Definately giving this unit some serious thought. However, I am wondering what options there are for playback of the recorded TS files on the computer

I know of the following....

1-Playback directly via the PC using a MYHD card.
2-Archiving to DVHS using DVHS Tools and playing via a DVHS deck

I am hoping to find another option for playing the files directly without the use of a PC or a DVHS deck. Preferably something like a Roku, or other networkable STB/DVD Player. I came accross the following product that states it can play back MPEG2-TS files over a LAN as well as many other file types. Woult the product below work? Any other ideas?--Darin


I-O DATA AVEL LINKPLAYER2 (http://www.iodata.com/usa/products/products.php?cat=HNP&sc=AVEL&ts=2&tsc=&sc=AVEL&pId=AVLP2/DVDLA)

Originally posted by dj7675
I came accross the following product that states it can play back MPEG2-TS files over a LAN as well as many other file types. Woult the product below work? Any other ideas?--Darin


This product peaked my interest, so I checked out the manual. Other then the non-US standard D4 to Component Cable hook up required, the only problem I see with this device is the bandwidth limits. It states a 12Mbps max bit rate for Mpeg2 streams. That won't be high enough for most OTA HD stuff. The ATSC stream rate is something like 18-19Mbps, and in my experience, it is fully used much of the time. About the lowest bitrate I've seen on HD stuff is in the 10-12Mbps range, and that was stuff recorded from HBO-HD/Startz-HD via a comcast 6200 STB and 1394 port.
Not sure how much this would be an issue given the lack of content, but WMV9 is only supported at upto 8Mbps too, and DCP is not supported at all as of yet. A later firmware might provide some help here, but at 8Mbps max, it won't be doing much of the new HD WMV9 stuff, since all that is in the 12-15Mbps range.
Still, looks promising.

-Eric

Thanks for your response. I would be recording the HD via C-Band which I believe is also in the 18-20 Mbps range. In its current form, this product won't do what I need but will also keep an eye on it.

I did just get an email back from the R5000 folks. They replied that the Roku can be used for playback of the recorded files. I would be very interested in how well this setup would work. Has anyone had any experience using one of the Roku units for playing HD material recorded from an R5000? Would be very interested in how well such a setup worked.

Darin

There is a very long thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=459759) in the DVD player forum about the I-O Data LinkPlayer.

If I recall correctly, the 12 Mbps data rate is discussed, and the spec on the website is incorrect. The machine is actually capable of playing full 19.2 Mbps HDTV material.

However, you will have to scan through the thread to verify this.

That is very good news. So am I correct in believing that this unit would be capable of playing the recorded TS HD files sent from a R5000 modded STB?

Thanks again.

Darin

Originally posted by mdv
After installing my HTPC back in the rack, R5000HD doesn't work at all :( When starting the R5000HD app, I get an error message which states "USB device not found". I've tried removing and re-installing the driver with no change. When I unplug/replug the Dish6000 into the HTPC USB port, I get a message indicating USB HDTV device found but it still doesn't work.


Mark,
did you recently upgrade to XP service pack2? And is your USB 2.0 controller based on the VIA chip set? There is a known bug with XP SP2 and the VIA in usb 2.0 mode. The bug forces the via chip into usb 1.0 mode.

http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.cfm?catid=16&threadid=61166&enterthread=y

I had a similar problem when I reinstalled XP on my downstairs media server. The USB controller came up in usb 1.0 mode. I could record. but nothing was viewable. I sent a copy of the Remuxer.log file to r5000support@nextcomwireless.com and they told me that my usb controller was running in 1.0 mode. I downloaded the latest NEC driver for my USB card, and it solved the problem.

send the r5000 folks an email with the log files attached and they should be able to figure it out.

TW

Originally posted by dj7675
Has anyone had any experience using one of the Roku units for playing HD material recorded from an R5000? Would be very interested in how well such a setup worked.

Darin

The only thing I use for playback is Roku boxes and it works wonderfully.

Originally posted by dj7675
Has anyone had any experience using one of the Roku units for playing HD material recorded from an R5000? Would be very interested in how well such a setup worked.

Darin

The Roku HD1000 with 1.5.18 software played the R5000 captures flawlessly, however I had stopped using it due to 1.5.18's file size constraints. The new beta 2.09 eliminates the file size limitations and I've now begun experimenting with that. However the beta software produces occasional audio drops. Given that it's beta, I would hope that this will corrected in an upcoming software drop.

Playing back R5000 captures through the Roku will be my preferred playback device, pending software enhancements.

The Roku HD1000 with 1.5.18 software played the R5000 captures flawlessly, however I had stopped using it due to 1.5.18's file size constraints. The new beta 2.09 eliminates the file size limitations and I've now begun experimenting with that. However the beta software produces occasional audio drops. Given that it's beta, I would hope that this will corrected in an upcoming software drop.

What is the file size limit?

Originally posted by dj7675
What is the file size limit?

I believe it's 2gb on the old software. None on the new beta software.

Version 1.7 beta of the of the R5000-HD DVR is now available for download. It is required for C-band receiver support and also fixes some problems reported on certain Bell channels (820,821,822). If problems persists while playing back using MyHD, it is recommended that you upgrade the MyHD driver to v1.63.4.

The PVR ver. 1.3 is also available as a beta. It is required to use the zap2it guide with 4DTV. Also add the following:

Tuner selection for multi-device setups.
Unique path can be specified for each recording.
Resizable dialog and zap2it browser can be integrated in the PVR window.
"Add to playlist" option (for MyHD).
Maximum number of PVR entries increased to 255.

-R

Will users of the 1.6 application be prompted regarding the availability of the 1.7 beta with a dialog box? If so, will this interfere with using the 1.6 application in the autostart mode?

Originally posted by stjr
Will users of the 1.6 application be prompted regarding the availability of the 1.7 beta with a dialog box? If so, will this interfere with using the 1.6 application in the autostart mode?

No "Nag screen" for betas; only final releases.

The v 1.3 PVR has been revised to 1.3a correcting 2 problems:
1. program can crash after accepting and comfirming the program info from zap2it.
2. The New/Edit dialog did not correctly enable the sub-channel and sat. edit boxes according to the config. setings.

Note: for first-time installs: run the r5000-hd DVR app first and setup the device (STB) configuration. This creates a config file for the PVR to read. Then start the PVR (or launch via zap2it) and it will have the correct configuration for your device.

Originally posted by Techtom on the R5000-HD general discussion thread...

'USB HDTV Device' problem

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by GaryHDTV
If you are having the 'USB HDTV Device' problem, you may want to read this (http://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.development.device.drivers/browse_thread/thread/a10f3e61437757af/c2286ea7aaeb006e?q=usb+hdtv+device+microsoft&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fq%3Dusb+hdtv+device+microsoft%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d#c2286ea7aaeb006e)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Gary,
Thanks for the link. It solved my problem. Here's what I did:




1. Unplug network connection (e.g Ethernet cable)
2. Go to the Device manager and remove the "USB HDTV" device
3. search for *.inf in the Windows directory for a file that contains "USBHDTV" (mine was oem20.inf)
4. remove the file found above (oem20.inf in my case)
5. remove usbhdtv.sys from C:\windows\system32\drivers
6. From the control panel, select "add hardware"
7. The hardware wizard will find the nexcom generic usb device
8. Choose "install from a specific location"
9. Choose "don't search, I will choose the driver to install"
10. Choose "Have disk" and browse to the R5000-hd\drivers directory.


After the above steps you'll get the usual "nextcom" driver stuff to complete the driver install.

Load the R5000 DVR app and it will start the installation of the second driver:

1. The hardware wizard will find the "nexcom HDTV DVR device"
2. Choose "install from a specific location"
3. Choose "don't search, I will choose the driver to install"
4. Choose "Have disk" and browse to the R5000-hd\drivers directory.


The DVR app will time out and fail while you are installing the second driver. Just restart the DVR app and everything should be fine from there. YMMV

Techtom


Last edited by Techtom on 02-04-05 at 10:02 PM

Versions 1.7 DVR and 1.3c PVR now official releases. The Beta versions have been updated to reflect any bugs/changes to this point. It is recommended that everybody upgrade to these latest versions.

Ver. 1.3c PVR release has the added functionality to bring PC out of S3/S4 power save modes (Suspend or Hibernation) to start recordings. The ver. 1.7 DVR (R5000-HD main app) is the only version designed to be compatible with the new PVR features.

Download. (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)


BTW: The "Nag" dialog will always appear until the software is upgraded. However, program operation can procede without it being acknowledged.

-R

My brother was thrilled with the new software updates - capped 5 days without an error on SHO or HBO as confirmed by mpeg2repair - HDNET had the only most minor errors which were not related to the R5000HD.

I finally thought I had heard the last from him.

Then this week it broke loose. Virtually nothing is error free. Remuxer logs look horrible. If you turn on all options in MPEG2repair logging, HBO and SHOW caps which you could sometime get error free are virtually never error free.

After seeing some sample clips he supplied, I noted that E* Showtime and HBO have been changed from a max rate of 18.0Mbps to 15.0Mbps in the last few days - (Not that they ever needed that much bandwidth) so apparently they are messing around with something - and I cannot give him input on whether its the software or E* this week.

Any other E* users have any insight?

It seems that the E*/Showtime issues noted above have made the E*/Showtime on 110 unworkable with the R5000HD. Whatever they are now doing causes the remuxer to restart at least once in every cap essentially loosing several seconds of the cap.

From what I can tell from the logs I have seen, this has now been going on for about 10 days.

HBO and their HD-PPV show no problem at this time - and HDNET is still exhibiting the issues started last Fall with their recompression - though the errors seem to be inching upward. Clearly this isnt the same issue as the HDNET errors as the bandwidth is not constant and the R5000 remuxer can handle those properly.

Multiple caps of subsequent airings show an interesting event. Though not all remuxer errors are always reproduced on subsequent airings - the errors that do occur happen within minutes (if not seconds) of where the original ones did on the same movie.

Though this is clearly something that has changed with E* and no so much a problem with the R5000 (except that you cannot get error free caps on Showtime/110 any longer), does anyone have any insight on this or are you just writing off the R5000/E*/Showtime channel on 110?

Why am I getting a Grey line at the bottom of my captures?

It seems to be there regardless of the player I am using for playback.

VLC, Nero Showtime, Media Player, etc.

Thanks

You may see this on 1080i captures with software players. The streams are sometimes flagged as 1088, so the decoders decode the last 8 lines as gray.

fix1088 (http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~balazer/atsc/) will modify the flag to 1080.

Tried fix1088.exe, but it errors on me when trying to write the file (always at about 70meg.)

c:> fix1088 "Down With Love.ts" 0x11

Any ideas?

Thanks

Originally posted by PeterS
Tried fix1088.exe, but it errors on me when trying to write the file (always at about 70meg.)

c:> fix1088 "Down With Love.ts" 0x11

Any ideas?

Thanks
Try to contact the author, Jacob Balazer.

If you make a search on AVS, you'll find his posts, which should allow you to PM him.

Do you by any chance have any job openings at Nextcom? I know you're growing fast.

I live in Connecticut and I'm a senior computer science student. I also have a good deal of experience with electronics and computer and satellie hardware. I've been an HDTV enthusiast for some time.

If you are looking for anyone, I can send a resume and refrences.


Thanks
Steve

Anyone successfully using hdtvtompeg2 for converting d* r5000 (w/ DTC100 in my case) TS captures to mpg? First attempts were with the premium HD channels such as DSHD, HBO. Haven't been able to find any reference to this in the forum. I'm new to H2 & still learning about the workings of TS files. I tried to use 1.11 beta 3 to convert. I see the preview I frames, the conversion runs, no errors, & creates a file. But tried to import to premiere 1.5.1, and also tried to open in WMP, but nothing but black screen. In H2, before conversion, I scanned but no indication anything was found.... not sure if d* channels even have channel id's in their streams, so I left the pid's at the 11 and 14 defaults..

Am I missing something? I know most folks seem to be just interested TS to TS edits, but I'd like to get to mpg to get files into a more sophisticated tool like Premiere.

HDTVtoMPEG2's conversion to .mpg is broken. Use another program.

I haven't tried that program, but one that works very well is videoredo which you can get at videoredo.com. You will need there beta version to be able to open the TS files. I believe you have a 30 day demo of the program. It works so easily to edit TS files (such as cut out commerercials) that I had to get it. It also has a quickfix feature that works very well to automatically fix TS files which also works well. To get the demo you have to visit videoredo.com and go into their forum and download the beta. Might give it a try, works very well for me. You can download it at the link below.

http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/viewtopic.php?t=772



Darin

I've had good luck editing .ts files and converting to mpeg with H2 version 1.09 beta. I believe you can download it here (http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=1408610#post1408610).

Originally posted by balazer
HDTVtoMPEG2's conversion to .mpg is broken. Use another program.

I use a very recent version (1.11b3 I think) that seems to work well enough for converting. I take files recorded from a 169time AVX1, and convert them to MPEG and play them back without problem.


Note: only some of my PCs can convert a whole movie. I think it has to do with the type of "dynamic drive overlay" I am using to get past 137GB limit.

On some PCs HDTVtoMPEG2 fails at about a 2GB or 4GB (output file) mark. On others it works all the way through.

Jacob - when you say it is "Broken" - what does that mean? Is it because it can't convert a whole movie on some machines? Is there something wrong with the MPG files it produces?

It usually (or always) will not produce valid mpeg program streams. That feature was broken somewhere along the line. I don't know if the older versions that had working even did a good job of it. I think people generally rely on other tools to do transport stream-to-program stream conversion, but I couldn't say which ones off-hand.

Have you tried videolan streaming conversion features? I've used it with SD TS to PS with good results. It might work for HD.

