That's what I mean, when is zap2it , is going to fix their problem? I understood perfectly that's it's not nextcom problem. If not we might have to look somewhere else. TitanTV might be the way to go. I am using titanTV with MyHD recording and have been very happy woith it. Zap2it is just too slow. I also understood that MyHD and Nextcom cannot use TiTanTV simultaneously.

Zap2it is sending out information correctly again if anyone cares.

Again - Schedule far out in advance is the best advice.

I have learned that lesson from both TitanTV and Zap2it over the years.

Yep I schedule out as far as the guide lets me, every Sat/Sun, sadly that schedule ended right when Zap started acting up so I missed a few things yesterday :( , no problem, it is back to working again

-Gary

You can schedule out 14 days. Zap2it has only been down for 4 days.

cheers!!!

I received my 169 Toshiba box that I traded in for another r5000. I have not used it to record yet. I am trying to figure out how to record and convert to a DIVX file and play it back on my Avel link player 2. I purchased an external 300 gig drive for storage of the recordings and also some dvds. It has been recommended that I use smartripper and ifoedit for the DVDs. I have the link player next to my tv, and it is connected to my network.
Nextcom was very helpful in explaining why covering part of my 119 lNB worked, and it continues to work on all my three Toshiba units. Any suggestions on how to convert my ts files to divx would be appreciated. David

I thought since I have been cleared to talk about it, that many of you might want to hear some details about the cable recording process.

In my case, I am on Charter, and used a Moto 2224 (I think thats the number) box with the mod. All of my digital channels are on their own, no subchannels. Basically what I mean is if I record from HBO, I dont get a sub channel with Showtime or whatnot. Also, everything is padded with null packets to get up to the same bitrate, somewhere around 24-25mbit. So yes, that means a crappy SD digital channel being sent at 4-5 mbit, has 20-21mbit of null packets in it!

The actual use of the units is just as easy as with my D* version. No real issues, other than a few intermittent problems that seem to cause a buffer overflow on the DVR app, and crash it. The guys at Nextcom have been doubling it time and again, but it still happens. I would say that I encounter that issue about once every 2-3 weeks.

At first things were going well for me with no 5C being turned on at the local headend, until Sept. 30th, and then Charter enabled it on the HD Tier channels. The networks, and the premium channels are still fine though, as the premiums are tied to their corresponding SD package. I've not been successful in getting Charter to authorize the box for HD Tier yet, but hopefully some more CSR Roulette can fix that.

*edit* The above paragraph is wrong, I confused the timing of my HD box's 5C death with some recording issues when testing the R5000 mod. 2000 series boxes are impervious to 5C, but in my case, not authorized for HD Tier channels *yet)

As for quality, at least where I am, Charter is sending through full bitrate, not limiting it. I guess that makes sense given the way they are sending out channels as mentioned above. I have read other cable co's are not so generous with bandwidth, or even other areas for Charter.

Not sure what other details you guys might want to know. Hit me up with questions if you have some. Overall I am quite pleased with the setup, and would be even moreso if I could get the HD Tier authorized.

Also, everything is padded with null packets to get up to the same bitrate, somewhere around 24-25mbit. So yes, that means a crappy SD digital channel being sent at 4-5 mbit, has 20-21mbit of null packets in it!I'm pretty sure it's the R5000 software that's inserting those null packets. There is an option in the software to turn them off.At first things were going well for me with no 5C being turned on at the local headend, until Sept. 30th, and then Charter enabled it on the HD Tier channels. The networks, and the premium channels are still fine though, as the premiums are tied to their corresponding SD package. I've not been successful in getting Charter to authorize the box for HD Tier yet, but hopefully some more CSR Roulette can fix that.Are you implying that the cable company's 5C setting has disabled your recording ability? As far as I know, the DCT2000 series boxes and the R5000-HD are impervious to 5C. It's true that your DCT needs to be authorized for the channel for you to be able to record it. In some cases a cable company will hide or not authorize HD channels from these non-HD boxes. This is independent of 5C.

If the HD tier channels are visible to the DCT2000, but just not authorized, you might fix the problem by renting an HD box. At least with some cable companies, all of the boxes on a customer's account are authorized for the same set of channels (including HD channels), regardless of whether those boxes are SD or HD.

I'm pretty sure it's the R5000 software that's inserting those null packets. There is an option in the software to turn them off.

The packets were there when doing the initial tests to see what the cable co was sending. This was in AV byte mode. From the way I understand it, the packets were not added by the app at that time, all we did was capture the entire stream.

Are you implying that the cable company's 5C setting has disabled your recording ability? As far as I know, the DCT2000 series boxes and the R5000-HD are impervious to 5C. It's true that your DCT needs to be authorized for the channel for you to be able to record it. In some cases a cable company will hide or not authorize HD channels from these non-HD boxes. This is independent of 5C.

Sorry, drugs getting to me. I was confusing the issue with my 5C firewire recording. The 2000 series is impervious to 5C, and its all coming back to me now! :D Could never record those channels in the HD Tier with the 2000 box.

And that in itself isnt true. You can record the HD tier channels, but they are obviously encrypted. At that point, discussion would have to go elsewhere me thinks.

The HD tier channels are hidden from the guide on the 2000 box, but you can manually tune them. There is audio. There is also guide info once you tune the channel. But so far I havent found the right CSR to auth the signal. Hopefully I can convince one of them to do it for me to pass the signal to a HDD-200.

Again, sorry for the confusion with my HD box's firewire recording. It was all happening around the same time and I got confused. :)

If the HD tier channels are visible to the DCT2000, but just not authorized, you might fix the problem by renting an HD box. At least with some cable companies, all of the boxes on a customer's account are authorized for the same set of channels (including HD channels), regardless of whether those boxes are SD or HD.

It might be possible for me to drop my HD box from the account, and then get it again after a month or so, to see if they do a hit on the whole account for HD authorization. Or sign up for another HD box. Hmmm.

The packets were there when doing the initial tests to see what the cable co was sending. This was in AV byte mode. From the way I understand it, the packets were not added by the app at that time, all we did was capture the entire stream.The cable company sends in each multiplex a lot more than just the 2-19 Mbps that a single SD or HD program requires. That's the way the technology works. A 256 QAM channel carries about 38 Mbps. I don't know 64 QAM off the top of my head, but a quick calculation suggests it's about 29 Mbps. But outside of test mode, the R5000-HD delivers a single-program transport stream, either padded with nulls out to a bit rate of your choice, or with no null padding.And that in itself isnt true. You can record the HD tier channels, but they are obviously encrypted. At that point, discussion would have to go elsewhere me thinks.Are you sure that the R5000-HD was affected by a channel's encryption? The whole point of the R5000-HD was that it lets you record encrypted channels. It taps the stream inside the box after the decryption stage.

If it didn't, you'd have a lot of much less expensive options for recording unencrypted HD on cable, like the MyHD MDP-130.

It might be possible for me to drop my HD box from the account, and then get it again after a month or so, to see if they do a hit on the whole account for HD authorization. Or sign up for another HD box. Hmmm.If you already have an HD box on the account and it's authorized for the HD package, then it would seem that your cable company authorizes each box separately. (since the DCT2000 is not authorized for those channels)

The HD tier channels are hidden from the guide on the 2000 box, but you can manually tune them. There is audio. There is also guide info once you tune the channel. But so far I havent found the right CSR to auth the signal. Hopefully I can convince one of them to do it for me to pass the signal to a HDD-200.Maybe we are not talking about the same thing. Are you using a modified HDD-200, or a modified DCT2000 series box?

What makes you say the HD tier channels are not authorized? Does it say "not authorized" on the screen? As far as I knew, if you're getting audio, you're authorized. And if you're authorized, you should be able to record.

Maybe we are not talking about the same thing. Are you using a modified HDD-200, or a modified DCT2000 series box?

What makes you say the HD tier channels are not authorized? Does it say "not authorized" on the screen? As far as I knew, if you're getting audio, you're authorized. And if you're authorized, you should be able to record.

Correct, I have a DCT2000 box. I do not have a HDD-200, but use that excuse when playing CSR roulette: "yeah I would like the HD tier channels authorized on my SD box so that I can pass the signal to my HDD-200 box".

When you tune to a HD Tier channel, it does show "not authorized, call to activate". I obviously need sleep at this point, because what I meant to say was that premium HD channels and networks will tune with audio, HD Tier wont play audio. They display the not auth message.

If you already have an HD box on the account and it's authorized for the HD package, then it would seem that your cable company authorizes each box separately. (since the DCT2000 is not authorized for those channels)

Quite possibly. However I had the HD box first, and then when I did the beta testing for Nextcom, I added the SD box. I suppose its possible that had it been the other way around, the SD box might have accidentally been authorized or not.

I'm pretty sure it's the R5000 software that's inserting those null packets. There is an option in the software to turn them off.Are you implying that the cable company's 5C setting has disabled your recording ability? As far as I know, the DCT2000 series boxes and the R5000-HD are impervious to 5C. It's true that your DCT needs to be authorized for the channel for you to be able to record it. In some cases a cable company will hide or not authorize HD channels from these non-HD boxes. This is independent of 5C.

Ok, I am trying to go back to late September in memory here. But it seems like before Charter turned on 5C, I was able to record the HD Tier channels, get files of the proper size, but the streams would be red when played in TS Reader.

Just now I tested again, and the recorded file was 0 bytes. So something has changed if my memory serves me right. I will scan back in my emails to see if I can located the discussions I had in testing. More later.

*edit* Ok, I figured it out. In AV/Byte mode, I can record the HD Tier channels, but the program PID is red in TSReader.

A beta version of the PVR (2.2) supporting TitanTV integration is available for download. (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)

In order to use advanced features like single click recording and Remote Scheduling you must sign up for a free TitanTV account. Remote Scheduling allows users to add recordings from anywhere Internet access is available. The PVR polls the TitanTV server at regular intervals to retrieve any scheduled events. Port 80 (www) is used so no special firewall considerations are required. Setup is accessed from the "Tools" menu.


The Zap2it EPG is still supported and is required for C-band and Canadian satellite scheduling. An additional option selects which guide is launched but parsing of the 2 different TVPI files is automatic.

-R

R5000,

If I download the new Titan beta, will I still be able to schedule from either method to see which I like best? In other words, does downloading the beta destroy the Zap2it version of the software that I am now using?

Thanks,
Paul

Thank you very much for implementing this.

A beta version of the PVR (2.2) supporting TitanTV integration is available for download. (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)

In order to use advanced features like single click recording and Remote Scheduling you must sign up for a free TitanTV account. Remote Scheduling allows users to add recordings from anywhere Internet access is available. The PVR polls the TitanTV server at regular intervals to retrieve any scheduled events. Port 80 (www) is used so no special firewall considerations are required. Setup is accessed from the "Tools" menu.


The Zap2it EPG is still supported and is required for C-band and Canadian satellite scheduling. An additional option selects which guide is launched but parsing of the 2 different TVPI files is automatic.

-R

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

TitanTV is far superior to the zap2it interface. Can't wait to get home and install this!



A beta version of the PVR (2.2) supporting TitanTV integration is available for download. (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm)

In order to use advanced features like single click recording and Remote Scheduling you must sign up for a free TitanTV account. Remote Scheduling allows users to add recordings from anywhere Internet access is available. The PVR polls the TitanTV server at regular intervals to retrieve any scheduled events. Port 80 (www) is used so no special firewall considerations are required. Setup is accessed from the "Tools" menu.


The Zap2it EPG is still supported and is required for C-band and Canadian satellite scheduling. An additional option selects which guide is launched but parsing of the 2 different TVPI files is automatic.

-R

Hello R5000-HD,

Are you there?

...sound of crickets chirping....

Hello R5000-HD,

Are you there?

...sound of crickets chirping....




The Zap2it EPG is still supported and is required for C-band and Canadian satellite scheduling. An additional option selects which guide is launched but parsing of the 2 different TVPI files is automatic.

-R

He already answered it prior to your post.

Even if he didn't you could always download the new files, install it - if you don't like it, reinstall the old program.

Lately I've been getting a lot of errors with E* on HBOHD and SHOHD. I'm using the 148 satelite for these channels. The errors are similar to the errors with HDNMV. Here's an example from the remuxler.log file for the movie Monster:



Record file J:\Monster.ts using EchoStar - DISH6000, started: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 20:44:35
INIT: 1920 x 1080, 18000000, 7995392, 40000
Wrote 00:00:31.3
Wrote 00:01:02.0
Wrote 00:01:33.3
Wrote 00:02:04.0
Wrote 00:02:35.3
Wrote 00:03:06.0
Wrote 00:03:37.3
Wrote 00:04:08.0
Wrote 00:04:39.3
Wrote 00:05:10.1
Wrote 00:05:41.4
Wrote 00:06:12.1
Wrote 00:06:43.4
Wrote 00:07:14.1
Wrote 00:07:45.4
Wrote 00:08:16.1
Wrote 00:08:47.4
Wrote 00:09:18.1
Wrote 00:09:49.4
Wrote 00:10:20.2
Wrote 00:10:51.5
Wrote 00:11:22.2
Wrote 00:11:53.5
Wrote 00:12:24.2
Wrote 00:12:55.5
Wrote 00:13:26.2
Wrote 00:13:57.5
Wrote 00:14:28.2
Wrote 00:14:59.5
Wrote 00:15:30.3
Wrote 00:15:30.3
Wrote 00:15:30.3
Wrote 00:16:01.0
Wrote 00:16:32.3
Wrote 00:17:03.0
Wrote 00:17:34.3
Wrote 00:18:05.0
Wrote 00:18:36.3
Wrote 00:19:07.0
Wrote 00:19:38.3
Wrote 00:20:09.0
Wrote 00:20:40.4
Wrote 00:21:11.1
Wrote 00:21:42.4
Wrote 00:22:13.1
Wrote 00:22:44.4
Wrote 00:23:15.1
Wrote 00:23:47.4
Wrote 00:24:18.1
Wrote 00:24:49.4
Wrote 00:25:20.2
Wrote 00:25:51.5
Wrote 00:26:22.2
Wrote 00:26:53.5
Wrote 00:27:24.2
Wrote 00:27:55.5
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=9, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=10, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=9
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=10
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=11, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=11
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=12, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=12
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=13, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=13
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=14, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=14
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=15, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=15
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=16, DTS=1490901472, NXTDTS=1490901472
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=16
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=19, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1490905226
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=19
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=20, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1490905226
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=20
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=21, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1490905226
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=21
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=22, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1490905226
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=22
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=23, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1490905226
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=23
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=24, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1490905226
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=24
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=25, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1490905226
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=25
VPESDELTWARN: 00:28:20.2: Video dts 2981810452, next_dts 2982035677, delta=225225, pcr 2981770444, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1490885226
VPESINSZWARN=19, IDX=26, DTS=1490905226, NXTDTS=1491017838
00:28:20.2,: OUTSZINVLD, IDX=26
APESDELTWARN: 00:28:21.2: Audio pts 2981873841, next_pts 2982017965, delta=144124, pcr 2981868380, forcing send...
Using APTS 1490934184
APESDELTWARN: 00:28:21.2: Audio pts 2982017965, next_pts 2982108624, delta=90659, pcr 2981871262, forcing send...
Using APTS 1490935624
Wrote 00:28:26.2
Wrote 00:28:57.5
Wrote 00:29:28.2

...



The VPESINSZWARN and APESDELTWAR messages correspond to glitches or freezes in the movie when using the MyHD for playback.

I never used to get these with SHOHD or HBOHD.

Has anyone else noticed increased errors recently with HBOHD or HBOHD on E*, either satelite?

I just check today and my 148 dish is only getting 75% signal strength. I will switch to the 110 satelite and see if the errors diminish.


Mark

I had the same exact thing(on the exact same movie), Showtime is a joke on both 110 and 148

Gosh I need to get my 4DTV installed and going

-Gary

Lately I've been getting a lot of errors with E* on HBOHD and SHOHD. I'm using the 148 satelite for these channels. The errors are similar to the errors with HDNMV. Here's an example from the remuxler.log file for the movie Monster:

The VPESINSZWARN and APESDELTWAR messages correspond to glitches or freezes in the movie when using the MyHD for playback.

I never used to get these with SHOHD or HBOHD.

