Hauppauge HDPVR-1212 Owner's Thread

AllenDB · 08-07-08, 04:40 PM

Thanks. I played it back using Total Media Extreme and I'm in a quandry. While the picture was near flawless I could see a bit of slow down and speed back up over a period of 4 or 5 seconds. The processor was maxed out so it could be one of two things. The processor just doesn't have enough gas for play back or, more serious, the mild pulsation is in the file itself. EG, there is not enough processor power to record the stream.

Now how do I figure out which? I saw a post where I could disable the monitor window/process while recording. If I do that and the processor usage then drops from 100% I guess I can assume the .ts file is fine.

ncinsguy · Yesterday, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AllenDB

Thanks. I played it back using Total Media Extreme and I'm in a quandry. While the picture was near flawless I could see a bit of slow down and speed back up over a period of 4 or 5 seconds. The processor was maxed out so it could be one of two things. The processor just doesn't have enough gas for play back or, more serious, the mild pulsation is in the file itself. EG, there is not enough processor power to record the stream.

Now how do I figure out which? I saw a post where I could disable the monitor window/process while recording. If I do that and the processor usage then drops from 100% I guess I can assume the .ts file is fine.

i don't think your problem is during recording...on my 2.0 athlon i've done recordings while using the pc for other things at the same time and the recordings play fine...what video card do you have? that has a major effect or your processor usage. if you have a hd compliant card the slow-down may be fixed but since your processor is what it is it may not. the machine i playback on is a dual core 2.2 and it couldn't play the files with the onboard Geforce 7100 but with the 8500 GT it does the job.

rebkell · Yesterday, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncinsguy

i don't think your problem is during recording...on my 2.0 athlon i've done recordings while using the pc for other things at the same time and the recordings play fine...what video card do you have? that has a major effect or your processor usage. if you have a hd compliant card the slow-down may be fixed but since your processor is what it is it may not. the machine i playback on is a dual core 2.2 and it couldn't play the files with the onboard Geforce 7100 but with the 8500 GT it does the job.

I may as well pipe in here as well, I have an X2-6000 Dual Core with a Radeon HD3450(512 MB) and the VCR window, when I'm recording(or even not recording) is a terrible viewing experience, the video is jerky, etc... the recordings have all been fine, but viewing on the PC is pretty crappy. It's not unwatchable, but it's not too great.

ncinsguy · Yesterday, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebkell

I may as well pipe in here as well, I have an X2-6000 Dual Core with a Radeon HD3450(512 MB) and the VCR window, when I'm recording(or even not recording) is a terrible viewing experience, the video is jerky, etc... the recordings have all been fine, but viewing on the PC is pretty crappy. It's not unwatchable, but it's not too great.

are you using TME to view the .TS files? Mine look just as good as the original even streaming them from a networked external hard drive using TME. i tried using Sage TV and even with the Arcsoft codecs it does not look as good as TME.

rebkell · Yesterday, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncinsguy

are you using TME to view the .TS files? Mine look just as good as the original even streaming them from a networked external hard drive using TME. i tried using Sage TV and even with the Arcsoft codecs it does not look as good as TME.

The only problem I have is the preview window, I call it the VCR window, the one you bring up to capture or record with, the TME View of a .ts file is fine, it's just that record one that looks kind of choppy.

ncinsguy · Yesterday, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebkell

The only problem I have is the preview window, I call it the VCR window, the one you bring up to capture or record with, the TME View of a .ts file is fine, it's just that record one that looks kind of choppy.

yea preview window isn't good quality but that's not where you would want to watch them anyway since it can't even go full-screen. when i'm recording i leave the pc alone and let it do it's thing while i'm doing something else til it's done.

mces97 · Yesterday, 09:47 AM

For owners of the HD PVR, I have a question. I have noticed that from the sample recordings that are around the web that 720p recorded video starts out with about 59.94fps, but soon drops to about 45fps. On over the air 720p recordings I have made with another tuner of mine every recording stays at 59.94fps give or take 1fps. Does anyone else notice this and would it effect me trying to convert a 720p recorded video to 23fps?
Thanks

rebkell · Yesterday, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mces97

For owners of the HD PVR, I have a question. I have noticed that from the sample recordings that are around the web that 720p recorded video starts out with about 59.94fps, but soon drops to about 45fps. On over the air 720p recordings I have made with another tuner of mine every recording stays at 59.94fps give or take 1fps. Does anyone else notice this and would it effect me trying to convert a 720p recorded video to 23fps?
Thanks

They shouldn't change FPS at all, I haven't really recorded any 720P stuff with the HD-PVR, but I can't imagine such a thing. Where did you get these recordings from? Were they samples or something? I'll try to record a few minutes of FX-HD tonight, I think it's 720P, but I can't imagine a variable framerate being broadcast. Are you sure you were looking at a raw recorded .ts file or was it possibly a conversion of some kind?

