Use MyHD for Playback?

[dj7675]

Not sure if it is possible or not but is it possible to use the MyHD card for playback of recorded video through sage? For example when browsing sage recordings, I would like to be able to select the recording and automatically launch playback with the MyHD card. Then simply exit MyHD to return to sage. The MyHD offers such great playback of recrorded HD content (and I have one not being used) I would make sense to do this instead of buying a video card and new computer. Hardward requirement for HD playback with the MyHD card is extremely low since being playback is via hardware.

Any solutions out there?

Thanks

Darin

Edit: Solution Found, See below.

[Kirby]

Well I guess you could. First you will need to get your video card output into the MyHD input. I used an ATI card with component dongle, then a component to vga cable to feed into the MyHD input on the blue myhd dongle. Then set the myhd options for component input. Then I used a vga-component cable out of the myhd to my tv. When MyHD app started, I had it set to go full screen, and when it shutdown, I reverted back to seeing my desktop through the MyHD card this way.

So you could do all that, and then have Sage launch your videos with myhd.exe, in file mode, and full screen. At least it sounds like it would work!

[dj7675]

This is to a projector/tv that has a vga input. I should have mentioned that because I can already see the computer desktop (via loopback on myhd cable) How do you get sage to launch myhd.exe instaed of trying to play the file within sage? I think it would be a nice hardware based playback solution for many that don't want to mess video cards and all that requires sometimes. Any help getting myhd.exe to launch when playing a file would be great!

Thanks

Darin

[Kirby]

I would think you could do it with one of the custom STV's here, like SageMC that has external player options. Worth a try at least.

[thomaszoo]

Are all the files you are recording compatible with MyHD? Or do those playable through MyHD have a different file extension? If not, I'm not sure how this would work.

[Kirby]

Well with manual intervention, he could rename any .mpg files that are MPEG-2 into .TS, and set the external player to run only TS files. Of course if he's recording anything like StarzHD from Dish via an R5000, those are MPEG-2 TS containers, holding H.264 shows. Its definitely not an elegant solution.

[thomaszoo]

That was kind of my thinking. I too would love to do this but feel it is more trouble than it is worth. In fact, right now I am thinking of selling my 2 MyHD cards and my Avermedia 180 card and buying a second HD Homerun and a better video card. It is just a simpler solution.

[Kirby]

Yeah, I think Darin though is more concerned about the playback side of things. The decoder on the MyHD is very good. Although I feel as though I have no falloff in quality compared to my HTPC (specs below). But for someone not wanting to upgrade, its certainly worth trying.

Darin, are you wanting to keep the MyHD as a recording device as well, or just use it for its decoder?

[dj7675]

Kirby,

I don't need to use the MyHD to record. All of my recordings are done via r5000hd network encoder. I would just like to use the myhd for playback. My video card and pc are not up to the task of doing hd, but the myhd card plays the files extremely well. I would just like my pc to be in sage and then when I select a recorded video in sage have it launch the myhd app. Then when finished watching the video, I just exit the myhd playback software.
I installed sagemc but can't find where to configure the external player to automatically launch myhd when a video is selected in sage.

Any help doing this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

Darin

[Kirby]

Go into the SageMC options, Main, about the 4th option down, External Media Player. You enable that, and I am not 100% sure where you actually specify the program file. Might want to ask that in the main SageMC thread.

[dj7675]

Got it to work. For those looking to try this, it is actually very simple now that I have done it. For many, who want a cheap HD Media Extender, this may be just the ticket. In addition to a sage client you will need...

1-A very modest, or even "retired" pc you have laying around.
2-MyHD 100/120/130 if connecting to a disply with VGA.
New-$169
http://www.digitalconnection.com/Pro...deo/mdp130.asp
3. If you would like to connect to your display via DVI, you will need the daughterboard as well $69.

*Used on ebay they seem to go between 70 and $140.

4-Download SageMC. See link below. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17979
5.In the SageMC options, enable external media player.
6.Open up a text editor like notepad and open the file "media_player.cmd" located in the SageMCE directory in sage. Change it to point to where the MyHD.exe is located. Mine looked like this... (you need the quotes"
"C:\Program Files\MyHD\MyHD.exe" %1
Save this file right where it is.
7. If you would like the MyHD app to load in full screen, it is located in Control Panel>VGA Setup>start with HD Model
8. I run sage in full screen mode, so when I exit the myhd app, sage is still full screen where I left it. If sage is not full screen, it will minimize on the taskbar.