Has anyone else noticed increased errors recently with HBOHD or HBOHD on E*, either satelite?

I just check today and my 148 dish is only getting 75% signal strength. I will switch to the 110 satelite and see if the errors diminish.


Mark


As you are in CA I doubt this would apply to you but 148 WILL give more errors to those on the East Coast. The reason is very simple when you think about it.

148 is VERY low from the East Coast. According to some software runs it's technically impossible where I am. The Elevation is about 13 degrees.

Think about 13 degrees and how much of the atmosphere you have to shoot through. Instead of almost straight up and out, you are going through multiple times the atmosphere in a very low shot to the West. I believe Gary said his dish was 10 degrees elevation - or something of the like.

This means from the East Coast, besides the much lower signal, you have to contend with more thunderstorms and storm systems - even heavy cloud cover. Again think about how much atmosphere you have to cut through.

When there is a heavy storm out in Gulf 100 miles from me, I loose 148 because of this.

Now, as you are in CA from your descriptor, the big question is why is 148 such a low signal level for you? I had 55 with a Dish 500 and 75 with a .9 meter Toroidal.

What size dish are you using?

Sum bitch I was hoping that 148 would be less prone to errors than 110 and it isn't :mad:

for comparison sake I am using a 24" Dish with DishPro LNB, and I get 73 on the 2 HD transponders on 148, my elevation is like 12 or so

HBO on 148 seems perfect, as it is on 110, There are glitches in Dish's reception and broadcasting of Showtime or something along those lines(maybe reencoding or something else), no doubt about it Showtime is a total POS on Dish

I tried 11 times to get a perfect log capture of "Godsend" and on the 11th try I finally did

you can't get a single movie without a nasty error log on Showtime, combning that with that fact that HDNet Movies sucks, I need to ask myself everyday why I don't switch over to 4DTV for my movie archiving :(

-Gary

Sum bitch I was hoping that 148 would be less prone to errors than 110 and it isn't :mad:

for comparison sake I am using a 24" Dish with DishPro LNB, and I get 73 on the 2 HD transponders on 148, my elevation is like 12 or so

HBO on 148 seems perfect, as it is on 110, There are glitches in Dish's reception and broadcasting of Showtime or something along those lines(maybe reencoding or something else), no doubt about it Showtime is a total POS on Dish

I tried 11 times to get a perfect log capture of "Godsend" and on the 11th try I finally did

you can't get a single movie without a nasty error log on Showtime, combning that with that fact that HDNet Movies sucks, I need to ask myself everyday why I don't switch over to 4DTV for my movie archiving :(

-Gary

Don't get me wrong....I DO think 148 is less prone to the errors you USUALLY see on Showtime from 110.

However, you can get hit with weather issues on the East Coast causing errors that you DON'T get with 110.

This usually means you will find an error on HBO that you wouldn't see on 110. But Showtime clearly seems to do better error wise than on 110.

The only gotcha is the long shot through the atmosphere - but I believe it outweighs the 110 bitstarve rates. Think of it as the Sun during Winter and Summer. During the Winter when the Sun is in the Southern Hemisphere it has to go through so much atmosphere that what it radiates to the Northern Hemisphere is minimized as it is spread out over a bigger area than it is during the Summer.

148 is constantly "in the Winter Sun Mode" to the East Coast.

I can tell you that a Showtime Sleeper Cell Episode from this past weekend that I captured was 9.75Mbps on 110 and 14.94Mbps on 148 (over 50% higher) which is higher than some cable systems caps I am aware of floating around the internet. I have not done parallel tests to find out if the glitches on Showtime 110/148 are at the same time but I highly doubt it as 148 just seems to have far less glitches.

Also, I have NO idea how you would get 148 locked in with a tree mounted dish - as its hard enough as it is from the East Coast. Is the tree old/large enough that its not going to sway any in the wind? If 148 was a Ka feed like SC or D*'s new birds, I would think it would be almost impossible to lock in on the East Coast as the beam width would be so small and difficult.

But as I have said, try everything you can to get 148, even if its a 1.2 Meter Dish or more with a 0.3db lnb.

Yes The tree is massive and solid as a rock, much more bigger around than me and I ain't small ;), I climbed that sucker and got the best signal I could

I am going to replace my 24" dish with a 30" soon, but the way things are looking with Dish it may be a waste of my time

-Gary

What signal strength are on 148 - 13/17/31 on your 6000? And did you maximize the signal on the ODD transponders as the EVEN are worthless?

13= 78
17= 77
31= 61

from R5000/6000 with DP adapter

Yep I maximized for ODD, EVEN give much higher, around 90, I understand that is a different bird than the odd and that is why that is so :(

I would love to get 100 or so on the ODD's though, maybe a 30"er will get me around 90 to 95

Mark what are your strength's from 148??

-Gary

13= 78
17= 77
31= 61

from R5000/6000 with DP adapter

Yep I maximized for ODD, EVEN give much higher, around 90, I understand that is a different bird than the odd and that is why that is so :(

I would love to get 100 or so on the ODD's though, maybe a 30"er will get me around 90 to 95

Mark what are your strength's from 148??

-Gary

I am no expert by any means on the gains from dish size as I don't deal with it enough.

There is a discussion thread on satelliteguy.us under general satellite topic 0.3 vs 0.6 ku lnbs where someone who seems to know what he is talking about says I gained about 5-6db when I went from a Dish 500 (.5 Meter or 20 inches) to a .9 Meter (36 inches).

That was around a 80% increase, so I am figuring about 1.25-1.5db for each 20%.

My signal went from around 55 to 75 on the 6000 - or about +5 on the signal strength for each 20%.

If that figure holds consistent, I would ASSUME going from 24" to 30" is a 25% increase - thus I doubt you are going to get to even 85 with a 30" dish - much less 100.

You might want to go with a 1.2 Meter dish considering you live in the middle of no where.

Well I can go with as big a dish that will fit on that big fat tree, maybe I should step to a 36", The only thing is that the DishPro LNB must fit the Dish

-Gary

Consider that big dishes have a narrower beam. If you're going to use a big dish, you'll want to make sure that it's very stable, to minimize aiming problems.

Well I can go with as big a dish that will fit on that big fat tree, maybe I should step to a 36", The only thing is that the DishPro LNB must fit the Dish

-Gary


http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=429012&postcount=8


Quote: 24" to 30" would be 1.9+ dB

That looks to me that you would add on about 7-8 points to your signal on a Dish 6000.

I'm using a Dish 300 for 148. I don't remember the size but I believe it is the original Dish dish.

I haven't re-adjusted that dish in years and it's on top of an 8' vertical 4x6 supporting the corner of a patio cover. It has probably moved. I will have to try and re-adjust the Dish and see if that helps. I doubt it though since Gary aparently had the exact same errors on the movie Monster using the 110 satelite.

Mark



Now, as you are in CA from your descriptor, the big question is why is 148 such a low signal level for you? I had 55 with a Dish 500 and 75 with a .9 meter Toroidal.

What size dish are you using?

Do you remember if this is the signal strength you have always had?

I note my signal levels every month on the transponders so I can always try to spot trouble before it gets really bad.

My 148 strengths are:
13=75
17=75
31=76

Mark


13= 78
17= 77
31= 61

from R5000/6000 with DP adapter

Yep I maximized for ODD, EVEN give much higher, around 90, I understand that is a different bird than the odd and that is why that is so :(

I would love to get 100 or so on the ODD's though, maybe a 30"er will get me around 90 to 95

Mark what are your strength's from 148??

-Gary

Fanatic, I assume you're talking to me. I'm not sure but I believe my signal strengths were much higher. I generally don't settle for < 90.

Mark

Do you remember if this is the signal strength you have always had?

I note my signal levels every month on the transponders so I can always try to spot trouble before it gets really bad.

Has anyone here tried to render a TS file using graphedit without using the R5000 software? I'm still debating between this and the 169Time system. I already know the 169Time will do what I want it to, but reading this forum I understand that their system is less then perfect and I'm not clear if it captures SD like the R5000 can. I also like the possibility of using Tim's firewire channel change abilities to control it.

Basically I'd like to use it with SageTV using their network encoder / graphedit plugin. Doing this would let it show up as a tuner in SageTV, but that would be useless if I cannot do it without the R5000 app. It doesn't seem like R5000 plans on designing a DirectShow driver which is silly based on the fast growing popularity of PVR apps like MCE, SageTV and BTV - so this would be my only option.

Mark you can get signal strength much much higher than that out in CA

I get 120 on 61.5, you should be able to do the same on 148, as it is for your location

Hey I got "Manchurian Candidate" from 148 last night with a perfect log :), it does happen

-Gary

dbfresh, you cannot do that with the r5000 mod, it must use their app

their recent version did add a render to D-VHS deck option

-Gary

You can render a transport stream file independently of the R5000 app.

You can render a transport stream file independently of the R5000 app.
REALLY! This would make my day! How would you go about doing this? I know Digital Cable STBs can use the firewire output and render them using GraphEdit...

Or am I misunderstanding you and just talking about playback in other apps?

of course you can do that, but you can't render a .TS live from the r5000-hd, like with 169time using graph edit

do not waste your time with 169time's garbage, that stuff belongs in a garbage heap(software and hardware), the nextcom stuff belongs on a throne :D

-Gary

Speaking of 169time garbage, anyone want to take bets on how thin i can make my 169time board using the 10ton arbor press at work? :D

Sorry to hear that 169time is a piece of garbage. I have over 500 perfect recordings made with it. Any problems were due to recording on used tapes or being in the airport flight path.

Has anyone here tried to render a TS file using graphedit without using the R5000 software? I'm still debating between this and the 169Time system. I already know the 169Time will do what I want it to, but reading this forum I understand that their system is less then perfect and I'm not clear if it captures SD like the R5000 can. I also like the possibility of using Tim's firewire channel change abilities to control it.

Basically I'd like to use it with SageTV using their network encoder / graphedit plugin. Doing this would let it show up as a tuner in SageTV, but that would be useless if I cannot do it without the R5000 app. It doesn't seem like R5000 plans on designing a DirectShow driver which is silly based on the fast growing popularity of PVR apps like MCE, SageTV and BTV - so this would be my only option.

You can't bring up the R5000 in graphedit or have SageTV "see it" as a DS tuner device. Personally I think the Nextcom web-based PVR is really easy to use especially with the addition of TitanTV support and remote scheduling. But I guess if you're used to Sage or MCE then naturally you want to use them.

I don't know what sat service you have but 169time cannot capture SD from D* or C-band at all and with E* it can only capture certain channels that have AC3 audio. The R5000 captures all SD channels from each service they support. Also, I've heard they're working on audio capture from the Sirius and XM channels and may add that capability soon.

Sorry to hear that 169time is a piece of garbage. I have over 500 perfect recordings made with it. Any problems were due to recording on used tapes or being in the airport flight path.

I guess its just that for whatever reason it seems difficult for a lot of 169time users to duplicate those results whereas with the R5000 the results are a lot more consistent. Also the R5000 folks seem much more responsive to resolving any problems that arise and adding new features to their product.

TW

You can't bring up the R5000 in graphedit or have SageTV "see it" as a DS tuner device. Personally I think the Nextcom web-based PVR is really easy to use especially with the addition of TitanTV support and remote scheduling. But I guess if you're used to Sage or MCE then naturally you want to use them.
That pretty much clears up what I was confused about. The point of using SageTV or MCE is that it can be done via remote control from the TV set, not sitting in front of a PC like you would need to do to use the R5000 app.

Sure the TitanTV app may be a nice little PC / Web application, but it doesn't do anything for people like myself that are more interested in a home theater pc.

That pretty much clears up what I was confused about. The point of using SageTV or MCE is that it can be done via remote control from the TV set, not sitting in front of a PC like you would need to do to use the R5000 app.

Sure the TitanTV app may be a nice little PC / Web application, but it doesn't do anything for people like myself that are more interested in a home theater pc.

You can program the R5000 to record using the STB remote control. Enable "IR Control" from the R5000 main panel and set the STB to match the VCR code. Then from the guide, you just navigate to the program(s) you want to record and press the "record" button on your remote control (I'm using the Dish 6000). A record timer is set and when it fires the R5000 starts recording. Its pretty simple. I don't know about C-band but all the "small dish" boxes support VCR timers.

TW

Sorry to hear that 169time is a piece of garbage. I have over 500 perfect recordings made with it. Any problems were due to recording on used tapes or being in the airport flight path.

Sorry, you are just lucky, the 169time hardware and software is trash, read around, this is not just my opinion

-Gary

Sorry, you are just lucky, the 169time hardware and software is trash, read around, this is not just my opinion

-Gary

Very true.. In fact, the 169time system doesnt even produce a proper transport stream does it? Last I knew, it had fundamental flaws that didnt meet the standard for mpeg-2. When it was the only game in town, we had to deal with its issues and quirks. Now we dont! :D

Could someone tell me what sort of resolution/bit rates you are seeing in your files recorded with their R5000? I recall someone in the Dallas area had a webpage logging the current resolution/bit rates for the different providers and networks but not sure if that still exists.

Could someone tell me what sort of resolution/bit rates you are seeing in your files recorded with their R5000? I recall someone in the Dallas area had a webpage logging the current resolution/bit rates for the different providers and networks but not sure if that still exists.

Its all over the place. Might be easier to scan the various bitrate threads in the HD Programming forum.

For Dish in my signature first of all ;)

Cheezmo for Directv:

http://www.widemovies.com/dfwbitrate.html

-Gary

thanks Gary, I'd say you had just what I was looking for :)

12/26 airing of The Perfect Score on ShowtimeHD on E*

110 - 7,091,915 KB Below 10Mbps
148 - 9,251,192 KB Over 12.5Mbps

No errors either - a rarity.

That's one of the most extreme differences I think I've ever seen between the 2 - slightly over 30% higher bitrate.

Although the Garbage Pail Kids Movie came in at a mind boggling 14.62Mbps video bitrate off 148 last week which blows away even HDNET's bitrate once you subtract the 20% loss from no telecine flags and the redundancy.

Too bad it wasn't a better movie.

thats the mystery that all HDTV cappers know of and hate :)

garbage movies and stuff you are not interested in always capture perfect

stuff you really want like "Absolute Power" from Showtime are hosed on all 10 try's and never come on again :mad: :mad:

-Gary

thats the mystery that all HDTV cappers know of and hate :)

garbage movies and stuff you are not interested in always capture perfect

stuff you really want like "Absolute Power" from Showtime are hosed on all 10 try's and never come on again :mad: :mad:

-Gary

Of course.

And then they give you School of Rock the other day at 15.23Mbps on the Video.

I have had the 5000HD solution for a year now and abolutely love the end result of the captures the 5000hd produces. I am however very disappointed with the support for Media centers like Microsoft Media center and so on. I abolutlely hate the sony site as it is slow and not always reliable. I live in Canada so TitanTV is out of the question. I am presently using a bastardized Timmmoore solution that records the HD file with 5000hd by programing using Microsoft MCE. When it works it is great but it trys to convert to a msdvr file and I just want to have the ts file. Also when 2 shows are back to back it does not always change channels properly. Crashes lots. again not so reliable. Tim has also disappeared and stopped supporting this so I am lost. I am frustrated with all this.

I have had the 5000HD solution for a year now and abolutely love the end result of the captures the 5000hd produces. I am however very disappointed with the support for Media centers like Microsoft Media center and so on. I abolutlely hate the sony site as it is slow and not always reliable. I live in Canada so TitanTV is out of the question. I am presently using a bastardized Timmmoore solution that records the HD file with 5000hd by programing using Microsoft MCE. When it works it is great but it trys to convert to a msdvr file and I just want to have the ts file. Also when 2 shows are back to back it does not always change channels properly. Crashes lots. again not so reliable. Tim has also disappeared and stopped supporting this so I am lost. I am frustrated with all this.

How can you get mad using a "bastardized" app that crashes and Nextcomm did author it nor ever said it would work :confused:

The system is what it is. MCE has its own issues and most are glad it is not forced to be in that enviroment with all the microsoft restrictions that go along with it.

Unfrustate yourself by using it as it was written and just don't use the Sony site between 7pm and 1am Eastern Time.