Edit: Were they samples, duh, that's what you said in your post.

mces97 · Yesterday, 10:49 AM

Yes they were samples, and I assume were just simply cut from the original .ts or just recorded at that short length to be samples. FX-HD is 720p I think. Normal Fox broadcasts for me I know are definitely 720p, so you can check your local fox broadcast. Here is a link to some samples.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/f5d8iy

replayrob · Yesterday, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mces97

For owners of the HD PVR, I have a question. I have noticed that from the sample recordings that are around the web that 720p recorded video starts out with about 59.94fps, but soon drops to about 45fps.

Maybe you are seeing the FPS your computer is actually playing back, not the recorded FPS of the sample. It's very common for computers to drop frames of h.264 content during playback- I'd bet that's the figure you're seeing.

mces97 · Yesterday, 11:48 AM

That could be the case, but if the recordings were truely recorded at 59.94, is it common for it to drop over 15fps. That seems like a lot.
I am getting a sample of a recording that was not done with the hd pvr, but converted from 720p mpeg2 with 59.94 to 720p x264. If it displays 59.94fps as the video is playing, then I would supsect that the hd pvr is not recording at 59.94, or dropping the frames during the recording.

rebkell · Yesterday, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mces97

That could be the case, but if the recordings were truely recorded at 59.94, is it common for it to drop over 15fps. That seems like a lot.

Out of curiosity, how did you determine that it was at or around 45 FPS? What or how were you monitoring FPS?

mces97 · Yesterday, 12:16 PM

I use zoomplayer as my media player of choice, and when the video is playing, if you right click on the player window, go to dialogs, playing information, it shows actual fps. Anyway, I just checked the 720p sample that was not made with the hd pvr and it is showing a true 59.94 framerate. So my pc is not dropping any frames, and is showing that the recordings made by the hd pvr are not recording at 60 but much less. If anyone wants to try , check them with zoom player and you will almost definitely see the same as me. Hopefully this can be fixed. If not I will just have to record everthing in 1080i.

mcwups1 · Yesterday, 03:46 PM

I don't see frame jumps on my original files (after converting from .TS to .m2ts using ArcSoft) but when I try to convert to .mp4, no matter what program I use, I then see "jumps".

It's very odd.

Phishin_CA · Yesterday, 04:18 PM

Has anybody tried getting this thing working in VMC using the TVpack with the hacked DLL for H.264 support? See here for links
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post14466915

mces97 · Yesterday, 04:25 PM

so has anyone else noticed that 720p is not being recorded at 59.94, but around 45 like I have stated.

Apap · Yesterday, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mces97

so has anyone else noticed that 720p is not being recorded at 59.94, but around 45 like I have stated.

I checked several of my 720p HD-PVR recordings with the latest Zoomplayer standard and saw no change in framerate.

mces97 · Yesterday, 05:55 PM

Apap..., you right clicked on the playing window, went to dialogs, playing information, and saw the fps rate actually saying 59.94, not something like 45. The videos are watchable, but just watching it will not tell you the fps, you have to check the playing information.

Apap · Yesterday, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mces97

Apap..., you right clicked on the playing window, went to dialogs, playing information, and saw the fps rate actually saying 59.94, not something like 45. The videos are watchable, but just watching it will not tell you the fps, you have to check the playing information.

