Played using MPC and CoreAVC. Making progress. no more stutter, but system with nvida card plays it upside down. System with ATi plays it AOK.
Ok, had to re-register coreavc on nvidia box.

great playback nice and smooth using Media Player classic and simply adding in CoreAVC as an external filter.

Played using MPC and CoreAVC. Making progress. no more stutter, but system with nvida card plays it upside down. System with ATi plays it AOK.

Would you share your MPC setup (filter chain)? Thanks

Would you share your MPC setup (filter chain)? Thanks

<GRAPH version="1.0">
<FILTER ID="NullTextRenderer" clsid="{655D7613-C26C-4A25-BBBD-3C9C516122CC}">
</FILTER>
<FILTER ID="Default_DirectSound_Device" clsid="{79376820-07D0-11CF-A24D-0020AFD79767}">
<PARAM name="data" value="300030003000300030003000300030003000300030002000000000000000 00000000000000000000"/>
</FILTER>
<FILTER ID="Video_Renderer" clsid="{70E102B0-5556-11CE-97C0-00AA0055595A}">
</FILTER>
<FILTER ID="Audio_Switcher" clsid="{18C16B08-6497-420E-AD14-22D21C2CEAB7}">
</FILTER>
<FILTER ID="Overlay_Mixer" clsid="{CD8743A1-3736-11D0-9E69-00C04FD7C15B}">
</FILTER>
<FILTER ID="AC3_Audio_Decoder" clsid="{3D446B6F-71DE-4437-BE15-8CE47174340F}">
</FILTER>
<FILTER ID="CoreAVC_Video_Decoder" clsid="{09571A4B-F1FE-4C60-9760-DE6D310C7C31}">
</FILTER>
<FILTER ID="MPG_Source_0" clsid="{1365BE7A-C86A-473C-9A41-C0A6E82C9FA3}">
</FILTER>
<connect direct="yes" src="MPG_Source_0" srcpin="Video" dest="CoreAVC_Video_Decoder" destpin="In"/>
<connect direct="yes" src="MPG_Source_0" srcpin="Audio" dest="AC3_Audio_Decoder" destpin="In"/>
<connect direct="yes" src="MPG_Source_0" srcpin="Subtitle" dest="NullTextRenderer" destpin="In"/>
<connect direct="yes" src="AC3_Audio_Decoder" srcpin="Out" dest="Audio_Switcher" destpin="filenamehere.mpg / Audio"/>
<connect direct="yes" src="CoreAVC_Video_Decoder" srcpin="Out" dest="Overlay_Mixer" destpin="Input0"/>
<connect direct="yes" src="Audio_Switcher" srcpin="Out" dest="Default_DirectSound_Device" destpin="Audio Input pin (rendered)"/>
<connect direct="yes" src="Overlay_Mixer" srcpin="Output" dest="Video_Renderer" destpin="In"/>
</GRAPH>

This is from my laptop, but it looks similiar on my sage client that I usually play stuff on. I create dit by connecting to the MPC graph via graphedit.

Hopefully I'll have these playing in Sage soon, BIG WAF issue

Four new E* channels are up, but Starz won't play in any of the normal players. Anyone know if it's MPEG4? National Geographic and HGTV play and report as 1920x1080 in H2M. NFL HD and Starz don't play at all. What program can I use to check?

Four new E* channels are up, but Starz won't play in any of the normal players. Anyone know if it's MPEG4? National Geographic and HGTV play and report as 1920x1080 in H2M. NFL HD and Starz don't play at all. What program can I use to check?

Joe,

I installed Media Player Classic, the coreAVC decoder. Then, simply added the CoreAVC filter as an external filter inside of Media Player Classic.

After that, just open the recordings from StarzHD and NFLHD with MPC after they are done recording, and your all set.

See my last few posts for my little adventure in getting these too play


On a side note, Anyone know how to get Media Player Classic to access a file while it is still being recorded by the R5000HD DVRApp/Sage

Joe,

I installed Media Player Classic, the coreAVC decoder. Then, simply added the CoreAVC filter as an external filter inside of Media Player Classic.

After that, just open the recordings from StarzHD and NFLHD with MPC after they are done recording, and your all set.

See my last few posts for my little adventure in getting these too play


On a side note, Anyone know how to get Media Player Classic to access a file while it is still being recorded by the R5000HD DVRApp/Sage

Thanks. I just got CoreAVC but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I also have an Athlon 64 x2, so I should be able to report later today how that works. That's with a Matrox Parhelia PCIe video card (used normally for HD editing with Adobe Premiere).

Four new E* channels are up, but Starz won't play in any of the normal players. Anyone know if it's MPEG4? National Geographic and HGTV play and report as 1920x1080 in H2M. NFL HD and Starz don't play at all. What program can I use to check?

Yes it is known that StarzHD is MPEG4. People are screaming bloody murder on the satellite forums about the quality - especially since StarzHD actually puts out a stellar bitrate in its distribution.

Ok, had to re-register coreavc on nvidia box.

great playback nice and smooth using Media Player classic and simply adding in CoreAVC as an external filter.

I installed CoreAVC and tried to play a clip from Starz in Media Player Classic. I added CoreAVC in View>Options...>Filters>Overrides>Add Filter. Still get sound but no picture.

I have a Matrox Parhelia PCIe and an Athlon 64 x2. Am I missing something in the Matrox settings?

I installed CoreAVC and tried to play a clip from Starz in Media Player Classic. I added CoreAVC in View>Options...>Filters>Overrides>Add Filter. Still get sound but no picture.

I have a Matrox Parhelia PCIe and an Athlon 64 x2. Am I missing something in the Matrox settings?

OK, we have differnet versions of MPC, as I don't have the Overrides section. I am running 6.4.9

But, try this, View>Options->Internal filters
look in the source filters pane, and try checking the box next to MPEG PS/TS/PVA

If I have it unchecked, I don;t get any video. if I have it checked, things play AOK. So, I am guessing that i must have checked that box also and forgot to metnion it.

BTW, I got the version of MPC I am running from the Quicktime alternative install

OK, we have differnet versions of MPC, as I don't have the Overrides section. I am running 6.4.9

But, try this, View>Options->Internal filters
look in the source filters pane, and try checking the box next to MPEG PS/TS/PVA

If I have it unchecked, I don;t get any video. if I have it checked, things play AOK. So, I am guessing that i must have checked that box also and forgot to metnion it.

BTW, I got the version of MPC I am running from the Quicktime alternative install

I installed MPC 6.4.9 and it's glassy smooth on a test clip I captured earlier from Cliffhanger. Many thanks.

System specs:

Athlon 64 x2 4400+ overclocked to 2.4 GHz (4800+ speed)
2 GB RAM
Matrox Parhelia PCIe video card

I look forward to testing more tonight.

HDTVFanAtic,

I saw the stuttering video on my VIP-622. It's only on Starz that I can detect. It's subtle, but very annoying. I'll do some tests to see if it stutters on playback from the PC. Gotta run now.

Thanks again for the tips.

I installed MPC 6.4.9 and it's glassy smooth on a test clip I captured earlier from Cliffhanger. Many thanks.

System specs:

Athlon 64 x2 4400+ overclocked to 2.4 GHz (4800+ speed)
2 GB RAM
Matrox Parhelia PCIe video card

I look forward to testing more tonight.

HDTVFanAtic,

I saw the stuttering video on my VIP-622. It's only on Starz that I can detect. It's subtle, but very annoying. I'll do some tests to see if it stutters on playback from the PC. Gotta run now.

Thanks again for the tips.


Great news. Glad you got it going.:-)

I'm anxious to see support for these files SAGE. For now, I record h264 stuff in sage and just use MPC to play these h264 files.

Great news. Glad you got it going.:-)

I'm anxious to see support for these files SAGE. For now, I record h264 stuff in sage and just use MPC to play these h264 files.

Guess I'm going to have to look into Sage more. I'm still using the non-Sage version of the R5000 software.

Quick report on CoreAVC on some other systems of mine:

P4 3.1 GHz with Radeon 9600xt. Stutters.
P4 3.06 GHz with Radeon 9800xt. Stutters.
Athlon 64 3400+ with Radeon 9600. Smooth playback.

All this with CoreAVC Pro and Media Player Classic, version noted above. My dual core Athlon is not on all the time (it's my video editing system), but it looks like I'll be able to use the 3400+ for playback now. More testing tonight. I'm anxious to see what the file sizes are for these MPEG4 shows.

Can a MPEG4 recording from a Nextcom modified receiver somehow be transferred to DVHS tape for playback?

Can a MPEG4 recording from a Nextcom modified receiver somehow be transferred to DVHS tape for playback?The D-VHS machines have only MPEG-2 decoders, so no playback.

I have several machines with MYHD cards which, at least with the drivers I am using will not play the MPEG4 files from Starz. Is there a piece of software that someone might recommend for problem free conversion from 4 to 2 so I can play these without upping horsepower in each of my machines, abandoning the MYHD cards for uniformities sake and using software players?

Any possibility of converting the MPEG4 stream on-the-fly to MPEG2 via Davids software without lots of chip power? Any thoughts on that?

Any new hardware card on the horizon that will do MPEG2 and 4 or did I miss a driver update?

Not a happy camper at the moment!

Larry

The MyHD cards have never claimed to play MPEG4 files.

Can a MPEG4 recording from a Nextcom modified receiver somehow be transferred to DVHS tape for playback?


Yes it can. You can transfer to Mitsubishi or JVC DVHS no problem. However to play back you would need external h.264 decoder.

Hi

I was not finding fault with the MYHD card.

I want to know if anyone knows of a good program that will convert the Mpeg4 stream to Mpeg2 thats usable with a MYHD card.

Thanks

Larry

The last person I know that converted a mpeg4 to mpeg2 and did it right, well the move took about 30 hours to convert.

Second what HDTVFanAtic said. I'd put your efforts towards finding a playback solution rather than transcoding. Don't some of the latest video cards support H.264 playback acceleration?

Second what HDTVFanAtic said. I'd put your efforts towards finding a playback solution rather than transcoding. Don't some of the latest video cards support H.264 playback acceleration?

The new Radeon cards (X1300, X1600, X1800 and X1900) can play H.264 files (although the X1300 is limited to 720p playback and you need an X1800 or X1900 for 1080p playback). The CoreAVC software can play back H.264 without hardware acceleration, if you have a sufficiently powerful CPU. I'm able to get smooth 1080i playback with CoreAVC and an Athlon 64 3400+. An Athlon 64 dual core is even better insurance of smooth playback. I haven't done extensive testing of different types of MPEG4 files (sports, fast motion, etc.), so I can't say for sure how well it handles really tough material. I'll be investing in one of the new Radeon cards in a few months. For now, CoreAVC has handled the limited number of files I've given it quite well.

I believe the latest nVidia cards handle H.264, too.

Balazer, I'll ask you again, now that MPEG4 is here - any chance you have some inside information on an MPEG4 editor?

Once again, also, here's a link to a thread on creating your own HD DVD discs using Ulead Movie Factory 5 ($50 software). Put together a Toshiba HD DVD player, an R5000 recorder and a regular DVD burner and you have your own homemade HD DVD movies and shows. I have close to a hundred HD DVD titles now, and all but 2 I've burned myself.

The AVS thread on creating your own HD DVD discs. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=667462)

Balazer, I'll ask you again, now that MPEG4 is here - any chance you have some inside information on an MPEG4 editor?Do you think I'm a member of the super secret AVS inner circle? :)

Do you think I'm a member of the super secret AVS inner circle? :)

I would say yes, complete with secret hideout and secret handshake, sort of like the one in the movie Road Trip! :D

I would like to see a hardware decoding solution for H.264 files. I thought that some media players would have been released by now that were H.264 capable. I also noticed that some people have been trying to create H.264 based HD-DVD’s that could be played back by the Toshiba HD-A1 player. There's bound to be a hardware solution available sooner or later.

First off I don't pretend to know what I'm doing. All I do know is by using MPC and the CoreAVC filter I am able to get an very slow moving picture that at least looks good on individual frames. I only have a prescott 3.0 processor, 512 megs of ram and a lame Radeon 7200 card in that machine. My other machines are even slower. Using MYHD cards they did each give me great playback, at a reasonable cost hardware wise which is all I care about.

I ordered a single x1600 card earlier in the hope that that will help. Now, is much of the processing going to be offloaded to that card or what portion of the processing is normally assigned to the graphics card and what to the main processor?