How can you get mad using a "bastardized" app that crashes and Nextcomm did author it nor ever said it would work :confused:

The system is what it is. MCE has its own issues and most are glad it is not forced to be in that enviroment with all the microsoft restrictions that go along with it.

Unfrustate yourself by using it as it was written and just don't use the Sony site between 7pm and 1am Eastern Time.

I must agree with our friend from the North (did you have a nice Boxing Day?).

Living in the States, at least I am able to take advantage of the TitanTV, which is a far superior alternative. That SonyEPG thing was cr*p. Even at its fastest, it was ridiculously slow. TitanTV is as fast as a downloaded EPG. I congratulate Nextcom for incorporating it.

Having said that, I wish that there was a way to integrate the R5000 with programs like MCE. I use SageTV. I would love not only to integrate the HD recording abilities of the R5000, but also use it to record SD stuff. Right now, I use the same modded box to record to Sage through an S-video connection. I would much prefer the digital connection. Further, I always have to be worried about scheduling conflicting shows.

At the time I had my DTC100 modded, Nextcom had plans to integrate the R5000 with SageTV, etc, through a DirectX plug-in. For technical reasons I would not pretend to understand, they changed their minds. As a customer, I respect their decision and have no hard feelings about this change in plans. But it does not change my desire for the ability to integrate with SageTV, should it ever become available.

How can you get mad using a "bastardized" app that crashes and Nextcomm did author it nor ever said it would work :confused:

The system is what it is. MCE has its own issues and most are glad it is not forced to be in that enviroment with all the microsoft restrictions that go along with it.

Unfrustate yourself by using it as it was written and just don't use the Sony site between 7pm and 1am Eastern Time.

I would agree with you mostly but this is a 1000 dollar mod that should be evolving to support the people that use it. I am not mad just frustrated with the sony site. There has to be a better way. There is no arguement with the hardware but the software needs to expand to include the pvr style media centers out there I am sure if polled this community would completely agree.

I personally know at least 5 people that love my setup with nextcom but do not want to be bothered with the whole multi program pvr that is needed to record. A simple solution taking advantage of a downloaded guide can not be that difficult and if it is please enlighten me.

If there is anyone out there using the Timmmoore solution and has made it work sucessfully please let me know as I need a bit of help.

Thanks all and happy new year.

The problem is this is a speciality item and not a mass market consumer item so quite frankly - especially when you view the 169time saga - I am actually surprised at the amount of upgrades he has put into this item. If you view my posts from over a year ago the improvements that he has made have really impressed me and all others that have watched this item evolve.

Unfortunately, speciality items because of their limited appeal will never work with all the various systems out there. The time and effort to do so is just not worth it from a time or monetary standpoint.

Now if everyone who purchased this item wanted a MCE interface and were willing to pay $300 each for the software, it might be worth it. But how many would really step up to that plate?

My 2 cents worth.

Hey Showtime's logs are looking different on 148 :), they are full of the VPESBHNDBY, which is not a error

I have also got 3 perfect captures in the past day, one of "Monster" and "Super Size Me" I have tried for those so many times to get a perfect grab of those :mad:

-Gary

Now if everyone who purchased this item wanted a MCE interface and were willing to pay $300 each for the software, it might be worth it. But how many would really step up to that plate?
It wouldn't really have to mean a price increase for the software/DRIVER. A directshow driver would mean that it could be used with basically all of the windows pvr apps, not just MCE. This would equate to more people interested in it and more sales. Instead I am contemplating going back to digital cable later this year to get cablecard instead. If a Directshow driver was available I'd buy 3-4 of these without a second thought.

Instead I am contemplating going back to digital cable later this year to get cablecard instead.

You have 10 hours or so.

You have 10 hours or so.
Took a little longer then those 10 hours, but good ole Bill Gates made my decision for me today with the announcement of the MS/DTV partnership...

So you will go back to cable because Gates got involved with D*, but you're mad at R5000HD because they WON't get involved with Gates via a Microsoft Directshow driver or interface with Gates' Windows MCE?

Interesting logic.

So you will go back to cable because Gates got involved with D*, but you're mad at R5000HD because they WON't get involved with Gates via a Microsoft Directshow driver or interface with Gates' Windows MCE?

Interesting logic.
NO NO NO, You misunderstood me. Since DirecTV is going to start making receivers that can work with MCE w/o needing any special modification I'll get to stick with DirecTV and just get a few of those when they come out. The one thing I would certainly lose out on would be the non copy protected stream that the R5000 would produce. I'm actually quite happy that Gates made that announcement, I quite hate Time Warner. At the very least this will leave me with more options.

NO NO NO, You misunderstood me. Since DirecTV is going to start making receivers that can work with MCE w/o needing any special modification I'll get to stick with DirecTV and just get a few of those when they come out. The one thing I would certainly lose out on would be the non copy protected stream that the R5000 would produce. I'm actually quite happy that Gates made that announcement, I quite hate Time Warner. At the very least this will leave me with more options.

I apologize.

When most say Bill Gates made the decision for them, they mean they are running the other way.

I misunderstood what you were saying.

I'm thinking about getting the R5000HD for my DSR-922 4dtv box. Has anybody here tried this mod yet?

I was thinking about getting a Dish 6000 receiver with the r5000, but after yesterday's announcements at CES it looks like sticking with 4dtv might be the better direction. At least as far as archiving goes.

I have the R5000 in the HDD200 and it works great. It can record digital HD and SD channels. As I understand it the same signal can obtained from the 922 so it shouold work as well. If you have a JVC DVHS you can watch HD in real time without an HDD200. Without a DVHS you can watch as it is being recorded to the harddrive with a MYHD card. John

I have the R5000 in the HDD200 and it works great. It can record digital HD and SD channels. As I understand it the same signal can obtained from the 922 so it shouold work as well. If you have a JVC DVHS you can watch HD in real time without an HDD200. Without a DVHS you can watch as it is being recorded to the harddrive with a MYHD card. John

I actually have a couple MyHD cards I could use with it. What kind of bitrates are you seeing with the HD channels? Particulary HBO/SHO/Discovery. I'm curious to hear how they compare with the Dish network numbers Gary Murrell is getting.

Thanks,
Mike

Here are some results of the video PIDS rate from TSreader:
C Band R5000
Starz LOTR rtn of the king 13 Mbs
Starz LOTR two towers 13Mbs
Showtime (I think) Laura Croft cradle of life 9 Mbs
HBO The Flight of the Phoenix 10.5Mbs

Most of these results are not too recent but I don't think the C Band uplinkers mess around encoding like Dish does.

Are you sure about your numbers? If I'm reading Gary's numbers correctly, Dish has HBO and Showtime with an average bitrate of 12.94Mbs and 12.85MBS respectively on the 148 satellite. I'd think the cband numbers would be higher since cband is the source for the E* transmission.

Higher bit rate doesn't necessarily equal better quality! The point is that the C-band feeds are the first-generation feeds of these channels. They look as good as HBO and Showtime HD are ever going to look. These channels look relatively poorer on DISH because of the way DISH does their recompression, i.e. poorly. It's true that a higher bit rate on DISH would help. But the real problem is that they aren't doing a good job with the recompression. They don't have a great encoder; they don't have it tweaked for the source material. There would be much better off to do things differently. (e.g. statistical multiplex rate shaping)

The only truly relevant measure of picture quality is what your eyes tell you. If it looks better, it is better.

The only truly relevant measure of picture quality is what your eyes tell you. If it looks better, it is better.

That's certainly true, however I'm trying to get an idea of what it will look like before I plunk down $550.

I also agree with everything you said about bit rate and how the encoding is done. What I'm still puzzled by is how Dish would have a higher bit rate, at the same resolution, than the source. I would think the opposite would be the case, as Dish would try to compress the signal to reduce its bandwidth requirements.

Are you sure about your numbers? If I'm reading Gary's numbers correctly, Dish has HBO and Showtime with an average bitrate of 12.94Mbs and 12.85MBS respectively on the 148 satellite. I'd think the cband numbers would be higher since cband is the source for the E* transmission.

Which as we have pointed out before, is why single numbers are meaningless and no self respecting journalist would use with out standard deviation and z scores.

2.35:1 OAR has lower bitrate than the same comparable movie that is cropped as 25% of the screen is black.

So a 9Mbps OAR can essentially look as good as a 12Mbps cropped file - all other things equal.

Look at Laura Croft which was OAR.

And Dish used the SHO East feed which is the equivilant of stat-muxing, where SHO West does not. SHO East is not available on 4DTV and SHO West is.

If the other SHO feeds have low bitrate, the SHO EAST HD feed will take the bandwidth depending on the title - up to 15.25Mbps or so.

Beginning to see the problem?

Also remember that the numbers will vary widely with HBO and Showtime, depending on the time of day. The Saturday night premiere of movies is usually one of the worst times for bitrate.

Daytime showing are higher for HBO.

I have seen Flight of Phoenix anywhere from 10Mbps to 11.97Mbps over 5 showings.

So again, the one number bitrates are essentially meaningless.

What I'm still puzzled by is how Dish would have a higher bit rate, at the same resolution, than the source. I would think the opposite would be the case, as Dish would try to compress the signal to reduce its bandwidth requirements.It has to do with the difference between average bit rate and instantaneous peak bit rate. DISH recompresses because they need to reduce the instantaneous peak bit rate. Depending on how the recompression is done, it can achieve a peak bit rate reduction while increasing the average bit rate.

And Dish used the SHO East feed which is the equivilant of stat-muxing, where SHO West does not. SHO East is not available on 4DTV and SHO West is.I think you might be confusing variable bit rate encoding and statistical multiplexing. DISH using a variable bit rate stream from Showtime is not the equivalent of using statistical multiplexing, regardless of whether Showtime used statistical multiplexing.

I would not presume that Showtime is using statistical multiplexing on any of its HD feeds just because it shares a transponder with some other Showtime feeds, or because some are available on 4DTV and some are not. The HD feeds are encoded appropriately for pass-through to customers. Statistical multiplexing those feeds wouldn't serve that purpose.

I think you might be confusing variable bit rate encoding and statistical multiplexing. DISH using a variable bit rate stream from Showtime is not the equivalent of using statistical multiplexing, regardless of whether Showtime used statistical multiplexing.

I would not presume that Showtime is using statistical multiplexing on any of its HD feeds just because it shares a transponder with some other Showtime feeds, or because some are available on 4DTV and some are not. The HD feeds are encoded appropriately for pass-through to customers. Statistical multiplexing those feeds wouldn't serve that purpose.

I am not saying that Dish is using any Stat Muxing for SHO HD.

In the case of SHO HD WEST and HBO HD it is in a fixed position on the transponder which is locked on and decoded.

I am saying the TurboMode that Viacom is using to distribute SHO HD EAST (AND NOT SHO HD WEST) is essentially the same as statmuxing where bitrates are variable and can be allocated as needed. If I didn't explain that it is similar to statmuxing, 3 people would have clue what the mode is about.

Essentially everything is put into the digital stream of the transponder and the vcII units decode what you are authorized for out of the full transponder stream.

It can be on anypart of the transponder frequency - not in one allocated area and thus if one program doesn't need all the bitrate, others can take it until it is needed.

So again, it has nothing to do with Dish.

But it IS why the SHO Bitrates on 148 West (and even 110 at times) can be higher than the bitrates of the same movie on SHO HD WEST and 4DTV.

I assume you mean MegaPipe or combo mode, not "TurboMode". Bits may be traded off between the different programs in a multiplex dynamically, regardless of whether or not MegaPipe is used. MegaPipe and statistical multiplexing are independent. The use of one does not imply the use of the other. In the case of Showtime HD East, which is on a MegaPipe channel, it's quite unlikely that statistical multiplexing is being used, as the multiplex bit rate is more than enough to carry both of the programs on that multiplex with many bits to spare. It's actually unlikely that any of the Showtime HD feeds are using statistical multiplexing, because the Showtime HD feeds are encoded appropriately for pass-through to customers.

VCII is an analog access control mechanism. It has nothing to do with digital broadcasts.

The bit rates of the DISH transmissions are what they are because of the compression that DISH uses. If the bit rate of a DISH transmission is higher than the bit rate of the Showtime feed at some moment, it's simply because they're doing different compression. MPEG-2 encoding is very flexible. Encoders are free to make whatever decisions they want about how to allocate bits across time and space in the video. DISH recompresses because they need to reduce the peak instantaneous bit rate. Reducing the peak bit rate does not imply a reduction of the average bit rate.

I assume you mean MegaPipe or combo mode, not "TurboMode". Bits may be traded off between the different programs in a multiplex dynamically, regardless of whether or not MegaPipe is used. MegaPipe and statistical multiplexing are independent. The use of one does not imply the use of the other. In the case of Showtime HD East, which is on a MegaPipe channel, it's quite unlikely that statistical multiplexing is being used, as the multiplex bit rate is more than enough to carry both of the programs on that multiplex with many bits to spare. It's actually unlikely that any of the Showtime HD feeds are using statistical multiplexing, because the Showtime HD feeds are encoded appropriately for pass-through to customers.




Again, Please re-read what I originally said trying to make it so others could understand.




And Dish used the SHO East feed which is the equivilant of stat-muxing, where SHO West does not. SHO East is not available on 4DTV and SHO West is.

If the other SHO feeds have low bitrate, the SHO EAST HD feed will take the bandwidth depending on the title - up to 15.25Mbps or so.




And it makes for a variable rate.

I too thought it was Dish recompressing it as well for over a year, but then when you consider there are only 2 Feeds on TP 17 you realize they couldn't fill up the transponder with these 2 Programs if they wanted to.

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish148.html

I began to talk to companies that did Commercial Satellite work and it became obvious that a 2 point variation between different showings isn't coming from D* as they do not have to limit the feed on 1 Transponder to 20Mbps.

The variation is due to the what is being accomplished on the original distribution of the HD Programming from the supplier through the original distribution method - one of the by products is the EQUIVALENT of stat-muxing an ATSC signal.

What you are saying is incorrect. Using the Showtime HD East feed is not the equivalent of statistical multiplexing. It's unlikely that the Showtime HD East feed is statistically multiplexed, and even if it is, it really doesn't have anthing to do with this, because DISH recompresses. Statistical mulitplexing is not the same as variable bit rate. MegaPipe does not imply statistical multiplexing nor variable bit rate encoding.

You really don't have any information about whether a supposed difference in bit rates between multiple showings of the same movie on Showtime on DISH Network's 148 degree west longitude orbital position are because of what DISH is doing or because of what Showtime is doing. The DISH 148 transponder 17 multiplex has a high enough bit rate to support the two listed programs without recompression or statistical multiplexing, as does the transponder 20 multiplex on AMC 10. DISH might have some programs up there that you don't know about, stealing bandwidth from Showtime.

In any case I thought that DISH was recompressing ALL of their HDTV, even the stuff on 148. Maybe Gary can confirm that. If DISH is recompressing, the bit rates on DISH have NO relation to anything Showtime is doing with their encoding.

What you are saying is incorrect. Using the Showtime HD East feed is not the equivalent of statistical multiplexing. It's unlikely that the Showtime HD East feed is statistically multiplexed, and even if it is, it really doesn't have anthing to do with this, because DISH recompresses. Statistical mulitplexing is not the same as variable bit rate. MegaPipe does not imply statistical multiplexing nor variable bit rate encoding.



In this case your information is incorrect as this is what happens on the distribution.

In any case I thought that DISH was recompressing ALL of their HDTV, even the stuff on 148. Maybe Gary can confirm that. If DISH is recompressing, the bit rates on DISH have NO relation to anything Showtime is doing with their encoding.

Ask Gary, lol. The guy who has had 148 for less than a month and uses 1 number bitrates.

You're smarter than that.

Why don't you tell us why different showings of the SAME MOVIE on showtime have differences of up to 2Mbps on 148 T17 then? They even have the over 1Mbps differences on 110.

I've told you why and it is correct.

Let's hear your version.

I'd rather not see this discussion degrade into personal attacks. The forum is too high latency for us to communicate effectively. If you'd like, send me a private message and we can take this discussion outside. I think we are both only interested in the truth. Maybe we can come to a consensus about what we know and what's speculation.