Yes I did exactly that to check the framerate. These files were streamed from a shared folder on my HTPC to my client system. The only difference I saw with zoomplayer vs Sagetv client was CPU usage under Zoom was around 80% and around 6% with Sage. The difference seemed to be that Zoomplayer uses ffdshow decoders and I have Sage using the Arcsoft decoders that can utilize my 8800gt for hardware acceleration.

mces97 · Yesterday, 06:29 PM

I think it might be my pc. I think it might be the way my pc handles these particular h264 streams. On another pc the framerate didnt drop nearly as much, but if i paused zoomplayer for a few seconds then started it back up it started at 59.94fps. Im glad, now I can record 720p at a high bitrate, run it through megui with a few cleaning up filters and save movies at a framerate of 23.976.

milit · Yesterday, 07:49 PM

Picked up a unit today and did the usual setup etc. Before i start burning some DVDs (in avchd) I was wondering if anyone knows how mcuh recording time I could get using a dual layer dvd with maximum bit rate settings etc.?

Thanks

Milit

mces97 · Yesterday, 08:07 PM

Well when spdif starts working for 5.1 surround sound, at the max video bitrate of 13.5mb/s (cbr) you would only get about 1 hour and 20 min of video. However you could record in 720p with a lower bitrate to achieve more time. 720p with 7mb would be more than enough, and that would allow at least 2 1/2 hours.

mike50 · Yesterday, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dv8shun

I'm going to go out on a limb and say maybe it's your video card? I'm no expert by any means, but I think the 8xxx series of cards are much better at h.264 playback. Maybe someone else can elaborate?

Thank you for your response. As i can play H264 files obtained from other sources than HDPVR and without any glitches, the 7600GT is not the problem.

mike50 · Yesterday, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncinsguy

the problem is your settings...with default i got the same results for HD content bump it up to the max and constant and they will play fine...for SD programs i drop it to 7.0 avg to save disk space on those file...my settings get me larger files but the result looks as good as the original. do 1 min test files at different settings, you may get the results that ur looking for at lower bitrates

I tried various bit rates (5mbs to the max constant one plus some with var peak) for captures from the same 1080i cable source. I got video jitter in all cases.

milit · Yesterday, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mces97

Well when spdif starts working for 5.1 surround sound, at the max video bitrate of 13.5mb/s (cbr) you would only get about 1 hour and 20 min of video. However you could record in 720p with a lower bitrate to achieve more time. 720p with 7mb would be more than enough, and that would allow at least 2 1/2 hours.

Thanks, MCES97,

For some reason, I don't see the option of recording in 720p in my settings. I must be missing something.

rebkell · Yesterday, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milit

Thanks, MCES97,

For some reason, I don't see the option of recording in 720p in my settings. I must be missing something.

The PVR records whatever it is receiving, if it's 720P it records in 720P, if it's 1080i, then it records in 1080i, 480P or 480i, whatever. You can control the bitrate, but the resolution is totally dependent on the feed into the unit.

wokwokabc · Today, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mces97

so has anyone else noticed that 720p is not being recorded at 59.94, but around 45 like I have stated.

No. All my 720p recordings are perfect 59.94 fps no matter how long.

wokwokabc · Today, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike50

Thank you for your response. As i can play H264 files obtained from other sources than HDPVR and without any glitches, the 7600GT is not the problem.

What h.264 decoder are you using? Some are single threaded and will not be able to keep up on C2D. Try using CoreAVC Pro which is multithreaded.

the_tom · Today, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike50

I just did my first capture of a full 1hr50min movie from a cable box at 1080i and default settings(constant 9/13.5Mbs).

The C2 unit did not overheat. I played the resulting TS video file(6.77G) with Media Player Classic(MPC), Window Media Player11(WMP11), PowerDVD7(PDVD7) and ArcSoft TotalMediaTheater(TMT). In all cases, there are some video glitches( jitter anywhere on the screen and intermittent noise/flashes at the bottom). Also, the sound is out of sync and breaks down with MPC and WMP11.

My system: Window XP(sp3), Intel core2(2.13GH processor), NVidia 7600GT 256Mb PCI video card, Pace551 HD cable set top box, Sony 50A2020 SXRD HDTV.

The problems with your video sound a lot like the problems I had with a rev c2 unit (only) on two out of four computers, perhaps there will be some further clue for you in the details, here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post14414658

the_tom · Today, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milit

Thanks, MCES97,

For some reason, I don't see the option of recording in 720p in my settings. I must be missing something.

What the OP meant by "record in 720p" is "change the source to output in 720p, and record that".