Yes a hardware based card would be really NICE, however I was hoping a stopgap program might be available. Guess not ehh?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Larry

First off I don't pretend to know what I'm doing. All I do know is by using MPC and the CoreAVC filter I am able to get an very slow moving picture that at least looks good on individual frames. I only have a prescott 3.0 processor, 512 megs of ram and a lame Radeon 7200 card in that machine. My other machines are even slower. Using MYHD cards they did each give me great playback, at a reasonable cost hardware wise which is all I care about.

I ordered a single x1600 card earlier in the hope that that will help. Now, is much of the processing going to be offloaded to that card or what portion of the processing is normally assigned to the graphics card and what to the main processor?

Yes a hardware based card would be really NICE, however I was hoping a stopgap program might be available. Guess not ehh?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Larry

For comparison's sake, my AMD X2-3800+, 2GB ram, Nvidia 7800GT 256MB, MPC, and CoreAVC would play H.264 content (720p and 1080i) flawlessly. From your hardware, I would guess the video card is an issue, but possibly to a lesser extent the CPU as well, and not sure how RAM intensive it is, but I wouldnt personally try with less than 1GB. HTH.

Yup. Pretty sure a 7200 and a Prescott are not gonna come close to H.264 even with 1GB of RAM.'



Willie

Aha..

After having a talk with my networking guy I am cancelling what I had on order and ordered a BFG Geoforce 7800 GT card. We'll see if thats enough or not. Sounds like it might be. I now understand the relationship between the systems a bit better.

Thanks for the help!

Larry

Aha..

After having a talk with my networking guy I am cancelling what I had on order and ordered a BFG Geoforce 7800 GT card. We'll see if thats enough or not. Sounds like it might be. I now understand the relationship between the systems a bit better.

Thanks for the help!

Larry

Somewhat off topic, but are you actually in Shawnee Kansas and were you the guy who did the HD capture of the take off and landing last year?

Shawnee KS, yes.

Take off and landing No.

Larry

Shawnee KS, yes.

Take off and landing No.

Larry

I spent tooooooo many nights in the Holiday Inn in Salinas last year. I figured there couldn't be that many HardCore HDTV people in the area - but I guess you are actually closer to Kansas City than Salina.

Do you think I'm a member of the super secret AVS inner circle? :)

Well, they said I could only park cars until I had at least 1000 posts, but I was certain I saw you going in the VIP door the other night. That guy holding the velvet rope kissed your ring.

Doing some research on putting together a machine for the R5000 system and I have a question, probably more eventually.

I'm torn between building a dedicated PC for use with the R5000 which means I could put it near the rest of my AV equipment, and, just building a PC to replace my old 1.5Ghz machine.

The question is what length of cable for USB, DVI and audio is a "safe" distance and not have any problems? A good DVI cable I know can go quite a distance but I'm not familiar with how far USB and audio(I'm assuming it's a S/PDIF connection between PC and AVR) is reliable. Plus, with DVI, do the current video cards(ATI, etc) support long runs? The distance I'm looking at is about 35-40'.

Also, with a length like that would audio/video sync problems arise?

I'm leaning toward the one PC setup and not the separate dedicated one for a few reasons. One is I don't have to be too concerned with noise(fan, HDD) and two, the machine can be used as my everyday machine.

The audio will be feeding a Denon AVR 3806 and the video will be feeding a DVDO VP30 for ease of switching between video sources.

Thanks in advance, I have started reading the thread, so don't yell at me.. :D

These are really questions for Google, not the R5000 thread.

The length limit for USB is 16 feet per segment, up to 5 repeaters allowed. Though I think you run the risk of having an unreliable setup if you try to go past ~12 feet total length.

Okay, thanks, and you're right I could probably get the answers elsewhere but I figured since these are the connections used for this system I though I'd try here.

Are you saying USB could be unreliable at over 12', even with repeaters...or the use of repeaters would allow reliability up to 60'?

You definitely need repeaters if you want to go beyond 16 feet. But I'd avoid using repeaters, if at all possible. It's just my guess that it might be unreliable.

Yes, they would probably be rather cumbersome as well. I think a workable/reliable solution would be to have the STB near the PC and then just run video/audio the 35 or so feet. I could use a simple IR repeater to control the STB from the video room.

<edit> That's not going to be a perfect setup either as it would mean running dual audio/video cables...what do most of you here do? Have the PC close to the AV setup? I guess that's really the best method...

Doing some research on putting together a machine for the R5000 system and I have a question, probably more eventually.

I'm torn between building a dedicated PC for use with the R5000 which means I could put it near the rest of my AV equipment, and, just building a PC to replace my old 1.5Ghz machine.

The question is what length of cable for USB, DVI and audio is a "safe" distance and not have any problems? A good DVI cable I know can go quite a distance but I'm not familiar with how far USB and audio(I'm assuming it's a S/PDIF connection between PC and AVR) is reliable. Plus, with DVI, do the current video cards(ATI, etc) support long runs? The distance I'm looking at is about 35-40'.

Also, with a length like that would audio/video sync problems arise?

I'm leaning toward the one PC setup and not the separate dedicated one for a few reasons. One is I don't have to be too concerned with noise(fan, HDD) and two, the machine can be used as my everyday machine.

The audio will be feeding a Denon AVR 3806 and the video will be feeding a DVDO VP30 for ease of switching between video sources.

Thanks in advance, I have started reading the thread, so don't yell at me.. :D

I can tell you what I did with my R5000 setup. I had my R5000 computer, at one point, about 35 feet from the R5000 modified Dish 211, which was in my AV rack. I tried to use a regular USB2 cable and two active USB2 extenders. That didn't work. One extender worked, but it was a few feet too short. I added a USB2 hub and was able to get the extra length I needed. For audio, I used a long RG6 cable with RCA adapters on each end. The system worked very reliably that way. I am using DVI cables about that long from MyHD cards. I have a Denon 3805 and a Zektor DVI switcher in my rack. The computer is in the basement - zero noise that way. I have it hooked to a KVM switch, to monitors in my bedroom.

I can tell you what I did with my R5000 setup. I had my R5000 computer, at one point, about 35 feet from the R5000 modified Dish 211, which was in my AV rack. I tried to use a regular USB2 cable and two active USB2 extenders. That didn't work. One extender worked, but it was a few feet too short. I added a USB2 hub and was able to get the extra length I needed. For audio, I used a long RG6 cable with RCA adapters on each end. The system worked very reliably that way.
Was the hub placed in the middle of the line, along with a repeater, or at one end or the other?

Was the hub placed in the middle of the line, along with a repeater, or at one end or the other?

At the end, near the 211.

At the end, near the 211.
Okay, so the hub acted to increase the signal strength so that only one repeater was needed..?

Okay, so the hub acted to increase the signal strength so that only one repeater was needed..?

Right. Two active extensions didn't work. One extender and a hub worked without issue.

Right. Two active extensions didn't work. One extender and a hub worked without issue.
Ok, sorry for cluttering the thread, how long were the lengths of USB cable used? I ask because it appears about 12' it the limit.

So did you go 12' from the 211-to USB hub- another 12' to repeater-then another 12' to PC?

Ok, sorry for cluttering the thread, how long were the lengths of USB cable used? I ask because it appears about 12' it the limit.

So did you go 12' from the 211-to USB hub- another 12' to repeater-then another 12' to PC?

Can't remember max length of USB2, but that was it (16' ???). Max length USB2 from computer, connected to max length active USB2 extender to hub, connected to Dish 211 with a cable about 6' long. No problems so far with this setup.

Looks like about 12' per balazer's info so it looks like you have about 12+12+6 for around 30'. Re-arranging a little bit I could probably get down to 30-36'.

Is there some reason you can't put the receiver with the PC? You're running a long video cable from there anyway.

Looks like about 12' per balazer's info so it looks like you have about 12+12+6 for around 30'. Re-arranging a little bit I could probably get down to 30-36'.

I imagine you could get where you need to be without rearranging. Although I didn't do it, I think I could have gone with another full length cable from the hub.

I also put a USB2 DVD drive in my AV rack, hoping to be able to play .ts files from the MyHD system it was connected to. Unfortunately, I have never been able to get .ts files stored on DVDs to play consistently. I get breakup and stutters, and stalls. That's why I'm so excited about the HD DVD authoring thread in the HD DVD software section of the forum. My recordables (same media that I've tried unsuccessfully to play from a USB2 drive) play just fine on the Toshiba A1 HD DVD player (after authoring to that format). That goes for single and double layer.

Is there some reason you can't put the receiver with the PC? You're running a long video cable from there anyway.
Yes I could do that, but in order to use the STB by itself with just general viewing I would need a second video and audio cable... I suppose I could use a switch connecting the STB output and the PC output and use one set of cables to the VP30.

I imagine you could get where you need to be without rearranging. Although I didn't do it, I think I could have gone with another full length cable from the hub.

I also put a USB2 DVD drive in my AV rack, hoping to be able to play .ts files from the MyHD system it was connected to. Unfortunately, I have never been able to get .ts files stored on DVDs to play consistently. I get breakup and stutters, and stalls. That's why I'm so excited about the HD DVD authoring thread in the HD DVD software section of the forum. My recordables (same media that I've tried unsuccessfully to play from a USB2 drive) play just fine on the Toshiba A1 HD DVD player (after authoring to that format). That goes for single and double layer.
That's a bit more involved than what I'm looking at, but maybe in the future.

What I'm looking to do is go to the PC, set up recordings off the STB, go to the video room, watch TV from the STB and pull up recordings from the PC. Everything other than setting up recordings to be done sitting on my butt in a chair, although I suppose with a good PC remote I could do the recordings from the chair as well.

I'm just trying to put together the most logical, and reliable, approach to setting everything up.

And I do appreciate the feedback. :)

That's a bit more involved than what I'm looking at, but maybe in the future.

What I'm looking to do is go to the PC, set up recordings off the STB, go to the video room, watch TV from the STB and pull up recordings from the PC. Everything other than setting up recordings to be done sitting on my butt in a chair, although I suppose with a good PC remote I could do the recordings from the chair as well.

I'm just trying to put together the most logical, and reliable, approach to setting everything up.

And I do appreciate the feedback. :)

Actually, my setup is about 5 times more complex than I described. I have five computers (all networked and KVMed to my bedroom), three MyHD systems (two DVI, one VGA to a Lumagen/Zektor combo), an R5000 modded Dish 211, a Dish 622, Niles infrared repeater system and Harmony remote contolling most of that - as well as a mouse/keyboard that I can assign through software to any of four of the computers. It's a really powerful setup, very flexible, and surprisingly easy to control. The ugly part was creating the 4-foot holes in the walls for all the cables and running 27,000 miles of cables. There's also a Toshiba HD DVD player in there, which is getting a steady diet of homebrew HD DVDs from MyHD and R5000 captures.

By the way, Balazer, I may be the only one in the roll-your-own-HD DVD thread who can't get HDTVtoMPEG2 to create MPEGs that will work in Ulead Movie Factory 5. I must have some wonky software/hardware combo at work in my systems. :eek: Same for VideoRedo. I'm using Womble MPEG2VCR. It doesn't give my computers acid reflux. I wish I knew what was causing the problems.

Just take your old 1.5Ghz machine and use it as the DVR unit closer to the machine.

As an earlier volley in this thread details, 5m (16ft) is the max spec length for USB without repeater. The repeater cables are not very expensive ($15 maybe) so don't let that fool you.

I have used a 5m repeater and another 12 foot without a problem. I havent had the need to try more.

I'd suggest using some kind of network HD player instead of the roll-your-own HD DVDs. There's the Roku, the AvelLink, and there's a new one at Digital Connection that supports 1080p. I bet at least one of these can do transport streams without any problem. And of course the MyHD supports network playback in a modest PC.

I'd suggest using some kind of network HD player instead of the roll-your-own HD DVDs. There's the Roku, the AvelLink, and there's a new one at Digital Connection that supports 1080p. I bet at least one of these can do transport streams without any problem. And of course the MyHD supports network playback in a modest PC.

That's great until you run out of hard drive space and have to clear off material. The home brew HD DVDs, while not for everyone, are a perfect solution for me right now. Even with over 7 TB of storage, I've run out of space.

But with a generic network player, you can burn bare transport stream files to DVD, and not have to mess with DVD authoring.

But with a generic network player, you can burn bare transport stream files to DVD, and not have to mess with DVD authoring.