Guys, thanks for all the info. Didn't mean to set off any religious wars. :)

From my perspective, I think it's safe to say BUD good, E* bad. :)

Balazer, you won't get anywhere constructive with HD Fan

Dish is recompressing 148 also, ocassionally I will take a whole films bitrate to add in to the average of my numbers(no more Dish bitrates soon though, as I am dumping them after the annoucments at CES) I will be able to give C-Band HD bitrates soon though ;)

"The Peacemaker" from 148 HBO came in at 9.98 Mbps Video
"Control" from 148 Showtime came in at 11.13 Mbps Video

why Dish doesn't have these 2 movie channels untouched on one 148 Tp is beyond me, they are sitting on one TP right now all alone, using around 24 Mb's of the 38 available with 8PSK

Dish doesn't have a clue

-Gary

Balazer, you won't get anywhere constructive with HD Fan

Dish is recompressing 148 also, ocassionally I will take a whole films bitrate to add in to the average of my numbers(no more Dish bitrates soon though, as I am dumping them after the annoucments at CES) I will be able to give C-Band HD bitrates soon though ;)

"The Peacemaker" from 148 HBO came in at 9.98 Mbps Video
"Control" from 148 Showtime came in at 11.13 Mbps Video

why Dish doesn't have these 2 movie channels untouched on one 148 Tp is beyond me, they are sitting on one TP right now all alone, using around 24 Mb's of the 38 available with 8PSK

Dish doesn't have a clue

-Gary

I'm behind the curve here. Has Dish announced that it will do HDLite on all the new MPEG4 channels?

Gary, if you're going BUD, how much HD is available on C-Band and does the process involve rotors to tune all the HD possibilities? Can you point me to a link to get info of BUD?

Yes Dish has said all HD (new mpeg4 HD included) will be HD-Lite, I would expect all current mpeg2 HD to go that way ASAP

lots of info over at the satellite Guys

4DTV bud uses the 10 foot Dish reflectors that have powered rotors( I remember back in the day when I was a kid having to crank ;), not fun with snow on the ground )

-Gary

why Dish doesn't have these 2 movie channels untouched on one 148 Tp is beyond me, they are sitting on one TP right now all alone, using around 24 Mb's of the 38 available with 8PSK

Dish doesn't have a clue

-Gary


Giving them the benefit of doubt, my conclusion is that they re-encode everything to be "receiver safe". See if they let everything passthrough they could get some streams that cause problems for some of their receivers. If the re-encode everything using the same encoders then they have uniform streams that they know should work on the different decoders that they support.

Of course they may need to re-encode when they have to stat-mux multiple chans per tp, but in the case of one chan per tp, there still is a reason why they may want to re-encode. There could be other reasons as well. Maybe they are watermarking the image, or whatever...

I don't buy the "receiver safe" argument. I've never heard of a receiver that couldn't display the stream from HBO or Showtime.

In any case, it wouldn't explain the very low bit rates that DISH is using on 148 for those two programs. The short answer is that they don't care about those two programs on 148. It is unnecessary for these programs to be on 148 at all, since they're already on 110. 148 is where they do a lot of testing.

I do recall some provider specific issues that happened before E* and D* started re-encoding. There were audio dropout problems on both SHO-HD and HBO-HD and I think the DBS companies had to work with those companies to tune their encoders to resolve them.

Also, at the time there were fewer types of receivers that had to be compatible with the stream. At least this way they can monitor the output of their one (in house) HBO-HD stream decoder to make sure that it decodes the stream properly. E* & D* now have quite a lot of different decoders out there able to get their HD signals, so this way (with re-encoding) they don't have to wait for end users to tell them if HBO-HD did something incompatible with the stream.

Also, there are more channels to worry about now. They may have enacted some across the board re-encode policy to make sure that they don't expose all their customer receivers to the direct stream from all the different content providers.

Also, at the time there were fewer types of receivers that had to be compatible with the stream.I'd say the reverse is true. Back in the DISH 5000 modulator days, there were a few dozen ATSC receivers in use with the streams from HBO and Showtime.

Dish doesn't have a clue



Neither do you.

Dish is passing 148 with the same rate get it from C Band.

It mirrors the local cable system in terms of bitrate - but of course you wouldn't know that.

I'd rather not see this discussion degrade into personal attacks. The forum is too high latency for us to communicate effectively. If you'd like, send me a private message and we can take this discussion outside. I think we are both only interested in the truth. Maybe we can come to a consensus about what we know and what's speculation.

In other words you don't have an explanation and you refuse to accept what I am telling you - just as Gary did for a year when trying to tell him the bitrates were much higher on 148 and you have decided to argue this because I proved that Comcast did have a HD Pack in another thread last week which you argued they did not.

No, I meant what I said. I recall that the issue of a Comcast HD programming package was cleared up in the other thread.

I'd say the reverse is true. Back in the DISH 5000 modulator days, there were a few dozen ATSC receivers in use with the streams from HBO and Showtime.


Yes, and do you recall all the back and forth with the HiPix people complaining about signal problems from HBO-HD back when there was only the one channel. I think Dish and HBO-HD got some flack, but eventually the HiPix engineers modified their code to handle the signal inconsistencies that caused problems.

Maybe so. I remember watching HBO and Showtime programming for years on my HiPix, flawlessly.

Okay guys, I'm out of ideas and need help.

I sent my 922 off to Nextcomm last week to get the r5000hd mod. I got it back tonight, and hooked it up and it won't move my bud. I get a message saying "Physical limit of dish has been reached". The only problem is it's no where near the limit. Before sending it last week, I carefully marked all the wires and made a diagram of the connections so I wouldn't have issues hooking them back up. I followed my chart very carefully hooking them back up, but no go. I've triple and quadruple checked all of them and can't find a problem. Just to be sure it wasn't mechanical, I hooked my old Toshiba TRX1520 analog receiver up and it moved the dish with no problem.

At this point, I've done a master reset about 3 times, checked and rechecked wiring, and tried moving the dish from about every screen I can think of. Is there anything else I should try?

Can the 922 receive any digital channels at this time? I am very interested in your set up as it is the first non HDD200 4DTV mod that I have heard of. The master reset I am a little familar with requires that the satellite positions be reprogramed and rehitts for all channels to be gotten from your provider. Have you been through that before? John

Do you need to select the actuator type and set the limits in the DSR-922 menu? Are you absolutely sure you hooked up the actuator correctly? I believe one of those wires is for the position sensor.

Can the 922 receive any digital channels at this time? I am very interested in your set up as it is the first non HDD200 4DTV mod that I have heard of. The master reset I am a little familar with requires that the satellite positions be reprogramed and rehitts for all channels to be gotten from your provider. Have you been through that before? John

I don't know if I can get digital channels or not. I moved the dish with my old Toshiba receiver, but was only testing to verify that it would move. I'm probably not pointing at any particular sat at the moment. I was thinking I might test it out by moving the dish with the Toshiba, and connecting the cband coax to the 922. I new the master reset would be a pita, but after I tried for a couple hours to get the dish to move without success I figured I didn't have much to lose.

Do you need to select the actuator type and set the limits in the DSR-922 menu? Are you absolutely sure you hooked up the actuator correctly? I believe one of those wires is for the position sensor.

I did set the actuator type, but I can't set the limits as I can't move the dish. I'm pretty sure the wires are hooked up correctly. I labelled them with wire markers before I shipped the 922 to Nextcomm, and I made a diagram showing where each one went. I've also reconnected them several times just in case. The terminals on the Toshiba are pretty similar to the 922, and it worked fine on the first try with it. I did run across a post about a diode that could be shorted out over on satforums. I'm guessing someone may have accidentally shorted it out while installing the r5000hd.

Can you verify that the unit ID number has not changed? I get it from Options, Change Systems Settings, Check Systems Status, and then it is on line one. John

You should be able to bring up a screen with the present dish position and the East and West limit values. If you have done a reset the present position will probably be 5000. Tell us what you get for all of the values. John

Can you verify that the unit ID number has not changed? I get it from Options, Change Systems Settings, Check Systems Status, and then it is on line one. John

I can get the unit ID number, but I don't know what the original value was. I did check the serial number on the receiver, and it is the same one I shipped to them.

You should be able to bring up a screen with the present dish position and the East and West limit values. If you have done a reset the present position will probably be 5000. Tell us what you get for all of the values. John


Yep, the current position is 5000. The east and west limit were set to 5000. It does let me change them to 4999 or 5001 although I'm not certain that the dish actually moves when I set those limits.

Ok That is a good sign try moving the limits and see if there is any sign of a signal, or even better have someone watch the dish and see if it turns. John

Ok That is a good sign try moving the limits and see if there is any sign of a signal, or even better have someone watch the dish and see if it turns. John

The dish isn't moving at all. I can hear the relays click in the 922, and then almost immediately click again when trying to move the dish, but there's no sign of life at the dish.

The connections that go to the motor should have 36 VDC, at least briefly, when the receiver is trying to turn the dish, can you check this with a voltmeter? John

The connections that go to the motor should have 36 VDC, at least briefly, when the receiver is trying to turn the dish, can you check this with a voltmeter? John

I'm at work right now, but I'll check it this evening. I also read about a "tap test" over on satforums for testing the sensor terminals. I figure I'll try to isolate the problem as best I can over the weekend.

Just FYI. The Nextcomm guys got back to me and indicated that their mod doesn't affect the dish controller, but maybe something didn't get reconnected when they had the receiver disassembled doing the mod. They said they'd be happy to take a look at it if I ship it back to them. While I'm not happy about the problem, they do seem to be trying to stand by their work.

The Nextcomm guys got back to me and indicated that their mod doesn't affect the dish controller, but maybe something didn't get reconnected when they had the receiver disassembled doing the mod. They said they'd be happy to take a look at it if I ship it back to them. While I'm not happy about the problem, they do seem to be trying to stand by their work.

You'll find them always to be extremely accomodating and great to work with. I've been dealing with them since their beginning.

The connections that go to the motor should have 36 VDC, at least briefly, when the receiver is trying to turn the dish, can you check this with a voltmeter? John

Hey John,

I'm getting 0 volts on m1/m2 and 0 on the sensor terminals also. I hooked up my old Toshiba just to be sure I was doing everything correctly, and also to make sure my so-so voltmeter was working. The Toshiba had volts in the 30's on m1/m2 and around 1.3 on the sensor terminals. It had no problem moving the dish. Any thoughts on other things I could check?

Thanks,
Mike

The voltage on the m1/m2 terminals will only be there when the receiver is trying to turn the dish, so if the receiver was working you would see it pulse up when you hear the relay in the 922 click. If the sensor is not working, the motor voltage is removed in around one second, to prevent damage to the motor or the receiver. If you are not getting m1/2 voltage when you hear the relay, it sounds like something has gone bad in the receiver. John

The voltage on the m1/m2 terminals will only be there when the receiver is trying to turn the dish, so if the receiver was working you would see it pulse up when you hear the relay in the 922 click. If the sensor is not working, the motor voltage is removed in around one second, to prevent damage to the motor or the receiver. If you are not getting m1/2 voltage when you hear the relay, it sounds like something has gone bad in the receiver. John

John, that's not the answer you're supposed to give me. :) Unfortunately, I was thinking along the same lines though. Looks like I'll be sending it back to Nextcomm on Monday. The only other thing I could think of, and it's a long shot, would be if one of the cables inside the 922 was not put back correctly. They all appear to be seated well, but I was wondering if the one for the sensor might have gotten reversed somehow. Most of them are keyed so they can only go on one way, but that one doesn't appear to be keyed. I'm kind of doubting that however, as I'm not even getting a brief spike on the voltmeter when the relays click.

I am not sure what the connector looks like but if the connections between M1 and M2 were swapped the motor would still work but would turn in the opposite direction from the way it used to. The good news is that you hear the relays, their operation is 'computer controlled' by complex circuitry with the parts that follow being fairly simple.
If you can get the Toshiba to turn the dish to G1, you shouild be able to get the 922 reauthorized by your provider and the check out the R5000 recording modification. John

Boo!!
I wanted to be the first to report 4DTV r5000-hd usage without the 200 decoder :(
please let us know how it is when you get things going :)

-Gary

I got it back last night, and it appears to be working A-ok. I shipped it to Nextcom on the 23rd, they got it the evening of the 25th, and already had it fixed and shipped on the 26th. That's really good service!!!

I was extremely happy when I hooked it up last night and was able to move the dish. It turns out there was a bad connector on one of the circuit boards. The mod appears to be working too, although I've got a couple issues to work through. The biggest being the large number of failed transfers I'm getting. After I record for 15 or 20 minutes it usually locks up, and I have to reboot the PC to get it to record correctly again. I think the problems are due to a USB extension cable I'm using. My next step is to move the PC in next to the 922 and try again without the extension.

I think the problems are due to a USB extension cable I'm using. My next step is to move the PC in next to the 922 and try again without the extension.

That's a classic problem with using a USB extension cable. In my particular case I replaced the extension cable with one continuous USB cable, of the required length, and the problems went away.

Good luck.

Also make sure that the computer has at least 512 meg of ram. John

The newly released DISH411 MPEG-4 receiver can now be modified with the R5000-HD. The 411 represents the latest in satellite receiver technology and is capable of receving all current MPEG-2 offerings as well as the newly added "MPEG-4" channels. Users can capture all HD and SD content as well as DTV. All current R5000-HD features are supported including TitanTV remote scheduling (Program recordings from anywhere in the world).

Although MPEG-4 broadcasts have yet to make their official debut on Dish, we have already developed the necessary technology to handle these streams appropriately (See our sample captures (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/samples.htm) ). Some estimates place the start date for H.264 transmissions a year away so at this point there can be no guarantee that changes won't be made that will affect the R5000's ability to capture these streams. However, our own tests have demonstarted that a signal modulated with an H.264 stream and tuned in by the DISH411 can be prefectly captured using the R5000-HD.The official status is that this solution is "MPEG-4(AVC/H.264) ready."

Details and ordering information will be available on the Nextcom website (http://www.r5000-hd.com) in the next day or 2. Please check back with us then.

-R

The newly released DISH411 MPEG-4 receiver can now be modified with the R5000-HD. The 411 represents the latest in satellite receiver technology and is capable of receving all current MPEG-2 offerings as well as the newly added "MPEG-4" channels. Users can capture all HD and SD content as well as DTV. All current R5000-HD features are supported including TitanTV remote scheduling (Program recordings from anywhere in the world).

Although MPEG-4 broadcasts have yet to make their official debut on Dish, we have already developed the necessary technology to handle these streams appropriately (See our sample captures (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/samples.htm) ). Some estimates place the start date for H.264 transmissions a year away so at this point there can be no guarantee that changes won't be made that will affect the R5000's ability to capture these streams. However, our own tests have demonstarted that a signal modulated with an H.264 stream and tuned in by the DISH411 can be prefectly captured using the R5000-HD.The official status is that this solution is "MPEG-4(AVC/H.264) ready."

Details and ordering information will be available on the Nextcom website (http://www.r5000-hd.com) in the next day or 2. Please check back with us then.

-R


No one can ever accuse you of standing still and not kicking butt.

You have taken something even with the early bugs - did not rest until you got it right and continued to improve it and make it better - while taking care of your customers.

My first impressions of you 18 months ago were so wrong - you have proven yourself to be a world class operation.

No one can ever accuse you of standing still and not kicking butt.

You have taken something even with the early bugs - did not rest until you got it right and continued to improve it and make it better - while taking care of your customers.

My first impressions of you 18 months ago were so wrong - you have proven yourself to be a world class operation.

I couldn't have said it better, I hope to have a 411 ASAP then I will be patiently waiting for the Voom fibre problem to be fixed so we can get all those great movie channels in 1920x1080i

-Gary

That's a classic problem with using a USB extension cable. In my particular case I replaced the extension cable with one continuous USB cable, of the required length, and the problems went away.

Good luck.

It was the extension cable. I moved a PC in next to the receiver, and hooked it up with the USB cable Nextcom sent me and 0 failures. I've recorded several hours of programming without a hitch. Now I need to figure out what's going on with the software. It seems to be a little buggy. The PVR timers turn off my 922 when they fire, which makes the PVR unusable. If I'm recording something and change the channel ( to one on a different sat or transponder) on the 922, it causes the DVR to crash. So far, the only way I can get good recordings is to manually start them or to use the DVR timer. I e-mailed Nextcom yesterday, but haven't heard back yet.

