Yet another Newbie

x[corwyn] · #1 07-07-2004, 05:45 PM

Alright I have put together a 1.4GHz T-Bird with 1GB ram a 20GB OS Drive a 120GB data drive and have installed a xCard and
a DVD burner. I have coming this week the Sage TV w/ a blackbird card and a firefly remote. I want this box to work as my DVD player (the picture from the xcard is damned nice and the sound directly from the card is also very good) and also as my PVR. I want to have this setup as simple and stable as possible so everyone in the house just has to use the remote and it works. Is this possible? Or am I asking too much? The xCard's video out is way better than the video cards video out and so I really don't want to have to use that. Is Sage going to be putting the UI for the hardware output on the xcard since they already have that on the 350 and the 350 seems to be less capable. or should I have just waited a month for the 350 card to have finally come in and not gotten the xcard/blackbird combo.

sleight42 · #2 07-07-2004, 05:55 PM

Can't speak to your xCard but good luck with the Blackbird bundle. If it's the Roslyn card, 5 ouf of 7 surveyed users have had difficulty with brightness/contrast issues with it. I have an RMA against mine and am mailing it back shortly.

Opus4 · #3 07-07-2004, 05:56 PM

The Xcard has very nice output, but the last we heard, Frey has no plans to add UI output through the Xcard. Also, you will not be able to use SageTV to play your DVDs through the Xcard -- I simply use the program that comes with the Xcard for DVDs. As long as only 1 program is in use at a time (or at least SageTV is sleeping), the 2 programs do not interfere with each other regarding Xcard usage.

I use my Xcard for SageTV, but I have a monitor nearby for viewing the UI.

- Andy

sleight42 · #4 07-07-2004, 06:55 PM

BTW, the Roslyn survey is located here.

<not trying to hijack thread>I just want to make clear, I'm not trying to shaft Frey out of money. However, the count is now up to 6 of 8 of the (small) surveyed users who are having Roslyn problems; no one should have to plop that kind of money down and expect so many problems.</not trying to hijack thread>

kny3twalker · #5 07-07-2004, 08:38 PM

GB PVR has OSD support for the X card so Frey can do it

Opus4 · #6 07-07-2004, 08:45 PM

No one said Frey _couldn't_ do it. It is just that Frey has indicated that they have no plans to do so. Maybe they will change their minds some day, but that is where it currently stands, so I don't want to lead people to think it will get done.

- Andy

mikejaner · #7 07-07-2004, 09:20 PM

Jeff said he will open up an SDK for somebody who wants to write support for it in the future.

x[corwyn] · #8 07-08-2004, 01:31 AM

Damn...So I have to use a monitor to program the shows in? Ugh. ALmost makes you wonder why they even bother with the output as having to program in one screen then watching the output in another is clunky at best. I guess I didn't read carefully the fine print when I saw it was supported. Sucks...These hardware decoders and direct outs to TV are far better quality wise and for the crowd here shelling out the $100 for the quality increase is not that big of a deal. BTV not supporting that is what turned me off from them and why I bought Sage.

I have about 5-6 people at work watching to see how this project goes and at least that many from my gaming and motorcycle groups that I am giving them updates how this goes. A few of them have seen the picture from the xcard and were really impressed after a few had outputted from their video card. Its just too compelling to use that over the video card.

Sorry to sound pissy but I can see quite a few people here use the xcard and one of the biggest debates on the BTV forums is the lack of hardware support. I could understand if there were several cards from several manufacturers but its just 2 cards with this feature that people use in abundunce and 1 is already setup. I guess the "no plans to support it in the future" is especially grating. This project is already starting to get derailed before it starts....

kny3twalker · #9 07-08-2004, 01:56 AM

there is always the VIP on old graphics cards connected to the X card
really do not know that much about it but sounds like a good option to get the OSD

since Frey is scared to support the X card after the pvr 350 issues

x[corwyn] · #10 07-08-2004, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kny3twalker
there is always the VIP on old graphics cards connected to the X card
really do not know that much about it but sounds like a good option to get the OSD

since Frey is scared to support the X card after the pvr 350 issues

VIP (what is that?) on old graphics cards? How old? I have a bunch from VESA cards (ok they won't work but you get the idea) to a Radeon 9800 pro.

