 yet. (Or ever, we don't know yet.)

[Droid]

Thanks crashless I guess I am dense. I had inferrred that but wanted to make sure. The other option is that if I use the built in TV out on my EPIA board, ALL video content should go out there correct? DVD, Live TV, recorded shows, archived video etc? Thanks.

P.S. Why doesnt the output from Sage DVD player go out the 350?

[stanger89]

The 350 can't decode CSS encrypted DVDs (most) and can't handle AC3 audio.

[Worf]

From what I understand, the PVR-350 can't do encrypted content. It will also only output Mpeg files not DVD Vob files. If you ripped a dvd and converted it to straight mpeg it should playback.

I also have an EPIA M1000 running SageTV. I haven't been able to get it stable using the 350's output. I works great using the s-video out on the EPIA but if I enable the 350 out it will eventually lockup. Sometimes it will go fine for day or so, but it will lock. It generally happens when starting to watch a show, especially if it just changed inputs (s-video to tuner.) I had the same problems with 1.4. If you are able to get it working stably I'd love to know how you set it up.

[heffe2001]

If it were just that it couldn't work with CSS encrypted DVD's, why not just use something like Slysoft's AnyDVD, which basically makes ALL dvd's placed in the player non-encrypted(it's a system level driver that basically makes the DVD appear as a non-css encoded, region free DVD)? Guess you'd need a player still that could output the un-encrypted stream to your 350.

[TunaBoo]

There is a "region free" utility that does the same thing as above.

In any case, the 350 is effectively pointless. Any $50 video card w/ svideo out tied with a PVR 250, can do the same things and more as a PVR 350. I do not get why people try to mess so much with it. A 1 GHz CPU and a hardware decoder like good graphics cards have will work just fine.

[mikejaner]

In any case, the 350 is effectively pointless. Any $50 video card w/ svideo out tied with a PVR 250, can do the same things and more as a PVR 350. I do not get why people try to mess so much with it. A 1 GHz CPU and a hardware decoder like good graphics cards have will work just fine.


The 350 has a better picture quality, and much better interlacing for standard tv's.

mikejaner

[TunaBoo]

My PQ is perfect. The PQ on decent video cards are just fine.

[Crashless]

"Perfect" is relative. I've used both on my setup, and I find that the 350's output is noticably better on my television than the output on my Gforce4 at the same bitrates. But I suppose that's just preference. If I had an HDTV with DVI, I'd use that instead with a video card, and in THAT case, it would be better.

You also can't argue with the h/w only decoding and 3-4% CPU utilization. This way you can play games on your graphics card while your roommate is watching TV. I find that having two video outs extends the usability of the system a lot.

[mikejaner]

Yeah, you don't know till you have tried it. Trust us. But the lack of the ability to play DVD's does hurt it a little. I just use my Xbox anyways.

[Maladin]

My question is whether or not its possible to software decode a DVD and play it back through the pvr350. While its unfortunate to bypass the HW decoder, you still benefit from the high quality TV encoder chip on the pvr350, and you have the convenience that it works at all. Of course the audio output is only stereo so you'd lose Dolby Digital... sigh.

Please oh please add XCard OSD support! I currently switch between the pvr350 for SageTV and the XCard for DVD. Its annoying but it gives me the best of both.

[stanger89]

Actually I don't think you would. I don't think the TV encoder on the 350 is really any better than that on modern video cards. The improved PQ comes from the fact that the MPEG decoder outputs BT656 video that the TV encoder can just encode directly to analog.

The reason video cards have difficulty is because the SW decoder outputs a progressive picture that is scaled to your desktop resolution, and then has to be scaled back to TV resolution and interlaced for output by the video card. As accounts like those of TunaBoo indicate, the PQ from a video card can be tweaked to be very good, enough to the point were the only difference is the slightly differnt decoding algorithms.

So using a SW decoder and outputting on the 350 would probably give you no better PQ than that of a video card, it may even be worse.

[mikejaner]

The reason video cards have difficulty is because the SW decoder outputs a progressive picture that is scaled to your desktop resolution, and then has to be scaled back to TV resolution and interlaced for output by the video card.

Actually, I have done all of the tweaking to put the desktop at 720X480, and turned the deinterlacing off, where you can clearely see the interlacing artifacts on a progressive monitor. Even with these settings, I could not get the output to look as good as the 350. It is close, but there is just more fuzzieness on the video cards. Hopefully this will be addressed with the new generation coming out later this year.

I do agree with you though on the software decoders having different algorithms, therefore not looking the same. I definately notice that the hardware decoders do a better job of filling in the details, rather than blurring them more like on the software decoders.

[krutaw]

What about using like a really old Hollywood plus for like hardware decoding of the dvd's only, and then sending that through the svideo port in on the PVR-350, and in turn having that passed on through to the TV?

I'm not sure the code has been written to make all of this possible, but that would be an effective and inexpensive solution for both hardware dvd decoding and the video out of the PVR-350.

Whatcha think?

[Crashless]

Sounds like the encoding/decoding would degrade the signal quite a bit. You're basically decoding the ~6mbit dvd stream, then RE-encoding it to get it back through the 350 at whatever bitrate you have set. It might work, but I wouldn't use it.

You'd also experience quite a bit of lag pushing buttons on menus.

[krutaw]

Originally posted by Crashless
Sounds like the encoding/decoding would degrade the signal quite a bit. You're basically decoding the ~6mbit dvd stream, then RE-encoding it to get it back through the 350 at whatever bitrate you have set. It might work, but I wouldn't use it.

You'd also experience quite a bit of lag pushing buttons on menus.

I found another thread that talked about setting up the Hollywood plus as the dvd decoder. Looks like it's already possible. I will give it a shot when I get a chance to see how it performs. I gotta say, if it works decently, I would have to leave the good ole Hollywood Plus card in service after it's been doing nothing but collecting dust after all these years.