The good news is the HD from the 922 is phenomenal. The SD is pretty darn good too, it's close in quality to the HD from some of the non-cband providers.

Also make sure that the computer has at least 512 meg of ram. John


I've got a gig.

I've got my 411 ready to ship to Nextcom right now! Cant wait to get the mod done! :D:D

The newly released DISH411 MPEG-4 receiver can now be modified with the R5000-HD. The 411 represents the latest in satellite receiver technology and is capable of receving all current MPEG-2 offerings as well as the newly added "MPEG-4" channels. Users can capture all HD and SD content as well as DTV. All current R5000-HD features are supported including TitanTV remote scheduling (Program recordings from anywhere in the world).

Although MPEG-4 broadcasts have yet to make their official debut on Dish, we have already developed the necessary technology to handle these streams appropriately (See our sample captures (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/samples.htm) ). Some estimates place the start date for H.264 transmissions a year away so at this point there can be no guarantee that changes won't be made that will affect the R5000's ability to capture these streams. However, our own tests have demonstarted that a signal modulated with an H.264 stream and tuned in by the DISH411 can be prefectly captured using the R5000-HD.The official status is that this solution is "MPEG-4(AVC/H.264) ready."

Details and ordering information will be available on the Nextcom website (http://www.r5000-hd.com) in the next day or 2. Please check back with us then.

-R


What about the 211, which is about the same box, but with an ethernet port?

Cheers,

I've got my 411 ready to ship to Nextcom right now! Cant wait to get the mod done! :D:D

Me three :) :) :)

Could the mod be moved from a 6000 to the 411? Or did the design require modifications?

What about the 211, which is about the same box, but with an ethernet port?

Cheers,

I'd like to know this, too. This is exciting news, since, if it works, it prolongs the time frame for us to record. I've been stressing about the time when my modded Dish 6000 would go silent. (John, this is Joe Clark in St. Louis. Are you an R5000 user, too?)

It was the extension cable. I moved a PC in next to the receiver, and hooked it up with the USB cable Nextcom sent me and 0 failures. I've recorded several hours of programming without a hitch. Now I need to figure out what's going on with the software. It seems to be a little buggy. The PVR timers turn off my 922 when they fire, which makes the PVR unusable. If I'm recording something and change the channel ( to one on a different sat or transponder) on the 922, it causes the DVR to crash. So far, the only way I can get good recordings is to manually start them or to use the DVR timer. I e-mailed Nextcom yesterday, but haven't heard back yet.

The good news is the HD from the 922 is phenomenal. The SD is pretty darn good too, it's close in quality to the HD from some of the non-cband providers.
I have use the PVR with a 920 and a Starchoice receiver and have not seen the receiver turn off. The 920 needs to be on prior to a recording starting t since the PVR does not turn it on. I believe the crashing caused changing the channel while recording is the way the software works at this time. John

I have use the PVR with a 920 and a Starchoice receiver and have not seen the receiver turn off. The 920 needs to be on prior to a recording starting t since the PVR does not turn it on. I believe the crashing caused changing the channel while recording is the way the software works at this time. John

John,

Did you have your receiver modded with the r5000, or are you using a modded HDD200? I can confirm that the software crashing when you change channels is the way the software works, but its not the way its supposed to work. I asked David about this specifically before purchasing.

Mike

My R5000 is in the HDD200, but I was under the impression that the R5000 got essentially the same signal from a 922. Unless the software has changed since I did my playing around with it, I think the software determines the part of the data to record only at the start of the recording, and that can change when the channel is changed. This causes the crash. If the PVR starts the recording even if it only has to change change channels the recording software starts over, so all is well and no crash. In any event check with David to get the best info on your two problems. John

I'd like to know this, too. This is exciting news, since, if it works, it prolongs the time frame for us to record. I've been stressing about the time when my modded Dish 6000 would go silent. (John, this is Joe Clark in St. Louis. Are you an R5000 user, too?)

Not yet. But I'm considering this route over the 622 for the ability to have much more archiving space :)

Cheers,

My R5000 is in the HDD200, but I was under the impression that the R5000 got essentially the same signal from a 922. Unless the software has changed since I did my playing around with it, I think the software determines the part of the data to record only at the start of the recording, and that can change when the channel is changed. This causes the crash. If the PVR starts the recording even if it only has to change change channels the recording software starts over, so all is well and no crash. In any event check with David to get the best info on your two problems. John

John,
Can I assume that the mod controls your 922 with an ir blaster? Does the blaster work okay? It's an issue to me because I can disconnect/reconnect my HDD200 relatively painlessly compared to my 922.
Thanks. Wilson

It was the extension cable. I moved a PC in next to the receiver, and hooked it up with the USB cable Nextcom sent me and 0 failures. I've recorded several hours of programming without a hitch.

If you live in an area that has a Frys (I believe DC suburbs of Virginia do depending on how close you are) I found a 15 foot USB extender (its actually over 16ft but whatever) as a friend with a R5000HD needed to extend his cable.

I only tried this because it had the heavy silver braiding shown under a clear plastic and a good gauge cable between the ends - you could tell it was well made. It has a quasi big black connector to accept the male 6pin USB connector (maybe 1.5x the size of an old matchbox) where the R5000HD 6 Pin USB cable plugs into.

He uses it on a Directv R5000HD and as many know, the tranmission stream from Directv has virtually no errors compared to the occasional E* transmission errors - and over 3 months he still has not had a glitch - with over 20 ft of USB cabling.

I would be happy to give you a name of the extension cable if it had one on it and have long since thrown the packaging away, but it was on the shelves at Frys - just look for the heavy duty USB extension as opposed to the typical cheap connectors and find the one with the thick silver braid showing and a black box on the end.

Edit: Scratch that - Frys is apparently about to open outside of Washington and Miami but has not yet.

John,
Can I assume that the mod controls your 922 with an ir blaster? Does the blaster work okay? It's an issue to me because I can disconnect/reconnect my HDD200 relatively painlessly compared to my 922.
Thanks. Wilson
All of the mods control the receiver via an IR signal. This signal comes from the R5000 board so the answer to your question is yes. I mostly use the IR signal to control a Starchoice receiver. I also have a 920 receiver and have tested teh IR control with it and it worked OK. I don't use it on a day to day basis with the 920. John

USB cable limit about 16 feet. That limit is due to signal timings, not signal quality, so you can expect the connection reliability to degrade quickly as that limit is exceeded. If you need more than 16 feet, you can get an active extension cable, with a repeater on the end of it. You can put up to 5 active extension cables in series. If you use a passive extension cable, the 16-foot limit applies to the sum of the lengths of the extension cable and the cable plugged into it.

I agree the theoritical limits are 16 feet, but then again it is theoritically impossible for me to pick up 148W here as well - in fact Dish says I cannot pick up 129W either :)

Again, I am just reporting real life experiences as oppposed to theoritical with now thousand of hours of caps.

You results may vary.

HDTVFanAtic,
What is your elevation angle to the 148 Sat.? John

Not yet. But I'm considering this route over the 622 for the ability to have much more archiving space :)

Cheers,

I've used the R5000 for a year and a half or so and it's one of my favorite tools. When all the details of the 411 are clear to me, I'll jump on that right away. These guys who do the R5000 mod are really responsive to user needs. I read all the horror stories of the 169Time device and I'm glad I waited. You're familiar with the MyHD, I assume. They make a tremendously flixible pair.

HDTVFanAtic,
What is your elevation angle to the 148 Sat.? John

12 degrees.

Dish says its impossible and the people that do the commercial satellite installs and maintain them for the gas stations and banks show in their software its theoretically impossible without a dish of several meters as I am pointed too close to the earth's surface and will pick up too much ground surface noise without a large dish of several meters.

However, they also will not install a Dish 1000 here as they say the footprint on 129 is out of range as well.

If someone tells you you can't get 148, they are just using the wrong parameters in their model. You are not exceeding the theoretical possibility.

I tried a 30 inch dish aimed at the 148 Sat. It worked but only on certain cloudy days when there was no wind. Most days the signal would fade out about once every five min. I guess 1.8 degrees elevation is too low. John

If you live in an area that has a Frys (I believe DC suburbs of Virginia do depending on how close you are) I found a 15 foot USB extender (its actually over 16ft but whatever) as a friend with a R5000HD needed to extend his cable.

I only tried this because it had the heavy silver braiding shown under a clear plastic and a good gauge cable between the ends - you could tell it was well made. It has a quasi big black connector to accept the male 6pin USB connector (maybe 1.5x the size of an old matchbox) where the R5000HD 6 Pin USB cable plugs into.

He uses it on a Directv R5000HD and as many know, the tranmission stream from Directv has virtually no errors compared to the occasional E* transmission errors - and over 3 months he still has not had a glitch - with over 20 ft of USB cabling.

I would be happy to give you a name of the extension cable if it had one on it and have long since thrown the packaging away, but it was on the shelves at Frys - just look for the heavy duty USB extension as opposed to the typical cheap connectors and find the one with the thick silver braid showing and a black box on the end.

Edit: Scratch that - Frys is apparently about to open outside of Washington and Miami but has not yet.

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I may already have the same cable. I got it from the Frys outpost website. It's got the silver braid with the black box on the end. The cable works for a period of time, but it generates errors and after a while it gets too many errors and hoses everything up. Have to reboot the PC to get it to work again. Might be something different between the way the Directv mod works vs. the 922 mod. Anyway I've got it working now. I've got the receiver and the PC in a utility room where all of the house wiring is home run wired to.

John,
Can I assume that the mod controls your 922 with an ir blaster? Does the blaster work okay? It's an issue to me because I can disconnect/reconnect my HDD200 relatively painlessly compared to my 922.
Thanks. Wilson

If I understand your question correctly, the HDD200 mod uses an external cable that sends the IR signal to the 9XX receiver in the same way the 4dtv remote does. If you have a 9XX receiver modded, the signal is sent through the USB cable going to the PC.

If someone tells you you can't get 148, they are just using the wrong parameters in their model. You are not exceeding the theoretical possibility.

Again, according to Dish and other software, you are for dish of less than 1 meter. As stated, if you want a larger dish, its possible, again, theoritically.

Bottom line

1) a 22 foot usb connection works if you get a good quality extension and has worked with a R5000HD for months without a failure.

2) I get 148 and 129 regardless of what Dish and others say is possible.

Well obviously there is some margin built into that 16-foot figure. Do you think it would work perfectly at 16 feet and not at all at 16.5 feet? You can expect it to work for a few feet beyond 16 feet. But pretty soon you will hit a limit, and it won't work no matter how thick the wires or how good the shielding. It would be irresponsible to suggest that you can hook up a 16-foot extension cable and expect it to work in all cases. The total length matters, for timing reasons. You cannot exceed the speed of light.

Well obviously there is some margin built into that 16-foot figure. Do you think it would work perfectly at 16 feet and not at all at 16.5 feet? You can expect it to work for a few feet beyond 16 feet. But pretty soon you will hit a limit, and it won't work no matter how thick the wires or how good the shielding. It would be irresponsible to suggest that you can hook up a 16-foot extension cable and expect it to work in all cases. The total length matters, for timing reasons.

I did not state in all cases - in fact, I also stated that your results may vary.

Again, it has worked with ZERO glitches (other than rainfade) for over 3 months at a total length of over 22 feet with THOUSANDS of hours of caps through a rats nest of AC and other wiring.

I have seen 100x as many glitches with a Dish R5000HD setup with a OEM USB cable during the same period, so I can hardly say that it doesn't work.

I have never seen a failure that I can attribute to the 22 foot connection.

It was simply a suggestion he could try if he wanted - it sounds as if he has.

Sorry that you don't believe it.

You cannot exceed the speed of light.

Captain Kirk and Scottie are going to be very upset! So much for Warp Drives.

Alright! :) You can take your chances using a passive cable beyond 16 feet, or spend a few more dollars on an active cable that's much more likely to work. I don't know how we end up in these stupid arguments.

Alright! :) You can take your chances using a passive cable beyond 16 feet, or spend a few more dollars on an active cable that's much more likely to work. I don't know how we end up in these stupid arguments.

I know this is probably like throwing gasoline on a fire, but the cable I'm using and the one I think Fanatic is referring is an active cable.

I assume that when you are using an active cable, it creates an additional USB device in the chain. When I first tried using my R5000, I inserted active hubs and/or switches in the chain, but they created additional devices that were detected by Windows. I was able to use the R5000 with these devices in the chain, but it made detection of the R5000 device more difficult. Now, I just use a single 10' USB cable and physically plug and unplug the cable to whichever PC I use for recording.

At least some (most?) active repeater cables are transparent. (i.e. they will not appear as a hub to the system)

I know this is probably like throwing gasoline on a fire, but the cable I'm using and the one I think Fanatic is referring is an active cable.

For active, do you need power? I have no idea but assumed so.

This did not show up as an additional device, but it doesn't have power applied to it either unless it is selfpowered through the 6pin.

I just have a cable I found on the shelf that worked and my brother was thrilled - I don't know if it was active/passive or whatever the terminology :)

It was a little more expensive then a typical USB extension cable which I attributed to gauge of the connection cable, but not like the $70-$100 hub/repeaters for USB I have seen.

Active repeater cables get their power from the USB bus.

Maybe it is an active cable then - that might explain it.

I guess I just got lucky.

This is the one:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4214644?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I guess we both learned something today! I learned that HDTVFanatic is using an active cable, and HDTVFanatic learned that he is using an active cable.

I should have known it from the beginning when he said that the end of the cable had a big connector.

I guess we both learned something today! I learned that HDTVFanatic is using an active cable, and HDTVFanatic learned that he is using an active cable.

I should have known it from the beginning when he said that the end of the cable had a big connector.

I didn't even know there were 2 kinds so you were ahead of me!

It looked as if it was a better quality then the other usb extenders on the shelves so I picked it up - as $15 wasn't going to kill me if it didn't work for my brother.

I just knew I grabbed it off the shelf at Frys and have never seen any specs on it until 20 minutes ago.

I learned something, too. What I would like to find is a USB switch that will allow me to switch among various PC's to be used for R5000 recording, but doesn't add a device in the chain. That way, I could more easily switch among PC's without always having to pull and reinsert the cable.

What you want is a manual USB switch. Try froogle or eBay. I've seen 2-way and 4-way switches.

From what I have seen, when you pull the USB cable the DVR software immediately shuts down as it looses contact with the STB.

Will a switch keep the connection active to all computers all the time or would you have to switch and then start the DVR software?

A manual switch is just like unplugging and replugging in a different PC.

I haven't seen the manual switches before in computer stores. Thanks for the advice.

The newly released DISH411 MPEG-4 receiver can now be modified with the R5000-HD. The 411 represents the latest in satellite receiver technology and is capable of receving all current MPEG-2 offerings as well as the newly added "MPEG-4" channels. Users can capture all HD and SD content as well as DTV. All current R5000-HD features are supported including TitanTV remote scheduling (Program recordings from anywhere in the world).

Although MPEG-4 broadcasts have yet to make their official debut on Dish, we have already developed the necessary technology to handle these streams appropriately (See our sample captures (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/samples.htm) ). Some estimates place the start date for H.264 transmissions a year away so at this point there can be no guarantee that changes won't be made that will affect the R5000's ability to capture these streams. However, our own tests have demonstarted that a signal modulated with an H.264 stream and tuned in by the DISH411 can be prefectly captured using the R5000-HD.The official status is that this solution is "MPEG-4(AVC/H.264) ready."

Details and ordering information will be available on the Nextcom website (http://www.r5000-hd.com) in the next day or 2. Please check back with us then.

-R

I went trolling for information over at DBSTalk about the differences between the Dish 411 and the Dish 211, hoping someone might be able to shed a light on the technical similarities. When I mentioned the R5000, they thought I might be talking about illegal mods. When I explained what the R5000 is (tactfully and factually, I thought), the thread was closed. Apparently, I stepped over the bounds of what that forum is designed to discuss. I felt like I tracked mud all over their white carpets.

Anyway, looks like, when support is officially announced, I'll probably end up getting a 411. Does anyone here know if I can get the discounted upgrade ($49, I think) to the new 1000 dish if I have it installed before April 1? I'll probably upgrade to the 622 then.