Originally posted by dj7675
I haven't tried that program, but one that works very well is videoredo which you can get at videoredo.com. You will need there beta version to be able to open the TS files. I believe you have a 30 day demo of the program. It works so easily to edit TS files (such as cut out commerercials) that I had to get it. It also has a quickfix feature that works very well to automatically fix TS files which also works well. To get the demo you have to visit videoredo.com and go into their forum and download the beta. Might give it a try, works very well for me. You can download it at the link below.

http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/viewtopic.php?t=772



Darin

This is a great little program. Thanks for the link. I tried the beta and it worked beautifully. The regular program crashed on 4 of every 5 HD transport streams I fed it, but the beta took everything. I wrote tech support and asked if they had support for exporting .ts files and he said that feature is going to be added within the next few weeks. He also said that they are working on a fix for a known problem with MyHD playback. I got the e-mail back within just a couple of hours of writing with questions.

Nice to hear your results. Mine are the same. It is simple to use and works every time I have used it. It is also very actively being developed. Via their forum they listen to their users and implement changes very quickly. Even though the version I use is officially a beta, it works perfect. The only thing I would also like is the ability to export to .ts as well-although I really do not know what difference it makes having it .mpg vs ts.

Darin

Anyone with an R5000HD'd Dish 6000 received the new software from Dish in the last few days? I'm afraid to upgrade for fear that the R5000Hd will stop working?

Mark

I would also like to know the results of the sw-ug from dish?

I am contemplating a R5000 purchase & as a dish subscriber of course this is an important consideration.

I have not encountered any problems with the latest Dish 6000 software update. The R5000 is working perfectly. The only problems I ever have are with the transmission source glitching. I'm very happy with the R5000.

Steve

What ever happened to the idea of a DirectShow filter?

Does seem kind of quite, although I like what I have. They also mentioned an AVS HiPix dev team type NDA arrangement. That would be cool.

GaryHDTV,

Could you elaborate on this a bit more sounds good.

Thanks

Just what I read on their website.

I tried the new software (I'll post the version #when I get home, ok it's 825PCNCD-N) and at first it seemed to be ok. After the next reboot the R5000HD stopped working. I checked in device manager and it said there was an 'unknown' USB device instead of the Nextcom one. I tried to 'upgrade' the driver but when I did that, XP installed some Microsoft driver dated 2001 before allowing me to choose the Nextcom one. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the Microsoft driver.

I Ghosted back to an image from a few days earlier and got things working again only to have them stop working a few reboots later. I've done this several times now. Every time there's a show that I want to record, XP says 'unknown' USB device. It will install the Microsoft driver (even with the Ethernet cable unplugged) anytime that I try to install the Nextcom driver. I'll have to try a few more times to be sure but it seems like if the Dish6000 USB cable is plugged in and the unit is turned on, XP will try to install the Microsoft driver if given the opportunity. It sure seems to me like this version of the Dish6000 software has hosed me.

Maybe it's just my system. R5000HD has never worked that well for me. I don't use the PVR app, just the DVR app. I'm currently using version 1.5a even though it always defaults to March 2036 (and reverts back to that date sometimes while a timed recording is scheduled) since 1.6 refused to do timed recordings at all. I'm afraid of 1.7 but I doubt things could get any worse.

Steve, what version is your current Dish 6000 software?

Mark


Originally posted by xsrsmithx
I have not encountered any problems with the latest Dish 6000 software update. The R5000 is working perfectly. The only problems I ever have are with the transmission source glitching. I'm very happy with the R5000.

Steve

mdv

Same thing happened to me. All you need to do is unplug the Dish 6000 from the wall for about 30 seconds and plug it back in and then reboot your computer. It will see and load the correct R5000 driver then.

Steve

Steve, I sure hope you're right about this. aTdHvAaNnKcSe if you are.

[edit] I had to both unplug the USB cable AND unplug the Dish 6000 AC before the Nextcom driver would load (after plugging both back in of course).

Mark

Originally posted by xsrsmithx
mdv

Same thing happened to me. All you need to do is unplug the Dish 6000 from the wall for about 30 seconds and plug it back in and then reboot your computer. It will see and load the correct R5000 driver then.

Steve

Originally posted by HookedOnTV
What ever happened to the idea of a DirectShow filter?

I think they gave up on the idea, for some reason. I wish they would add it too.

Just wanted to take a poll amongst BEV 6000 owners and how the R5000 is working for them.

I've managed to get a hold of a 6000 and will be sending it out to Nextcom.

TIA

Well, I have had the unit for a month now, and it's working very well. There are a few nuances in which I would like to see changed, etc. But, it does work as advertised, there is no doubt in that.

As for the direct show filter ... it would seem to be a good idea. However, I normally use the S-Video out on the actual STB to display on my external monitor (plasma). Doesn't look all that great, but it's only for preview purposes anyway. Then I use the audio out on the STB to my line-in on my sound card (in my PC) so I can hear the audio as well.

If anyone has any 'specific' questions about the box. I can try and answer them. If one is thinking of getting it, I would recommend it. It performs well and takes very little in the way of system resources. I have e* and the 6000 rcvr.

I'll post to any replies.

Originally posted by f13dfx
Just wanted to take a poll amongst BEV 6000 owners and how the R5000 is working for them.

I've managed to get a hold of a 6000 and will be sending it out to Nextcom.

TIA

You'll love it. I'm not a BEV 6000 user. I have a Dish 6000 with the modification. Probably the best testimonial as to how this device works is the scarcity of posts on this thread - one every few days. There are some questions and issues, but for the majority of us (if I can be presumptuous enough to say that) just use it every day without serious incident. For a computer based entertainment product, that's about the most you can ask for.

It's not EXACTLY like a VCR or a DVD player in terms of its reliability and usability, but it's the closest to it that I own. And the added flexibility it gives to record what I want from satellite is priceless. With a few other tools thrown in (MyHD, HDTVtoMPEG2, a DVD burner), it's my favorite piece of gear.

Joe Clark

If I installed an 8vsb module in my R5000 modded dish6000, would I then be able to record high def off the locals in my area using this mod?

Thanks

Originally posted by videolover
If I installed an 8vsb module in my R5000 modded dish6000, would I then be able to record high def off the locals in my area using this mod?

Thanks

My assumption would be YES, as I am able to do so with my D* R5000 modified receiver. However, your best answer should come from either one of the Nextcom folks or someone with an R5000 modded Dish 6000 who also has an 8vsb module installed.

Originally posted by Ron Tobin
My assumption would be YES, as I am able to do so with my D* R5000 modified receiver. However, your best answer should come from either one of the Nextcom folks or someone with an R5000 modded Dish 6000 who also has an 8vsb module installed.

I was under the impression that one couldn't do that. I thought the mod was only for the satellite reception piece?

Just interacting with the software and the sort, I don't think that feature is available, but I could be wrong. I don't have that module in my 6000 or I would test it for you.

Originally posted by DigiDish
I don't have that module in my 6000 or I would test it for you.

How good is your Dish reception from the Soviet Union?????

videolover

You can easly record everything out of the R5000 Dish 6000 unit. Both satellite and OTA. No restrictions... No fuss....

Steve

thanks guys

I thought I'd update this. The new Dish 6000 software works fine. It turns out I had to have my R5000HD modified for the 'hardware reset problem'. I have one of the original units and it needed an etch cut and wire added. Everthing is working fine now. Version 1.7 of the R5000HD app fixed the timer recording problems I was having :)

Originally posted by mdv
I tried the new software (I'll post the version #when I get home, ok it's 825PCNCD-N) and at first it seemed to be ok. After the next reboot the R5000HD stopped working. I checked in device manager and it said there was an 'unknown' USB device instead of the Nextcom one. I tried to 'upgrade' the driver but when I did that, XP installed some Microsoft driver dated 2001 before allowing me to choose the Nextcom one. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the Microsoft driver.

I Ghosted back to an image from a few days earlier and got things working again only to have them stop working a few reboots later. I've done this several times now. Every time there's a show that I want to record, XP says 'unknown' USB device. It will install the Microsoft driver (even with the Ethernet cable unplugged) anytime that I try to install the Nextcom driver. I'll have to try a few more times to be sure but it seems like if the Dish6000 USB cable is plugged in and the unit is turned on, XP will try to install the Microsoft driver if given the opportunity. It sure seems to me like this version of the Dish6000 software has hosed me.

Maybe it's just my system. R5000HD has never worked that well for me. I don't use the PVR app, just the DVR app. I'm currently using version 1.5a even though it always defaults to March 2036 (and reverts back to that date sometimes while a timed recording is scheduled) since 1.6 refused to do timed recordings at all. I'm afraid of 1.7 but I doubt things could get any worse.

Steve, what version is your current Dish 6000 software?

Mark

Mark

Was there any costs involved from Nextcom for this modification?

Steve

Does anyone know what happens if you try to record sd (dish) material with this mod?

SD records just fine from a Dish 6000 and R5000 mod. John

xsrsmithx, actually I did the mod myself but Nexcom offered to do it for free.

Marj

Originally posted by xsrsmithx
Mark

Was there any costs involved from Nextcom for this modification?

Steve

ctdish, do all of the SD channels on a Dish 6000 have digital audio?

I always thought they didn't but maybe that was just the Dish 5000.

Mark

Originally posted by ctdish
SD records just fine from a Dish 6000 and R5000 mod. John

All Dish channels have digital audio. Most SD channels do not have AC3 audio, which is the standard for ATSC. ATSC is the US standard broadcast digital TV. This can be a problem for some playback devices, but software players and many HDTV hardware types can play the non AC3 digital audio. John

I posted this same question in the other thread, but thought it meant sense to post in the technical thread too...


Got to ask the question - will it now be possible to utilize this inconjuction with SageTV? I would love to be able to schedule programming withing Sage. Right now I use Sage to record SD material via S-video from my DirecTV box. It would be great to do this using R5000. Obviously I would also use to schedule HD recordings too.

Version 2.0 Downloads Available

Beta versions of the R5000-HD DVR & PVR apps are available for download at www.r5000-hd.com Many important new features are implemented:


Recording directly to D-VHS Tape now possible.
Can now record SD programs from D* (an R5000-HD exclusive*).
Built-in Media Player provides live Satellite Preview, plays most major media types and D-VHS Tape.
Basic command-line control implemented.


The ver 2.0 PVR matches the additional record destinations provided by the DVR (disk, tape, both) which are programmable for each event. Additional features include:


Re-occurring Events can be setup on a daily, week-daily, weekly or monthly frequency.
Networkable PVR can be set in client or server mode. Programs can be added/deleted/modified from a remote PC.
Session and worksapce preferences automatically saved and loaded.

See download area for notes on installation, known issues and additional system requirements. Thank you.

oops...forgot the most important feature- the remote control now has an "LED" indicator so you know the power state of the STB.


-R

*For PC-based recording solutions.

The beta DVR ver 2.0 is back up on the web site now. It works great...

Steve

The beta DVR ver 2.0 is back up on the web site now. It works great...

Steve

Do you have a DVHS to record to? It will be interesting to here from users' experience recording to DVHS.

Darin

I have run a few test and it seems to work real good with the new beta software. I have a Dish 6000 and a JVC 30000 recorder. First test was to schedule a record to both the hard drive and the JVC recorder at the same time. The second was just to schedule a recording to the JVC only. Both tests worked perfectly. My computer is not beefy enough to get smooth playback with the new internal viewer feature using the Elecard decoder. I get a jerky playback with intermitent sound. It's good enough to see that it either got recorded on the hard drive or the JVC. I'm able to start, stop, pause, fast forward, rewind, play and record from the JVC with the new tape control panel GUI. I can also play back .ts files from the hard drive from there and see live satelite broadcasts in the viewer with the media player in the control panel. I have not tried using the networking yet.

Overall, I am very impressed. Great job. It just keeps getting better...

Steve

Did you get glitch free results steve?? sounds great!!

-Gary

Gary

The channels that I recorded were two of the new Voom channels and they played back glitch free..

Steve

Steve Please do share if you have tried using the new D-VHS features in the R5000 software

anyone else you are welcome to share D-VHS R5000 info also :D

-Gary

Would anyone care to report what speeed PC they have found to work successfully with the playback software, and whether or not it was over a network?

Could anyone report results playing .ts files recorded with the R5000-HD over a network with a MyHD card?

Thanks,
Kevin

Would anyone care to report what speeed PC they have found to work successfully with the playback software, and whether or not it was over a network?

Could anyone report results playing .ts files recorded with the R5000-HD over a network with a MyHD card?

Thanks,
Kevin

I play all my R5000 captures over a network using the MyHD MDP100. No problems whatsoever.

I just upgraded my R5000 DVR to the new beta 2.0 version and scheduled an overnight recording of "House of Sand and Fog" on HBO (fabulous movie for those of you who haven't seen it, starring among others the phenomenally incredible Jennifer Connelly) directly to tape using my DTC-100 R5000 modded unit hooked to a Mits 1100U DVHS deck. I watched the tape tonight and it was perfect! Finally I now have a worthy successor to my old Dish 5000 recording setup. This should be the final nail in the coffin of 169time and its kludgy setup. I'm so glad now that I was an early adopter of Nextcom's solution and had the patience to wait on them to upgrade the software to allow direct to tape streaming. It's just too bad that D* is giving us only HDLite rather than full bandwidth HD to record! :(

I just upgraded my R5000 DVR to the new beta 2.0 version and scheduled an overnight recording of "House of Sand and Fog" on HBO (fabulous movie for those of you who haven't seen it, starring among others the phenomenally incredible Jennifer Connelly) directly to tape using my DTC-100 R5000 modded unit hooked to a Mits 1100U DVHS deck. I watched the tape tonight and it was perfect! Finally I now have a worthy successor to my old Dish 5000 recording setup. This should be the final nail in the coffin of 169time and its kludgy setup. I'm so glad now that I was an early adopter of Nextcom's solution and had the patience to wait on them to upgrade the software to allow direct to tape streaming. It's just too bad that D* is giving us only HDLite rather than full bandwidth HD to record! :(


When I hear this from a Dish Network customer I am switching over ASAP

Oh and I agree 100% about Connelly and "House of Sand and Fog", don't forget Mr. Kingsley though

-Gary

Would anyone care to report what speeed PC they have found to work successfully with the playback software, and whether or not it was over a network?