Do they play back the .ts streams without skipping and stalling? I looked at the Avelink player but it didn't do digital.

MyHD does; I haven't tried the others.

MyHD does; I haven't tried the others.

Are we talking about the same thing? I was asking if any of the network DVD players (like Avelink) play back bare .ts files (stored on DVD recordables) without skipping, stuttering. Is there a way of playing back a .ts file from a network DVD player like Aveling through MyHD?

I'm surprised I haven't had much success at all playing back .ts files stored on DVD recordables from a regular computer DVD drive. I could count on one hand the number of DVDs I've had read all the way through without dropouts or stalling, stuttering with MyHD, especially the double layer discs. And I've tried on lots of different brands of DVD drives. The whole HD DVD authoring thing would have been less attractive if not for that.

MyHD will play back transport stream files from a local hard disk, local DVD reader, or network hard disk or DVD reader. It has always worked fine for me. By "network", I mean something accessible with the SMB protocol - the normal Windows Networking file sharing mechanism. I'm talking about accessing a DVD drive in a different PC over the network.

Supposedly the AvelLink et al. support network playback in the same way.

MyHD will play back transport stream files from a local hard disk, local DVD reader, or network hard disk or DVD reader. It has always worked fine for me. By "network", I mean something accessible with the SMB protocol - the normal Windows Networking file sharing mechanism. I'm talking about accessing a DVD drive in a different PC over the network.

Supposedly the AvelLink et al. support network playback in the same way.

I have MyHDs set up in a network. I've never been able to get reliable playback of .ts files from any DVD drive I've tried with the MyHD - internal drives on the computer, external FireWire or USB2 drives or DVD drives mapped as network drives. I've tried everything I can think, including different media and different drive brands. Nothing works reliably. I used to think it was the dye used in recordables that was limiting throughput, but on the Toshiba A1 I've tested files at about 30mbps using the same media (Verbatim, Memorex, HP, it doesn't seem to matter). The Toshiba red laser doesn't have any trouble with the media at all. They play glitch free.

If the Avel Linkplayer would allow me to access .ts files from its DVD player and give me adequate playback, I might think about getting it. The last time I looked at it, it didn't have a digital connection. I'll check out Digital Connection to see what their new player looks like.

I don't know what to say. I've played many things on the MyHD from a local DVD reader, and they were always fine. I've played a number of things over the network, and they were fine as well.

I don't know what to say. I've played many things on the MyHD from a local DVD reader, and they were always fine. I've played a number of things over the network, and they were fine as well.

I've helped three other people set up MyHD systems and on each one we've tried DVD playback of .ts files. These were all different systems, AMD and Intel, home made and other (Compaq, HP), with different software and hardware. The one thing all these shared was the inability to play back .ts files on DVD without hiccups. Once in a great while, a disc will play back without glitching (always single layer). Very rare. I just gave up on it.

It would be nice not to have to worry about HD DVD authoring. I do like the reliability of playback with the Toshiba.

Do you get reliable playback from hard disk? If you segment the recordings, you can copy them from the DVD to the hard disk and start playback as soon as the first segment is copied. I'm just thinking that burning data discs is way easier than authoring HD DVDs.

Do you get reliable playback from hard disk? If you segment the recordings, you can copy them from the DVD to the hard disk and start playback as soon as the first segment is copied. I'm just thinking that burning data discs is way easier than authoring HD DVDs.

I've never had an issue with hard drive playback. But, it's just too much hassle copying any time I want to watch an archived program. With HD DVD, it's simple and reliable, and fast.

I've had no problem playing .ts files on DVD over the network. Nothing particularly special about my setup. The DVD player must be in DMA mode. PIO mode results in stutter over the network.

Joe,
If that works, you owe Roger some ribs :-)

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

I am having a similar problem. I was using the 169time solution (had two of them)
and had stopped using them in favor of my HR10-250 Tivo. After building my
first MCE 2005 box and got everything working including an ATI HD tuner I ran
on to timmoore's firestb. So I got one of the 169time boxes and the AVX1 (SFF
computer) downloaded the latest software for the AVX1 and after a little experimenting with the different methods of hooking up the firewire chain I
was capturing HD ts files and they would then convert to ms-dvr files. They
played back great using NVIDIA decoders with working FF & RW 5.1 audio.
Definitely the best experience I ever had with the 169time system also the ms-
dvr HD files had all movie description actors length even DVD cover. So after seeing that firestb also supported R5000HD I decided to have one of my 169time
boxes converted to R5000HD because I had heard that it provided a better stream and I could eliminate the AVX1 unit. I get compleat ts captures but the
ms-dvr conversions are always only 10 to 15 min. long. NVIDIA will not play the
ts files but I can play them in WM10 with HDTVpump with no FF & RW a pain.
Acording to the changelog on timmoore's firestb a lot of work was done to get it
to work with R5000HD but after trying many things I still get the same results,
incomplete ms-dvr files. Has anyone been able to get the R5000HD to work with
MCE 2005 and firestb?

I've had no problem playing .ts files on DVD over the network. Nothing particularly special about my setup. The DVD player must be in DMA mode. PIO mode results in stutter over the network.

My drives are set up that way. External drives (FireWire and USB2) don't work for me, either. Curse the luck.

My drives are set up that way. External drives (FireWire and USB2) don't work for me, either. Curse the luck.I wouldn't expect external drives to work very well.

I don't normally use the DVD drive on the network, but I remembered it worked ok. I did check my system. It might not be completely ordinary. The network is gigabit. The "server" is a dual xeon and the "client" is a prescott with a pcie video card. Nothing special about the DVD reader. It does have a 2 mB buffer. Both computers are pretty much loafing (cpu less than 20%) when playing a .ts from dvd over the network.

I did notice that the network data rate is very steady when I use the VLC player, but very UN-steady with the On-Air player ( it came with an LG tuner). I don't have MyHD and I didn't try other players, but I think a combination of factors (such as errors reading the dvd and erratic demand) could starve the player and cause it to freeze.

So I'll make another suggestion: try a dvd reader with an 8mB buffer.

Do you get reliable playback from hard disk? If you segment the recordings, you can copy them from the DVD to the hard disk and start playback as soon as the first segment is copied. I'm just thinking that burning data discs is way easier than authoring HD DVDs.

HD DVD playback on the TV is far more reliable, you also don't have the problem with the software decoding issue, I always have this little gray line underneath if I play back from PC, also problem with getting the PC interface with TV always have a glitch. I have MyHD playback it's fine but to play it on Toshiba A1, is like heaven sent, I don't use MyHD on the TV any more since I was able to use the HD DVD player.

Version 2.4e DVR adds a fix for H.264 stream headers sometimes being improperly tagged as "MPEG-2". Check using TSReader. This should have little, if any, impact on most playback setups.

-R

Can someone point me to the thread which tells you how to make your own HD-DVDs from the recordings from the R5000HD?

Thanks

Can someone point me to the thread which tells you how to make your own HD-DVDs from the recordings from the R5000HD?

Thanks

You can save the recorded transport stream directly to a recordable DVD, or you can use an encoding method such as AutoGK. It all depends upon how much time you want to spend archiving recordings. Personally, I used to encode using AutoGK, but it became quite time consuming, and now I just save the recording on my server and play back using Sage.

Can someone point me to the thread which tells you how to make your own HD-DVDs from the recordings from the R5000HD?

Thanks

Here's the link

Creating your own HD DVDs (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=667462&page=1&pp=30)

A lot of people are doing this now and it works beautifully. So far, there's been limited to no success with Blu-ray authoring.

New versions of the DVR and PVR have been posted in the Support (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm) ->Download area. The DVR (r5000hd.exe) is available as a zip file but the PVR can only be updated by using the installer, which is the recommended method to update both files simultaneously.

Version 2.4f of the DVR corrects the problem of the OTR not decrementing. Devices with serial numbers ending in a "D" suffix will be required to use this version (or greater).

Version 2.4b of the PVR addresses events disappearing from the listbox when sorted (mainly events with identical start times for multi-instance DVR).

-R

Okay. I have read just about everything and I have a few setup questions. I have read where the r5000hd allows you so capture incoming programming from the new dual tuner boxes at DishTV, but not to capture anything from the recordings already on the system.

That being said, what would be the advantage to getting a PVR reciever from DISH? It seems like it would just complicate things. i.e. if someone actually tries to change the channel on the PVR while the htpc is recording won't that mess things up? Or is that just solved by not using the PVRs direct interace and only using the HTPC instead?

Seems like it would be better to just use a dual tuner, non pvr.

If you are actually using the HTPC for the tuning and watching of programs (not recording), I assume you would need a dual tuner card that could recieve HD signals correct?

I appreciatte any assistance that anyone could provide. Just trying to understand this so that I can build my first HTPC and use the R5000hd to capture HD programming.

Has anyone had any functionality in Linux? I assume it would work with Windows running in some sort of virtual machine system alongside linux, but it would be nice to get it working directly in Linux.

Would it be possible to run virtual machine software with Windows running the R5000-HD software and receiving the data, outputting via firewire, inputting into another firewire port, and recording on Linux? I know that I can record video via firewire with Linux, but I don't know if this would work or not.

I assume it would work with Windows running in some sort of virtual machine system alongside linux, but it would be nice to get it working directly in Linux.

I am recording from the r5000hd to MythTV on Linux. However, I am using a separate machine running XP to host the r5000hd.

I looked at some of the virtual machine technologies to see if I could host XP and Linux on one computer. I did not find any that provided usable access to ieee1394 (firewire) for both operating systems.

Theoretically, it should be possible. However, it is probably easier to throw together a cheap XP machine. The requirements r5000hd are fairly low, especially if the host machine is not used for HD playback or any other heavy task.

Does anyone know if the Direct TV H20-600 works with the R5000 solution?

Also what about Comcast and Motorola DCT6200/2005?

Thanks,
R. Sparrow

All of the devices that can be modified are listed at:

R5000-HD compatible devices (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/info.htm#DirecTV)

The H20 devices are not compatible. The cable box may be - read the detailed section Cable Box Modifications (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/cableinfo.htm) for more info.

Yes, I'm a Newbie, but I've had some good coaching and have spent a lot of time with the home theater side of things but not the HTPC side. I have my HTPC tweaked to play DVDs beautifully, but now I'm getting ready to implement my R5000 and this will be the ultimate use of this box (which means I'm happy to reload the thing from scratch and rip out all software)

Some questions:
1) I read earlier in the thread that there were problems with the R5000 and Sage TV v5 implementation. Is that gone or should I install v4 or is the TItanTV implementation still the way to go?

2) I have a E-86 Clone version on DirecTv, taking HD locals OTA, so no MPEG4 problems. Right now I have an ATI Radeon X800XL. I get good playback of SD and decent playback HD via VLC player (when recorded via the R5000-PVR) to my offboard HDTV (connected via DVI to HDMI). Should I be considering switching to a MyHD when I implement Sage? Again I'm concerned primarily with playback to an HDTV (ultimately a 1080p sammy DLP) rather then a PC screen. I'll have an offboard video processor to do my scaling so I'm not too worried about that part. I'm not worried about scuttling the video card here.

3) Should I be using Sage to playback the files to my HDTV screen or should I be employing something like media player classic?

4) How much are things like ffdshow and Dscaler going to help or hurt? Has anyone here implemented them with other players to play their TS files? Again maybe MyHD is the answer. I have had poor results with zoomplayer (but great with DVDs), strange results with TheaterTek (SD playback is off center), and good results generally with VLC.

Thanks to everyone here for making it such an easy decision to go with the R5000 (that includes you Mr. Blazer. Hope you are enjoying cali).

OH, and the rest of my box is a Dell Dimension 4700 (I know I can't overclock it) P4 2.8 Ghz with 80GB Sata for Programs, 500 GB SATA for storage (future NAS to be installed). 1G ram.

All the Best,

Marc

Re: Linux stuff

Since R5000 uses generic Cypress USB driver, with probably very simple control protocol over one USB endpoint, and another EP for transfering bulk MPEG data, writing something to do the same for Linux would be trivial, however you'd lose all the usefulness of the Windows app, not to mention waste hours/days/weeks getting it all working in Linux. So why bother?

read earlier in the thread that there were problems with the R5000 and Sage TV v5 implementation.

I had problems the Sage implementation and 4DTV. I have since determined that problem is the R5000 app itself, not as it relates to Sage. On my system if I change to a channel with a marginal signal or no signal at all, the R5000 will crash; then both the Sage and the R5000 app need to be restarted.