I went trolling for information over at DBSTalk about the differences between the Dish 411 and the Dish 211, hoping someone might be able to shed a light on the technical similarities. When I mentioned the R5000, they thought I might be talking about illegal mods. When I explained what the R5000 is (tactfully and factually, I thought), the thread was closed. Apparently, I stepped over the bounds of what that forum is designed to discuss. I felt like I tracked mud all over their white carpets.

Anyway, looks like, when support is officially announced, I'll probably end up getting a 411. Does anyone here know if I can get the discounted upgrade ($49, I think) to the new 1000 dish if I have it installed before April 1? I'll probably upgrade to the 622 then.

lol...I've been wondering the same as I have paid absolutely NO ATTENTION to the new Dish STBs as they had no interest to me in that they could not be modified.

Most are saying they are the same except the 211 has an ethernet port - and I have no idea what it would be used for or why they would make 2 different models with the ethernet conneciton being the only difference.

However, if you get a good answer or thread, please let us know.

I went trolling for information over at DBSTalk about the differences between the Dish 411 and the Dish 211, hoping someone might be able to shed a light on the technical similarities. When I mentioned the R5000, they thought I might be talking about illegal mods. When I explained what the R5000 is (tactfully and factually, I thought), the thread was closed.
Joe,

Send jim at DBStalk a PM with the r5000 web site. I read your post about the r5000 and I don't think it was out of line... There are a number of threads on dbstalk that refer to the 169* solution.

TW

Joe,

Send jim at DBStalk a PM with the r5000 web site. I read your post about the r5000 and I don't think it was out of line... There are a number of threads on dbstalk that refer to the 169* solution.

TW

PMed. Thanks.

Modification of the Dish ViP211 is also supported along with the 411. The only real difference appears to be the Ethernet jack which is for "future use". Whatever its use it will have no affect on the implememtation of the R5000.

-R

Modification of the Dish ViP211 is also supported along with the 411. The only real difference appears to be the Ethernet jack which is for "future use". Whatever its use it will have no affect on the implememtation of the R5000.

-R

I haven't noticed anything on your web site, yet. Is support for the 411 now official? If it is, I'm going to order a 411 and figure the best time to get a deal on the install (since I'll be upgrading to a 622 in April anyway).

I sent a URL for your web site over to a DBSTalk moderator. I found it hard to believe he hadn't heard about you guys.

I haven't noticed anything on your web site, yet. Is support for the 411 now official? If it is, I'm going to order a 411 and figure the best time to get a deal on the install (since I'll be upgrading to a 622 in April anyway).

I sent a URL for your web site over to a DBSTalk moderator. I found it hard to believe he hadn't heard about you guys.


The website has been updated to accept orders for the Dish 411 and ViP 211. Support for these models is official and availability is "currently shipping." Please see sales (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm) page for details. Thanks,

-R

The website has been updated to accept orders for the Dish 411 and ViP 211. Support for these models is official and availability is "currently shipping." Please see sales (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm) page for details. Thanks,

-R

The big question everyone would like to know is what video bitrate are you seeing off any of the movies on Universal HD?

The website has been updated to accept orders for the Dish 411 and ViP 211. Support for these models is official and availability is "currently shipping." Please see sales (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm) page for details. Thanks,

-R

I remember reading that you'll swap out an old mod for a new one for a fee. How much to remove the mod from my 6000 and put it in a 211 or 411? Along the same lines, what if I want to let you keep my old modded 6000 and have you mod a 211 or 411 that I send you at the same time? With the switch to MPEG4 are you doing that?

Maybe it is an active cable then - that might explain it.

I guess I just got lucky.

This is the one:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4214644?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

That's the cable I bought. They seem to be a little finicky though. I think I'm going to stick with a standard USB cable and keep the receiver and PC next to each other in my utility room. The place is starting to look like mission control. :)

My R5000 is in the HDD200, but I was under the impression that the R5000 got essentially the same signal from a 922. Unless the software has changed since I did my playing around with it, I think the software determines the part of the data to record only at the start of the recording, and that can change when the channel is changed. This causes the crash. If the PVR starts the recording even if it only has to change change channels the recording software starts over, so all is well and no crash. In any event check with David to get the best info on your two problems. John

John,

David got back to me this afternoon. Turns out, the channel changing fix has been in for the pizza dishes for a while now but they forgot to turn it on for the DC2 platforms. He sent me an updated r5000hd.exe file that appears to fix the problems I reported previously. I just finished testing, and can change the channel and the recording keeps going. It takes a couple seconds to resync, but then it starts recording the new channel without issue. The PVR is working correctly now too.

Mike

That's the cable I bought. They seem to be a little finicky though. I think I'm going to stick with a standard USB cable and keep the receiver and PC next to each other in my utility room. The place is starting to look like mission control. :)

The shorter the distance the better is always the rule.

However, I am somewhat surprised you have had an issue with it as I would recommend it to anyone if they could not get the PC closer to the STB.

Anyone have pictures of their setups? I have 3 411s and want to try the mod out on one of them.

The big question everyone would like to know is what video bitrate are you seeing off any of the movies on Universal HD?

it is VBR ranging from 9 to 13 Mbps or so, this is from someone who uses a DVB PC card and can read the tp. bitrate but he said that he didn't know what programming was currently on(when the bitrate test was taken) because he is not hacking, this was Hokie from sat guys

-Gary

Anyone have pictures of their setups? I have 3 411s and want to try the mod out on one of them.

???? Why would you need picture of a setup? Its a simple stb to a computer.

???? Why would you need picture of a setup? Its a simple stb to a computer.

so maybe he could reverse engineer :(

-Gary

so maybe he could reverse engineer :(

-Gary

No, I just wanted to see if the mod was clean and neat, or if they hack apart the box causing me not being able to sale it in the future.

I check thier site not even 1 picture.

No, I just wanted to see if the mod was clean and neat, or if they hack apart the box causing me not being able to sale it in the future.

I check thier site not even 1 picture.

A picture would show you a small hole drilled in the back of the unit, with a USB port where before there was smooth metal. That USB port would connect the unit to your computer via a USB cable. Other than that, there would be no external evidence that anything had happened.

I'm still interested in finding out if the mod can be moved from my 6000 to a 211/411. I believe I read that this would be done for existing customers, but I can't remember where.

No, I just wanted to see if the mod was clean and neat, or if they hack apart the box causing me not being able to sale it in the future.

I check thier site not even 1 picture.

As the warranty is only for 1 year, everyone that purchased a unit over a year ago SHOULD pop the cover and look at it.

After looking at it, you will feel alot better about your purchase no matter what price along the way you paid as this wasn't some hack job and things WERE NOT thrown together from radio shack parts.

If anyone wanted to try and put one together themselves, I would say lots of luck.

The key to the beauty of this whole system is the software integration - which is only seen on the pc.

I'm still interested in finding out if the mod can be moved from my 6000 to a 211/411. I believe I read that this would be done for existing customers, but I can't remember where.

nope it can't :( , the 211/411 requires new hardware, so 6000 users are SOL

-Gary

nope it can't :( , the 211/411 requires new hardware, so 6000 users are SOL

-Gary

Thought you were moving yours from a 6000 to a 922 and C Band ?

nope it can't :( , the 211/411 requires new hardware, so 6000 users are SOL

-Gary

Maybe I read they would upgrade for a fee, but, again, I haven't been able to find that info again. R5000, are you there?

Thought you were moving yours from a 6000 to a 922 and C Band ?

no, I can't ditch my only outlet for True 1080i HDNet Movies, so I will have to find the cash for modding a 922 or do some switching between various receivers

-Gary

no, I can't ditch my only outlet for True 1080i HDNet Movies, so I will have to find the cash for modding a 922 or do some switching between various receivers

-Gary

Gary,

You may want to hold off on the 922 purchase anyway. There's some pretty serious issues with the PVR and the 9XX mod right now. I think they'll get it right, but I haven't been given any fixes or ETA's on fixes yet. Worst case I'll make my own with the command-line, but that would take some time.

Mike

Maybe I read they would upgrade for a fee, but, again, I haven't been able to find that info again. R5000, are you there?

Still no response on this. I'd like to move soon, so I need to know what Nextcom might be willing to do. No response to my e-mail to Nextcom yet, either.

Gary,

You may want to hold off on the 922 purchase anyway. There's some pretty serious issues with the PVR and the 9XX mod right now. I think they'll get it right, but I haven't been given any fixes or ETA's on fixes yet. Worst case I'll make my own with the command-line, but that would take some time.

Mike
Could you explain the problem more? Do you know if the the PVR acts differently with a 922 mod and an HDD200 mod. John

nope it can't :( , the 211/411 requires new hardware, so 6000 users are SOL

-Gary

Gary,

You are right. I just got a response from Nextcom and (right now) they don't have an upgrade path for 6000 users. Looks like my only option now is to sell the 6000 with the mod - just have to make sure the person buying knows it's a device that won't pick up any new stations. I have two 6000s, one modded, so maybe I can eBay those. The new 211 and the mod will cost about $950, with 6000s going on eBay right now for about $250 to $275. If I'm lucky I'll be able to get a modded 211 for about $250-$300 difference.

You may want to hold off on the 922 purchase anyway. There's some pretty serious issues with the PVR and the 9XX mod right now. I think they'll get it right, but I haven't been given any fixes or ETA's on fixes yet. Worst case I'll make my own with the command-line, but that would take some time.Mike,
Please do elaborate about these problems. It would be useful to know if there's any overlap between the problems you're experiencing with the 922 and problems people are experiencing with other receivers. (especially the other Motorola receivers)

I'm with ctdish and Balazar, as I'm currently trying to decide whether to send my HDD200 or 922. Thanks for any light you can shed on the matter.

Could you explain the problem more? Do you know if the the PVR acts differently with a 922 mod and an HDD200 mod. John

I'll be happy to explain more, but please keep in mind what I'm posting includes a lot of theories about the problems. I'm making some assumptions about what is going on based on the visual evidence I'm seeing, that may turn out to be incorrect.

Right now I'm experiencing several problems with the PVR. It very rarely is able to move the dish successfully, and it often times gets the channel number wrong. It also doesn't appear to be able to turn on the 922, so when it turns it off at the end of one recording it can't turn it back on for the next one. I think the problems with the sat and channel selection have to do with the amount of time that is being allowed between signals sent from the PVR to the 922. David thinks it may be a hardware issue rather than software though.

I've done a fair bit of experimenting with the command-line interface, and have set up command files to move the dish to the different satellite locations. To get my command files to work correctly, I had to wait for about 6 seconds from the time I sent the sat function (hyphen) to the 922 before sending the first character of the the sat code. I then have to wait about 2 or 3 seconds before sending the second sat code, and another 2 or 3 before sending the ok code. For example, my G9 command file looks something like this:

r5000hd -rem hyphen
wait 6
r5000hd -rem 5
wait 3
r5000hd -rem 9
wait 3
r5000hd -rem ok

It appears to me that the PVR isn't waiting very long at all between codes. When I enter the same codes manually with the 922 remote, I can key them very fast and they appear to be queued up some how by the 922. When the codes are entered by the PVR, it doesn't appear the same queueing is happening. My guess is the hdd200 mod doesn't have a problem since its sending true ir signals rather than using the USB cable. I don't own an hdd200, but since I haven't seen posts about it having these issues I'm assuming it doesn't.

Right now, the only way I can get PVR events to work correctly is to use the Windows scheduler to call one of my command files to move the dish prior to the PVR event firing. I blank the satellite field on the PVR event so it doesn't attempt to perform that step. I then set a timer on the 922 for the next event so that it turns on prior to the event starting. I guess I could move the dish with the 922 timer, but have been trying to use the r5000 for as much as I can.

Another issue I've seen from the command-line, is that the pwr command can turn off the 922 but it can't turn it back on. I think whatever is causing this problem may be the same one that is causing the problem with timers failing to power up the 922.

I don't want to give the wrong impression here. I think Nextcom is working very hard to correct the problems and when the r5000 records something the quality is excellent. So far, after I got rid of the USB extension cable, I haven't had a single failed transfer. So the DVR is working great and the command-line seems to have a lot of potential for my own customizations. I've already done some experimentation with live pause that I found to be very encouraging. It's the PVR that is the real problem, and I think that will get fixed.

I forgot to mention one problem that has been fixed already. With version 2.1c of the PVR, the satellite selected for the different events could become scrambled if you sorted the list on the column headers. For instance I had some timers set for Discovery HD on C4 600 and HBOHD on G9 118 get transposed to G9 600 and C4 118.

David sent me version 2.2a, which corrected the issue. I think the beta on the Nextcom web site may also contain this fix.

Mike

Mike,
Thanks for the information. As a long-time 922 owner, I would size up the PVR problem the same way you do and would lead me to want to mod my backup HDD200 instead of the 922.

Mike,
Thanks for the information. As a long-time 922 owner, I would size up the PVR problem the same way you do and would lead me to want to mod my backup HDD200 instead of the 922.

If I had both that's what I would do as well. For folks that don't own an hdd200, I think the 9xx mod will be a really good solution. Right now I'm just on the bleeding edge of the technology and am living with some of its growing pains.

Gary,
Looks like my only option now is to sell the 6000 with the mod - just have to make sure the person buying knows it's a device that won't pick up any new stations. maybe I can eBay those.

Problem is Dish (apparently) won't let new subs activate 6000s for HD chans anymore. If you cancel service, then sell it, the buyer may not be able to use it for HD at all.

Problem is Dish (apparently) won't let new subs activate 6000s for HD chans anymore. If you cancel service, then sell it, the buyer may not be able to use it for HD at all.

Yes, I just read that over at DBSTalk. I'll have to reconsider how I deal with the 6000s. I couldn't in good conscience sell one as an HD receiver knowing that. I just checked eBay earlier today and auctions are closing as we speak on 6000s selling that way.

Problem is Dish (apparently) won't let new subs activate 6000s for HD chans anymore. If you cancel service, then sell it, the buyer may not be able to use it for HD at all.Tonight I saw a Dish 6000 bid to over $400 on eBay with 10 hours to go. What are people thinking? E* is trashing the value of these receivers at the expense of current owners and uninformed purchasers. This is not a way to inspire loyalty, Charlie, to put it mildly.

I have a modded dish6000 in one room and I want to get a 622dvr in the other room and "upgrade" to the platinum package. If I do that, will the modded 6000 still work?
any thoughts on this?

Thanks

I have a modded dish6000 in one room and I want to get a 622dvr in the other room and "upgrade" to the platinum package. If I do that, will the modded 6000 still work?
any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Yes, one has nothing to do with the other.

Yes, one has nothing to do with the other.

I didn't think Dish would activate the metallic packs on the older receivers.

They do, you just wont get any of the new "MPEG4" HD channels.

Please forgive me if this is "off-topic" here, but the answers will affect my possible plans to resurrect my C-band dish and buy a DSR922/have it modified...

-Have any of you 4DTV 922 owners also owned/used Dish or DirecTV HD equipment? Can you tell me how the quality compares between Dish/Dir HD (or even SD digital, for that matter) and 4DTV? If you have checked it, how are the bitrates or file sizes for 4DTV HD recordings?

In particular, I am very interested in knowing if 4DTV HD has any of the "HD-lite"-type problems that DirecTV has (and now maybe Dish as well). Reduced resolution, low bitrates, etc.

In December, I cancelled my $85/month DirecTV subscription and sold my HD and SD Tivos, I was so annoyed by the mediocre "quality" of their product.

Everyone, from FIOS to Cable to D* and E* all get their feeds of HBO-HD and SHO-HD and STARZHD (ie you your supplier has these) from C Band, so you will at least get it from the source. Of course, you can only get SHO-HD West, so a bit different, but it will be better than the pizza box dishes.

Yes Chris as HDFan said, all the providers get lots of the their channels from C-band, it is a first generation HD signal you are receiving from C-band, so the quality is the best that it gets from that channel because you are getting it directly from the said channel's head end :)

if newer up to date C-band consumer receivers and equipment were released it would be a much more viable HD solution for those picture quality purist's(like me :)), it still is because 3 True untouched HD movie channels is better to me than none ;), if only HDNet/HDNet Movies were able to be received by consumers on c-band I would have no other provider coming into my home
and that includes the utter joke the Dish has become, spitting on loyal customers on a daily basis :mad:

-Gary

Just picked up a used modded receiver on Ebay, so I'll finally get into the R5000 world. Just hope it works! :)

Chris, i also have a giant C-Band dish and keep debating whether to try and figure it all out and add R5000 to it.