Could anyone report results playing .ts files recorded with the R5000-HD over a network with a MyHD card?

Thanks,
Kevin

I use the MyHD 120 and it plays perfectly over a network from a Terastion NAS. Playback is perfect. It is also perfect using a Roku HD1000 which is what I use almost exclusively because it plays perfect as well and is as easy to use as a VCR/DVD Player, small, quite, and just less hassle than a PC for everyday playback. Also you can ff/rew which I can't do with the MyHD software. With the Roku just make sure you use the latest firmare and MPlay.

Darin

A bug has been fixed in the ver 2.0 PVR beta whereby an event scheduled from zap2it can be repeatedly re-scheduled when it fires off. This was due to an undefined event frequency inititalization condition which occurs on some systems. After scheduling an event from zap2it, bring up the edit program dialog. Under the Day/Date area it should say "One time Event". The bug manifests itself when nothing is displayed.

The revised ver 2.0 beta is now downloadable. File ver 2.0.0.1, (2.0a). The DVR is unchanged.

-R

I use the MyHD 120 and it plays perfectly over a network from a Terastion NAS. Playback is perfect. It is also perfect using a Roku HD1000 which is what I use almost exclusively because it plays perfect as well and is as easy to use as a VCR/DVD Player, small, quite, and just less hassle than a PC for everyday playback. Also you can ff/rew which I can't do with the MyHD software. With the Roku just make sure you use the latest firmare and MPlay.

Darin

Darin what source are you recording that plays back perfect on the roku and myhd, Dish?? Directv?? cband??

-Gary

Recording from CBand and Starchoice both......

Darin

When I hear this from a Dish Network customer I am switching over ASAP

Oh and I agree 100% about Connelly and "House of Sand and Fog", don't forget Mr. Kingsley though

-Gary

Up and running on Dish with HDPak and Voom originals, and things are a rockin'. Running like a champ. Now, to find a couple of exxtra petabytes of free space.....

Up and running on Dish with HDPak and Voom originals, and things are a rockin'. Running like a champ. Now, to find a couple of exxtra petabytes of free space.....

I tried to add Voom today but was told I had to be a prior Voom customer.

Anyone have a workaround?

Wazoo

I tried to add Voom today but was told I had to be a prior Voom customer. Anyone have a workaround?

Wazoo, Call 1–800–969–4388, tell the CSR: I own my Dish HD receiver(s), I have a second dish pointed to the 61.5 degree satellite and I want to add the Voom HD PAK to my Dish Network HD PAK.

Wazoo, Call 1–800–969–4388, tell the CSR: I own my Dish HD receiver(s), I have a second dish pointed to the 61.5 degree satellite and I want to add the Voom HD PAK to my Dish Network HD PAK.

I'll give that a shot... thanks!

Wazoo

Has anyone had success with the new 2.0beta of running a server/client setup with the PVR?

I have it set up correctly I believe as both the server and the client say that they recognize each other. However, when I click record on the client side, I get a popup asking what to do with tvpi.asp. At first, I said to OPEN it.... but that launched Frontpage. So I re-associated the file to the PVR program but nothing happens when I open it.

Can't find dox on this and am stuck.

Any help appreciated as I'm a newbie to the RD5000.

Thanks!

Wazoo

Has anyone had success with the new 2.0beta of running a server/client setup with the PVR?

I have it set up correctly I believe as both the server and the client say that they recognize each other. However, when I click record on the client side, I get a popup asking what to do with tvpi.asp. At first, I said to OPEN it.... but that launched Frontpage. So I re-associated the file to the PVR program but nothing happens when I open it...


You don't want .asp files associated with the PVR. You want .tvpi file types associated with it. But then when you run the PVR it should notify you that one or more of the required associations have been lost and offer to get them back. Exit the program and restart it. Respond OK if you see the associations dialog. With XP/2K you shouldn't have to restart for the registry changes to take effect.

-R

You don't want .asp files associated with the PVR. You want .tvpi file types associated with it. But then when you run the PVR it should notify you that one or more of the required associations have been lost and offer to get them back. Exit the program and restart it. Respond OK if you see the associations dialog. With XP/2K you shouldn't have to restart for the registry changes to take effect.

-R

Ok... reinstalled and now it seems that the tvpi files are associated with the PVR. However.... whenever I click on a REC button, I get a popup error box which says:

Error. Couldn't parse file! (exclaimation point in original... not added by me.. :) )

Again... this is on my client box which shows a connection to the server.

TIA!

Wazoo

While experimenting, I have run across an odd issue with the PVR beta:

If I hit record for HBOHD (channel 9456), a percentage of the time it instead records channel 9467.

Anyone else getting similar channel mixups?

Wazoo

Finding that many of my recordings can't be played unless I run them through mpeg2repair. If I try and play them prior to running them through mpeg2repair, the video does not show up and the audio sounds like it is in fast-forward mode. After running them through mpeg2repair, they work like a champ. Seeking and all.

BTW, for playback, I have been using Zoomplayer, with HDTV Pump, NVIDIA DVD Decoders, and AC3Filter .

I downloaded the 2 SDTV clips from this page:

http://www.nextcomwireless.com/R5000/samples.htm

Are these clips re-encoded from the original DishNetwork/DirecTV signals? Or are they the native files that DishNetwork and DirecTV use? In other words, are you just capturing the native stream that satellite providers send bit-for-bit and saving it on a PC? Or are you converting it from the proprietary formats used by DishNetwork/DirecTV so the resultant file is fully-compliant MPEG-2 that has broad compatibility. I read some information on the R5000 but still wasn't sure.

I downloaded the 2 SDTV clips from this page:

http://www.nextcomwireless.com/R5000/samples.htm

Are these clips re-encoded from the original DishNetwork/DirecTV signals?

No. They are not re-encoded.


Or are they the native files that DishNetwork and DirecTV use? In other words, are you just capturing the native stream that satellite providers send bit-for-bit and saving it on a PC?

Yes, All the original bits are preserved, but No, you can't use the stream directly.

Or are you converting it from the proprietary formats used by DishNetwork/DirecTV so the resultant file is fully-compliant MPEG-2 that has broad compatibility.

Yes, format conversion is done to ensure the resulting stream is fully-compliant.

-R

Thanks.

I'm having some trouble playing the clips. The players I'm using report different clips lengths. One video continues playing when the time bar reaches the end. The other clip won't play to the end.

How long exactly are the clips in minutes and seconds?

I get 36 sec for the first one and 1 min. 33 sec. for the second one. John

I just thought I would chime in to say that since the release of the R5000-HD Beta 2 software, I have had virtually 100% perfect recordings to disk with no Failed Transfers and no "Data Loss" using my Dish 6000-R5000-HD STB.

Can anyone confirm that E* is delivering a more constant HD bit stream lately?

I use to edit the movies recorded with my Dish 6000-R5000-HD STB like taking off the nudity scenes, I'm using HDTVtoMPEG2 software the problem that I'm having when playback the video is for some cuts the video freezes for few seconds before it jumps to the next portion of the video, Can somebody give me a technical explanation? Thanks

It's just that HDTVtoMPEG2 is cutting and splicing in the simplist way possible: chopping transport streams without regard to the video and audio structure. Your player apparently doesn't like the discontinuities that it finds at the splice points. Other players do a better job.

balazer is correct. HDTVtoMPEG2 is a great little tool but it was never meant to be the end all of editing.

There is a time code running continually in the .ts file. When you edit a piece out, that time code is broken and a piece is missing. To borrow a line from a movie, thiink of it as a prolbem in the space-time continuum.

But, to your question, many players do not like that missing chunk of time and don't know exactly what to do so they stop and try and figure out how much is missing and what to do next - to put it in oversimplistic terms.

You could try another player - or assorted players until you find one that might work a little smoother.

You could also try mpeg2repair to try and see if that smooth it out - most likely you will still get a lock up - only shorter in length.

The only real way around it as I understand it is to demux and remux the stream to reclock the stream.

VideoReDo is an alternative editing tool that will produce output without discontinuities.

Agreed, but until the version is released that produces a .ts output instead of .mpeg, that is often harder on software players than the discontinuties.

I thought the beta produces transport stream output.

You're all right I was using VLC media player and just tried Moonlight it plays smoothly however the picture is not as sharp as on VLC beside that it's not free, is there any other player has the quality of VLC for .TS playback ?

I thought the beta produces transport stream output.

I know it can read .ts, but last I heard it would only save to mpeg and elementals for muxing to .ts with another program.

It's clearly in the works and will be the frame accurate editor of choice this year once its done.

VideoReDo is not designed for HDTV .TS files I tried it and it won't open the file. Probably small MPEG video files works with it like home videos.

VideoReDo is an alternative editing tool that will produce output without discontinuities.

Yeah, well I heard that they have a beta that works with HDTV transport stream files.

Yes that's what I tried beta version, maybe the video has to be MPEG2 not .TS to be accepted, Any way my problem is with playback and I couldn't find a .ts file player that has the good picture quality like VLC media Player.

The beta will open .ts streams and editting them nicely. Right now it only saves to .mpeg and elementals.

I have used videoredo to edit TS files and it does work well. Their audio quickfix also works really well. I was reading on their forum and you can now save as a TS file type and not just MPEG. You have to enter a code of some sort somewhere and then it enables it to save as TS. Great program that keeps getting better.

Just found the link to enable TS as an output type in the videoredo beta.

http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/viewtopic.php?t=1255

Darin

How fast it is compared to HDTVtoMPEG2 and does it affect the video quality after editing and what's the size file limit? I already tried 19GB .ts file and it won't accept it, it displays an error message: No PIDs specified when trying to open a TS, So I had to uninstall it from my computer.

I have used videoredo to edit TS files and it does work well. Their audio quickfix also works really well. I was reading on their forum and you can now save as a TS file type and not just MPEG. You have to enter a code of some sort somewhere and then it enables it to save as TS. Great program that keeps getting better.

Just found the link to enable TS as an output type in the videoredo beta.

http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/viewtopic.php?t=1255

Darin

I haven't used HDTVtoMPEG2 so I can't compare. I haven't had to use it in a while. I used to have to run the quick fix option so my roku hd1000 could play them better. But since the firmware upgrades to the HD1000 I don't have too any longer. I have opened TS files that size without any problem. If I remeber, I will try to use it a bit tonight....

Darin

I get 36 sec for the first one and 1 min. 33 sec. for the second one. John

ctdish, thanks very much. I downloaded some more players and now I also get them to play at the proper lengths that you posted.

Right now, I don't have DirecTV or Dish Network, but based on everything I've read, the bitrates for SD streams for both of them are generally from 800MB to 1500MB per hour. I calcuated the bitrates for these two samples. The bitrate for the Dish Network clip is 2584MB per hour, and the bitrate for the DirecTV clip is 2159MB per hour. The DirecTV bitrate doesn't seem too much out of the norm, especially given that it's a premium channel and looks really good. The Dish Network clip seems way too high, especially given that it looks much worse than the DirecTV clip. There are a lot of compression artifacts.

What you do you guys think? Since I don't have DirecTV or Dish Network, I really don't know. R5000-HD, is it possible that the first one is compressed from the original Dish Network source in some way? Maybe it somehow gets compressed coming from the receiver?

The most imprortant thing to me in what I get (right now I just have analog cable) will be whether I can losslessly save the digital stream. If I couldn't get the digital stream with Dish Network for some reason, then I'd get DirecTV. And if I couldn't get the digital stream from DirecTV, I'd just stick with analog cable.

Right now, I don't have DirecTV or Dish Network, but based on everything I've read, the bitrates for SD streams for both of them are generally from 800MB to 1500MB per hour. I calcuated the bitrates for these two samples. The bitrate for the Dish Network clip is 2584MB per hour, and the bitrate for the DirecTV clip is 2159MB per hour. The DirecTV bitrate doesn't seem too much out of the norm, especially given that it's a premium channel and looks really good. The Dish Network clip seems way too high, especially given that it looks much worse than the DirecTV clip.


I belive the samples are a constant bit rate transport stream, so you can't use the file size to calculate the video bit rate. Download TSReader from www.coolstf.com It will tell you the bit rate of each of the bit streams in the TS.


What you do you guys think? Since I don't have DirecTV or Dish Network, I really don't know. R5000-HD, is it possible that the first one is compressed from the original Dish Network source in some way? Maybe it somehow gets compressed coming from the receiver?


Nope. compressing / recompressing takes lots of CPU. the R5000 folks said that they don't recompress they just faithfully capture the bit stream. Directv correctly uses 3:2/Telecine mode to get a lower bit rate for the same quality level. dish does not, everting is encoded as 29.97 Hz interlace frames (even for film sources).



The most imprortant thing to me in what I get (right now I just have analog cable) will be whether I can losslessly save the digital stream. If I couldn't get the digital stream with Dish Network for some reason, then I'd get DirecTV. And if I couldn't get the digital stream from DirecTV, I'd just stick with analog cable.

Goto your local Radio Shack and check out the Satellite channels. The non-premium and local channels are heavily compressed. But PPV and the other pay channels are about the same quality as digital cable.