I am wondering if the crashing is common or if there is supposed to be error handling that would reset the application after a short timeout in the event that the R5000 does not see the expected ts stream.

Willie

I am wondering if the crashing is common or if there is supposed to be error handling that would reset the application after a short timeout in the event that the R5000 does not see the expected ts stream.


Take a look at the remuxer.log file. What's the error?

-Techtom

Yes, crashing of the R5000HD DVR is common if there are a large amount of errors.

Usually with a total loss of signal, the stream will restart 5 times and give up cleanly waiting for the next event.

However if the signal is spotty (think 129W in parts of the Country) or during bad weather or poor reception, it is common to get the application to fault with a Windows Error as you have seen with a marginal signal. As you have seen, at that point, you must acknowledge the fault in Windows and manually restart the application before it will take any further commands.

It might be nice if the program could send an email/IM etc to the user if 1) a recording shuts down after 5 retries or 2) the DVR errored and crashed.

Also might be nice if the number of restarts was not hardcoded at 5. Some might want infinite restarts until the end of the timer.

I am recording from the r5000hd to MythTV on Linux. However, I am using a separate machine running XP to host the r5000hd.

I looked at some of the virtual machine technologies to see if I could host XP and Linux on one computer. I did not find any that provided usable access to ieee1394 (firewire) for both operating systems.

Theoretically, it should be possible. However, it is probably easier to throw together a cheap XP machine. The requirements r5000hd are fairly low, especially if the host machine is not used for HD playback or any other heavy task.

Does myth handle this well? Can you watch live tv via this method, or do you only use it for recording? What service are you using? If you are using Dish or Direct, have you tried any of the MPEG-4 channels yet? How does myth deal with those?

Can you watch live tv via this method, or do you only use it for recording? What service are you using? If you are using Dish or Direct, have you tried any of the MPEG-4 channels yet? How does myth deal with those?
I can watch live tv, but I don't usually do that. Channel changing is very slow - it takes four or five seconds.

I have Directv.

I do not have any MPEG-4 channels to try. MythTV can handle MPEG-4. Some people in Britain are using MPEG-4 captured using DVB cards. However, I believe that the FirewireRecorder module in MythTV can only accept MPEG-2 TS over firewire. The FirewireRecorder will probably be updated to accept MPEG-4 TS in the future, when MPEG-4 becomes more common (and especially if cable boxes start using MPEG-4).

I don't know if the R5000HD DVR application on Windows XP will send an MPEG-4 TS over the firewire. The firewire "save to tape" option in the DVR app is intended to save to a D-VHS deck, and D-VHS only accepts MPEG-2. I have not heard of anyone testing MPEG-4 "save to tape" in the R5000HD DVR.

Using D*, when recording SD does anyone else get blurring (artifacts) at the top of the image in their recorded transport streams? I see this artifact both when outputing to the PC monitor and to HD TV. This exists in all SD broadcasts on all channels, but not in actual HD boradcasts.

I'm thinking this may be an issue with my box as I see the same blurring at the top of the screen when output via component to an HDTV in 1080i. Yet I don't see it when the STB is in 480 mode outputing in 4:3 mode versus 16:9. I don't see this on my non-moded boxes on other TVs in the house.

Everyone needs to email E* about their decision to go HD-LITE with HDNET and HDNET Movies.

I do not have any MPEG-4 channels to try. MythTV can handle MPEG-4. Some people in Britain are using MPEG-4 captured using DVB cards. However, I believe that the FirewireRecorder module in MythTV can only accept MPEG-2 TS over firewire. The FirewireRecorder will probably be updated to accept MPEG-4 TS in the future, when MPEG-4 becomes more common (and especially if cable boxes start using MPEG-4).

I don't know if the R5000HD DVR application on Windows XP will send an MPEG-4 TS over the firewire. The firewire "save to tape" option in the DVR app is intended to save to a D-VHS deck, and D-VHS only accepts MPEG-2. I have not heard of anyone testing MPEG-4 "save to tape" in the R5000HD DVR.

The TS sent over Firewire can be either MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 and both are handled by the D-VHS which does not concern itself with parsing the actual data. Think of it as a "bit bucket", the only requirement being that the data is properly encapsulated. MPEG-4 (H.264) streams record and playback just like MPEG-2 but obviously won't be decoded during playback. The R5000 will output a H.264 stream to Firewire either directly or using the Disk2Tape utility. Before there were any actual H.264 broadcasts we tested pushing a H.264 file out to tape and then recapturing it back to disk.

One would think that the FireRecorder should work in a similar manner. There is no need for it behave any differently if the payload were changed to MPEG-4.

-R

Thanks for the info about MPEG-4 TS and DVHS!

I don't think MythTV's FirewireRecorder looks at the actual data in the TS, so it won't care about MPEG 2 vs 4. It does look at PID's and such, but those are part of TS.

So the only place where detecting MPEG-4 is important is playback (or data processing, such as transcoding). As long as Myth understands how to find out which codec was used for the data in the TS (and I believe it does), then it should already be MPEG-4 compatible.

The pre-modifed Dish ViP211 units are on sale for $200 off the regular price of $900.00 ($700 + s/h). The sale will run at least until the end of the month of August with a 30 day target.

The "169time Upgrade" offer will expire on September 15, 2006. Anyone thinking of upgrading their 169time setup to the R5000-HD should take advantage of this special now. Please don't wait and ask us if we can still offer it 6 months from now!

Details and ordering information is on our sales (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm) page. Thanks.

-R

The pre-modifed Dish ViP211 units are on sale for $200 off the regular price of $900.00 ($700 + s/h). The sale will run at least until the end of the month of August with a 30 day target.

The "169time Upgrade" offer will expire on September 15, 2006. Anyone thinking of upgrading their 169time setup to the R5000-HD should take advantage of this special now. Please don't wait and ask us if we can still offer it 6 months from now!

Details and ordering information is on our sales (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/sales.htm) page. Thanks.

-R
Why are the 211 going for $700 ?

Why are the 211 going for $700 ?

I am sure you can purchase your own (cheapest I have seen is right under $200), pay shipping or tax to your place (around $20 at the lowest price)....then pay for shipping again to nextcom (again $20 minimum), pay them $550 to mod it and get it back ready for use after 2 1/2 weeks of shipping ground 3 times...... for $790 if you so prefer.

Or send them $700 for the stb and the mod and get the unit in several days.

I recently noticed that my HBO recordings from my Hughes r5000 sat box had numerous errors with blocky pixleation and audio dropouts. It occurs with HD and SD shows.

This has been going on for more than a week.

All my other HD channels work fine (CBS, NBC, ABC, HDNet, ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD, UniversalHD). I live in New Jersey if that matters.

I have another unmodified Directv sat box and I was able to view the Directv HBO channel perfectly.

I unplugged my Hughes and let it reload its channel data. I am getting the same problems with HBO.

Perhaps the Directv encryption of the HBO channel has changed somehow?

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

Sounds like your E86 is about to bite the bullet from heat - a common problem. Mine lasted all of about 4 months until I had to switch it to the RCA - they are bigger and uglier - but they do hold up much better.

With the help of the r5000 developers I found out the following:

I looked at the transponder numbers and found that my Hughes sat box is getting low numbers for "sat C" which carries HBO HD stuff. The picture that I get from the box is unwatchable and the recordings are just as bad.

It seems my receiver is broken.

I may get a new Mitsubishi clone of the Hughes 86.

Has anyone else used this model? Is it any good? I always hated the fact that the Hughes only puts out one HD resolution - 1080i and that I had to watch 720 p through recordings from my DVHS deck.

Thanks for any help.

PLEASE HELP!

Got my ViP622 back from Nextcom at long last today. I followed directions to the letter from their website. Installed r5000ver24f.exe to the default location. Then, plugged in the STB. However, instead of Nextcom Generic USB Device being shown as the new hardware being installed, it showed HP Digital Tuner Firmware loader. After this, I went into device manager & it shows "Unknown Device" under USB Controllers. I tried doing update driver & getting it to look in the drivers folder in the R5000HD directory, but that doesn't do it.

What's going on? Can anyone help? I made sure the USB cable supplied by Nextcom is indeed connected to the correct port on the back of the STB. It's the only mini-USB port anyway.

Go read their support docs for a Rogue Driver install. Thats your issue. I had the same. You will have to find a .INF file in your c:\windows\inf that contains the entry for the HP Digital Tuner, mine was oem6.inf I think. before you delete that file, make not of the .SYS file listed inside it, you will have to delete the .SYS file from c:\windows\system32\drivers. Go here for full instructions (very bottom): http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support.htm

Is your PC a Dell?

Thanks for your quick reply. Yes, my PC is a Dell. In c:\windows\inf, I do see a lot of oemxx.inf files. I opened every one of them using Notepad, but I don't see one that says "HP Digital Tuner". Can you advise further? Thanks.

Use windows Explorer to search (the search button option) the contents of the files there for "HP Digital Tuner". I dont remember which file for sure mine was in.

*edit* just confirmed, mine was in OEM6.inf.

Frustrating. Did a "Word or phrase in the file" search in c:\windows for "HP Digital Tuner" & it turned up nothing. Guess I'll have to e-mail Nextcom.

Are you searching in c:\windows or c:\windows\inf ? And searching hidden files? Nextcom isnt going to be able to help much, the cause of this rogue driver is the Dell installation of XP and a driver they (Dell) included. You are just going to have to keep searching until you can find the darn file that has the proper device listed in it. Every PC install is different. I'm sure other OEM's have other rogue drivers out there for different devices, but in this case, I have had it happen on only Dell machines.

Heck on my server, OEM6 is back now, but its DVICO fusion devices now. Its a pain in the ass to fix this, and will take quite a while to find it too more than likely. Just keep trying is all I can suggest.

Both. If I search in c:\windows & include subfolders & hidden files, it should find it. Are you saying the INF file could be for something other than "HP Digital Tuner"? What a pain.

Did you try limiting the search to "HP" in *.inf?

Windows XP's search doesn't touch files that don't have their types registered, or something like that. Try a free program called Agent Ransack.

Okay, got it! It was "HP Digital TV Tuner Firmware loader" instead of "HP Digital Tuner Firmware loader". I could've sworn the latter is what I saw after I'd initially plugged in the USB cable. Thanks so much for your help Kirby. Really appreciate it!

Okay, got it! It was "HP Digital TV Tuner Firmware loader" instead of "HP Digital Tuner Firmware loader". I could've sworn the latter is what I saw after I'd initially plugged in the USB cable. Thanks so much for your help Kirby. Really appreciate it!

Glad you finally found the driver that was giving you a problem. I also have a Dell, and had the same exact problem. Kirby helped me through the same procedure you just went through.

Well, that part did work. I did the rest of the setup as instructed on Nextcom's website...

The issue now is recording itself. The meter stays at "Pushing it" & I'm getting failed captures. I can control the STB fine otherwise (channel changes, guide, etc.). Please see attached screenshot. Guess I'm not having much luck. I have a P4 3GHz PC with 2GB of RAM & plenty of hard drive space.

The fact that you are showing 0 KB/s for the rate would seem to indicate (at least to me) that for some reason its not getting a usable signal via the usb to the remuxer and that is what is spiking the meter as its in an error state. That also explains the failed transfers.

The only possible culprit would be this USB2.0 extender (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=2779&seq=1&format=2&style=) I'm using. I'm going to move my PC next to my A/V rack & try w/just the Nextcom supplied USB cable tonight. Have my fingers crossed that will do it.

I think USB extenders are a no-no for this. I've never tried one, but I recall that being mentioned before to not use them. Glad you found the driver!

Being that you are using a 622, you could open up the R5000's virtual remote, and see if you can send remote commands to it, while watching the 622 on your TV. Could be the tuner its trying to control is stuck on a popup graphic (like a PPV warning) which would cause no signal to be sent.

I think USB extenders are a no-no for this. I've never tried one, but I recall that being mentioned before to not use them. Glad you found the driver!

That reminds me that passive USB extension cables can also be problematic. I recall one time having difficulties with recording, and the solution was a single USB cable of the required length.

I think if you try your STB/R5000 with the supplied cable, you will find that it will work just fine, and then you'll just need to get a long enough single USB cable to accomodate your particular setup.