For those thinking about getting an r5000 for c-band, it really does work great. I have a modded HD200 (not the modded 922 receiver directly) and it works very well. If you are recording to archive movies from HBO/Showtime/Starz the quality just can't be beat. The PVR software takes care of moving the dish, etc. The SD recordings are amazing as well. Something not often said about SD. Even on a 92" screen on a 720P projector, it looks very good.

Darin

Just picked up a used modded receiver on Ebay, so I'll finally get into the R5000 world. Just hope it works! :)

Chris, i also have a giant C-Band dish and keep debating whether to try and figure it all out and add R5000 to it.

I thought Dish wasn't activating receivers to display HD except for the original owners (811s, 6000s, 921s, etc.). Have you tried to activate your receiver with Dish yet?

I thought Dish wasn't activating receivers to display HD except for the original owners (811s, 6000s, 921s, etc.). Have you tried to activate your receiver with Dish yet?

He didn't say it was Dish. Maybe it's D*.

I'd put good money on it, that its a D* box.

Indeed ;). Should have specified, it's a D* box. I've got the CBand guys coming out Saturday to show me all the wiring options for my big dish, and then I'll have to seriously debate whether to get the R5000 mod for the big sucker!

I have the R5000-HD Motorola digital cable box mod, and it's been working very well.

I had a problem where my system would get messed up if the channel was changed on the box while recording. CPU usage went to 100% and I had to do a hard reset.

Also, the PVR application was repeatedly downloading the same TitanTV remotely scheduled items.

David sent me new executables to fix both problems.

Does the fact that the new Dish units are leased to one rather than owned cause any prob w/ sending it off to get modded?

I have the R5000-HD Motorola digital cable box mod, and it's been working very well.

I had a problem where my system would get messed up if the channel was changed on the box while recording. CPU usage went to 100% and I had to do a hard reset.

Also, the PVR application was repeatedly downloading the same TitanTV remotely scheduled items.

David sent me new executables to fix both problems.

Did he ever say what the issue was caused by? In all my testing of the cable mod, I never experienced that issue. The biggest issue I seem to be getting is malformed I-frames (I think thats what it was determined to be) that would cause the DVR to crash.

David didn't say. I presumed I was having the same problem that IamMike reported.

Thank you all for the C-band information. I think you have confirmed for me that it will be worth the efforts to re-install my big dish (it used to be fine, until the fence had to be moved and they built 35-foot-tall townhouses behind my back yard) and get a 4DTV system running.

I've recorded both HD and SD with the 922 mod (I don't own an HDD200) and its the best picture quality I've seen anywhere. I still use a Dish 811 for the HD channels on Dish that aren't on CBand, and CBand is definitely better. I think you'll be really happy when you get your BUD operational again.

Incidentally, I've gotten several updates from David during the last week, the last one built in some longer pause times which seems to have helped the software a lot. The last couple days I haven't had any missed timers. Prior to that, about 1 timer in 5 was working. Don't want to jinx things, but they may have it fixed now.

Latest versions are available in the download area (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm). The version 2.3 DVR includes support for the Dish 411 and ViP 211 receivers and addresses various issues reported to date:

4DTV (C-Band) PVR events not firing correctly. Handles "GB" satellite selection (requires the updated PVR) by using the satellite immediately to the left or right of "GB" in your sat. menu. For example if GB is to the left of G5 you would program "G5<". This is required since the 4DTV remotes have no "B" selection.

Motorola systems: Stream re-sync on channel change left out of previous release has been included. Auto-rate detection algorithm fixed to prevent SD streams recording at HD rate. A rare stream anomaly appearing on certain cable systems is handled.

Version 2.2c PVR: changes the way TitanTV remotely scheduled events are retrieved. First retrieval gets all events. Subsequent retrievals only fetch new programs. Since TitanTV does not provide a way to delete remotely scheduled events on their server, they can be deleted once downloaded to the PVR and won't be replaced. C-band sat. codes are now sorted properly along with the channel. Supports "GB" sat code using the method above.

-R

This looks really interesting. Any chances that the list of supported *D receivers will expand to include newer models like the Hughes HTL-HD? Thanks...

This might just be coincidental - or one of those crap happens and you can never get to the bottom of - but has anyone had any issues the the 1) MyHD card 2) The Newest Windows XP Critical Updates released this week 3) The R5000HD newest software released this week - all on the same machine?

Or even a problem starting the MyHD after any of the above this week?

I am not saying that any of the above - or combination - are an issue - just trying to get to the bottom of an issue in the last several days.

I've got all three on the same machine, and I haven't noticed any issues.

Maybe one of those Gremlins that just happen.

I've been suspecting this for a while now but until now never had any evidence of it. I just recorded F/X2 last night on my R5000HD modified Dish 6000 receiver. I watched the movie live while it was recording and saw no glitches throughout the entire movie. The remuxer.log file however indicates about a minute's worth of VPESDELTWARN events. When I play the file back with MyHD, I see all kinds of video problems during this minute.

I've been getting a lot of these errors lately, especially on Showtime. I never used to get them. I've been blaming them on HDNET, Showtime and Dish but now I think at least some of them might be caused by the R5000. Does anyone know what VPESDELTWARN means?

I'm thinking of going back to the older software I was using when I didn't get these errors and see if they go away.

Here's the pertinent part of the remuxer.log file:

Wrote 00:38:15.1
Wrote 00:38:46.4
Wrote 00:39:17.1
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:27.2: Video dts 2443554053, next_dts 2443608107, delta=54054, pcr 2443514005, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1221757026
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:27.2: Audio pts 2443535255, next_pts 2443592855, delta=57600, pcr 2443517139, forcing send...
Using APTS 1221764891
WARN: 00:39:27.2, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3079.
WARN: 00:39:29.2, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3079.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:29.2: Video dts 2443779278, next_dts 2443794293, delta=15015, pcr 2443740770, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1221869639
APESDELT: 17280 AT: 00:39:29.2
APESDELT: 5760 AT: 00:39:29.2
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:32.3: Video dts 2444019518, next_dts 2444061560, delta=42042, pcr 2443979457, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1221989759
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:32.3: Audio pts 2443996055, next_pts 2444047895, delta=51840, pcr 2443982528, forcing send...
Using APTS 1221995291
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:34.3: Video dts 2444232731, next_dts 2444253752, delta=21021, pcr 2444195291, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222096365
WARN: 00:39:34.3, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1543.
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:35.3: Audio pts 2444335895, next_pts 2444376215, delta=40320, pcr 2444315835, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222165211
WARN: 00:39:35.3, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1544.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:35.3: Video dts 2444355854, next_dts 2444394893, delta=39039, pcr 2444315835, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222157927
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:36.3: Video dts 2444409908, next_dts 2444451950, delta=42042, pcr 2444369853, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222184954
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:36.3: Audio pts 2444393495, next_pts 2444439575, delta=46080, pcr 2444387694, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222194011
WARN: 00:39:36.3, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3079.
WARN: 00:39:37.3, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1545.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:37.3: Video dts 2444509007, next_dts 2444527025, delta=18018, pcr 2444469429, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222234503
APESDELT: 17280 AT: 00:39:37.3
APESDELT: 5760 AT: 00:39:38.3
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:38.3: Audio pts 2444560535, next_pts 2444595095, delta=34560, pcr 2444541469, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222277531
WARN: 00:39:38.3, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1544.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:38.3: Video dts 2444581079, next_dts 2444611109, delta=30030, pcr 2444541469, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222270539
WARN: 00:39:40.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 4616.
WARN: 00:39:41.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3316.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:42.4: Video dts 2444905403, next_dts 2444929427, delta=24024, pcr 2444865354, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222432701
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:42.4: Audio pts 2444883095, next_pts 2444911895, delta=28800, pcr 2444877296, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222438811
WARN: 00:39:42.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 4615.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:43.4: Video dts 2445034532, next_dts 2445061559, delta=27027, pcr 2444997756, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222497266
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:43.4: Audio pts 2445015575, next_pts 2445044375, delta=28800, pcr 2444999774, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222505051
WARN: 00:39:43.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1545.
WARN: 00:39:44.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3081.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:44.4: Video dts 2445106604, next_dts 2445115613, delta=9009, pcr 2445067744, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222533302
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:44.4: Audio pts 2445142295, next_pts 2445199895, delta=57600, pcr 2445124659, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222568411
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:44.4: Video dts 2445160658, next_dts 2445223721, delta=63063, pcr 2445124659, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222560329
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:46.4: Audio pts 2445240215, next_pts 2445320855, delta=80640, pcr 2445222448, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222617371
WARN: 00:39:46.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1542.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:46.4: Video dts 2445259757, next_dts 2445340838, delta=81081, pcr 2445222448, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222609878
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:47.4: Video dts 2445355853, next_dts 2445421919, delta=66066, pcr 2445315798, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222657926
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:47.4: Audio pts 2445338135, next_pts 2445407255, delta=69120, pcr 2445332334, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222666331
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:48.4: Video dts 2445454952, next_dts 2445493991, delta=39039, pcr 2445414893, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222707476
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:48.4: Audio pts 2445436055, next_pts 2445476375, delta=40320, pcr 2445417901, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222715291
WARN: 00:39:48.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3081.
Wrote 00:39:48.4
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:49.4: Video dts 2445536033, next_dts 2445572069, delta=36036, pcr 2445496935, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222748016
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:49.4: Audio pts 2445516695, next_pts 2445557015, delta=40320, pcr 2445500027, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222755611
WARN: 00:39:49.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 4616.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:49.4: Video dts 2445608105, next_dts 2445695192, delta=87087, pcr 2445568054, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222784052
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:49.4: Audio pts 2445585815, next_pts 2445677975, delta=92160, pcr 2445580011, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222790171
WARN: 00:39:49.4, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 4616.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:52.5: Video dts 2445845342, next_dts 2445878375, delta=33033, pcr 2445807209, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222902671
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:52.5: Audio pts 2445827735, next_pts 2445862295, delta=34560, pcr 2445809337, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222911131
WARN: 00:39:52.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1543.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:53.5: Video dts 2445932429, next_dts 2445962459, delta=30030, pcr 2445892371, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1222946214
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:53.5: Audio pts 2445914135, next_pts 2445948695, delta=34560, pcr 2445908334, forcing send...
Using APTS 1222954331
WARN: 00:39:53.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3081.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:55.5: Video dts 2446148645, next_dts 2446166663, delta=18018, pcr 2446109190, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223054322
WARN: 00:39:55.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 4616.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:56.5: Video dts 2446211708, next_dts 2446232729, delta=21021, pcr 2446171653, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223085854
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:56.5: Audio pts 2446190615, next_pts 2446219415, delta=28800, pcr 2446184817, forcing send...
Using APTS 1223092571
WARN: 00:39:56.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 4616.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:57.5: Video dts 2446283780, next_dts 2446304801, delta=21021, pcr 2446243868, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223121890
WARN: 00:39:57.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1920.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:57.5: Video dts 2446310807, next_dts 2446361858, delta=51051, pcr 2446270762, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223135403
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:57.5: Audio pts 2446288535, next_pts 2446351895, delta=63360, pcr 2446281720, forcing send...
Using APTS 1223141531
WARN: 00:39:57.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 4615.
WARN: 00:39:58.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1544.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:58.5: Video dts 2446418915, next_dts 2446442939, delta=24024, pcr 2446378853, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223189457
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:59.5: Audio pts 2446403735, next_pts 2446432535, delta=28800, pcr 2446396966, forcing send...
Using APTS 1223199131
APESDELTWARN: 00:39:59.5: Audio pts 2446449815, next_pts 2446490135, delta=40320, pcr 2446430379, forcing send...
Using APTS 1223222171
WARN: 00:39:59.5, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 3081.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:39:59.5: Video dts 2446469966, next_dts 2446512008, delta=42042, pcr 2446430379, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223214983
APESDELTWARN: 00:40:00.0: Audio pts 2446547735, next_pts 2446582295, delta=34560, pcr 2446523004, forcing send...
Using APTS 1223271131
WARN: 00:40:00.0, APESLEN 3080 != ACT 1545.
VPESDELTWARN: 00:40:00.0: Video dts 2446563059, next_dts 2446602098, delta=39039, pcr 2446523004, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223261529
VPESDELTWARN: 00:40:01.0: Video dts 2446635131, next_dts 2446692188, delta=57057, pcr 2446596133, forcing send...
Using VDTS 1223297565
APESDELTWARN: 00:40:01.0: Audio pts 2446622615, next_pts 2446674455, delta=51840, pcr 2446603936, forcing send...
Using APTS 1223308571
Wrote 00:40:19.1
Wrote 00:40:50.5
Wrote 00:41:21.2


Mark

Marc-

Was this the 10PM Eastern Showing or the overnight showing?

Run it through MPEG2REPAIR and post the resulting log.

I know the backdoor channels of people I communicate with about the quality of Dish Offerings have commented about problems with HBO - that typically did not exist up until several weeks ago from E* - and Showtime continues to be a disaster - the first showing of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington without a glitch was yesterday - after 4 or 5 no goes.

I don't believe anyone has Hotel R glitch free yet from Showtime via Dish.

There also seem to be more Audio Frame errors lately from Dish - especially HDNET.

Edit - Judging by the time - was this around 10:30PM Eastern?

APESDELTWARN results in audio errors and timestamp gaps
VPESDELTWARN results in video errors and timestamp gaps

Mark you will get that error randomly on all of Dish's HD channels, I would give these chances of them happening based on my massive recording amounts

10% of recording's on HBO
85% " " " Showtime
25% " " " HDNet Movies
50% " " " Voom's
15% " " " HDNet

This is enough to pull hair, it usually takes on average of at least 2 try's per movie to get a perfect capture

also your PC being taxed while recording has been known to cause this error

-Gary

10% of recording's on HBO


Look at your recordings for the last 10 days - since the MPEG4 shuffle.

50% or more have SMALL errors of several hundred bytes.


MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 1080iT AC3_01.ts


Sequence Frame 4862(974-P) / Time 0:03:18 :
VideoError: Too many macroblocks in slice. MBA=1680(0,224)
FileInfo: Last video errors span 12 bytes at file offset 272833288

Sequence Frame 34594(1010-P) / Time 0:23:57 :
VideoError: Invalid macroblock address increment. MBA=2719(1264,352)
VideoError: Invalid macroblock address increment code. MBA=2720(1280,352)
FileInfo: Last video errors span 250 bytes at file offset 2020247140

Sequence Frame 223626(599-B) / Time 2:35:19 :

Info: End of MPEG2 sequence:
Info: 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (with telecine flags), 18.00 Mbps (Header), 11.39 Mbps (Average).
Info: AC3 Audio. 2/0 Channels (L, R), 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Info: Found 223626 video frames since start of sequence.
Info: 2 video frames found with errors.
Info: 0 audio frames found with errors.
Info: 262 corrupted video bytes in file.
Info: 0.000000 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
Info: 0.000000 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log



According to the people I keep backdoor communications with, these errors are NOT happening on Directv or BEV - thus it's not the R5000HD.

It was the 10PM Eastern showing. I did NOT see or hear the glitches while watching live. They are so bad I could not have missed them.

Unfortunately, I've already deleted the file so I can't run it through MPEG2REPAIR.

Mark

Marc-

Was this the 10PM Eastern Showing or the overnight showing?

Run it through MPEG2REPAIR and post the resulting log.



Edit - Judging by the time - was this around 10:30PM Eastern?

It was the 10PM Eastern showing. I did NOT see or hear the glitches while watching live. They are so bad I could not have missed them.

Unfortunately, I've already deleted the file so I can't run it through MPEG2REPAIR.