I have dish. If you want to convert SD transport streams to DVD VOB files, use the replex utility on r5000 support page. directv uses long GOP structures which aren't compatible with the DVD VOB format. I don't have directv, but I suspect you could convert the SD TS to DVD VOB, but the resulting DVD might not play on some players due to the non standard GOP.

TW

Directv correctly uses 3:2/Telecine mode to get a lower bit rate for the same quality level. dish does not, everting is encoded as 29.97 Hz interlace frames (even for film sources).

That's not true. DISH uses adaptive inverse telecine and progressive frame coding on their SD channels.

And Directv is 1280x1080i on HD. Dish on most HD sources except 6 Voom channels is 1920x1080i.

I just downloaded VideoRedo Plus and works with .ts files, however it does affect the video quality the original video is much sharper than the video edited, and it takes more time than HDTVtoMPEG2 and the output file is not realy .ts even if you choose the option .ts output, on my computer the file holds WMP icon while the original file holds VLC icon, So I decide to keep HDTVtoMPEG2 it's the best software for the actual time.


I haven't used HDTVtoMPEG2 so I can't compare. I haven't had to use it in a while. I used to have to run the quick fix option so my roku hd1000 could play them better. But since the firmware upgrades to the HD1000 I don't have too any longer. I have opened TS files that size without any problem. If I remeber, I will try to use it a bit tonight....

Darin

We should take the editing discussion to another thread.

Are you sure that the VideoReDo output was not as sharp? It's my understanding that VideoReDo/Plus has the ability to output without re-coding the video. Is there an option for that? Did you have it turned on?

The type of icon that you see for the output file has only to do with the filename extenion, and nothing to do with the contents of the file. Did the output have a different extension than the input?

The output formats available for VideoRedo Plus are:
MPEG Program Stream *.mpg *.mpeg
Elementary Streams *.mpv *.mpa
DVD Stream *.vob
None of those are *.ts and If you load a *.ts file without doing any thing to it and try to save it it asks you: There is no cuts defined, Do you wish to re-mux the entire input file?
And like I said I compared the two files input and output and there is a difrence, you may not notice the diffrence on a CRT monitor but with HD LCD monitor it's a little bit of diff.

I started a VideoReDo thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5854948

Let's take all the editing discussion elsewhere, as it is not specific to the R5000-HD.

I think the thread is in this link:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5854948#post5854948

Hello,
I must say I'm very satisfied with my R5000-HD that I purchased about a month ago, and I'm wondering if the ability to split the recording into multiple files (based on time or file size limit) will be implemented anytime soon.

Thank you

I am wondering the same thing.
Gary

I am wondering what type(how many) of glitches folks are getting now days from Dish?? I will be buying the setup next week on the sale price but was wondering how Dish was doing nowdays for folks??

-Gary

Well it doesn't matter because I just dropped 750$ on the 6000 from the guys, that sale price really got me :D

I am(was) a 169time veteran and dumped that pos setup, I am giving d-vhs another stab with a total new and different setup

previous setup was:

169time 6000 receiver
JVC 30k VCR
used S-VHS media

my new setup will be:

r5000-hd 6000 receiver
mitsubishi 2000u VCR
brand new S-VHS/D-VHS media

my original setup yielded great tapes, that had no problems but 2 to 3 resyncs from 169time's crappy software, these were always towards the end of the film ruining movies basically, but I had many a perfect tape with 169time

I am a veteran of the D-VHS format and look to be able to get 100% perfect tapes with the r5000-hd

Can't wait to get it going, I am tuff on equipment like this(I tell it like it is) but I have much faith in the r5000-hd setup and their obvious care for their customers and product

thats why they just got my 750$ so easily

-Gary

Well it doesn't matter because I just dropped 750$ on the 6000 from the guys, that sale price really got me :D

I am(was) a 169time veteran and dumped that pos setup, I am giving d-vhs another stab with a total new and different setup

previous setup was:

169time 6000 receiver
JVC 30k VCR
used S-VHS media

my new setup will be:

r5000-hd 6000 receiver
mitsubishi 2000u VCR
brand new S-VHS/D-VHS media

my original setup yielded great tapes, that had no problems but 2 to 3 resyncs from 169time's crappy software, these were always towards the end of the film ruining movies basically, but I had many a perfect tape with 169time

I am a veteran of the D-VHS format and look to be able to get 100% perfect tapes with the r5000-hd

Can't wait to get it going, I am tuff on equipment like this(I tell it like it is) but I have much faith in the r5000-hd setup and their obvious care for their customers and product

thats why they just got my 750$ so easily

-Gary

Gary,

I think you will be pleasantly surprised how well your new setup works. I have basically the same thing (Dish 6000, JVC 30000 and a bunch of S-VHS tapes). I don't post of this forum very often, because my modded unit has worked pretty much the same way ever since I got it several months ago. I've taped lots of shows and movies and seldom have a problem. When I do have issues, it's usually because the S-VHS tapes I buy don't always record the digital content well. So, I have to check the content after each recording. I can probably count on one hand the number of problems that MAY have been caused by the R5000 mod - not sure about those.

Enjoy while you can, because eventually they'll close down this avenue for us to.

Joe Clark

Sounds great Joe, thanks for your reply

You are so right, I am going to tape like a mad man for the next 2 tears or less until everything is switched to mpeg4, it may be longer than 2 years with Dish, who really knows though

-Gary

Most problems I have seen lately on E* have been caused by factors outside of the end user's control. Showtime continues to have gaps and HDNET's error rate has picked up again - although both Showtime and HDNET were down to virtually no errors several weeks ago.

There was one movie overnight around 4am in the EPG that caused the R5000 Web Based PVR to blow up and shut down everytime you clicked to record it - I think it was Major League at 4am last Saturday July 9th, but don't remember for sure. But that is only time anyone I have talked with has ever seen that happen (and they were able to replicate it as well) - so probably bad EPG data from Zap2it.

Every so often (once every 2-3 weeks) the R5000HD software does error out and shut down while recording with a Windows Error - which it wants to report to Microsoft. It would be nice to have the program autoreload or set up a timer to autoreload and only allow one instance - otherwise you might miss a few caps until you restart the software.

The only improvement I could think to make is easier to edit selection when there are time conflicts, the remaining time on the cap, showing the actual MBps of the cap (like TSReader) and other technical info (1920x1080/Dolby 5.1/Telecine/ for example) you are obtaining in real time on the Recorder GUI.

If you clear all old items from the Web Based PVR menu, it clears the recording in progress and you have no idea what time it is scheduled to quit recording - thus the display on the Recording GUI.

The technical data on the GUI speaks for itself.

But again, these are enhancements. You should really enjoy your unit.

Thank goodness as I don't I could have taken more grief from my brother about it.

I am curious though....2 weeks ago you were a big advocate of using the 942 and swapping out hard drives. What changed?

The dual 942 setup(now on ebay) was a dream but I have decided that I prefer D-VHS, if you are not a D-VHS guy there is nothing better than the dual 942 setup I used

So I decided to give the r5000 a shot

I keep having faith that Dish will finally get everything settled down to 99% error free broadcasting, they have done with many times like you mentioned but always go back to their bad ways, why can't they just leave it alone when it is working good :)

-Gary

I own a myhd but not a r5000 YET.
one of the biggest issues I have with it is that I cannot REALLY watch live hdtv on my computer. They have that media player but thats different from watching it via the DVI passthru on myhd. I know you can have myhd play a TS while its recording from the r5000 but I dont think having the r5000 constantly recording is ideal.

I noticed the the r5000 says it can output to DVHS and the myhd can play DVHS. Is there some way these two can be linked so the myHD can play something directly from the r5000?

A "direct" link between the myhd and the r5000 with minimal system resource usage would be ideal for me since I probably spend more time watching TV rather than recording. perhaps a driver that allows the r5000 to emulate a tape device so it can be detected in myhd?

Joseph clark,
I use SVHS tapes with a Mits 11000 recorder ans I found that if you run a bulk eraser over them just befor recording I get a lower drop out rate. Not sure why but it seems to work.

Enrico Ng
It can't go directly to the MYHD without first going to disk. If for some reason you can't just watch the output from the satellite receiver directly, you can send the program to a JVC DVHS and watch its output. You do need a tape in, but you can stop the transport after starting the signal going to the recorder. John

Joseph clark,
I use SVHS tapes with a Mits 11000 recorder ans I found that if you run a bulk eraser over them just befor recording I get a lower drop out rate. Not sure why but it seems to work.


WOW! Can you still find bulk erasers? :D

Bulk Erasers have always been better for wiping bulk tape clean than letting the internal erase head deal with it. The reason? They operate with a much higher output level/magnetic level that would most likely damage or interfere with the recording heads of the machine if that high of an output was done within the machine. Just keep the bulk eraser a good distance from the machine itself and don't turn it on or off right next to the VHS tape you are erasing.

At the higher output, it assures that any stronger magnetic fields on the tape are completely wiped out - something the internal erase head doesn't always do - thus resulting in errors when that point is recorded over.

Joseph clark,
I use SVHS tapes with a Mits 11000 recorder ans I found that if you run a bulk eraser over them just befor recording I get a lower drop out rate. Not sure why but it seems to work.

The tapes I've been using are Fuji's, brand new. Are you saying that bulk erasing *blank* tape makes it record with fewer dropouts?

Thanks,

Joe Clark

I Bought a brand new clearance bulk eraser at Radio Shack for like 15$, works fab

although I don't use it much anymore as I am no longer buying used S-VHS tapes ( doing that creates another useless headache )
I am buying brand new sealed bulk maxell st-126bq for 4.40$

-Gary

Enrico Ng
It can't go directly to the MYHD without first going to disk. If for some reason you can't just watch the output from the satellite receiver directly, you can send the program to a JVC DVHS and watch its output. You do need a tape in, but you can stop the transport after starting the signal going to the recorder. John

Well, I thought that the R5000 disables the output from the STB so I wouldnt beable to watch. Anyways, I don't have the money for an HDTV so I watch it on my lcd monitor via myhd.

so I can send the stream from the R5000 to the dvhs (via another computer with usb and firwire) then connect the coax output of the dvhs to the myhd and have this setup running 24/7?
does the DVHS coax output send a transport stream or the decoded video?

ideally, I would want some setup where I could watch tv using the myhd whenever I want then beable to record something on occasion. so I'd want it to act like a regular STB where I can change channels or whatever and watch tv without having to stop everything every few hours because my HD is full or have it use up half my system resources.
I'm trying to make a setup as if the r5000 just modified the STB so the transport stream just went to the coax output, so I could simply connect it to the myhd.

Is there some way these two can be linked so the myHD can play something directly from the r5000?
I asked Rod Hewitt, the author of TSReader, if he could do the same thing using TSReader and a Twinhan 102G satellite card. His response: MIT (MDP-100, 120 & 130) does not provide a SDK for these devices therefore developers can not write code for them.

oh, I was trying to find a way to do it through hardware instead of software. like using the DVHS but I'm not sure

The tapes I've been using are Fuji's, brand new. Are you saying that bulk erasing *blank* tape makes it record with fewer dropouts?

Thanks,

Joe Clark
With the the JVC tapes I am now using and the Mits recorder. Yes. I had a Panasonic recorder for several years and it never seemed to need this. John

Enrico Ng,
The R5000 does not disable the output from the set top box. It is not presently possible to get an HD RF output from any consumer device to feed a device like the MYHD. John

Enrico Ng,
The R5000 does not disable the output from the set top box. It is not presently possible to get an HD RF output from any consumer device to feed a device like the MYHD. John

oh, are there dvhs recorders with two firewire ports? so I could have an input and an output at the same time? that might work for me since myhd can connect to a dvhs.

I have never used a device that didn't have 2 ports, yes all D-VHS decks have 2 ports

-Gary

oh, then could I connect the r5000 to the dvhs then the dvhs to my computer with the myhd and watch live tv?

would this be an alternative to having a computer continuously recording to disk and viewing the stream with myhd via windows file sharing over ethernet?

oh, then could I connect the r5000 to the dvhs then the dvhs to my computer with the myhd and watch live tv?

No, the R5000 connects via USB, all D-VHS machine uses IEEE1394, a.k.a. Firewire.

No, the R5000 connects via USB, all D-VHS machine uses IEEE1394, a.k.a. Firewire.

sorry I meant through a computer to the dvhs.
from what I read, many people have this setup:

R5000 --usb---> computer #1 ---ethernet----> myhd computer

could I do

R5000 --usb---> computer #1 ---firewire----> DVHS ---firewire---> myhd computer

my goal would be to avoid having to constantly use up hard drive space on "computer #1". also I was guessing that using firewire would use less cpu resources than ethernet but I'm unsure about that.

Enrico that second setup might work, but I would strongly suggest the first to save from having so many devices in the firewire chain

the first setup would work great

-Gary

but doesnt your hard drive fill up pretty quick with the first setup? Its kinda a waste to get a big hard drive just to use as a buffer. I want to beable to watch tv for a couple hours. sometimes I may leave it on for 12 hours.

for the second setup, wouldn't I beable to basically keep it on 24/7 without having to stop it and delete files or whatever? what does having so many devices do? I've never used firewire before.

I tested watching an hdtv show over ethernet yesterday and it uses up between 30-75% of my cpu. I tried two different cards and I think my network cards are fairly good.

If you really want to watch HDTV live, I suggest you find a way to do it with your set-top box, regardless of whether you have an R5000. (perhaps using a Y Pr Pb to RGB transcoder with your monitor) The R5000 is pretty expensive, exotic, and specialized, and not intended for the relatively simple task of just watching HDTV.

well, I wish to get it because I'd like to beable to record the TS to my computer, like with the myhd.
but I dont need to record everything I watch. I spend more time watching TV than recording so it is important that the relatively simple task of watching tv is actually simple. using a RGB transcoder kinda defeats the purpose of having HDTV in the first place. thats the whole reason I want to watch tv via the myhd, otherwise I could just use the preview feature of the r5000.

obviously, the best solution would be if the r5000 modified STB outputed the TS via the coax so it could be connected to the myhd since the myhd can record transport streams. Since this is not possible, I figure one of the above two approaches comes closest to that.

