BM1000-HDMI (HDMI Encoder) Review

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

During this testing time, I currently have a main router, a switch coming off the router in an upstairs office (where I'm testing the HDMI encoder), and another switch in the basement (where the SageTV server is), so the encoder has to pass through 3 network devices to get to the server. I wonder if this stream problem will disappear when I move everything to the same switch that has the server.

What kind of bitrate are you guys using with your BM3000's? Have you tweaked any other settings?

I bumped mine to 32000 kbits/sec (1080p @ 60 fps) and have kept 2 input ports busy all day without issue. The highest encoder processor usage under these conditions so far is 37%. I have all sub-channels disabled, so it's just 4 available input ports/streams available. Will keep testing.

I'm running my BM3000 at 13000. It does show 32000 as the top end but 13000 for H.264 already is a higher bitrate than pretty much any video I've ever downloaded.

Can you tell a difference with 1080i encoded video?

[baudfather]

I'm just encoding at 12,000 kb @30FPS, variable bit rate (1080p input only). I couldn't notice any benefit going to a higher bitrate. From what I recall, it's about the theoretical limit of the incoming signal anyway.

[KryptoNyte]

I'm not entirely sure about the quality yet, I need to get a few screenshots yet to determine this. It's hard to believe that this little box has enough horsepower to efficiently encode (2) 4k streams and (2) 1080 streams simultaneously and still maintain full quality, so I cranked up the bitrate and fed it progressive (non-interlaced) video figuring I'd give it the best opportunity to create clean video. Still playing I guess.

[baudfather]

Very cool to hear more as you try it out. One thing I had to watch with mine was cooling, it gets pretty hot while in use. It's a small unit (single encoder) but it needs space for sufficient cooling.

[KryptoNyte]

At the moment I'm fighting an audio glitch that mysteriously appeared. No matter what the settings are on the encoder, every 20 seconds the audio just drops out for about a second. You could set your watch to it ... every 20 seconds on the dot.

If I can't figure out how to get past this, it'll have to go back to Amazon. The most disappointing thing was that the support contact just said, "yeah, sure if it doesn't work just send it back for a refund. Have a nice day!"

Maybe I'll try a house fan on it before giving up.

[baudfather]

What brand was it? Can you switch to a different audio codec? The Unisheen tech support was a bit slow but they did have a newer firmware they sent me with support for other codecs.

[KryptoNyte]

This is the device:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TKMPCZH

The support is from szuray.com

I've tried mp3, AC3, and AAC all with the same results. I also moved it to the same switch that the SageTV server is on with no improvement. I'm pretty sure it wasn't doing this audio glitch every 20 seconds when I first started testing with it, so I'm not sure what changed.

I believe I have an extra HDPVR2 laying around somewhere, so I'm considering just sending the encoder back and hooking up the 3rd HDPVR2 to another Xbox360 and getting back to 5.1 channel audio.

[KryptoNyte]

I set up the return on Amazon, but continued to test to see if I could determine the problem. Best I can tell, when the user selects AC3 in the audio options (image attached) it automatically selects 'enabled' on ONVIF Audio, and there is no way to disable it.

I reset the first couple tuners to AAC and disabled ONVIF audio, and the audio glitches seem to have resolved. I don't know why, but it was the only thing I could find that was different. Not even really sure what ONVID audio is and I'm short on time this month to research.

[baudfather]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I set up the return on Amazon, but continued to test to see if I could determine the problem. Best I can tell, when the user selects AC3 in the audio options (image attached) it automatically selects 'enabled' on ONVIF Audio, and there is no way to disable it.

I reset the first couple tuners to AAC and disabled ONVIF audio, and the audio glitches seem to have resolved. I don't know why, but it was the only thing I could find that was different. Not even really sure what ONVID audio is and I'm short on time this month to research.

ONVIF is a protocol used primarily (these days) by CCTV and VOIP systems. You should have no problem disabling it.

[KryptoNyte]

Thanks. I'll keep running it for a while. If it can provide 4 reliable streams at 1080p 60 fps 32000 kbps (and 4k on 2 inputs), then it could be a good device to keep around for when nothing else works.

[KryptoNyte]

I've had the unit running reliably now for a couple months with 2 streams continuously. I believe it would run smooth with 4 streams, but I haven't tested that thoroughly. I am feeding the unit with wMC/Xbox360's at 1080p60fps via HDMI (no splitters).

Honestly, your best bet would be to purchase one of the single tuner units and expand with more single tuner units as needed. As mentioned earlier, all audio options are 2 channel stereo, there is no option to pass audio of any kind thru without encoding it.