Mark

I assumed it was the early showing - and had someone who did get the same showing send me their log:


******************************


Record file D:\F X.ts using EchoStar - DISH6000, started: Friday, February 17, 2006 21:15:11
INIT: 1920 x 1080, 65000000, 7995392, 40000

thus 10:27pm

VPESBHNDBY: 8546 AT: 01:12:27.2
VPESBHNDBY: 9033 AT: 01:12:27.2
VPESBHNDBY: 8703 AT: 01:12:27.2
VPESBHNDBY: 9092 AT: 01:12:27.2
VPESBHNDBY: 8267 AT: 01:12:27.2
VPESBHNDBY: 7163 AT: 01:12:27.2
VPESBHNDBY: 7475 AT: 01:12:27.2
VPESBHNDBY: 7067 AT: 01:12:28.2
Wrote 01:12:54.5
Wrote 01:13:25.2
Wrote 01:13:56.5
Wrote 01:14:27.2
Wrote 01:14:58.5
Wrote 01:15:29.2
VPESBHNDBY: 8185 AT: 01:15:48.4
VPESBHNDBY: 7786 AT: 01:15:48.4
VPESBHNDBY: 8061 AT: 01:15:49.4
VPESBHNDBY: 7481 AT: 01:15:49.4
Wrote 01:16:00.0
Wrote 01:16:31.3
Wrote 01:17:02.0
Wrote 01:17:33.3
Wrote 01:18:04.0
Wrote 01:18:35.3
Wrote 01:19:06.0
Wrote 01:19:37.3
Wrote 01:20:08.0
Wrote 01:20:39.3
Wrote 01:21:10.1
Wrote 01:21:41.4
Wrote 01:22:12.1
Wrote 01:22:43.4
Wrote 01:23:14.1
Wrote 01:23:45.4
Wrote 01:24:16.1
Wrote 01:24:47.4
Wrote 01:25:18.1
VPESBHNDBY: 7859 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 7878 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 7025 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 8789 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 7894 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 7718 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 9489 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 9425 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 8502 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 8717 AT: 01:25:32.3
VPESBHNDBY: 7507 AT: 01:25:32.3
Wrote 01:25:49.4
Wrote 01:26:20.2
Wrote 01:26:51.5
Wrote 01:27:22.2
Wrote 01:27:53.5
Wrote 01:28:24.2
Wrote 01:28:55.5
Wrote 01:29:26.2
Wrote 01:29:57.5
Wrote 01:30:28.2
Wrote 01:30:59.5
Wrote 01:31:30.3
Wrote 01:32:01.0
Wrote 01:32:32.3
Wrote 01:33:03.0
Wrote 01:33:35.3
Wrote 01:34:06.0
Wrote 01:34:37.3
Wrote 01:35:08.0
Wrote 01:35:39.3
Wrote 01:36:10.1
Wrote 01:36:41.4
Wrote 01:37:12.1
Wrote 01:37:43.4
Wrote 01:38:14.1
Wrote 01:38:45.4
Wrote 01:39:16.1
Wrote 01:39:47.4
Wrote 01:40:18.1
Wrote 01:40:49.4
Wrote 01:41:20.2
Wrote 01:41:51.5
Wrote 01:42:22.2
Wrote 01:42:53.5
Wrote 01:43:24.2
Wrote 01:43:55.5
VPESBHNDBY: 8485 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8609 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8077 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 10141 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8757 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 7541 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 9641 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 7950 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8081 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 9943 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 9076 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8271 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 9805 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8889 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 7310 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8691 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 7377 AT: 01:44:13.1
VPESBHNDBY: 8574 AT: 01:44:13.1
Wrote 01:44:26.2
Wrote 01:44:57.5
Wrote 01:45:28.2
Wrote 01:45:59.5
Wrote 01:46:30.3
Wrote 01:47:01.0
Wrote 01:47:32.3
Wrote 01:48:03.0
Wrote 01:48:34.3
Wrote 01:49:05.0
Wrote 01:49:36.3
VPESBHNDBY: 7534 AT: 01:49:59.5
Wrote 01:50:07.0
Wrote 01:50:38.3
Wrote 01:51:09.0
Wrote 01:51:40.4
Wrote 01:52:11.1
Wrote 01:52:42.4
VPESBHNDBY: 8332 AT: 01:52:49.4
VPESBHNDBY: 7249 AT: 01:52:49.4
Wrote 01:53:13.1
Wrote 01:53:44.4
Wrote 01:54:15.1
VPESBHNDBY: 7597 AT: 01:54:19.1
Wrote 01:54:46.4
Wrote 01:55:17.1
Wrote 01:55:48.4
Wrote 01:56:19.1
Wrote 01:56:51.5
Wrote 01:57:22.2
Wrote 01:57:53.5
Wrote 01:58:24.2
Wrote 01:58:55.5
Wrote 01:59:26.2
Wrote 01:59:57.5
Wrote 02:00:28.2




MPEG2Repair: D:\FX2_01.ts
THESE TIMES ARE DIFFERENT THAN ABOVE- FROM 10PM START.

Sequence Frame 126431(5-P) / Time 1:10:18 :
VideoError: Slice 56 followed by invalid slice 8. (Should differ by one row)
VideoError: MPEG2 Intra DCT coefficient index out of bounds. MBA=716(1856,80)
VideoError: Failed to decode macroblock at MBA=716(1856,80)
VideoError: Missing 49 picture slices at MBA=713(1808,80)
FileInfo: Last video errors span 110 bytes at file offset 9714364783
VideoError: DMV motion prediction not supported. MBA=6604(64,880)
VideoError: Motion vector going out of range at MBA=6604(64,880)
VideoError: Missing 1558 macroblocks in picture slice(s) at MBA=6602(32,880).
FileInfo: Last video errors span 102152 bytes at file offset 9714364927

Sequence Frame 138023(11-P) / Time 1:16:45 :
VideoError: MPEG2 Non-intra DCT coefficient index out of bounds. MBA=3467(1712,448)
VideoError: Failed to decode macroblock at MBA=3467(1712,448)
FileInfo: Last video errors span 445 bytes at file offset 10604801180

Sequence Frame 195316(1-B) / Time 1:48:37 :
Warning: PCR interval greater than 7025.938998 seconds (prev=846310317774,current=1036010670722)

Sequence Frame 195317(2-I) / Time 3:45:43 :
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 1718 payload bytes at file offset 15006706912

Sequence Frame 195318(0-B) / Time 3:45:42 :
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 7025.920078 sec. ending at file offset 15006778792

Sequence Frame 195332(13-B) / Time 3:45:43 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 1021. Timestamp gap of 7025.918978 sec. ending at file offset 15006828754

Sequence Frame 195542(2-I) / Time 3:45:50 :
VideoError: Invalid Huffman code in intra MPEG2 block. MBA=985(400,128)
VideoError: No start code at end of slice. MBA=985(400,128)
VideoError: Failed to decode macroblock at MBA=985(400,128)
VideoError: Missing 7176 macroblocks in picture slice(s) at MBA=984(384,128).
FileInfo: Last video errors span 9 bytes at file offset 15024047815

Sequence Frame 195543(2-I) / Time 3:45:50 :

Info: End of MPEG2 sequence:
Info: 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 65.00 Mbps (Header), 17.57 Mbps (Average).
Info: AC3 Audio. 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Info: Found 195543 video frames since start of sequence.
Info: 3 video frames found with errors.
Info: 1 audio frames found with errors.
Info: 102714 corrupted video bytes in file.
Info: 7025.918978 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
Info: 7025.920078 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

Thus there did not appear to be a Dish issue at that time. However, they clearly had audio time code issues as well as some very bad video hickups - but not at the same time.

There were some issues as can be seen around the time you had the issue, but nothing that caused errors as you had.

Considering the forced sends etc, were you doing something else at the time with your computer?

PS - I wouldnt keep a cap like the one I posted either.

I have to disagree. There might be a problem related to the way the R5000HD works with the Dish 6000.

Mark


According to the people I keep backdoor communications with, these errors are NOT happening on Directv or BEV - thus it's not the R5000HD.

I have to disagree. There might be a problem related to the way the R5000HD works with the Dish 6000.

Mark

BEV uses the 6000 and its fine.

Again, the new software did not come out until 72 hours ago and you noted this has happened for weeks.

Something has to change - and Dish has not done a firmware update on the 6000 in some time now.

So how would it just start to happen - and not have any impact on the BEV 6000s?

They are connected to the board at the exact same place - as they should be - the only difference is the firmware in the 6000 and a stencil on the front.

Believe me - as you have seen - I'd scream bloody murder right with you if the evidence supported it.

I am not using the latest version of the software. I'm using PVR version 2.1c, DVR version 2.2e and firmware version 1.6. I believe this started many months ago and several Nextcomm software versions ago. It may have started with the last 6000 code update.

BTW, I know that at least some of these errors are probably coming from E* because I have compared remuxer logs with others who have shown the same errors at the same time while I was using the 148 satelite and they were using the other one (110?)

Perhaps these errors all come from E* yet don't exhibit any audio or video problems when watching live. With the error rate that I see on my recordings, it's hard to believe that if people watching live and had the same error rate, there wouldn't be an uproar. Recordings from SHOHD more often than not have problems. I rarely watch live but I never seem to see/hear errors when I do. It's starting to seem like quite a coincidence that only when I'm recording do I see errors.

Mark


BEV uses the 6000 and its fine.

Again, the new software did not come out until 72 hours ago and you noted this has happened for weeks.

Something has to change - and Dish has not done a firmware update on the 6000 in some time now.

So how would it just start to happen - and not have any impact on the BEV 6000s?
...

I've had my R5000 modded Dish 411 for about 2 weeks. I've made approximately 50 recordings, of various lengths, and from at least 10+ channels, including several from the Voom channels, HBO, Showtime, TNT-HD, Discovery HD, HD Net and some of my OTA stations. I have set the remuxer log to enable and am thrilled to report that I have encountered absolutely glitch free, error free recordings, with no failed transfers and absolutely zero errors reported from the remuxer log.

The R5000 modification to the Dish 411 produces perfect recordings and I am grateful to the folks at Nextcom for making available to market such a quick solution for recording with the new line of Dish Mpeg 4 receivers. :)

Thanks for the report, Ron. It's just a matter of time now before I get my VIP211 modified.

On another note, having popped the lid of the 211, it's become apparent that the chipset for the 211 and the 622 are probably the same (although many of the chipset features are disabled on the 211). I won't be surpised if we see an announcement from Nextcom concerning the 622. :)

-Dylan

Out of curiosity, as this hasn't been answered, I don't think, how does the unit handle the real mpeg4 stream. Specifically the actual h.264 streams as opposed to the mpeg2 streams. As NYC is live with MPEG4 and Nextcomm is right up there, clearly they can receive the spotbeam with the NY MPEG4 on them.

I assume the R5000HD takes the video and audio elementals before they are remuxed and sent to the output of the 211 or 411 and sends that information to their board which sends it to the computer for remuxing as a MPEG2 transport stream.

What I am trying to get at in a roundabout way, is the stream that is captured on your local computer as a MPEG2 stream even if the source is MPEG4 so that it is compliant with MyHD and other MPEG2 players - many of which will not play MPEG4.

If so, what kind of ill effects (if any) are seen from converting from MPEG2 at the source to MPEG4 for transmission and back to MPEG2 for storage?

Are there any screen shots of the end result with say, an ota broadcast out of NYC, that could be compared?

The video data is stored in the transport stream in the same way regardless of encoding. There are no conversions between MPEG2/MPEG4. In order to play back streams with MPEG4 video data you will need a player that can play MPEG4. Right now you are limited to a PC with the correct codecs and some considerable horsepower (software decoding).

The video data is stored in the transport stream in the same way regardless of encoding. There are no conversions between MPEG2/MPEG4. In order to play back streams with MPEG4 video data you will need a player that can play MPEG4. Right now you are limited to a PC with the correct codecs and some considerable horsepower (software decoding).

thanks....did not see MPEG4 in original transport stream specs, but it appears they were revised to accept it. Of course, that means we cannot use the MyHD Card to play back those streams - and I wonder how we would keep them seperated as both will be .ts.

Anyone else seeing this goofy crap on zap2it?

It's wierd as it happens on every computer I have tried - but only on certain accounts - like it cannot find your custom info.

Anyone else seeing this goofy crap on zap2it?

It's wierd as it happens on every computer I have tried - but only on certain accounts - like it cannot find your custom info.


That's happened to me so often that I've abandoned Zap2It in favor of TitanTV.

That's happened to me so often that I've abandoned Zap2It in favor of TitanTV.

This is a new one though.

It's been going on about 18 hours now.

I thought it was computer setting - until I realized I could pull up some accounts and it worked and other customs accounts do not work and display the error.


Forget the parsing errors - you cannot even see a schedule.

Thanks for the report, Ron. It's just a matter of time now before I get my VIP211 modified.

On another note, having popped the lid of the 211, it's become apparent that the chipset for the 211 and the 622 are probably the same (although many of the chipset features are disabled on the 211). I won't be surpised if we see an announcement from Nextcom concerning the 622. :)

-Dylan

Nextcom e-mailed me Monday that my 211 was on its way, a week after I sent it UPS to them. I fully expect a pain-free transition from my 6000. This is a great company.

HDTVFanAtic,
If you can right after logging in, click on "see grid" near the top. Then select all channels after you get the grid listing. John

how does the unit handle the real mpeg4 stream. Specifically the actual h.264 streams as opposed to the mpeg2 streams.


What I am trying to get at in a roundabout way, is the stream that is captured on your local computer as a MPEG2 stream even if the source is MPEG4 so that it is compliant with MyHD and other MPEG2 players - many of which will not play MPEG4.



The R5000 records h.264 encapsulated in an mpeg-2 transport stream with either ac3 or mpeg audio. It's all spec compliant so any player that understands h.264 and mpeg-2ts should be able to play the r5000 files. It should also be recordable to dvhs.

I've spent alot of time figuring out h.264 playback. For SD h.264 you can use a number of players: elecard, mplayer, etc. HD h.264 will not playback fast enough using a software player. You MUST have some hardware acceleration. I use the ATI X1600 with the cyberlink h.264 plugin. They will not playback on MyHD. Strangely, some players require the extension to be mpg not ts. A simple rename causes the file to play correctly.


Using the elecard encoder and graph edit, it is possible to re-encode the h.264 to mpeg-2 while keeping the audio untouched. It takes a while...


Techtom.

The R5000 records h.264 encapsulated in an mpeg-2 transport stream with either ac3 or mpeg audio. It's all spec compliant so any player that understands h.264 and mpeg-2ts should be able to play the r5000 files. It should also be recordable to dvhs.

I've spent alot of time figuring out h.264 playback. For SD h.264 you can use a number of players: elecard, mplayer, etc. HD h.264 will not playback fast enough using a software player. You MUST have some hardware acceleration. I use the ATI X1600 with the cyberlink h.264 plugin. They will not playback on MyHD. Strangely, some players require the extension to be mpg not ts. A simple rename causes the file to play correctly.


Using the elecard encoder and graph edit, it is possible to re-encode the h.264 to mpeg-2 while keeping the audio untouched. It takes a while...


Techtom.

I take it the new ATI cards are necessary for playback? The older generation 9600/9800 cards are not able to play back the streams? I can play back HDV video using Nero Showtime and a 9600, but usually 1080i .ts files stutter at some point during playback.

HDTVFanAtic,
If you can right after logging in, click on "see grid" near the top. Then select all channels after you get the grid listing. John

Thanks, I figured that out finally - what a nightmare scrolling through 400 channels to find the HD ones at the bottom :(.

I take it the new ATI cards are necessary for playback? The older generation 9600/9800 cards are not able to play back the streams? I can play back HDV video using Nero Showtime and a 9600, but usually 1080i .ts files stutter at some point during playback.

AFAIK, only the new Radeon x1000 cards can playback HD h.254. HD h.264 is much more mips intensive. the x1000 cards claim h.264 hardware acceleration. ATI webs site says that the x1600 is required for 720p/1080i h264 and the x1800 is required for 1080p h.264.

I'm currently in brazil, but when I get back I'll send dave an HD h.264 test clip for the web site. It does not play in realtime using the elcard player on a dual cpu dual core 3.2GHz P4. But it plays perfectly on a 2.8 P4 D w/ATI x1600 in media player with the cyberlink h.264 hardware plug in. Once it's on the web site, you can see for yourself.

BTW HDV files are mepg-2 not h.264, so they should play on most software players.

-Techtom