The relatively simple task of watching TV remains simple if you use a set-top box. The RGB transcoder will not make the picture any less HD.

well, I think I'll be getting a modded DTC100 so I'll have to see what kind of outputs come out of that.

but I'm thinking one of the two methods above will probably work best unless I'm forgetting something. I'll have to do some tests on my firewire to see if it uses more cpu resources than my ethernet

well, I think I'll be getting a modded DTC100 so I'll have to see what kind of outputs come out of that.

but I'm thinking one of the two methods above will probably work best unless I'm forgetting something. I'll have to do some tests on my firewire to see if it uses more cpu resources than my ethernet


Both the DTC100 and the dish 6000 have vga outputs that will work with your lcd monitor. The 6000 has component output too.

Based on your comments, it sounds like you need a vga switch for your monitor. I use the MyHd vga pass through to switch between a Dish6000 (w/r5k) and the my hd card. Pressing the "HD" button switches between MyHD and dish6000. It only works if your STB has a VGA output. Here's a simplified version:


Dish 6000=VGA output -> VGAin of MYhd, VGA out of MyHD-> LCD vga in. I use the DVI input on the LCD for the computer. So I can easily switch between Computer stuff and watching HD.

I also use a KVM 4 port switch to do the same thing. Ports 1,2,3 are my XP,Linux, and Mac Mini, respectively. Port 4 is is connected to the VGAout of the myHD card. My dish 6000 is connected to the MyHD VGA pass through input.

It works quite well, YMMV

TW

actually, my lcd has a dvi and vga input so I suppose I could connect it directly from the STB.
but how does hdtv look? does it change to the proper resolution?
how does it compare with viewing it via DVI through the myhd?

I know that if I can see a huge difference between using vga and dvi on my computer for regular stuff. everything is rather fuzzy, not crystal clear. if this is the case for viewing HDTV, then it pretty much defeats the purpose of having hdtv.

Ok, I'll bite. This thing rocks! I have had mine for a month now and I love it!

A bit of history.. I have had a 169time DTC100 AVX-1 JVC30K for over a year and have built up a pretty large collection of DVHS tapes, but have always struggled with that system, and when I started archiving to hard disks instead of DVHS tapes had to find another solution. I was only able to get one out of about 10 recordings transferred to the PC (DVHStool) to play in other decoders. I am using Rokus to play back the .ts files from my video server. The Rokus flake out often on some of the 169time stuff.

The HD-5000 is a gift from above. The interface, while it lacks sparkle, is fairly simple and enables recording in one panel. The PVR is another application/panel and interfaces seamlessly with zap2it. I have two weeks of shows lined up to record. You just go the zap2it url and browse the schedule. Click on the "rec" button of the show you want and it messages the PVR to schedule it. Then you just forget about it... assuming you have enough disk space. ;) There is a 28 show limit to the PVR.. which is lame. I see no technical reason there should be a limit there. I'm sure it will get fixed soon. Also a warning in the interface if you run out of disk space while recording is needed.

Once the .ts file is recorded to disk I use HDTVtoMPEG2 trim it down and splice it into one minute chunks for playback on the Roku. These files are more reliable when played back on the Roku than the 169time versions. It might be nice if the HD-5000 would let you record in chunks, but then I always end up editing the file to get the start and end points correct so that doesn't really matter to me. In fact, it is better to have one file to load into HDTVtoMPEG2.

I use the HD-5000 on my Dell XPS 3.4G Laptop and it runs in the background. I pretty much forget about it while dabbling in Photoshop and assorted other "heavy" applications. Haven't noticed any performance problems with this setup. Occasionally, some kind of glitch causes the shows to be recorded in two files. It is nice that the HD-5000 corrects itself and continues to record to a new file.

It would be nice if the two applications could be rolled into one. Maybe a tab for the DVR and a tab for the PVR schedule. And they need better looking icons... If I were an UI designer I would design some new ones and send them off to nextcom. Hey.. wait! I am a UI designer.. dough! I'll get on that right away... ;)

This is almost a perfect solution. I only wish Roku would get their act together.. their interface gets my vote as "worlds worst digital media player". Their only saving grace is that they are cheap and somewhat open-source and third parties have produced some promising applications. One is almost better off to throw a MyHD in a cheap PC shell and use that. It just costs quite a bit more than a Roku.

The HD-5000 is well worth it and anyone who doesn't think so is welcome to buy my 169time setup that is gathering dust in a box in the garage. I'll let it go cheap. I feel guilty selling that thing to anyone knowing the HD-5000 is out there.

Keith

Dear Keith,

I thought that your dissertation re. the HD-5000 was extremely informative - many thanks.

Since your report was dated Aug 2003, do you have an update - have you changed your mind - any revisions to your system?

Regards,

Stuart

R5000 --usb---> computer #1 ---ethernet----> myhd computer


How fast does "computer #1" need to be?
I have an old Athlon 800Mhz (PC100 ram, ATA66) I'd have to buy a usb2.0 card.

I know the website says I need a P4 1.8ghz, but I dont know if that includes video playback.

The version 2.0 software is now available as an official release. Download from the support area at: www.r5000-hd.com (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)

There are only minor tweaks made to the release versions. They are differentiated mainly by the replacement of many modal alerts & notification dialogs with self-destroying yellow balloons. The firmware version increments to 1.6 due to a change made for development purposes only.

-R

Hello
Although this unit works great most of the time, sometimes Im experiencing no sound on the recorded stream. Has anyone else been experiencing that or does anyone have an idea as to what could be causing the sound not being recorded? So far it has only happened on the SD channels. Could it be a faulty cable for instance?

My unit is RCA DTC-100 on D*.

Thanks

I ran into the same thing when recording sd channels. I'm pretty sure you have the sound, it is just on a different pid than what your playback software is looking for. There have been some repair programs mentioned in this thread to fix our files or what I did was just use zoomplayer to play the files with sound.

ymmv,
Paul

The official cutoff date for purchasing discounted R5000-HD modifications and receivers has been extended to August 10. It has been pointed out (rightfully) that we were late in advertising this special and it did not run for a full month as intended. This will give those of you who missed the July 31 cutoff or need more time to look for a receiver a chance to take advantage of this special. We look forward to serving your needs. Thank you.

-R

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello
Although this unit works great most of the time, sometimes Im experiencing no sound on the recorded stream. Has anyone else been experiencing that or does anyone have an idea as to what could be causing the sound not being recorded? So far it has only happened on the SD channels. Could it be a faulty cable for instance?

My unit is RCA DTC-100 on D*.

Thanks

cybercla,
Please contact us directly. If required we can arrange to have you get us a clip of the problematic recording. Thanks.

Hello again,
just faced another problem this evening while I was trying to record The Ultimate Fighter from Spike. Usually when recording from SD channels, the rate stays around 500-800 KB/s, and never goes above. But tonight while recording from Spike the rate was going up and down and as soon as it was going above 900-1000 KB/s the recording would stop, the SD sign next to Service and Timer buttons would dissapear and the software would give Error 255 and start writing to another stream.

Since the rates on the HD channels fluctuate between 1500 and 5000 KB/s and the software has no problems with those I can only assume this is just a problem with high rates on SD channels.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

...Usually when recording from SD channels, the rate stays around 500-800 KB/s, and never goes above. But tonight while recording from Spike the rate was going up and down and as soon as it was going above 900-1000 KB/s the recording would stop, the SD sign next to Service and Timer buttons would dissapear and the software would give Error 255 and start writing to another stream.

Since the rates on the HD channels fluctuate between 1500 and 5000 KB/s and the software has no problems with those I can only assume this is just a problem with high rates on SD channels.


The SD decision point is set at <1200K and is made after 3 secs streaming. It cannot be changed after that even if the rate temporarily increases (gets reset only after recording is stopped). In your case the restart is most likely caused by some kind of remuxer error. Is your remuxer log enabled and can you supply it for that recording? Thanks.

-R

I just received my modded DTC-100 from r5000 and having a problem recording.

Here is my setup:

DTC-100 (r5000 mod) via USB to Sony VAIO laptop/Sony VAIO laptop via firewire to JVC 40K.

I have the v2.0 software downloaded. I am trying to record straight to tape with no playback or recording to PC.

When the r5000 interface comes up on my laptop I hit record and everything seems to be working fine. The record button lights up on my JVC, there are no error messages on my laptop. The buffer is in the excellent range and there are no failed transfers.

I am recording to an SVHS tape with a hole punched out so that the player recognizes it as a DVHS tape.

When I go to playback the recording there is nothing there. Nothing at all, just a black screen. No sound, no snow, nothing.

Am I missing something really simple? Is there a setting on the JVC that needs to be turned on to recognize the computer via firewire? Does the JVC need to be installed as "new hardware" on the laptop for the laptop to recognize it via firewire? Is the Sony VAIO laptop (model vgn-a150) not capable of passing along the digital stream via firewire?

Sorry for all the questions but I have had my dtc-100/r5000 for a week and I cannot get it to record. I have read and re-read the manuals for the r5000/laptop/JVC and I am ready to go crazy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ray

Is there any way we could set the r5000 to record remotely via internet. I believe I read it somewhere but I could not confirm it.

Chuck

Ray,
I would verify that you can record to a computer file OK to check out the R5000 side of the recording. Does the JVC work recording from with other sources? Make sure the JVC is on the correct input an number like I1 should be displayed on the channel indicator. With XP SP2 I think the DVHS driver install is automatic. Other versions require some help putting in the driver. If the DVHS machine is put into record by the computer you have a driver installed. John

I suppose, if you have remote access to the computer that the R5000 modded receiver is attached to, you can do it, since everything else is controlled by the R5000 software.

ctdish,

Thanks for the info. I think you may have the answer....input I1. I have been reading every r5000 thread i could find and i ran across a recent one where some JVC 40K owners were talking about this input. I will try it as soon as I get home and if it doesn't work I will try to record to a computer file.

thanks

ray

ctdish,

That was it. Thank you a million times over. Also want to give a huge thumbs up to the tech support at nextcom wireless/r5000 for helping me work out all the issues I needed to get started. It really is a well written, straightforward and effective program to archive and time shift your favorite HD programs.

ray

Is there any way we could set the r5000 to record remotely via internet. I believe I read it somewhere but I could not confirm it.

Chuck

Easy to do - just depends on how much you want to open your network to the internet.

As someone stated above, easiest solution would probably be to just run remote desktop.

A very unsafe solution is to run it wide open on the internet.

Safer is to do it via port forwarding behind a router.

The best solution would be to run VPN to a home network and go from there. Many routers have VPN built in, so it would not be that hard to accomplish.

The new version 2.1 software package includes 2 new utilities: "Disk2Tape" and "TSCutter". The 2.1 version DVR now has complete command-line control and certain conflict resolution problems have been addressed with the PVR. Download area> (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)

Disk2Tape is a simple to use utility for transferring disk-based transport stream files to D-VHS Tape. Many of the problems associated with this process have been eliminated by the use of the custom-designed source-packet creation filter incorporated in the R5000-HD DVR*. The stream's PCR PID is automatically sensed but can be overridden by the user. Also of particular interest is the ability to record compressed-mode (no filler packet) files to tape. VERSION 2.1 DVR IS REQUIRED.user manual> (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/utilities/disk2tape_manual.htm)

*Try it out with these transport stream clips (http://www.vasst.com/HDV/FX-1_images-Surfers.htm) from the SONY FX-1 HD Camcorder. They can sometimes be troublesome.

TSCutter is a basic transport stream editing utility that cuts at the closest packet boundary (188 bytes). It does not cut on GOP or audio packet boundaries. To be used only with ISO 13818-1compliant MPEG2 transport stream files. user manual> (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/utilities/tscutter_manual.htm)

Holy ****, Thank you Guys

-Gary

The new version 2.1 software package includes 2 new utilities: "Disk2Tape" and "TSCutter". The 2.1 version DVR now has complete command-line control and certain conflict resolution problems have been addressed with the PVR. Download area> (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)

Disk2Tape is a simple to use utility for transferring disk-based transport stream files to D-VHS Tape. Many of the problems associated with this process have been eliminated by the use of the custom-designed source-packet creation filter incorporated in the R5000-HD DVR*. The stream's PCR PID is automatically sensed but can be overridden by the user. Also of particular interest is the ability to record compressed-mode (no filler packet) files to tape. VERSION 2.1 DVR IS REQUIRED.user manual> (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/utilities/disk2tape_manual.htm)

*Try it out with these transport stream clips (http://www.vasst.com/HDV/FX-1_images-Surfers.htm) from the SONY FX-1 HD Camcorder. They can sometimes be troublesome.

TSCutter is a basic transport stream editing utility that cuts at the closest packet boundary (188 bytes). It does not cut on GOP or audio packet boundaries. To be used only with ISO 13818-1compliant MPEG2 transport stream files. user manual> (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/utilities/tscutter_manual.htm)


Gotta ask. I admit, compared to most on this board I am a complete computer 1d1ot. But this command line capability - would it be possible then to use girder, send message and SageTV to schedule recordings by R5000HD software?

Gotta ask. I admit, compared to most on this board I am a complete computer 1d1ot. But this command line capability - would it be possible then to use girder, send message and SageTV to schedule recordings by R5000HD software?

The command line capability can be used to create many different interfaces. How you accomplish that is up to your imagination. For example, you can create a simple "helper app" or script that listens for commands on a TCP/IP socket. Now you have a way to control the DVR via a network. A web-based system can be easily built with the addition of a cgi script that sends out the shell commands. Try it out from Start->Run. Enter the following:

r5000hd -rec /f c:\My Recordings\My Program.ts /d 120

If the R5000 is properly installed and registered on the system the above should launch the DVR and start a recording to disk that runs for 2 hours.