Yesterday, 09:47 AM	#37 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	For owners of the HD PVR, I have a question. I have noticed that from the sample recordings that are around the web that 720p recorded video starts out with about 59.94fps, but soon drops to about 45fps. On over the air 720p recordings I have made with another tuner of mine every recording stays at 59.94fps give or take 1fps. Does anyone else notice this and would it effect me trying to convert a 720p recorded video to 23fps? Thanks Last edited by mces97; Yesterday at 09:55 AM.

Yesterday, 11:48 AM	#41 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	That could be the case, but if the recordings were truely recorded at 59.94, is it common for it to drop over 15fps. That seems like a lot. I am getting a sample of a recording that was not done with the hd pvr, but converted from 720p mpeg2 with 59.94 to 720p x264. If it displays 59.94fps as the video is playing, then I would supsect that the hd pvr is not recording at 59.94, or dropping the frames during the recording. Last edited by mces97; Yesterday at 11:56 AM.

Yesterday, 12:16 PM	#43 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	I use zoomplayer as my media player of choice, and when the video is playing, if you right click on the player window, go to dialogs, playing information, it shows actual fps. Anyway, I just checked the 720p sample that was not made with the hd pvr and it is showing a true 59.94 framerate. So my pc is not dropping any frames, and is showing that the recordings made by the hd pvr are not recording at 60 but much less. If anyone wants to try , check them with zoom player and you will almost definitely see the same as me. Hopefully this can be fixed. If not I will just have to record everthing in 1080i. Last edited by mces97; Yesterday at 12:36 PM.

08-07-08, 04:40 PM	#31 \| Link
AllenDB AVS Special Member AVS CLUB MEMBER Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Kerrville, Texas Posts: 1,314	Thanks. I played it back using Total Media Extreme and I'm in a quandry. While the picture was near flawless I could see a bit of slow down and speed back up over a period of 4 or 5 seconds. The processor was maxed out so it could be one of two things. The processor just doesn't have enough gas for play back or, more serious, the mild pulsation is in the file itself. EG, there is not enough processor power to record the stream. Now how do I figure out which? I saw a post where I could disable the monitor window/process while recording. If I do that and the processor usage then drops from 100% I guess I can assume the .ts file is fine.

Yesterday, 10:49 AM	#39 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	Yes they were samples, and I assume were just simply cut from the original .ts or just recorded at that short length to be samples. FX-HD is 720p I think. Normal Fox broadcasts for me I know are definitely 720p, so you can check your local fox broadcast. Here is a link to some samples. http://www.sendspace.com/file/f5d8iy

Yesterday, 03:46 PM	#44 \| Link
mcwups1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 37	I don't see frame jumps on my original files (after converting from .TS to .m2ts using ArcSoft) but when I try to convert to .mp4, no matter what program I use, I then see "jumps". It's very odd.

Yesterday, 04:18 PM	#45 \| Link
Phishin_CA Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 18	Has anybody tried getting this thing working in VMC using the TVpack with the hacked DLL for H.264 support? See here for links http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post14466915

Yesterday, 04:25 PM	#46 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	so has anyone else noticed that 720p is not being recorded at 59.94, but around 45 like I have stated.

Yesterday, 05:55 PM	#48 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	Apap..., you right clicked on the playing window, went to dialogs, playing information, and saw the fps rate actually saying 59.94, not something like 45. The videos are watchable, but just watching it will not tell you the fps, you have to check the playing information.

Yesterday, 06:29 PM	#50 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	I think it might be my pc. I think it might be the way my pc handles these particular h264 streams. On another pc the framerate didnt drop nearly as much, but if i paused zoomplayer for a few seconds then started it back up it started at 59.94fps. Im glad, now I can record 720p at a high bitrate, run it through megui with a few cleaning up filters and save movies at a framerate of 23.976.

Yesterday, 07:49 PM	#51 \| Link
milit Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Whitby, Ontario Posts: 328	Picked up a unit today and did the usual setup etc. Before i start burning some DVDs (in avchd) I was wondering if anyone knows how mcuh recording time I could get using a dual layer dvd with maximum bit rate settings etc.? Thanks Milit

Yesterday, 08:07 PM	#52 \| Link
mces97 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 10	Well when spdif starts working for 5.1 surround sound, at the max video bitrate of 13.5mb/s (cbr) you would only get about 1 hour and 20 min of video. However you could record in 720p with a lower bitrate to achieve more time. 720p with 7mb would be more than enough, and that would allow at least 2 1/2 hours.