Good luck

Yep, I'll try tonight w/only the short USB cable that Nextcom provided. With the extender, I can still control the STB w/R5000's virtual remote. There's no popup graphic or anything like that, so I'm guessing it has to be the USB extender.

I recall reading USB extenders did work for people when I'd skimmed through this whole thread. Perhaps the extender I got is poor quality or not fully USB 2.0 as it claims.

I had a USB Extender that worked and it was an active extender. However, I think in troubleshooting you should try and get it to work without one first.

Now, on a different matter, take a look at the 5 showings of Weeds this week on SHO-HD from Dish. These are all off the 148W satellite.

All Timing is done from the Rating screen. I've watched Weeds live off the STB just to see if I see anything happening 1:24 into it and I don't.

Anyone think that a certain condition on the video causes the R5000HD muxer to error out?

I'd love to know if anyone else seen this issue with Weeds this week before this episode ends - both from 110W or 148W. And if you have a cable setup, it would be interesting to know if you get the same error 1:24 in.

It re-airs Friday night at 9:00PM and then again at 9:30PM and Sunday night at 9:00PM and 9:30PM. All times Eastern.

MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_01.ts

Sequence Frame 2123(199-B) / Time 0:01:24 :
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705486
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705486
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705486
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 2276 payload bytes at file offset 134413624
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 4.744378 sec. ending at file offset 134413624
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705495
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705506
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705516
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705528
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705539
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705551
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705561
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705572
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 705583
Warning: PCR interval greater than 5.113901 seconds (prev=1802150422413,current=1802288497736)

Sequence Frame 2148(23-B) / Time 0:01:30 :
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.975322 sec. ending at file offset 134455960

Sequence Frame 2153(27-B) / Time 0:01:30 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 823. Timestamp gap of 5.105100 sec. ending at file offset 134437948

Sequence Frame 2207(81-B) / Time 0:01:32 :
VideoWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.016678 sec. ending at file offset 134732759

Sequence Frame 39031(41-B) / Time 0:27:01 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.45 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:55s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.15 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (12.28 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 62.04 KB/Frame, 0.25 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 39031 video frames found with errors.
1 of 50497 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
5.121778 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
5.719700 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log


MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_02.ts

Sequence Frame 2123(213-B) / Time 0:01:24 :
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689272
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689272
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689272
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689272
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689272
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689272
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689273
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689273
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689273
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689273
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689274
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 689275
Warning: PCR interval greater than 4.762255 seconds (prev=1850832390857,current=1850960971736)

Sequence Frame 2125(29-B) / Time 0:01:28 :
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 2678 payload bytes at file offset 131311360
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 4.848667 sec. ending at file offset 131311360

Sequence Frame 2154(57-B) / Time 0:01:30 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 838. Timestamp gap of 4.754756 sec. ending at file offset 131530586

Sequence Frame 39024(63-B) / Time 0:27:01 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.41 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:56s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.14 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (12.08 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 61.05 KB/Frame, 0.24 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 39024 video frames found with errors.
1 of 50508 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
4.754756 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
4.848667 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_03.ts


Sequence Frame 2129(609-B) / Time 0:01:24 :
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695780
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695780
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695780
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695780
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695780
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695781
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695781
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695781
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695781
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695783
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695783
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 695783
Warning: PCR interval greater than 4.636650 seconds (prev=1996608609384,current=1996733798936)

Sequence Frame 2132(32-P) / Time 0:01:29 :
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 1998 payload bytes at file offset 132587722
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 4.737344 sec. ending at file offset 132587722

Sequence Frame 2160(57-B) / Time 0:01:30 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 442. Timestamp gap of 4.604600 sec. ending at file offset 132787744

Sequence Frame 44708(621-B) / Time 0:30:16 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.67 GB, Play Time: 00h:30m:11s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.68 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (11.91 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 58.91 KB/Frame, 0.23 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 44708 video frames found with errors.
1 of 56616 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
4.604600 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
4.737344 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_04.ts


Sequence Frame 2123(171-B) / Time 0:01:24 :
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 686972
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 686972
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 686972
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 686978
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 2412 payload bytes at file offset 130892926
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 3.491689 sec. ending at file offset 130892926
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 686988
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 687000
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 687010
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 687021
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 687032
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 687043
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 687053
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 687064
Warning: PCR interval greater than 3.848345 seconds (prev=1655390523508,current=1655494428836)

Sequence Frame 2153(27-B) / Time 0:01:29 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 851. Timestamp gap of 3.837167 sec. ending at file offset 130916896
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.975322 sec. ending at file offset 131427126

Sequence Frame 2183(57-B) / Time 0:01:30 :
VideoWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.016678 sec. ending at file offset 131202871

Sequence Frame 39059(69-B) / Time 0:27:01 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.31 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:57s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.15 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (11.54 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 58.34 KB/Frame, 0.23 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 39059 video frames found with errors.
1 of 50533 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
3.853844 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
4.467011 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_05.ts

Sequence Frame 2153(545-B) / Time 0:01:25 :
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698823
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698823
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698823
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698823
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698823
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698824
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698824
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698824
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698826
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698826
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698826
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 698826
Warning: PCR interval greater than 4.995362 seconds (prev=1314012526275,current=1314147401036)

Sequence Frame 2158(34-P) / Time 0:01:30 :
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 2394 payload bytes at file offset 131376608
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 5.157767 sec. ending at file offset 131376608

Sequence Frame 2184(57-B) / Time 0:01:31 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 506. Timestamp gap of 5.005000 sec. ending at file offset 131574359

Sequence Frame 39062(71-B) / Time 0:27:02 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.37 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:57s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.15 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (11.88 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 60.07 KB/Frame, 0.24 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 39062 video frames found with errors.
1 of 50541 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
5.005000 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
5.157767 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

Yep, I'll try tonight w/only the short USB cable that Nextcom provided. With the extender, I can still control the STB w/R5000's virtual remote. There's no popup graphic or anything like that, so I'm guessing it has to be the USB extender.

I recall reading USB extenders did work for people when I'd skimmed through this whole thread. Perhaps the extender I got is poor quality or not fully USB 2.0 as it claims.

I've been using a USB active extender (from Tiger Direct) ever since I got my 211. First I had a long run to use it with my computer - 16' regular USB to 16' active extender to USB2 hub; 6' from the hub to the 211. No issues for a couple of months like that. Then I moved it around and have it set up like this - 16' regular USB2 to a USB2.0 hub, 16' active extender to the regular Nextcom cable and from there to the 211.

Two active extenders in the chain did not work.

The R5000 mod itself has to be faulty on my ViP622. I moved my computer close to the STB & used only the Nextcom supplied cable. Same problem. Drove to CompUSA & bought a pricey Belkin USB 2.0 PCI card. Same problem. :(

I have used several USB 2.0 devices on my Dell & never had problems, even a 16x external DVD burner. It can't be my PC.

Just tried my office laptop w/USB 2.0 ports. Same problem. E-mailed Nextcom. It must be the mod.

Update: First, sorry to hog this thread. But, second, it was indeed the mod. Been exchanging e-mails w/David & there's a loose R5000 wire on the STB's main board. Must've happened during shipping. Man, those wires are so delicately attached to the STB board. Feels good for now knowing what the problem is at least.

Just tried my office laptop w/USB 2.0 ports. Same problem. E-mailed Nextcom. It must be the mod.

Update: First, sorry to hog this thread. But, second, it was indeed the mod. Been exchanging e-mails w/David & there's a loose R5000 wire on the STB's main board. Must've happened during shipping. Man, those wires are so delicately attached to the STB board. Feels good for now knowing what the problem is at least.

Bummer, Brajesh, but they'll fix it for you. It's a good company.

Bummer indeed. Very delicate wiring by Nextcom in there; I can see why a wire or two might get dislodged from the soldering points during shipping. David has been very responsive to my e-mails. The STB is going back to him today. Hopefully, he can fix it & ship it back next week. I can't wait to record HD, especially since we can author HD DVDs now. :)

............David has been very responsive to my e-mails. The STB is going back to him today. Hopefully, he can fix it & ship it back next week. ................ :)

Nextcom's customer service and responsiveness is second to none, IMO.

Weeds via E* Friday night - as expected:

Watching live from STB shows no glitch or lockup. Again, R5000HD about 85 seconds into the episode, just like before:

MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_06.ts


Sequence Frame 2153(729-B) / Time 0:01:25 :
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682940
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682940
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682940
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682940
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682940
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682940
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682941
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682941
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682941
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682941
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682942
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 682942
Warning: PCR interval greater than 5.763661 seconds (prev=728711143001,current=728866761836)

Sequence Frame 2154(30-I) / Time 0:01:31 :
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 1574 payload bytes at file offset 128359564
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 5.833022 sec. ending at file offset 128359564

Sequence Frame 2184(57-B) / Time 0:01:32 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 322. Timestamp gap of 5.739067 sec. ending at file offset 128603802

Sequence Frame 41514(475-B) / Time 0:27:02 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.46 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:56s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (25.68 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (12.33 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 58.63 KB/Frame, 0.23 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 41514 video frames found with errors.
1 of 50520 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
5.739067 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
5.833022 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_07.ts


Sequence Frame 2125(447-B) / Time 0:01:24 :
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690027
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690027
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690027
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690027
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690030
AudioError: Corrupted AC3 frame of 3062 payload bytes at file offset 131424884
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 4.272656 sec. ending at file offset 131424884
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690041
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690053
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690063
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690073
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690084
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690097
VideoWarning: Repeated adaptation/non-payload packet number 690107
Warning: PCR interval greater than 4.584985 seconds (prev=777377603445,current=777501398036)

Sequence Frame 2150(23-B) / Time 0:01:29 :
AudioWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.960011 sec. ending at file offset 131483846

Sequence Frame 2155(27-B) / Time 0:01:30 :
VideoWarning: TemporalRef gap of 575. Timestamp gap of 4.554556 sec. ending at file offset 131460560

Sequence Frame 2207(79-B) / Time 0:01:32 :
VideoWarning: Timestamp gap of 0.016678 sec. ending at file offset 131755246

Sequence Frame 39033(41-B) / Time 0:27:00 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.37 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:55s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.16 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (11.86 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 59.91 KB/Frame, 0.24 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 39033 video frames found with errors.
1 of 50498 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
4.571233 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
5.232667 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log



Was anyone else able to check this out via cable or CBand and the R5000HD?

I'm gonna post the whole thread between myself and Dave at Nextcom here in case someone here has other ideas for me to try. I have an ASUS motherboard in a homemade case system from a local guy. I have Haupage PVR250 and a video card installed in my only 2 PCI slots. I use BeyondTV from snapstream on this PC, wish it worked with the r5000....

I have not installed any rogue drivers, I checked. I am an experienced PC professional so I know that no matter what I have tried it cannot find the driver. It recognizes the device, with the cable box unplugged, and it tries to install a driver but finds none so it just says Unknown Device under USB Root Hub (6 ports) in device manager. If I search for a driver and tell it to look in the Program files/r5000hd/drivers directory, where I see there is a driver waiting, it says it is not a driver for this device and installs nothing. When I look at the Unknown device under device manager it says “No Drivers are Installed for this Device” and I try to install it using Have Disk and directing it to that directory and no dice.

I even uninstalled the Sage TV package and then reinstalled the Free software package alone and tried all this again, and no luck.

This is driving me pretty nuts. Unfortunately this PC has no spare PCI slot for a USB card.

I don’t know if its a factor but I also have a Haupage PVR card and a high res video card installed in the PCI slots. I have this machine set up for Beyond TV, so could there be drivers that are conflicting? I would rather not lose the BeyondTV capability because it is much better than Sage or Titantv (but it doesn decrypt and doesn’t do HDTV...)

