HD-PVR recording question

[dvd_maniac]

I just hooked up my unit last night and I'm starting to test it out. It seems great so far except for when it records SD channels.
I have the unit set to record H.264 Best 5.9GB\hr
It recorded Star Trek Enterprise from SciFi, which I only receive in SD. The Recording Detail says it is 1080i and captured at Best-H.264 but the filesize is only 1.43GB.
I viewed the whole file and it is all there.
Is this normal for SD?

[Opus4]

Was the start of the recording on a 1080i channel before the channel was changed for the SD show? Was the STB outputting 480i for the SD show?

If the whole recording is there, then yes that could be normal. It can record SD using less space.

- Andy

[dvd_maniac]

So it would start the recording at 1080i if it was on an HD channel displaying at 1080i but then the HD-PVR is smart enough to know when the recording should go down to SD resolution and the reason the Recording Detail shows as 1080i is because it reads the begining of the file?

[Opus4]

That's what happened before my STB was set to always output 1080i. And, if starts out at SD resolution, then SageTV knows to reduce the recording bitrate.

Oh -- and I started using the mmc/encoders/####/delay_to_wait_after_tuning property to make sure the STB had plenty of time to change the channel before the recording would start, so that reduced the chance of changing resolution inside the recording... except when the station does it on that same channel.

- Andy

[bastian74]

What happens when you play back a file that switches resolution mid stream?

[dvd_maniac]

So if I use the delay_to_wait setting, then I should be ok for all SD channels but if I am recording an HD channel I might run into the resolution change problem. Especially if I use a generous padding?

Why did you eventually go to the 1080i fixed?

[dvd_maniac]

My cable Box settings only have the following for Picture Format:
Pass-Through
Fixed
Upconvert-1
Upconvert-2

I would think that Upconvert-1 = 720p and -2 = 1080i but when I set it to either they both record as 1080i?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by bastian74

What happens when you play back a file that switches resolution mid stream?

That may depend on what is doing the decoding, but when the extender was outputting using native format, it started out at SD res for a recording that started at 480i & looked to me like it stayed that way when the recording changed to 1080i, especially since the TV didn't seem to change modes. I got around it by setting my extender to always output 1080p.

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

So if I use the delay_to_wait setting, then I should be ok for all SD channels but if I am recording an HD channel I might run into the resolution change problem. Especially if I use a generous padding?

I thought I was seeing HD channels that changed resolutions for various types of broadcasts & others said that probably really was what was happening. I seem to recall a low res trailer in front of an HD movie & the record was detected as 480i due to that trailer at the front.

Why did you eventually go to the 1080i fixed?

Because my HD-PVRs keep locking & I did it to see if the resolution switches had something to do with it. I still get locks, so either the resolution switches didn't really have anything to do with the locks or the switches just made it lock more often. I don't know.

I might go back to 1080i and 480i output & see if the lock count increases because the SD recordings are so much smaller when recorded at 480i instead of 1080i. My Hogan's Heroes reruns don't really need to take up 2.3 GB per half hour instead of 1.1 GB or less.

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

My cable Box settings only have the following for Picture Format:

Is that an SA box? I think you can go through the resolution selection screens & choose what types of output to allow. I think I set mine to pass-through with just the one(s) I wanted to use.

- Andy

[dvd_maniac]

Mine just locked up on me last night. It kept making empty recording files like show_1, Show_2 etc... I thought that this was fixed for the most part. I went back to the drivers on the accompanying CD so Hopefully that will help.
The problem I was having with resolution switching is when I try to encode the files to Mpeg-2 for editting. Sometimes it seemed like a 1080i was getting recorded as a 480 and I could only see the top left corner of the video or vice versa where I would get borders around the whole video...

[Doubletop]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Oh -- and I started using the mmc/encoders/####/delay_to_wait_after_tuning property to make sure the STB had plenty of time to change the channel before the recording would start, so that reduced the chance of changing resolution inside the recording... except when the station does it on that same channel.

- Andy

And the value to use is: usec, msec or sec? There’s nothing in the manual and no guidance in the forum?

On that point is there a published lexicon of all the properties in the properties file with a description, units and possible values?

[sleonard]

msec. 3000 = 3 seconds.

S

[Doubletop]

Thanks; that may explain why 3 didn't achieve much. I'll try again

[joey3002]

Originally Posted by Doubletop

Thanks; that may explain why 3 didn't achieve much. I'll try again

doubletap - any update on how you made out?
thanks