I started with video at the full 32000 kbits per second (h.264) and on my 55 inch 4k OLED TV, I'm not sure I can tell the difference between its 1080p content and the best 1080i or 720p (native mpeg2) content I get from the cable company or OTA (at about 15000 kbits per second max). The motion on the native mpeg2 content may be a bit smoother I suppose, or the HD300 just renders the mpeg2 better than the h.264. I've also turned the decoded video down to 30 fps, although it seemed to handle 60 fps, I just don't see much benefit from 60.

Each tuner has a main stream, and 3 substreams that are individually configurable. I have all substreams disabled to focus processing power on the main streams.

I did eventually turn the video down to 16000 kbps as it still looks great at that bitrate, and I have some of my HD300's connected to a wifi mesh network that can't handle the full 32000 all the time.

[KryptoNyte]

A few screenshots of the settings.

[KryptoNyte]

If someone wanted a sample video, I could probably put a short clip together and give you a link via PM to download it.

[sdsean]

Yeah i have 2 single tuner units. I swear the video quality is better but I can't really validate it. I have my bitrate on the devices set much lower though. . . I have all my STBs pinned to 720p so I just set the bit rate to CBR 5600. I could go a little higher i'm sure, but I have A LOT of bytes floating through my network with both SageTVs and Rokus everywhere, plus a home office and a bajillion wi-fi devices.

Still well worth it though. They have been way more stable the then HD-PVRs from what I can tell.

[KryptoNyte]

Oddly enough, having the ability to use OpenDCT with these devices has also allowed the system to issue the "stop" command to the WMC extenders, which has increased stability 20 fold vs. the extenders that tune a channel and play it continuously until they receive a command to tune a different channel, or go to a frozen black screen, which is most often the case.

[sdsean]

Agreed. Though I still have some problems such as every once in a while I start playing the same stream on 2 devices and one will hang, which I can't quite figure out but it's certainly nothing wrong with the hardware itself b/c I can grab the stream directly into VLC or some such and it always works.

But that's still few and far between compared too constantly restarting HD-PVRs and finding reliable power supplies

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Oddly enough, having the ability to use OpenDCT with these devices has also allowed the system to issue the "stop" command to the WMC extenders, which has increased stability 20 fold vs. the extenders that tune a channel and play it continuously until they receive a command to tune a different channel, or go to a frozen black screen, which is most often the case.

Yeah, this is a problem for me using a WMC extender with an HDPVR2 instead of the BM3000. I did figure out how to use SageAlerts to trigger a script that will send a STOP command, but SageAlerts won't work properly on Java 11 or newer, only Java 8. For now it's fine, but I've been looking for a workaround or other solution.

[TGsell]

Hi all -- dumb question - using the Uray device ( i agree to try with single streams first) will I be able to tune my WMC machine using the WMCLive and EXEMultituner system? eg I am just going to replace my HDPVR2/splitter with this device and connect to Sage via OpenDCT . thanks

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by TGsell

Hi all -- dumb question - using the Uray device ( i agree to try with single streams first) will I be able to tune my WMC machine using the WMCLive and EXEMultituner system? eg I am just going to replace my HDPVR2/splitter with this device and connect to Sage via OpenDCT . thanks

I think I said YES to this earlier, but that was incorrect. I just checked and I use OpenDCT's executable to tune the channel. I also use it to issue the STOP command to the WMC Live Tuner (Xbox360 in this case) which is super helpful.

The setup for the network encoder and tuning control of the WMC Live Tuner is here:

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63855

[KryptoNyte]

This is the section of my OpenDCT file for what I named ENCODER1 (after following the instructions initially in the post mentioned above). Your IP addresses and WMC Live Tuner's 5-digit ID will vary.

sagetv.device.-1801122123.channel_padding=0
sagetv.device.-1801122123.consumer=opendct.consumer.DynamicConsumerImpl
sagetv.device.-1801122123.custom_channels=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.delay_to_wait_after_tuning=0
sagetv.device.-1801122123.device_name=ENCODER1
sagetv.device.-1801122123.encoder_listen_port=9000
sagetv.device.-1801122123.encoder_merit=0
sagetv.device.-1801122123.encoder_pool=generic_http
sagetv.device.-1801122123.exclusive_server_address=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.fast_network_encoder_switch=true
sagetv.device.-1801122123.http_password=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.http_username=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.last_channel=1207
sagetv.device.-1801122123.pretuning_executable=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.stopping_executable=http\://192.168.1.101\:40513/stop
sagetv.device.-1801122123.stopping_executable_delay_ms=15000
sagetv.device.-1801122123.streaming_url=http\://192.168.1.168/0.ts
sagetv.device.-1801122123.streaming_url2=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.streaming_url2_channels=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.transcode_profile=
sagetv.device.-1801122123.tuning_delay_ms=0
sagetv.device.-1801122123.tuning_executable=http\://192.168.1.101\:40513/tune%20%c%