Its looking like I may have to ship this back and give up or spring for a new PC...
--

Ron Ozer


From: "r5000support@nextcomwireless.com" <r5000support@nextcomwireless.com>
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2006 11:05
Subject: Re: My USB 2 problems

Hi,
The key is you said "The new hardware wizard did show up but it never finds the driver..." As long as the wizard comes up that means there isn't a problem with the hardware itself. I'm not sure why you couldn't find the driver. If you follow the installation instructions on our website, and can't get past step 1 then use the "Advanced" setting and manually point the wizard to c:\program Files\r5000hd\driver. If anywhere in the process you're prompted to access the internet and/or search windows update for a driver say "no, not this time". By this time you may have got a completely wrong driver installed for the R5000. If necessary, follow the instructions for rogue driver removal here: http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support_faq.htm#roguedriver
The names in the example refer to a known, specific driver. In your case it maybe different. Thanks,

David

Ron Ozer wrote:
Re: My USB 2 problems Hi David,

I have done this over and over again. Yes I get the report that one of the devices has malfunctioned” And it brings up a list of the USB ports with one highlighted and it says Unknow USB Device. I turned off the cable box for minutes and did a reconnect without it powered and the same thing happens. The new hardware wizard did show up but it never finds the driver, whether I point it at the right directory or not. When I turn on the cable box nothing happens on the PC. I believe I have tried everything you suggest here and on the website and I am stymied. Not sure what else I can do, I’m afraid it may simply be the USB drivers for my ASUS motherboard are not good enough. I hope not, I really want to use this PC. I have no other PC, all Macs. I could try to do boot camp on my Mac Mini, but I would rather not!

Again there is nothing in your note that was new to me, sorry. Just finished trying again and again, sigh... Wish you guys made a Mac version.
--

Ron Ozer

From: "r5000support@nextcomwireless.com" <mailto:r5000support@nextcomwireless.com> <r5000support@nextcomwireless.com> <mailto:r5000support@nextcomwireless.com>
Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:44:10 -0400
To: Ron Ozer <ro@well.com> <mailto:ro@well.com>
Subject: Re: My USB 2 problems

Hi,
Make sure its unplugged long enough to be completely reset and loose any programming. Also, leave the AC power to the cable box unplugged while troubleshooting it. When you plug it in XP should either recognize it, or launch the new hardware wizard so you can install the driver. If there is a problem, XP will also notify you (shouldn't have to go into device manager). The key is what exactly happens when you first plug it in. If you have another PC, try that as well. The sequence of events should be plug in the USB cable and the device manager should launch saying that new hardware has been found. If you get an error like "unrecognized device" that doesn't mean the driver is not present, it means the OS didn't receive the proper data from the device to be able to identify it. It should also report something to the effect that "one of devices connected to the PC has malfunctioned..." Thanks,

David

Ron Ozer wrote:



Well, got the key code last night and tried for a while to get the USB 2 to work. I could have sworn that the very first time I connected the device it said "Found Nextcom Wireless USB Device" but when I look at device manager it says Unknown Device on one of the 6 Port USB Hub listings. I am not using a hub, must be a built in Hub in my ASUS motherboard PC. It's Windows XP, the latest version SP2 and all updates. I tried everything on the website, plugging USB in with the cable box off and unplugged, tried it on one of the front USB ports and all. Deleted some of the USB ports in device manager and will reboot next.



Looked at he original CD that came with the PC and tried to go back to the original USB driver for the PC, but it says that the old driver is no good since I already have the driver installed by SP1. So no good. Tried finding the driver in the Program Files directory etc.



I hope you have some new ideas, I will be heartbroken if I have to ship the box back to you again!


Ron Ozer
I have not installed any rogue drivers, I checked. I am an experienced PC professional so I know that no matter what I have tried it cannot find the driver. It recognizes the device, with the cable box unplugged, and it tries to install a driver but finds none so it just says Unknown Device under USB Root Hub (6 ports) in device manager. If I search for a driver and tell it to look in the Program files/r5000hd/drivers directory, where I see there is a driver waiting, it says it is not a driver for this device and installs nothing. When I look at the Unknown device under device manager it says “No Drivers are Installed for this Device” and I try to install it using Have Disk and directing it to that directory and no dice.

I even uninstalled the Sage TV package and then reinstalled the Free software package alone and tried all this again, and no luck.

This is driving me pretty nuts. Unfortunately this PC has no spare PCI slot for a USB card.

I don’t know if its a factor but I also have a Haupage PVR card and a high res video card installed in the PCI slots. I have this machine set up for Beyond TV, so could there be drivers that are conflicting? I would rather not lose the BeyondTV capability because it is much better than Sage or Titantv (but it doesn decrypt and doesn’t do HDTV...)

Its looking like I may have to ship this back and give up or spring for a new PC...
--

Ron Ozer


From: "r5000support@nextcomwireless.com" <r5000support@nextcomwireless.com>
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2006 11:05:48 -0400

Subject: Re: My USB 2 problems

Hi,
The key is you said "The new hardware wizard did show up but it never finds the driver..." As long as the wizard comes up that means there isn't a problem with the hardware itself. I'm not sure why you couldn't find the driver. If you follow the installation instructions on our website, and can't get past step 1 then use the "Advanced" setting and manually point the wizard to c:\program Files\r5000hd\driver. If anywhere in the process you're prompted to access the internet and/or search windows update for a driver say "no, not this time". By this time you may have got a completely wrong driver installed for the R5000. If necessary, follow the instructions for rogue driver removal here: http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support_faq.htm#roguedriver
The names in the example refer to a known, specific driver. In your case it maybe different. Thanks,

David

Ron Ozer wrote:
Re: My USB 2 problems Hi David,

I have done this over and over again. Yes I get the report that one of the devices has malfunctioned” And it brings up a list of the USB ports with one highlighted and it says Unknow USB Device. I turned off the cable box for minutes and did a reconnect without it powered and the same thing happens. The new hardware wizard did show up but it never finds the driver, whether I point it at the right directory or not. When I turn on the cable box nothing happens on the PC. I believe I have tried everything you suggest here and on the website and I am stymied. Not sure what else I can do, I’m afraid it may simply be the USB drivers for my ASUS motherboard are not good enough. I hope not, I really want to use this PC. I have no other PC, all Macs. I could try to do boot camp on my Mac Mini, but I would rather not!

Again there is nothing in your note that was new to me, sorry. Just finished trying again and again, sigh... Wish you guys made a Mac version.
--

Ron Ozer




From: "r5000support@nextcomwireless.com" <mailto:r5000support@nextcomwireless.com> <r5000support@nextcomwireless.com> <mailto:r5000support@nextcomwireless.com>
Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:44:10 -0400

Subject: Re: My USB 2 problems

Hi,
Make sure its unplugged long enough to be completely reset and loose any programming. Also, leave the AC power to the cable box unplugged while troubleshooting it. When you plug it in XP should either recognize it, or launch the new hardware wizard so you can install the driver. If there is a problem, XP will also notify you (shouldn't have to go into device manager). The key is what exactly happens when you first plug it in. If you have another PC, try that as well. The sequence of events should be plug in the USB cable and the device manager should launch saying that new hardware has been found. If you get an error like "unrecognized device" that doesn't mean the driver is not present, it means the OS didn't receive the proper data from the device to be able to identify it. It should also report something to the effect that "one of devices connected to the PC has malfunctioned..." Thanks,

David

Ron Ozer wrote:



Well, got the key code last night and tried for a while to get the USB 2 to work. I could have sworn that the very first time I connected the device it said "Found Nextcom Wireless USB Device" but when I look at device manager it says Unknown Device on one of the 6 Port USB Hub listings. I am not using a hub, must be a built in Hub in my ASUS motherboard PC. It's Windows XP, the latest version SP2 and all updates. I tried everything on the website, plugging USB in with the cable box off and unplugged, tried it on one of the front USB ports and all. Deleted some of the USB ports in device manager and will reboot next.


Looked at he original CD that came with the PC and tried to go back to the original USB driver for the PC, but it says that the old driver is no good since I already have the driver installed by SP1. So no good. Tried finding the driver in the Program Files directory etc.

I hope you have some new ideas, I will be heartbroken if I have to ship the box back to you again!


Ron Ozer

I have seen several times over the years that no matter what I do, for some reason it seems to end up in a state such as you describe.

In every instance, I have pulled the usb plug, and run the uninstall for the nextcom software.

Then I boot into safe mode and make sure i delete everything in the device manager that might deal with the Nextcom device/software. That includes ALL the usb stuff as Windows will redetect everything and reinstall it on the next reboot.

Reboot in to XP Normally and let it reinstall the USB devices.

Install the Nextcom Software and reboot again still with the usb plug disconnected..

After it reboots plug the usb plug from the R5000HD in - it then goes through the second install for the device (there are always 2 no matter what from virgin state). At that point the device is located and has always worked for me.

I have had to do this several times when something became corrupted somewhere - but after hours of agrevation such as what you have gone through and a ton of experimentation, I have not had that procedure fail on me yet.

If this doesnt work for some reason, I would suggest to repeat the process but when doing the uninstall to take the other multimedia stuff out as well (including the pci cards). After you get the R5000HD working, reinstall those.

Ronozer messaged me he tried the above sequence with no luck. He said he had a USB mouse as well. I would not think that should be an issue but, but anyone else have a usb mouse with the R5000?

Also, you might want to take out the PVR PCI card and uninstall the drivers just to make sure that is not conflicting somehow.

Weeds via E* Friday night - as expected:

Watching live from STB shows no glitch or lockup. Again, R5000HD about 85 seconds into the episode, just like before:

MPEG2Repair: D:\MPEG2REPAIR\PROCESS\Weeds Last Tango in Agrestic 1080iT AC3 SHO_06.ts


Was anyone else able to check this out via cable or CBand and the R5000HD?

I recorded the 9:00 PM showing on Showtime with R5000 from cable box.

This is the M2R log-

Sequence Frame 38691(0-I) / Time 0:26:45 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.37 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:45s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.09 fps Telecine), 80.00 Mbps (11.89 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 60.22 KB/Frame, 0.24 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 38691 video frames found with errors.
0 of 50181 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
0.000000 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
0.000000 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

I usually get error free caps from Showtime, not so with Cinemax and Starz.

Mike T

I recently purchased the R5000HD mod for an RCA box. When I plug the USB cable into my computer's PCI card, I get "unknown device", rather than "Nextcom..."

I am using a computer with a Intel 850 series mobo with a Pentium4 processor. The built in USB ports are only 1.0, so I have added a USB 2.0 card.

I get "unknown device" on this machine using either a VIA USB 2.0 Combo card, or an Adaptec USB 2.0 card (NEC chip).

I can browse to the R5000HD driver folder but the hardware wizard won't install the device driver. Please help.

Sean

After further monkeying around, I saw dibcom sa and HP tuner device appear so I went hunting through the inf files (oem10.inf). I deleted it and the modload2.sys file. Then I shut down...on reboot I am still getting "unknown device" clicking have disk doesn't help...I can browse to the Nextcom inf file either in the R500HD driver folder or the Nextcom inf file in my Windows inf folder...neither one works.

My patience is running out. Please help if you can.

Sean

I recorded the 9:00 PM showing on Showtime with R5000 from cable box.

This is the M2R log-

Sequence Frame 38691(0-I) / Time 0:26:45 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 2.37 GB, Play Time: 00h:26m:45s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.09 fps Telecine), 80.00 Mbps (11.89 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 60.22 KB/Frame, 0.24 Bits/Pixel.
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
0 of 38691 video frames found with errors.
0 of 50181 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
0.000000 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
0.000000 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

I usually get error free caps from Showtime, not so with Cinemax and Starz.

Mike T

Agreed - its a E* problem and that's where the problem lies - not with the R5000HD muxer.

I saw the same thing via cable tonight.

Thank you for helping to trouble shoot it.

After further monkeying around, I saw dibcom sa and HP tuner device appear so I went hunting through the inf files (oem10.inf). I deleted it and the modload2.sys file. Then I shut down...on reboot I am still getting "unknown device" clicking have disk doesn't help...I can browse to the Nextcom inf file either in the R500HD driver folder or the Nextcom inf file in my Windows inf folder...neither one works.

My patience is running out. Please help if you can.

Sean

If you now have an unknown device in your device manager, you can approach it one of several ways.

1) You can go there and click on update driver. Tell it you have the disk and point it to the folder with the driver under the R5000HD directory.

Remember, there will be 2 devices and installs needed...though they will look the same from a users prosective. The second will occur when you start the DVR after your first driver install.


or

2) Delete the unknown device from the device manager and restart windows. When it says new device found, again, type in the location to the driver under the R5000HD folder.

After that, when you start the DVR it will go through the second install.


If you have mucked up the system to badly and those fail to work, uninstall everything as detailed in post 1137 and start from scratch using those directions.

You could also try a system rollback, but I don't know how successful that would be. After a rollback, use option #2 above.

good luck.

P.S. I always now install the software prior to plugging in the R5000HD to the computer the first time and it seems to play better with the install.