Right now I'm about to try out joveplayer also and since I got the firefly I'm going to put girder on so the DVD function isn't that necessary. Just the ability to USE the sage software easily without having to either have a monitor that sticks out like a sore thumb or VNC into the box using a laptop just so I can use the PVR software.

x[corwyn] · #11 07-08-2004, 11:02 AM

Ok I did some research on this. It looks like a damned good (and f'n expensive) is using a SweetSpot http://www.pluggedin.tv/sweetspot/specs/index.html and then getting a Radeon with a DVI output and then getting convertor from ATi http://buy.ati.com/shopati/product.a...c=&country=USA

Well in the end this should look pimp, but all I REALLY want to do is just output Sage or BTV or some somewhat decent PVR all through the interface on the xCard. Ugh. Well I bought Sage already...

/me starts getting the wheelbarrow of money and a shovel.

stanger89 · #12 07-08-2004, 11:32 AM

That's just the euro version of the PMS Video PDI Deluxe card. All it is is a capture card with SD component inputs, some standard S-Vid ins an a PDI in port, I'm not entirely sure what you expect it to do for you. If all you want is the PDI input then there's the PDI Capture Card that's much less because it lacks the analog input. If you have an HDTV you don't need the Xcard IMO, software decoding to an HDTV is at least as good as the Xcard is capable of. The reason people like the Xcard/350 is that for SDTVs they bypass some of things that cause software decoders/video cards trouble when outputting to an SDTV (namely extra deinterlacing/scaling steps), however you need those steps when using an HDTV.

x[corwyn] · #13 07-08-2004, 12:21 PM

I'm not using an HDTV yet. We have a Sony WEGA that I am ouputting to, and the clarity between the xcard and using the svideo out on the video card is huge. I saw a combo card from that site where you can get an xcard and the non connector PDI card for $190. I think I will do that and use the other xcard for the Sage Client to my TV in my room. and yes the TV out from my Radeo 9800 is definitely not as nice as the TV out from the xcard as I had tested it in there first... In my room however I can accept a TV and monitor setup so thats ok. The Front room though having the extra monitor in there is unacceptable. It goes from looking classy and using some very interesting tools to a hobbyist with clutter.

kny3twalker · #14 07-08-2004, 12:59 PM

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...&highlight=VIP

VIP

stanger89 · #15 07-08-2004, 02:05 PM

x[corwyn],

Why do you want the PDI card? I'm confused, the point of the PDI card is to get the Xcard's decoded BT656 (8-bit parallel digital) output back into the PC for deinterlacing/scaling and output via your graphics card, but it sounds like you want to use the s-video out on the Xcard which would bypass the PDI card and your graphics card.

x[corwyn] · #16 07-08-2004, 02:33 PM

Just read through that. So basically people have been asking for OSD support for a while now. I have a Geforce 2 so that might be an option. This is frustrating. This setup would be damned cool if just not for that one stupid thing thats making us spin circles coming up with a workaround.

Well anyone have any opinions of Hauppage's MVP-100?

insomniac · #17 07-08-2004, 02:51 PM

MVP's are awesome. They look great, they are cheap, and we are all chomping at the bit to have some brainiac to get the groundworks going on a UI for it!

Id personally pay double for a client license for the MVP if sage created it!

I.

Quote:

Originally posted by x[corwyn]
Just read through that. So basically people have been asking for OSD support for a while now. I have a Geforce 2 so that might be an option. This is frustrating. This setup would be damned cool if just not for that one stupid thing thats making us spin circles coming up with a workaround.

Well anyone have any opinions of Hauppage's MVP-100?

kny3twalker · #18 07-08-2004, 07:29 PM

VIP is a solid solution

msm · #19 07-09-2004, 04:43 AM

Is it possible to run out two feeds, one from the xcard and one from the video card into two seperate inputs on the TV. Then you just need to flick the AV switch to get betweent the main Sage screen and good tv output. Of course, you would loose the pause etc osd, but thats just like with a VCR (remote buttons are clear enough)

Matt

Opus4 · #20 07-09-2004, 09:14 AM

Yes, you could do that. Just so you know, though: when you choose the xcard as your video decoder, it stops sending video output to the SageTV window. The video card's output could include the desktop and all its windows, but not the video, unless you were to change the decoder & restart the video playback subsystem -- a button shows up to restart that (or whatever it is called) when you change such things as the decoder while playback is occuring.

- Andy

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