Done

In my case I had all of the parts that weren't being used.....an old pc, a MyHD 120, and a wireless keyboard.
Pros
-Cheap solution if you have an old pc around
-Playback quality is hardware based and works perfect
-No need to get a new PC/video card capable of doing HD which can be costly and time consuming getting it configured and stable (at least from what I have read it seems a bit overwhelming)
Cons
-Only works for MPEG recordings (that I know of). I record HD via an R5000HD and it plays these perfectly. This won't work for MPEG4
-You don't get any sage menus/options while watching the video. You are in the MyHD software.

If you have an olderPC and/or a MyHD Card, this could be a very nice option that I hadn't seen discussed before.

Darin

[thomaszoo]

Great job! Another con would be no auto-commercial skip. But this should be fairly minor if MyHD software is configured well and you have a good remote at your side. I may have to rethink a few things now. Thanks for the tips.

Wayne

[dj7675]

You are very welcome. Hopefully it may be useful. There is such a demand for a low cost HD Client. This may be a nice solution until Media MVP type of client is available for HD. Not a lot of options right now. I use a Roku Photobridge just to play back recordings and it does a great job of that, but you don't get any sage functionality, just playback (very good playblack) over a network drive or NAS. I may decide to go this route as well for a few of the tv's in the house as well. The quality of the output is really nice (with or without the dvi daughter card).

Darin

[Kirby]

also keep in mind, this will work with component hookups as well, and maybe even DVI with the DVI daughterboard for the MyHD, although I dont have DVI so never messed with that side of it.

[fyodor]

Congrats on getting this to work-I have been fooling with such an option and had some questions....

1.Have you tried this with anything other than R5000 recordings? I've tried it with OTA and firewire recordings and a lot of times the videos load but the screen is blank during playback. Strangely, many of these recordings work fine if I load them by opening them from the MyHD application.

2.Can you play shows that are still recording?

[dj7675]

Originally Posted by fyodor

Congrats on getting this to work-I have been fooling with such an option and had some questions....

1.Have you tried this with anything other than R5000 recordings? I've tried it with OTA and firewire recordings and a lot of times the videos load but the screen is blank during playback. Strangely, many of these recordings work fine if I load them by opening them from the MyHD application.

2.Can you play shows that are still recording?

1-Nope, I haven't tried it with anything else. I just have the R5000HD recordings (SD and HD). I wish I was in an area that had OTA.

2. Yes you can watch a recording while it is recording. Works perfectly.

In regards to other files, I was wondering with sage 6 being able to transcode, if you could have the server transcode other files types (such as avi)imported other file types to mpeg 2 so the myhd card could play it? Anyone know if it is possible? Or does the transcoding only work for the MVP?

Glad you found it useful. What is interesting to me is the low pc requirements. I wonder how slow of a computer could be used with this setup since the MyHD card is doing all of the work. I bet even a PIII 800Mhz might even do the trick.

Darin

[fyodor]

Interesting. Maybe it was an issue with my computer. I actually have a very fast system with a nvidia 7600GT, but I can't get the software decoding to look nearly as good or be nearly as fluid as the myhd or my cable box. Are you saving the files as transport streams or program streams?

[dj7675]

That is what I was trying to avoid as well. I got so confused reading how people got their sage client to play hd with a video card. That 7600Gt was the one I was considering when looking at building a pc. I am sure it is easy for some, but I could imagine myself spending a lot of time getting playback to look as good as the myhd provides. Instead of messing with custom timings/resultions, drivers and the like, just let the hardware do what it is designed to do.... Are there any other cards out there that do hardware decoding like the MyHD that this would apply to? Or is the MyHD unique in this regard?

Darin

[Kirby]

I am not aware of any other HD tuner cards out there with their own HD decoder. MyHD was always "it" when it came to that. Not to mention the fact that it could be configured so many ways, like you are running it, or as a complete HD source while the PC does it own thing.

[blade]

Originally Posted by dj7675

TInstead of messing with custom timings/resultions, drivers and the like, just let the hardware do what it is designed to do....

I know this is off topic, but I would like to point out that all of that is no longer necessary. Basically you install the driver, connect the tv to the card and select the type of connection you're using. Then you adjust the sliders in a gui so that it fits the screen (assuming you want to underscan the resolution). Also modern video cards are being designed to work with HDTVs.

Using powerstrip and creating custom timings/resolutions are pretty much a thing of the past. There can still be a good bit of work involved in tweaking decoders and such. I believe stanger has said he gets better PQ with his 6800 than with his MyHD card. Also CPU usage isn't much of an issue anymore thanks to hardware accelleration on modern cards.

I'm not trying to say one is better than the other, just pointing out that the gap between the two solutions has closed considerably.