-R

The command line capability can be used to create many different interfaces. How you accomplish that is up to your imagination. For example, you can create a simple "helper app" or script that listens for commands on a TCP/IP socket. Now you have a way to control the DVR via a network. A web-based system can be easily built with the addition of a cgi script that sends out the shell commands. Try it out from Start->Run. Enter the following:

r5000hd -rec /f c:\My Recordings\My Program.ts /d 120

If the R5000 is properly installed and registered on the system the above should launch the DVR and start a recording to disk that runs for 2 hours.

-R

Hi, I am the end user, programmer , I am not. :confused: Is there any plan to make a nice simple GUI that one can just click and go. A small program to click and convert .ts file into a dvd folder would be nice.

Hi, I am the end user, programmer , I am not. :confused: Is there any plan to make a nice simple GUI that one can just click and go. A small program to click and convert .ts file into a dvd folder would be nice.

Yeah. Me neither. I am hoping that some of the knowledgeable one use this little tool to develop some great apps for we, the helpless. :D

Thanks to ctdish I was able to get everything running fine. And I was able to record some Discovery HD, Football and Bladerunner yesterday. However all I seem to get now when I go to record to DVHS is failed transfers. I can't record to pc either, just failed transfers. There doesn't seem to be any data being taken up by the USB cable. I have the newest software installed (actually installed it before I recorded BladeRunner), the r5000 is able to control my stb (dtc-100) and VCR (JVC 40K) so the connections seem to be functional. It's just that no data is being picked up from Directv.

Any else have this problem with continuous failed transfers? Any thoughts or solutions?

I sent a toshiba 3000 to nextcom for a modification and now the box is not functioning properly. The 110 degree satellite is weak. no more than 49 and I can't get 70,71,73. Spoke to D* and they suggested that the box is the problem. Any experience or ideas Flabingo

Greywolf would be the expert on this - and I doubt he reads this thread - but I do not believe that Nextcom could do anything to cause a problem with the 110 Satellite in your STB.

The 110 Satellite is SAT C. It is in reality transponder 28-30-32 and a special lnb in your dish takes these transponders and puts them in line with your SATB 119 lnb on 8-10-12.

Your STB just sees the 2 - SAT A at 110 and SAT B at 119.

As you indicate that it is the 110 SAT C signals that are weak, something happened on your roof that just happened at the same time your STB was modified.

That D* suggest the box was the problem is really comical. A Typical CSR.

I would call back and tell them your SAT C is malfunctioning and have them set up a service call for someone to check the dish, alignement, lnbs and multiswitch.

I had my installer come out and realign the dish and all problems disappeared. I did get help from Nextcom which was welcome after dealing with 169time(Richard) in the past. I also have the impression that my Roku unit may now work for playback on my RPTV without using a transcoder that was recommended by Digital Connections that sold me the MYHD unit. I have an network connection from my computer to the Roku. I live in a golf community in Port St. Lucie Florida and have nobody locally to be very helpful Any ideas would be welcome David

I've been looking at the R5000 for a while, but I decided to hold off until D* figured out their transition to MPEG4. Now that they have stated that they will start sending only MPEG4 HD and not MPEG2 to the 12 markets they are rolling it out in what are the chances we'll see one of their new MPEG4 HD receivers R5000 capable?

I tried to put the link to this info in but since this is my first post their system wouldn't let me.
Washington D.C. (September 6, 2005) -- DIRECTV revealed tonight that it will offer a free system upgrade for High-Definition TV owners so they can get local high-def channels later this year.

DIRECTV is expected to begin offering local HD in 12 markets by year's end. However, the channels will only be available on new DIRECTV MPEG-4 receivers and dishes, which have yet to go on sale.
This seems to blow the side by side MPEG2 and MPEG4 transmission theory. Obviously I know work can't begin on it yet since they haven't released the reciever yet, but I'd just like to know how long it would take before it's in the works.

You are reading something into that release that isnt there.

There will be side by side versions of CURRENT HDTV Programming in MPEG2 now and for the forseeable future until most of the country has the new MPEG4 STB.

You CANNOT get the local LIL for markets in MPEG2 - nor was it ever stated you would.

This has been known for over a year.

There is a page on the Nextcomwireless site that tells of the MPEG4 info - and quite frankly - as they do not have a STB, they have no idea if it can ever be modified.

But the current D* units should work for at least a year now if not longer. You just will not be able to get any new HD Programming they add - which has been known for over a year.

It's anybody's guess when or if we'll see an R5000-type mod for an MPEG-4 set-top box. There is no MPEG-4 box out yet for anyone to look at.

First-generation boxes tend to have less integration, making it more likely that such a modification is possible. But manufacturers are more aware of copy protection than ever, and they could conceivably thwart such a mod by using certain kinds of designs.

I've been looking at the R5000 for a while, but I decided to hold off until D* figured out their transition to MPEG4. Now that they have stated that they will start sending only MPEG4 HD and not MPEG2 to the 12 markets they are rolling it out in what are the chances we'll see one of their new MPEG4 HD receivers R5000 capable?

I tried to put the link to this info in but since this is my first post their system wouldn't let me.

This seems to blow the side by side MPEG2 and MPEG4 transmission theory. Obviously I know work can't begin on it yet since they haven't released the reciever yet, but I'd just like to know how long it would take before it's in the works.

The real question is: can YOU receive HD locals OTA? D* mpeg-4 roll out is targeted at providing HD LOCALS to D* customers that cannot currently receive them OTA. The push right now is toward HD locals, not new content. If can currently receive your HD locals, then you won't need a mpeg-4 capable box for a long time.

-Techtom

If you have a good stable OTA signal for HDTV, it will look better than the D* converted MPEG4 anyway as you will loose some small amount of quality in the conversion process from MPEG2 to MPEG4.

In relation to HDTV MPEG2 streams such as HBO-HD and SHO-HD it could theoritically look as good - if not better - depending on how they do it.

But in instances where they are simply converting the OTA MPEG2 signal from a local station, there is NO WAY the picture will look as good.

Thus, it will be better to pick up the local OTA HDTV directly (meaning non-directv) if possible.

There lies the problem. I'm about 60 miles north of the Empire State Building in NY, where the signals are sent from. In between there are a few mountains. I highly doubth that I will be able to get any decent OTA reception. Being in NY, I am also in one of their 12 initial areas for deployment of Local HD MPEG4 from DTV.

I am going to try OTA, but that still wouldn't get me YES-HD (yankee games).

Well the answer is very simple.

The 4 NYC OTA (ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC) are used for East Coast DNS. They will probably in the last wave to cease MPEG2 broadcasting. If you are in the NYC DMA, you should get these now and continue to get them in the future until they cease.

If you are not in the NYC DMA, you would not get these when they start MPEG4 HD LIL anyway.

Mpeg4 is gonna suck :(
conversion always reduces quality

-Gary

Don't blame the format. Conversion can be done with imperceptible loss. The real issue is that DIRECTV will make a compression trade-off that we wouldn't.

If you have a high bandwidth source that limit in MPEG2, then you can convert that high bandwidth source to MPEG4 and see less loss than you would would with the downresolution done to the MPEG2 stream.

For example, if you take a 15Mbps soiurce and bring it down to 10Mbps, clearly you can convert the 15Mbps source to MPEG4 and give it enough bandwidth to have less tradeoff than what you are loosing now.

Clearly you can't take a 15Mpbs source and broadcast it at 15Mbps in MPEG2 now and convert it hoping to see no impact - but except for HDNET Movies, everything else is currently limited anyway.

It comes down to the type conversion and bandwidth they will give the MPEG4 stream.

If anyone is using the R5000HD and MCE, they might interested in the software at http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152
the latest beta software there supports the R5000HD and integrates it into MCE. It uses the R5000HD as a STB but does channel change via USB, records via USB, converts the .ts files to .dvr-ms, adds the MCE metadata and replaces the MCE recording with the USB recording, including HD recording if the USB recording is HD. You can also config a channel mapping to map MCE channels to R5000HD OTA channels so you can use those channels within MCE.

If anyone is using the R5000HD and MCE, they might interested in the software at http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152
the latest beta software there supports the R5000HD and integrates it into MCE. It uses the R5000HD as a STB but does channel change via USB, records via USB, converts the .ts files to .dvr-ms, adds the MCE metadata and replaces the MCE recording with the USB recording, including HD recording if the USB recording is HD. You can also config a channel mapping to map MCE channels to R5000HD OTA channels so you can use those channels within MCE.

Does it record in .ts or ms-dvr? I personally don't care for ms-dvr. I do have MCE 2005, it would be nice if I could record from EPG on MCE without zap2it which I find to be very slooooow.

His plugin uses the r5000HD app (version 2.1) to record to .ts. It then converts to .dvr-ms in the background, but doesn't delete the .ts. So yes, it records to .ts. This is far and away the best guide/recording solution for the r5000HD in my opinion.

His plugin uses the r5000HD app (version 2.1) to record to .ts. It then converts to .dvr-ms in the background, but doesn't delete the .ts. So yes, it records to .ts. This is far and away the best guide/recording solution for the r5000HD in my opinion.
As Kevin says, it uses the R5000HD to talk to the STB for channel change and recording. I convert the .ts to .dvr-ms so I can put the metadata somewhere so MCE acts as normal but I dont delete the .ts files. Its uses the MCE guide etc. to setup recordings, the .dvr-ms files show up in the normal MCE listing but you can get the .ts to show up in MCEs my videos without details about the show.

If anyone is using the R5000HD and MCE, they might interested in the software at http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152


Can you "watch live tv" through the r5000hd?

Also, can you start watching a show while it is still recording? Or do you have to wait until the post-process is done?

Can you "watch live tv" through the r5000hd?

Also, can you start watching a show while it is still recording? Or do you have to wait until the post-process is done?
Livetv is something I am still working on. You can watch the recording while it is still watching though. There is a limitation at the moment that if you are still watching the recording 1/2 hour after the show finishes, I will give up waiting to write the metadata to the recording. Its on my list of things to do to check if the file I want to write metadata to is being played and delay the metadata write until the play has stopped but I just wait a fixed time currently.

The beta version release supporting both HD and SD capture from the Motorola HDD-200 decoder has been posted in the download area of the support page. (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)

This version supports recording both HD and SD streams as presented from C-Band (4DTV) and StarChoice receivers that are compatible with the HDD-200 external decoder. Select the new service type "HDD-200 (New HD & SD - All sources)" as opposed to older modifications "(First generation, HD only)". Any hardware modification performed after August 15, 2005 will require the use of the "new" setting.

There is no reason for other users to migrate to this beta. It only applies to modifications done to HDD-200 decoders.

-R

Under what circumstances are SD streams presented to the HDD-200? It was my understanding that the set-top boxes would only send a stream to the HDD-200 when the set-top itself is unable to decode the stream. (i.e. HD streams only)

Does this release support the HDD-200 with a DCT-2000?

Blazer,
The SD streams are presented to the HDD200 whenever the 4DTV receiver can receive a digital HD or SD program. John

But the HDD-200 has a switch inside to select either the HD decoder or the SD upconverter, right? What activates that switch? I thought you'd see the HD decoder's output whenever a digital signal is sent to the HDD-200 - and the receiver doesn't send any signal to the HDD-200 for SD channels. Am I wrong?

Just installed it and it does indeed work great. Works so well I got a second unit so I can record movies from my big dish, and network SD/HD from starchoice. Really appreciate the continuing development and support from Nextcom. They have been great and the product has been much better than I ever expected.--Darin

But the HDD-200 has a switch inside to select either the HD decoder or the SD upconverter, right? What activates that switch? I thought you'd see the HD decoder's output whenever a digital signal is sent to the HDD-200 - and the receiver doesn't send any signal to the HDD-200 for SD channels. Am I wrong?

Blazer,
You are correct in your observation that the HDD200 switches between HD and SD upconverting. I would guess that it can identify an HD signal and make the switch. However, the fact that the R5000 can now record any 4DTV digital signal indicates that the 4DTV receiver sends both SD and HD signals. John

I have an extra STB with R5000 for D*. Please PM me if you would like to get one.
Thanks.

Hi folks,

I'm an Nextcomm customer from about a year ago, the DTC-100 they modified has been working fine.

I just received their modified 6000, and I can't get any audio witht my recordings.

I tried the usual Myhd player and the VLC media player. I've checked all the settings in the 6000 and the R5000. [and in Myhd]

All of the DTC-100 recordings still playback okay with sound.

I decided tp uninstall the r5000 program and drivers, and then download and [clean] install the newest version of R5000.
Still no go...

No sound at all.

Something leftover in the registry from the DTC-100 installation?

Any ideas??? Thanks.

Solfan,

If you are recording SD channels on E* that are not using AC3 audio, you cannot play them back using SPDIF with the MyHD card. If you are recording HD or SD channels with AC3, the MyHD card should work with SPDIF out. Other then that, I am out of ideas.

I have the same problem, problem solved as above, if you have a daughter card, if you connected via digital out from daughter card they are either optical or coaxial NOT via soundcard, make sure that you connect the audiocable from MyHD to your soundcard, otherwise you have to listen to your audio from your amp or wherever you hook up your digital out to. Might be a good idea to upload a small clip to nextcom and let them analyse the stream make sure that everything is all there.

Solfan,
If you set up the computer so that you can hear wav files or internet clips, I would think Videolan should work and you would get sound. Also most HD recordings should playback throught the MYHD card with sound since they have an AC-3 sound track. John

Thanks for the replies!

I am recording HD-only programs.