All,

I recently recieved my R5000-HD unit from Nextcom. I bought a new HP A1510N Media Center computer to use with the R5000 (for reasons I won't get into). Like some others here recently, when I went to install the softare, I ran into troubles and this is what I ended up doing to fix and complete the installation. I am still waiting fot the Dish Network Installation to occur this afternoon so I haven't fully tested everything.

Anyway, here is what I did.

Install the R5000-HD software per the instructions. When I plugged in the STB, I saw a message about the "HP Digital TV Tuner Loader" followed by a "device has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it." message. When I looked in the device manager, I had an unknown USB device so I uninstalled the 'unknown' device and using the suggestion from Kirby Baker, I did the following

- Search in c:\windows\inf for "HP Digital TV Tuner"
- Found a file called 'oem121.inf'
- Opened the oem121.inf file and found a reference to device loader system file called modload2.sys
- Rename the oem121.inf to oem121.inf.bak
- Go to c:\windows\system32\drivers and find modload2.sys
- Rename modload2.sys to modload2.sys.bak
- (Re) Install the R5000-HD software. Make sure the ViP 211 STB is unplugged.
- Plug in the ViP 211 STB. The hardware loaders will 'find new hardware' and then finish.
- Unplug the ViP 211 STB.
- Goto the hardware device manager and look at the USB devices. There should be an entry for the "HP Digital TV Tuner Loader" and it should be disabled (since the modload2.sys file and the oem121.inf file were not found).
-In the device manager, Uninstal the "HP Digital TV Tuner Loader"
- Plug in the ViP 211 STB.
- The hardware wizard will start and the device found should now be the 'Nextcom Generic USB Device".
- Select "Install from a list or specific location" and then select next.
- On the next screen, select "Don't search. I will chose the driver to install." then select next.
- In the next screen, select "Have Disk" and navigate to the R5000\drivers folder and select "NextcomHDTV.inf". Follow the prompts and answers about the 'unsigned' files per the R5000 instructions. When the driver is installed, you will be prompted about the sys file "NxtcmUSB.sys" file. Navigate and select the sys file from the drivers folder.
- Follow the rest of the prompts and "Finish" the installation.

I'll let you know if I run into any problems using the STB and software.

Ted

The only problem I experienced with this mod is when I don't realize the HTPC I'm using dont have USB 2.0 drivers.

Curiously, how did it happen that Nextcom ended up with same USBID as some HP tuner box?
Did they not bother paying the USB-IF fee to register their own device ID range? What a shame...

My install on the HP A1510N works fine. I'm in the process of learning how to use everything (MyHD, R5000, etc.) but the test recordings worked fine.

Curiously, how did it happen that Nextcom ended up with same USBID as some HP tuner box?
Did they not bother paying the USB-IF fee to register their own device ID range? What a shame...


I finally got it installed. I could install it on both a Via and NEC chip based card, but only the NEC card produced files that could be played. I am enjoying the R5000 so far, and I had been shut out since Time Warner had turned on 5C (no more Mac recording). However, there is an emphasis on the cheap, the lack of registration causes needless hassles for the end user. Seems they could design an installation disc that would take care of it too, or not?

The hardware mod techs leave a small round hole in the back for the USB connector. You can see the edge of the pcb board inside...no biggie but semi unprofessional in appearance. Seems to me, they could add a rubber or plastic fitting to seal off the hole (around the USB connector).

All-in-all I'm happy so far.

Sean

All,

I recently recieved my R5000-HD unit from Nextcom. I bought a new HP A1510N Media Center computer to use with the R5000 (for reasons I won't get into). Like some others here recently, when I went to install the softare, I ran into troubles and this is what I ended up doing to fix and complete the installation. I am still waiting fot the Dish Network Installation to occur this afternoon so I haven't fully tested everything.

Anyway, here is what I did.

Install the R5000-HD software per the instructions. When I plugged in the STB, I saw a message about the "HP Digital TV Tuner Loader" followed by a "device has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it." message. When I looked in the device manager, I had an unknown USB device so I uninstalled the 'unknown' device and using the suggestion from Kirby Baker, I did the following

- Search in c:\windows\inf for "HP Digital TV Tuner"
- Found a file called 'oem121.inf'
- Opened the oem121.inf file and found a reference to device loader system file called modload2.sys
- Rename the oem121.inf to oem121.inf.bak
- Go to c:\windows\system32\drivers and find modload2.sys
- Rename modload2.sys to modload2.sys.bak
- (Re) Install the R5000-HD software. Make sure the ViP 211 STB is unplugged.
- Plug in the ViP 211 STB. The hardware loaders will 'find new hardware' and then finish.
- Unplug the ViP 211 STB.
- Goto the hardware device manager and look at the USB devices. There should be an entry for the "HP Digital TV Tuner Loader" and it should be disabled (since the modload2.sys file and the oem121.inf file were not found).
-In the device manager, Uninstal the "HP Digital TV Tuner Loader"
- Plug in the ViP 211 STB.
- The hardware wizard will start and the device found should now be the 'Nextcom Generic USB Device".
- Select "Install from a list or specific location" and then select next.
- On the next screen, select "Don't search. I will chose the driver to install." then select next.
- In the next screen, select "Have Disk" and navigate to the R5000\drivers folder and select "NextcomHDTV.inf". Follow the prompts and answers about the 'unsigned' files per the R5000 instructions. When the driver is installed, you will be prompted about the sys file "NxtcmUSB.sys" file. Navigate and select the sys file from the drivers folder.
- Follow the rest of the prompts and "Finish" the installation.

I'll let you know if I run into any problems using the STB and software.

Ted

This is the answer for my USB 2 problem finally. No one else's instructions were detailed enough to get me working! Thanks!

Curiously, how did it happen that Nextcom ended up with same USBID as some HP tuner box?
Did they not bother paying the USB-IF fee to register their own device ID range? What a shame...


Actually that's not correct. The generic VID & PID values (belonging to the USB chip itself) are not to be registered to specific devices which is what these other manufacturers have obviously done. The software supplied by Nextcom correctly identifies it as a "Generic USB Device", then when it loads its own firmware the VID & PID values change to that of a unique device. This is one method of how the chip is designed to be used: software programmable with device re-enumeration. There was a similar case with a Sasem "HDTV USB" device a while back. Maybe the HP tuner box is a repackaging of that product or else there's yet another manufacturer who is using the PID & VID values of the chip itself. A more detailed explanation can be found here. (http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.development.device.drivers/browse_thread/thread/a10f3e61437757af/c2286ea7aaeb006e?q=usb+hdtv+device+microsoft&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fq%3Dusb+hdtv+device+microsoft%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d)

-TW

This is the answer for my USB 2 problem finally. No one else's instructions were detailed enough to get me working! Thanks!

You're welcome and I'm glad it helped.

Ted

Ted, a big thanks from me as well! My repaired ViP622 came back from Nextcom today & I again ran into the damn "HP Digital TV Tuner" driver problem. This thing keeps reinstalling itself somehow. Except, what Kirby had told me before did not work this time. Your instructions did the trick! The only difference is that I had to leave my ViP622 plugged in to uninstall the pesky "HP Digital TV Tuner" under USB devices. Then, the rest worked as it should. I'm in heaven...I can make recordings finally! Woohoo!

Ted, a big thanks from me as well! My repaired ViP622 came back from Nextcom today & I again ran into the damn "HP Digital TV Tuner" driver problem. This thing keeps reinstalling itself somehow. Except, what Kirby had told me before did not work this time. Your instructions did the trick! The only difference is that I had to leave my ViP622 plugged in to uninstall the pesky "HP Digital TV Tuner" under USB devices. Then, the rest worked as it should. I'm in heaven...I can make recordings finally! Woohoo!


Glad it worked for you.

So far my recording works great however I'm running into trouble in two areas (probably better discussed in other forums/threads). One is playback. The recordings play fine and look great but when I try to fastforward, pause/stop, etc using MyHD, the recording stops and doesn't restart. The other problem is converting. Using HDTV2MPEG2, I don't see any error messages and the conversion is written to disk but when played back, the conversions is blank/black.

Ted

Playback is somewhat glitchy...VLC for windows is working for me. I use Womble Mpeg Wizard for editing/converting.

I am having trouble with one channel from DirecTV. I have a RCA DTC100, and files recorded from ESPN Classic seem to have no audio...VLC will play video only. Mpeg Wizard shows mono at 112kbps, but bbdmux show zero audio packets.

Anyone else on DirecTV have the same problem with ESPN Classic...would appreciate the results of any tests. Thank You.

Sean

For what its worth, the last 3 HBO recordings I have made on E* at the same time from 148W (9440) and 110W (9456) have actually had higher bitrate on 110W. I first noticed this about 14 days ago when I had both going for a 1 time showing. Since then I have done 2 additional tests and seen the same thing. No idea what is going on or if it will continue, but it clearly is happening now.

Just so I'm clear, 110 is higher, as opposed to 148 being lower?

I get that you are doing direct comparisons, but in general, has 110 moved up or has 148 moved down, or is it even possible to tell?

Just so I'm clear, 110 is higher, as opposed to 148 being lower?

I get that you are doing direct comparisons, but in general, has 110 moved up or has 148 moved down, or is it even possible to tell?

UPDATED - 5 for 5 higher on 110W in direct test 110/148 with HBO.

Well, after 3 overnight single runs that 110W was higher, I ran several during the day today to see what would happen.

For example, Executive Target overnight (though not a single run but the second and last run this month) was 12.70Mbps Video on 110W and 12.34Mbps Video on 148W.

I had the numbers reversed earlier for daylight hours tests I did today. Both Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Twister were higher on 110W than on 148W. If you looked at this in the first 2 hours, I had 148W and 110W figures reversed from today's tests.

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
148W File Size Processed: 8.03 GB, Play Time: 01h:33m:52s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (26.14 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (11.53 Mbps Average).

110W File Size Processed: 8.47 GB, Play Time: 01h:33m:51s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (26.14 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (12.18 Mbps Average).

Twister
148W File Size Processed: 8.06 GB, Play Time: 01h:53m:12s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.02 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (9.53 Mbps Average).

110W File Size Processed: 8.69 GB, Play Time: 01h:53m:12s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.02 fps Telecine), 18.00 Mbps (10.30 Mbps Average).

As for what's going on, its hard to tell.

One thing I know for sure, is that the numbers on HBO-HD took a hit about a year ago and then another hit about 6 months ago.

For example, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey came in about 12.55Mbps Video last November from 148W. The numbers today were 12.18Mbps (which was the highest I had seen this month). And again, I saw numbers in November that I had higher numbers from earlier in 2005.

Now, I do know that HBO-HD is basically consistent from showing to showing on C-Band during a month - and HBO seldom ever is on E* - generally floating up to .75Mbps difference on 148W and 1.25Mbps difference on 110W during the course of a month.

For example, on C-Band, SW3 - Revenge of the Sith was about 9.13Mbps -9.15Mbps Video consistently iirc, it went from 8.75Mbps - 9.11Mbps on 148W and 8.25Mbps - 8.95Mbps on 110W.

So, I have no idea if HBO-HD's general bitrate has dropped in the past year or if it's E* doing it - though it appears from several sources that the high end on HBO is about the same when a title comes on able to produce close to 14Mbps.

And again, I have yet to ever see SHO-HD have higher bitrates on 110W, although I have seen 110W SHO-HD have some pretty high bitrates on some movies in the last 60 days (for example the one time showing of Sheena which was at 6AM came in at 15.35Mbps on 110W) - though 148W was still about a half point higher.

HBO The Power of One - 10-7-2005 off 110W 11.18Mbps Video
HBO The Power of One - 3-20-2006 off 148W 12.34Mbps Video
HBO The Power of One - 9-15-2006 off 148W 11.21Mbps Video

HBO Closer - 12-19-2006 off 148W 11.75Mbps Video
HBO Closer - 12-29-2006 off 148W 11.38Mbps Video
HBO Closer - 09-13-2006 off 148W 10.11Mbps Video

So, it doesn't look like there is any real advantage to one or the other. I might try swinging that 148 around to 61.5, seems to me there was something there that was getting more bandwidth than it does someplace else, don't remember what it was though. Maybe it was the HD demo channel---not going to waste the time if that's the case.

No obvious difference in PQ. between the two sats. I A-B it and I don't see it on my setup.

To paraphrase the great Philosopher of our time, Forrest Gump, "E* is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." 148W seems to be higher on MOST titles today.

