Generic HDMI capture devices

[pjpjpjpj]

So I've seen threads here about the network capture device (BM1000) and mention in other recent threads about some other similar stuff (though I can't see the links to aliexpress), but has anyone tried any of the wide variety of HDMI capture devices available on Amazon to capture content in SageTV? Years ago there was a thread (can't find it at the moment) when Chromecast was the only streamer, about using an HDMI splitter to strip hdcp and running Chromecast into an HD-PVR and streaming into a "fake" channel. Today's devices are a similar idea, except they don't need the splitter because they are intended for gamers to capture play. They basically take a signal in and pass it through to a TV or monitor (which handles the hdcp), and sidestream the video via USB to your PC. Some are standalone and record to a flash drive or micro SD card (which you could use, then just move the file to your SageTV drives), but I wondered whether the PC-based models would show up as a tuner in Sage. There are literally dozens of types available, some as low as $60. Many advertise 2160p60, though I haven't seen any that do audio beyond 2 channel stereo.

Reading the reviews/comments on Amazon, some folks use them as a cobbled dvr, recording cable shows using the timers in provided software. The cheap software isn't meant as an actual dvr because it has no epg and no ability to change channels on an external box, but you can set it as a timer to record whatever is being streamed at a certain time; while not applicable to SageTV, this seems to imply the signal coming in the USB might be something that SageTV could find.

Anyone tried any?

I have one arriving tomorrow and will report back, but I don't have any tech knowledge to play with settings or such if there might be something I could tweak. If it doesn't show up in SageTV, I'm pretty much going to live with it not being in SageTV.

[pjpjpjpj]

Follow up: no go on it showing up as a tuner but it appears to work well for what it advertised. If anyone has any suggestions for tweaks (sage.properties or something), that might make it get recognized, I'm open to trying it.

[Tiki]

Well you can be sure it won’t show up automatically as a native tuner in Sage. However, there is a reasonable chance you can get it working using OpenDCT.

I assume the tuner you are looking at is a network tuner that connects to your PC via Ethernet? Most of those seem to have similar interfaces where you use a url to grab the recording stream. You will probably have to search through the threads on OpenDCT to get some clues on how to make it work with your device.

[jpwegas]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

I have one arriving tomorrow and will report back, but I don't have any tech knowledge to play with settings or such if there might be something I could tweak. If it doesn't show up in SageTV, I'm pretty much going to live with it not being in SageTV.

Which one did you try?

--John

[wayner]

You are correct that these seem to be the same as the BM1000. As you said, there are a bunch of these but it appears that they may actually be pretty much the same internally. You mention that they have USB connections, I thought that they were generally network encoders that appear as devices on your LAN. That makes more sense to me.

There are also lots available on Aliexpress as well. Those will likely be coming from China so shipping times will be longer, especially with current disruptions.

One of the most popular brands seems to be Uray: https://uray.en.alibaba.com/

These may very well turn out to be the future of encoders, too bad that they all seem to only have stereo sound.

[emveepee]

I got the URay h265-1L model from Alibaba and with NextPVR and it works ok and quite stable. I do find it a bit dark even when I apply some of the Myth TV recommendations and it does occasionally pixelate. Having four stream choices is nice.

I also did test with the OpenDCT hook I have with NextPVR to and that seems to work fine as a raw or ffmpeg consumer

Martin

[jpwegas]

Regarding the "stereo audio only" issue (which I also care about):

Some STB or other devices have both HDMI and S/PDIF optical outputs.

Has anyone ever tried using a BM1000 type device to capture/encode the video and some other device to capture the S/PDIF audio and then combining the streams with ffmpeg or another program?

I took a stab at this briefly earlier this year but was not successful.

--John

[pjpjpjpj]

The one I got - and most of this ilk on Amazon - are not network, they are USB. Before I even purchased I asked EnterNoEscape and confirmed that OpenDCT only works for network devices, so I was not expecting to be able to use it.

I got the ClonerAlliance "HDML-Cloner Box Evolve". It's the only one I've seen that has both pc-based and standalone (flash drive or micro SD) recording.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

I got the ClonerAlliance "HDML-Cloner Box Evolve".

Do you have the Helper software? If so how does VLC live stream with it?

Martin

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by emveepee

Do you have the Helper software? If so how does VLC live stream with it?

Martin

Yes, it came with a license for their software, but I don't live stream. I may be wrong but their software appears to have the ability to do that built in (not sure if you'd need VLC). VLC plays the videos it records just fine so I would think they play nice together.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Yes, it came with a license for their software, but I don't live stream. I may be wrong but their software appears to have the ability to do that built in (not sure if you'd need VLC). VLC plays the videos it records just fine so I would think they play nice together.

If you could live stream from it might also have some network capacity, which is why I was asking.

Martin

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by emveepee

If you could live stream from it might also have some network capacity, which is why I was asking.

Martin

So are you thinking I would need to be streaming it from another pc and then trying to pick it up on my sage server through my LAN in Open DCT?