The muxer log has LOTS of error notices for these bad recordings. And, the picture "tiles" once in a while.

It took me some time to perfect my DTC-100 configuration, so I guess this will too. :D

David

David,
If I were you I would definitely contact the R5000 people, they have always been very helpful. The files from the HD Dish recordings should be just like the ones from the DTC100. Do you ever hear any sound from the Dish recordings? Do you get any indication of failed transfers during a recording? If you have access to TSreader, what does it give for the data rate for the sound PID? It almost sounds like a hardware problem in the R5000 modification. John

Nope, it doesn't make a peep.

Thanks, I'll email R5000 after I try TSreader, if he doesn't pop in here before then.

In the meantime, here are some recent remux logs:

APESDELT: 11615 AT: 00:00:36.3
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1650 != ACT 1847.
APESDELT: 2906 AT: 00:00:36.3
APESDELTWARN: 00:00:36.3: Audio pts 2585841744, next_pts 2304393691, delta=-281448053, pcr 2585835977, forcing send...
Using APTS 1292918136
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1466 != ACT 1643.
APESDELTWARN: 00:00:36.3: Audio pts 2304393691, next_pts 2585847478, delta=281453787, pcr 2585839188, forcing send...
Using APTS 1292919589
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1650 != ACT 1829.
APESDELTWARN: 00:00:36.3: Audio pts 2585847478, next_pts 2585838065, delta=-9413, pcr 2585842091, forcing send...
Using APTS 1292921042
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1466 != ACT 1635.
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1466 != ACT 1643.
APESDELTWARN: 00:00:36.3: Audio pts 2585838077, next_pts 2304393898, delta=-281444179, pcr 2585845065, forcing send...
Using APTS 1292916302
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1650 != ACT 6969.
APESDELT: 1218 AT: 00:00:36.3
APESDELTWARN: 00:00:36.3: Audio pts 2304393898, next_pts 2585893557, delta=281499659, pcr 2585845135, forcing send...
Using APTS 1292916308
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1650 != ACT 17243.
WARN: 00:00:36.3, APESLEN 1650 != ACT 12144.



And recording logs:

C:\HDTV Recordings\Look Who's Talking Too.ts size: 175MB, length: 0h1m38s, failures: 0 Finished: 10/23/05 08:58:01
Stream possibly has missing data or errors

C:\HDTV Recordings\The Pelican Brief.ts size: 130MB, length: 0h0m53s, failures: 0 Finished: 10/23/05 09:17:25
Stream possibly has missing data or errors

C:\HDTV Recordings\[datetime].ts size: 86MB, length: 0h0m35s, failures: 0 Finished: 10/23/05 09:45:03
Stream possibly has missing data or errors

C:\HDTV Recordings\[datetime].ts size: 100MB, length: 0h0m42s, failures: 0 Finished: 10/23/05 09:48:33
Stream possibly has missing data or errors

C:\HDTV Recordings\October.23.2005_09.49.48AM.ts size: 117MB, length: 0h0m48s, failures: 0 Finished: 10/23/05 09:50:36
Stream possibly has missing data or errors

C:\HDTV Recordings\October.23.2005_10.11.01AM.ts size: 89MB, length: 0h0m37s, failures: 0 Finished: 10/23/05 10:11:39
Stream possibly has missing data or errors

David

Does this still work only with Windows?

Aka does this work with MythTV yet?

Help! We have been unable to get an R5000-HD to work _AT ALL_ in our HTPC system since we received the unit over a month ago. We have exchanged email back and forth between us and customer support at Nextcom many times. Basically, they have been unable or unwilling to specify a combination of USB controller and drivers that is known to work.

Is there any successful user of the R5000-HD that can specify the manufacturer and model number of a known-good USB controller and the exact names and revision numbers of all the associated drivers?

Is there any successful user who is using the R5000-HD with an Asus A8V Deluxe motherboard and an Athlon 64 3800 running Windows 2000? Better yet, is there anyone who has been able to use the motherboard USB controller as well?


We have tried three different USB controllers and followed all of the suggestions from Nextcom customer support without success.

The embedded USB controller on the Asus A8V Deluxe motherboard will only receive 6 or 7 seconds before the HDVR program reports an error and restarts the recording. Moreover, the files that are produced are garbage when played.

We disabled the embedded controller and installed a Belkin F5U220 PCI USB controller, which uses an NEC chip. Just to make sure, we were able to change the channel on the satellite receiver using the HDVR program. However, as soon as we pressed the record button, we got the Windows "blue screen of death". The error message was "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL in ousbehci.sys". This was with the latest drivers for the Belkin board downloaded from their website.

We next purchased and installed a Compaq UC-160 (Rev 1.2) USB controller card. This card also uses an NEC chip as per the recommendation of customer support. We got the same "blue screen of death" results as with the Belkin controller.

The following is a list of things that we have already checked:
-We are only recording HD content.
-Our HTPC machine has 2 Gigabytes of RAM.
-There are no USB hubs or external USB drives connected to the USB controller.
-The R5000-HD is set for Dish Network, which is the proper service.
-The bitrate is set to "Constant 19.392Mb/s".
-The USB controllers are 2.0.
-We replaced the supplied USB cable with a "2.0" one.
-We have used the PCI slot closest to the AGP slot.
-We have downloaded and tried the latest drivers from both the manufacturers and Microsoft.
-We are using the latest 1.5a drivers from Nextcom.


I owned that motherboard. It gave me fits until I found some RAM that it agreed with.... it would work fine and seem to be stable for a week, then I'd start getting weird errors. It took a few reformats before I figured it out.

The RAM I ended up using was *cheaper* and had a lower CAS rating than the RAM I had been using. The motherboard offered me absolutely no room for overclocking as the memory was so sensitive... I like to play with my hardware and the A8V is one of the most boring motherboards I've ever owned. It's been rock solid since I changed my RAM, but there is no room for deviation.

Save yourself some time and *please* make sure your RAM is compatible. Don't make the mistake that I did and assume that since you have high-end expensive/fast memory that it isn't a problem. At the very least, given your error messages, Google the program Prime95 or some other memory tester and test your memory for 6+ hours.

Good luck!!



---------------- EDIT --------------------
I thought I was on the last page of this thread when I replied... oops!! The original post was old. Not gonna search to see whether or not it was resolved.

David,
If I were you I would definitely contact the R5000 people, they have always been very helpful. The files from the HD Dish recordings should be just like the ones from the DTC100. Do you ever hear any sound from the Dish recordings? Do you get any indication of failed transfers during a recording? If you have access to TSreader, what does it give for the data rate for the sound PID? It almost sounds like a hardware problem in the R5000 modification. John

I received the 6000 back from R5000 a few days ago, all fixed, they said an unusual/unexplained hardware problem. They replaced the board, all seems okay now. Thanks John!

I have three toshiba 3000 boxes. One modified by 169, one modified by nextcom and the other is not modified. I do not use the 169 box to record, but the signal strength of the box modified by nextcom has a week 110 signal which is the one I use to record, since it has showtime and hbo. I have switched the boxes from one location to another and the signal strength follows the box. I tightened the connections outside and inside but the help was minimal. I am open to any suggestions. I live 60 miles from West Palm beach and do not have any ability for OTA. Direct tv said that we are down the list in terms of access to local HDTV. I have the impression that the mpeg 2 will be available in this area for a while.

I went outside to check my signal problem and found that by covering my 119 lnb with tape I was able to increase my signal strength of the 110 signal which is the HD programing. D* said that my "signal combiner" may be a problem. This is a solution if I lived alone. But my one box is still lower than the others. Does anyone know how to refurbish the box, since it is the one with the nextcom mod.

I went outside to check my signal problem and found that by covering my 119 lnb with tape I was able to increase my signal strength of the 110 signal which is the HD programing. D* said that my "signal combiner" may be a problem. This is a solution if I lived alone. But my one box is still lower than the others. Does anyone know how to refurbish the box, since it is the one with the nextcom mod.

It's interesting you mentioned covering the 119 lnb, because just the other day I was trying to tweak my 110 signal, and in the process I inadvertently covered the 119 lnb and noticed the signal increase. That lead me to think my internal switch was bad, so I went out and bought a new one. Result was that there was no signal improvement on 110.

I've since been in contact with the folks at Nextcom and they've confirmed that there have been known tuner problems with the Hughes receivers. I believe Toshiba and Mitsubishi are also Hughes receivers. They also told me that they've seen that on these receivers that the 110 signal is lower than on other brand receivers (I'm guessing as compared with the DTC100) but that solid signal lock was still attainable. However the E86s have been known to develop tuner problems, nevertheless.

Bottom line - I'm getting a new STB and having my board transferred to the new STB.

Ron
Thanks for your response. It was very helpful and I appreciate it. I bought three toshiba boxes and one is very good, one is OK and this one is weak.. But unfortunately the one with the nextcom unit is the weak one. Would it be possible to have a local company switch the unit from the weak box to the good box that has the 169 device, that I do not use? Do you think that there is any merit to the D* idea that the "signal combiner" is a problem? I have been recording all the Curb your Enthusiam programs and I can get through this week and probably do what you suggested, get another box. I play back in MyHD without any problem, but I recently tried the Divx compression and the playback was fine except the audio did not match the video. But the space savings was significant. An hour of HD was only 750 MBs Thanks again David

Ron
Thanks for your response. It was very helpful and I appreciate it. I bought three toshiba boxes and one is very good, one is OK and this one is weak.. But unfortunately the one with the nextcom unit is the weak one. Would it be possible to have a local company switch the unit from the weak box to the good box that has the 169 device, that I do not use? Do you think that there is any merit to the D* idea that the "signal combiner" is a problem? I have been recording all the Curb your Enthusiam programs and I can get through this week and probably do what you suggested, get another box. I play back in MyHD without any problem, but I recently tried the Divx compression and the playback was fine except the audio did not match the video. But the space savings was significant. An hour of HD was only 750 MBs Thanks again David

David:
Glad my response shed some light on your problems. I know of no local company capable of moving the R5000 card from one receiver to another, nor would I recommend it. What I would recommend is that you contact the Nextcom folks and they do the switch for you. In fact, if you look in their FAQs, they say that they can and will move the card from a defective STB to a replacement one. In fact my defective STB will be shipped to them tomorrow and I'll be purchasing my replacement one from them as well.

As for the D* theory of the signal combiner, I believe I proved it's not the problem by replacing it with a brand new one and still having terrible signal readings on my E86 STB while my HD Tivo continued with excellent readings. Nextcom did say that the Hughes STBs generally have low readings on 110, however they should be strong enough to hold the signal for recording purposes. However a defective tuner is another problem.

Incidentally, I've encoded all my transport files to XVID using Auto Gordian Knot, and I'm getting about 3:1 compression after stripping null packets with HDTVtoMPEG2, and it's difficult to see any picture quality difference between the original transport streams and the encoded version and I have perfect sync of the 5.1 audio.

Ron,
Nextcom confirmed what you said and also announced that they are going to offer a 169 trade-in program in the very near future. I want to hear what that will be. I purchased an avelinksplayer 2 and hope to have it operating in the next two weeks. I am not sure why I have the sync problem at this time. I normally only record HD programs on the nextcom unit HBO never looked better now that my signal is in the 90s. I am trying to determine what I am giving up by not having the 119 satellite. I moved from the woods on Pennsylvania and have carried my east coast feed on the HD network channels wthout needing a local waiver. I see that I have lost both NBC, ABC and FOX. Until two months ago I also had the west coast HD feeds. I was in Hog heaven during college football season.
Would it be possible to purchase a unit for the west coast feed and move it to Florida? The more time I spend on this hobby I realize the wisdom of the expression.- "The pendulum swings to stupid" David

David.:

Glad you were able to confirm from Nextcom about the Hughes tuner issue.

So you saying that you covered up the 119 lnb in order to boost the 110 signal? I don't know offhand what HD is on 119. I thought some of the networks are there, but really not sure. My STB is packed up, so I can't check.

I also use the Linkplayer2 as my soul playback device for transport streams and encodings. Works great off my server where everything is stored. They still need to make some improvements for FF and REW, but they are on the right track.

So are you going to do anything in the near term about getting your R5000 board into a better working STB? Or are you just going to get by with the 119 LNB covered up. It seems odd that it would improve the 110 signal by covering the 119 lnb. Must be in the design of the internal multiswitch, as my replacement of the dish and lnb the other day improved nothing.

Good luck.

Ron, I am watching the game on 73-ESPN and the picture is much better than normal. I checked the reception at 98. I was thinking of getting another dish and have a switch. My problem is that all my receivers are Hughes. But when my wife returns I can have her confirm that the picture is better. I am probably not objective. Today I used my cell phone at the TV and kept moving the dish outside until I covered up 119 by accident. The change was unbelievable. I had the sound at full level and it went to 97 from 54. I gave my linkplayer to my computer friend this weekend for his insight. He was the one who has been following the technology waiting for the HD capability. He does what you are doing with his DVDs. I want to give my daughter a player with a hard drive filled with DVD's and some HD programs for Christmas. But I bought them a HD receiver that they never used and am concerned that it may end up being not used. I appreciate your help. David

You shouldn't need any help evaluating the reception quality. Reception problems for digital signals are very easy to spot: broken picture, frozen frames, audio dropouts. If you are seeing more subtle picture quality problems, they probably have nothing to do with your reception.

Ron, I am sure that the picture quality and sound on the digital channels are better. I have not figured out how to modify the dish setup to take advantage of "our discovery" David

Today I tweaked the metal tape on the 119 lnb and was able to obtain good numbers for all sats on all three units. The lowest being 70. I can increase the number if I spent more time, but I proved to myself that I don't need a new box. Now I recorded a HBO program last night and the file size was 5.6 GB. I converted this file to a divx file and played it and it was fine in terms of sync etc. The file I played back on the MYHD was the 5.6 but the file size in divx was only 499 MBs. It seems that I can transfer my ts files to divx and store it with much less space. I am surprised but I don't know enough to understand if I am right. David

Owners of a 169time modified receiver can now upgrade (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm#Upgrade) to the Nextcom R5000-HD for the low price of only $375.00! Upgrade your HD recording system now to get:


Full PVR functionality
SD recording capability on all services
Ease of setup and use
Highest quality Disk or Tape based captures
Improved disk to D-VHS transfers


Terms and Conditions: Any 169time hardware becomes the property of Nextcom, LLC and will not be returned. This applies only to hardware actually installed in the STB receiver and not to any other system components (e.g. AVX-1 PC, etc). To be eligible, the receiver must be a model that Nextcom currently offers the R5000-HD modification for (model list (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/products.htm#Compatibility)), and it must have the 169time modification installed in it. This offer subject to termination without notice.

you 169time guys should jump all over this in a second, the difference between these 2 systems is no laughing matter

totally glitch filled streams with zero support

VS

perfect captures(exactly what the provider sends) and support one from of the best bunch of guys that has ever exsisted

-Gary

I am having troule with the MCE solution that Timmoore created. I love the idea of controlling the R5000HD with MCE. I am able to get the ts file recording via the mytray app but then mytray crashes when the show stops recording. Can you prevent the show from being converted or is there a way to have the show convert successfully and I am missing the boat? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Owners of a 169time modified receiver can now upgrade (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm#Upgrade) to the Nextcom R5000-HD for the low price of only $375.00! Upgrade your HD recording system now to get:


Full PVR functionality
SD recording capability on all services
Ease of setup and use
Highest quality Disk or Tape based captures
Improved disk to D-VHS transfers


Terms and Conditions: Any 169time hardware becomes the property of Nextcom, LLC and will not be returned. This applies only to hardware actually installed in the STB receiver and not to any other system components (e.g. AVX-1 PC, etc). To be eligible, the receiver must be a model that Nextcom currently offers the R5000-HD modification for (model list (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/products.htm#Compatibility)), and it must have the 169time modification installed in it. This offer subject to termination without notice.

So it is cheaper to send a unit that already has a 169time modification for the R500-HD modification than to send a compatable unit without the 169time modification?

So it is cheaper to send a unit that already has a 169time modification for the R500-HD modification than to send a compatable unit without the 169time modification?

Per Nextcom's website, it's $650 if you send them your STB or $375 if you upgrade your 169time modded STB.

Hi there,

I haven't made much posts since I got my BELL 6000 modded to R5000-HD. Had an Intel 2.4C w/ATI Radeon 9800XT and was very happy. I've done numerous recordings with no problem at all.

Well, just yesterday, I upgraded to an AMD Opteron 165 dual core CPU, which just flies in comparison to my Intel, however I am encountering recording problems in the way of glitches and a jittery recorded picture. Funny thing is that there are "no failed transfers" showing.

David from Nextcom: if you come across this post, could you advise me as to what to try. Is the R5000-HD totally compatible with the new AMD dual core cpu's?

I've tried all the different Software/Driver versions from 1.7 to 2.2 and I still get the same resulting recordings.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated :)

How do you paly back the files. Can you move a new recording to the old computer and verify that the glitches and jitter are actually in the file? If so you might try a different USB card. Is the one from the old computer removable? John

Hi there,

I haven't made much posts since I got my BELL 6000 modded to R5000-HD. Had an Intel 2.4C w/ATI Radeon 9800XT and was very happy. I've done numerous recordings with no problem at all.

Well, just yesterday, I upgraded to an AMD Opteron 165 dual core CPU, which just flies in comparison to my Intel, however I am encountering recording problems in the way of glitches and a jittery recorded picture. Funny thing is that there are "no failed transfers" showing.

David from Nextcom: if you come across this post, could you advise me as to what to try. Is the R5000-HD totally compatible with the new AMD dual core cpu's?

I've tried all the different Software/Driver versions from 1.7 to 2.2 and I still get the same resulting recordings.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated :)

What does your remuxer log show?

Yep we need to see remuxer logs

-Gary

Version 2.2d DVR now available. download (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support_download.htm)

Support for most Motorola Set Top Boxes: DTC2000 series Digital Cable, StarChoice DSR series, 4DTV (905, 920, 922) receivers. A newly developed hardware modification is required for these boxes. Full PVR capability is supported along with both HD and SD capture.


SD capture now supported via the HDD-200 decoder. For hardware modifications done after 8/15/2005.


External MPEG2 decoder. D-VHS deck can be configured as an external decoder for high-quality playback using the Disk2Tape utility or the R5000's built-in media Player. Real-time preview can also be sent to external decoder.


STB Power down option. STB can be programmed to power-down after a PVR initiated recording. This is useful for receivers that require powering down to start their software upgrade routines.


About Cable mods: (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/cableinfo.htm) Only Motorola Digital cable is supported and only non-5C (no Firewire port) boxes will be modified. Most all DTC2000 series STBs and certain early model HD boxes without the Firewire port installed qualify. The DTC2000 series SD boxes are designed to deliver HD to an external decoder (HDD-200). The modification is performed on the cable box itself and the high-speed port does not have to be activated. To record a high-def channel, it only has to be authorized on the box. Even though suscribed to, certain HD tier channels may not be authorized on an SD box unless it is specificaly authorized to be used with the external decoder. Check with your cable provider to see if it possible to have these "HD only" channels authorized.

Leased Boxes: Just about all cable boxes are leased by the customer through their cable provider. You may or may not be able to convince them to activate customer owned equipment (recent laws may change this). When installed in a DTC2000, the R5000-HD modification is performed in a manner which allows it to be removed without a trace (no holes made in the chassis). There is no extra fee for removing the modification before turning in a leased box, and it is highly recommended you do so.

StarChoice and 4DTV (905, 920, 922) receivers can now be modified directly (do not require the use of the HDD-200 external decoder). 5C-enabled boxes (Firewire port) will not be accepted.

Version 2.1c PVR:
Can now edit old events or events in progress to create a new event. Opportunity to fix a conflicting event rather than completely re-entering it.


Fixes a unique conflict resolution problem for weekly events (overlapping time, different days).


Enables sub-channel for Dish OTA (to match their recent software update). Sub-channel and satellite selection boxes enabled to properly match requirements of new services.


Recovery file added. Working changes saved to a safety file, "temp.pvr". The "default.pvr" file is updated upon exit. Events can usually be recovered from the "temp.pvr" file in the event of a system crash, etc.

Introductory Price Special: Motorola STBs receive an additional $100 off the current pricing! See sales page (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm) for details.

Status: Release versions. There are no betas at this time. Upgrading is recommended for all users.

-R

Hey guys,

May be slightly off topics but I could not resist.
I converted many .ts files into mpeg2.
My son stood out in the cold and got his xbox360, he came home from school and we satrted messing around with it.
I got my MCE2005 hook up to his xbox360, amazing , it played the mpeg2 , streaming from my MCE 2005 w/o any hiccup, now I just wish that the xbox360 would just play straight ,ts files.

would the compatible cable boxes include the DCT5000 series boxes? they appear to have USB ports but not firewire.

would the compatible cable boxes include the DCT5000 series boxes? they appear to have USB ports but not firewire.

The 1394 port is supposedly optional in the DCT5000 series. If the particular model does not have the port installed then it would be eligible for modification.

-R

yeah motorola's documentation shows an empty hole in the back panel. in that case it would be ok?

or does mention of firewire on the back panel suggest that the port is there but not active, and automatically disqualify a box?

What does your remuxer log show?
Thanks for the reply. I ended up returning the motherboard and getting a DFI LanParty nF4 Ultra-D motherboard. It is awesome and the glitches and jitters are gone :)

Do NOT buy an ASRock motherboard!

ASrock, chaintech, jetway, ECS, they're all off the same assembly line, and all associated with PCChips, who have quite a reputation for bad quality motherboards ;).

For those of you who are interested in PQ comparisons between identical MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 material, a few sample streams, as captured by the R5000-HD, are available here (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/samples.htm#MPEG-4%20Comparison) (see "MPEG-4 Comparison").


The captures are from E* and only SD is available at this point but we've made available a sample MPEG-4 stream along with some MPEG-2 streams of identical material for comparison purposes. The MPEG-4 stream rate is 1.9Mb/s and the MPEG-2 material clocks in at 2.5Mb/s. Both were captured using the R5000-HD at different times and the MPEG-4 stream is an actual capture, NOT transcoded MPEG-2 material. Our first impression is that MPEG-4 does noticably worse with motion. Take a look at the woman's soccer promo or the fight promo especially (you'll have to play each MPEG-2 stream to duplicate the material shown in the MPEG-4 clip).

To play the MPEG-4 clip you'll need the Elecard MPEG Player (http://www.elecard.com/products/product.php?product_id=144). Make sure to dowload both the Player and the "AVC Plugin". You can buy or just test drive them.

-R

R5000,

Have you successfully captured mpeg4 stream from Dish Network? If so, from which receiver? I have a 169time unit and would convert over to your system in a heartbeat if this was true.

R5000,

Have you successfully captured mpeg4 stream from Dish Network? If so, from which receiver? I have a 169time unit and would convert over to your system in a heartbeat if this was true.

You might want to checkout this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6614773&&#post6614773) post.

-Techtom

Guys

Has anyone ever got the:

"Couldn't Parse File!" error message when opening events in the online guide for the PVR??

2 days ago this has started and I have did everything short of a entire XP reinstall

when opening events in the zap2it guide I get this error message in the PVR

this is pissing me off as I am missing events that I want to add to the PVR

-Gary

I started getting the "Couldn't Parse File!" error message last night. I thought that this might be a temporary condition, but if it continues, then we should get an explanation.

I've been getting the "couldn't parse file" message too. It's still happening.

Mark

I see, so it's a overall problem, I thought that might be the case

glad to see it's not my system only

I didn't update to the newest PVR release until after this started happening(I tried updating to sovle this issue), so that is not the issue

-Gary

Guys

Has anyone ever got the:

"Couldn't Parse File!" error message when opening events in the online guide for the PVR??

2 days ago this has started and I have did everything short of a entire XP reinstall

when opening events in the zap2it guide I get this error message in the PVR

this is pissing me off as I am missing events that I want to add to the PVR

-Gary


Apparently Zap2it is producing empty TVPI files. Instead of opening the file direct your browser to save it. You'll find the file is 0 bytes and opening in a text editor shows a blank page. It looks to be a problem on their side and until its fixed there's little that can be done except to program events manually.

-R

Sum Bitch!! :( :(

-Gary

I say it's time to consider titantv, zap2it is just too slow, everytime I am using it I have to pray that it would go to the next page!!!

Could someone write up a titantv EPG for us please, i'll pay for it if I have to.

I agree Zap2it is so damn slow, to get to each page takes like 30 seconds or more and it always kick's me back out to the login page a few times :mad:

-Gary

I agree Zap2it is so damn slow, to get to each page takes like 30 seconds or more and it always kick's me back out to the login page a few times :mad:

-Gary

It didn't used to be this bad, but the last times I've used it, it's taken forever to move from one page to another. Yes, it's time to consider another guide. This is becoming too slow to be useful.

Titantv usually isn't much better - You learn you can't use either service from about 7pm Eastern until around 1am if you want any kind of response - though Titantv never has the login issue Gary and others are so painfully aware of.

Also if you have a MyHD card in the same system, I don't believe you can specify which device the record information is for when you click on record from TitanTV.

We had already contacted TiTanTV before this happened to address the slow server problems with Zap2it. However, it will probably take another week or so before a solution based on their technology can be made available. They encrypt their program information files so they can't be used without their decryption engine which they supply under license.

One of the more interesting features from TiTanTV is the ability to program events remotely. Users can sign into their site from anywhere and schedule events. The PVR (running on the user's home machine) then periodically fetches those changes. So, recordings can be easilly scheduled from work, vacation, etc.

-R

So guys are we pretty much done with Zap then?? as of right now their problem is still not corrected

-Gary

Finally bit the bullet and bought a R5000 modded Dish6000 from Nextcom. Works great. Wakes up the PC from standby, powers on the STB and records. And powers off the STB too!

But try as I might - I am not able to find any option that says - suspend or hibernate the PC after a recording? Is there such an option? Would be a nice to have.

Thats done through XP. Open up the power option under Control panel, and set your time for hibernation or standby...

ahhkkkk!!!

When are we going to get the fix about the PVR bugs?

Anyone has an idea?

Chuck

Geez guys......this is something out of nextcom's hands. It's actually's Sony fault if you want to get technical. The systems worked when it came out - Sony/zap2it is messed up.

Apparently you forgot how hard it was to schedule with other systems for years.

If you have to manually schedule something, it something you have to do.

FWIW, I learned a year ago when zap2it went down for several days to schedule stuff 2 weeks out.

Nextcom cannot control what Sony does. If they are able to make a deal with titantv, great. If not - you cannot blame them for this.

Thats done through XP. Open up the power option under Control panel, and set your time for hibernation or standby...

I think he wants the R5000 program to put the computer to sleep after a capture, as MyHD does. No such feature as of right now.

Geez guys......this is something out of nextcom's hands. It's actually's Sony fault if you want to get technical. The systems worked when it came out - Sony/zap2it is messed up.

Apparently you forgot how hard it was to schedule with other systems for years.

If you have to manually schedule something, it something you have to do.

FWIW, I learned a year ago when zap2it went down for several days to schedule stuff 2 weeks out.

Nextcom cannot control what Sony does. If they are able to make a deal with titantv, great. If not - you cannot blame them for this.

Any chance of getting the R5000 controllable by a program like SageTV?