I have not checked bitrates yet, but from HBO today, with the file sizes trimmed to exact same start and stop point - from first MPAA Rating to end logo:

4:40AM Another 48 Hrs. 110W 8,340,456 KB =
4:40AM Another 48 Hrs. 148W 8,368,964 KB =

6:15AM Wing Commander 110W 7,199,431 KB
6:15AM Wing Commander 148W 7,582,765 KB +

10AM Fever Pitch 110W 8,551,004 KB
10AM Fever Pitch 148W 9,427,466 KB +

11:45AM Anchorman 110W 8,210,993 KB +
11:45AM Anchorman 148W 8,096,675 KB

1:30PM Robots 110W 6,471,820 KB
1:30PM Robots 148W 7,300,018 KB +

3PM Addams Family Values 110W 7,961,316 KB
3PM Addams Family Values 148W 8,829,454 KB +

4:45PM Cry Wolf 110W 6,602,994 KB
4:45PM Cry Wolf 148W 7,052,982 KB +

6:15PM 110W Fever Pitch 8,882,963 KB
6:15PM 148W Fever Pitch 9,585,780 KB +

8PM 110W Wedding Crashers 11,434,123 KB
8PM 148W Wedding Crashers 11,973,137 KB+


The only thing that I can think of is what is sharing the transponder with the channels. For example, HBO-HD shares T13 on 110W with the HD-PPV and TNT-HD. On 148W, HBO-HD shares T17 with SHO-HD.

Perhaps they are statmuxing and the HD-PPV and TNT-HD needed very low bitrates at times the overnight rates on HBO-HD were very low.

As I type this out and think about it, HD-PPV has essentially been a non-entity overnight for the past month. It's only been a Dish logo - as they have used the channel for Baseball Games in HD and then not put any HD PPV movies on until 6am the next day. The logo takes up virtually no bitrate. SHO-HD can go very high on 148W, so that could be why the overnight rates on HBO-HD are higher than 148W most of the time over the past month.

I will have to test this when the overnight PPV is off for MLB to confirm, but that certainly makes the most sense for me.

Of course I am about to get HBO-HD and STARZ-HD from C-Band to stop this ridiculous problem from the DBS Providers anyway. Surprising I am able to do it with a 6ft Dish and commercial lnbs.

EDIT: To give you a comparison, Wedding Crashers from 148W was 12.97Mbps Video and off 110W was 12.36Mbps.

No obvious difference in PQ. between the two sats. I A-B it and I don't see it on my setup.

As some people I respect have said, they really think it takes a difference in 2-3Mbps to be able to readily spot a difference eyeballing it. I can clearly tell a difference between HD OTA, Cable and DBS with less than that, but I can see how it might be very hard on E* overall.

Furthermore, the output circuits on different STBs/IRDs will produce different results as well, which can distort the difference.

The major difference will be when the frames change dramatically from movement or scene changes. You would be more likely to see incidents of macroblocking from a lower bitrate than a higher bitrate - in this instance, every bit of bitrate would help - especially if the GOPs are set length (they are in this case) and do not produce new I frames or GOPs on scene changes.

Unless you happen to switch sources right at that instance, I can see how you might not see a difference.

So, I have E* and a 6000 with OTA. Can I buy this and record HBO-HD and OTA HD with a reasonable expectation that the recording will be good, and watchable. What percentage of stuff fails? Do you need a perfect OTA signal?

Since I'm not dealing with H264, can I then also play back these files with my *gasp* ratty old 512M, athlon 2400, and radeon 7200 agp card?

I have read every post in here with "6000" in it and am still not positive about the answers.

I just got a new R5000 modded Dish 211. So I plan on selling my Dish 6000 also modded by Nextcom. If anyone is interested, please PM me. Thanks.

So, I have E* and a 6000 with OTA. Can I buy this and record HBO-HD and OTA HD with a reasonable expectation that the recording will be good, and watchable. What percentage of stuff fails? Do you need a perfect OTA signal?

Since I'm not dealing with H264, can I then also play back these files with my *gasp* ratty old 512M, athlon 2400, and radeon 7200 agp card?

I have read every post in here with "6000" in it and am still not positive about the answers.


Yes, the 6000 is a rock solid performer - only it will not receive the new MPEG4 channels. It is pretty error free on HBO - more so than the ViP211/ViP622.

There should be demo .ts files on the R5000HD site that you can download and test to see that you can play them - I doubt you would have a problem but I stick to Intel for the Multimedia extensions.

I just got a new R5000 modded Dish 211. So I plan on selling my Dish 6000 also modded by Nextcom. If anyone is interested, please PM me. Thanks.

One thing you have to know is you will get a lot less errors on your .ts streams from 6000 than the new 211.

You will have to make multiple recordings on 211 most of the time before you get a recording that is error free. Some of us are very strict on what we permanently archive and if possible we want 0.0 on our mpegrepair log.

To the members who have the 6000 mod and contemplating getting a 211 mod I suggest that you save your money until R5000 finds a way to make it as good recording device (error free) thru its software as the 6000 (unless of course its something thats out of their hands). The mpeg4 is not yet ready and the PQ is still sub par (not mention the low bitrates).

As some people I respect have said, they really think it takes a difference in 2-3Mbps to be able to readily spot a difference eyeballing it. I can clearly tell a difference between HD OTA, Cable and DBS with less than that, but I can see how it might be very hard on E* overall.

Furthermore, the output circuits on different STBs/IRDs will produce different results as well, which can distort the difference.

The major difference will be when the frames change dramatically from movement or scene changes. You would be more likely to see incidents of macroblocking from a lower bitrate than a higher bitrate - in this instance, every bit of bitrate would help - especially if the GOPs are set length (they are in this case) and do not produce new I frames or GOPs on scene changes.

Unless you happen to switch sources right at that instance, I can see how you might not see a difference.

True. Every bit rate counts.

One thing you have to know is you will get a lot less errors on your .ts streams from 6000 than the new 211.

You will have to make multiple recordings on 211 most of the time before you get a recording that is error free. Some of us are very strict on what we permanently archive and if possible we want 0.0 on our mpegrepair log.

To the members who have the 6000 mod and contemplating getting a 211 mod I suggest that you save your money until R5000 finds a way to make it as good recording device (error free) thru its software as the 6000 (unless of course its something thats out of their hands). The mpeg4 is not yet ready and the PQ is still sub par (not mention the low bitrates).

The captures from the 211 actually contain much more of the original stream infrastructure as generated at Dish than those from the 6000. So, the transport stream is passed along more or less unchanged whereas with the 6000 it has to be reconstructed. What you have recognized and brought to everyone's attention is that our muxing software is better and much more error free than that used by Dish!

Programs like MPEG2Repair do a very complete job of flagging all possible stream inconsistencies. However while some are real errors in the stream creation process a lot fall into the category of "violations" that may even be conscious on the part of Dish and have no affect whatsoever on the proper decoding of the stream.

We don't intend to build "on the fly" error correction into the R5000-HD. The design goal has always been to perfectly capture whatever is broadcast. The "fixing" of streams is best left to post processes where time is not a critical factor and the user can be involved in the decision process.

-R

Hello R5000-HD

With the introduction of the HDTivo Series3, do you have any plans on enabling this as a R5000HD device?

As far as I know this does not seem to have a firewire port (so no 5C).

Thanks.

The captures from the 211 actually contain much more of the original stream infrastructure as generated at Dish than those from the 6000. So, the transport stream is passed along more or less unchanged whereas with the 6000 it has to be reconstructed. What you have recognized and brought to everyone's attention is that our muxing software is better and much more error free than that used by Dish!

Programs like MPEG2Repair do a very complete job of flagging all possible stream inconsistencies. However while some are real errors in the stream creation process a lot fall into the category of "violations" that may even be conscious on the part of Dish and have no affect whatsoever on the proper decoding of the stream.

We don't intend to build "on the fly" error correction into the R5000-HD. The design goal has always been to perfectly capture whatever is broadcast. The "fixing" of streams is best left to post processes where time is not a critical factor and the user can be involved in the decision process.

-R

I've always noted that the blue "Excellent----Pushing It" bar is always closer to "Pushing It" than it is to "Excellent" on the 211, unlike the 6000. How does that fit into the differences you just noted? The 211 captures look and behave as well as they did on the 6000 for me.

A friend bought and is now enjoying my older R5000 modded 6000. Again, great product.

Same here. The meter is usually at 5151 kb/sec for me using the ViP622. I do get some bad TS captures, but most have been good.

The captures from the 211 actually contain much more of the original stream infrastructure as generated at Dish than those from the 6000. So, the transport stream is passed along more or less unchanged whereas with the 6000 it has to be reconstructed. What you have recognized and brought to everyone's attention is that our muxing software is better and much more error free than that used by Dish!

Programs like MPEG2Repair do a very complete job of flagging all possible stream inconsistencies. However while some are real errors in the stream creation process a lot fall into the category of "violations" that may even be conscious on the part of Dish and have no affect whatsoever on the proper decoding of the stream.

We don't intend to build "on the fly" error correction into the R5000-HD. The design goal has always been to perfectly capture whatever is broadcast. The "fixing" of streams is best left to post processes where time is not a critical factor and the user can be involved in the decision process.

-R

Is it technically possible for you guys to use the 6000 muxer you use and implement that to the ViP 211? The RCA DCT-100 and Dish 6000 has been excellent 99.9% error free caps. But my ViP 211 has been inconsistent especially the VOOM channels. I have logs full of errors and they are also visible when I watch them. I will get those programs error free eventually but only after numerous attempts. The non-VOOM channels is not so bad I get 1 or 4 bytes of errors here and there which I can live with that.

Anyways excellent product and keep updating that software!

Actually that's not correct. The generic VID & PID values (belonging to the USB chip itself) are not to be registered to specific devices which is what these other manufacturers have obviously done.

No, seriously, a i2c eeprom is like 50cents.
cypress doesn't even recommend production designs that use spt method of loading firmware and renumeration.

I get no audio when I try to play back the R5000 recording of Star Trek Enterprise from last night's broadcast on HDNet (from the MyHD card). Same result when I tried to burn an HD DVD of the show - no audio playback on the Toshiba A1 HD DVD player. The show played back fine on my Dish 622.

Anyone else have similar results?

I played part of mine from Dish through Sage with no problem. Obviously not using MyHD or HD DVD player, but thought I would share my experience with it.

I get no audio when I try to play back the R5000 recording of Star Trek Enterprise from last night's broadcast on HDNet.

Are you running the latest version of the R5000-HD software? Use TSReader to look at the bitrates in your recording. Is the audio PID 0x0014 there? The audio bitrate should be around 384Kbps. If it's zero, then the audio wasn't recorded. I believe a soon to be released beta fixes this problem...

-Techtom

My 6000 went out the end of last week. The power light flashed about 13 times and then a few other numbers when plugged in - I suppose some type of error code that I didn't count. Unplugged for 2 days, plugged in again...dead as a doornail.

A year ago I would just throw it away and get another, but the price has increased 3 to 4 times for these units on eBay since that time, so now I figure I must send it somewhere to get repaired.

I am hesistant to send it with the R5000HD mod in it, but figured I would ask if anyone has had anyone repair a 6000 with or without a R5000HD or 169time mod in it? If so, who did you use?

Thanks

Is Starz-HD the only channel on Dish Network that is currently truely MPEG4?

What hardware and/or software has been proven to be successfull in providing glitch-free playback of MPEG4 R5000 captures of Dish Network MPEG4 content?

Are any VOOM channels or other recently ( over the last 12 months ) added HD content on Dish Network MPEG4 today?

Are the Dish L.A. HD locals in MPEG2 or MPEG4?

I am hesistant to send it with the R5000HD mod in it, but figured I would ask if anyone has had anyone repair a 6000 with or without a R5000HD or 169time mod in it? If so, who did you use?

Have you tried talking to nextcom about having it repaired? I would be very cautious about sending a modified box anywhere else.

Have you tried talking to nextcom about having it repaired? I would be very cautious about sending a modified box anywhere else.

The good news is I found its the power supply. The bad news is I found out its the power supply. No one seems to have parts though. E* said they would not send out a power supply by itself either. Thus I have to think this one through.'

The fact that no one has a place to send unit for repair doesn't bode well if there is a problem.

power supply was a common failure in the 6000, the receiver ran too hot IMHO, you might be able to find a new Power board if you dig hard enough ;)

-Gary

The good news is I found its the power supply. The bad news is I found out its the power supply. No one seems to have parts though. E* said they would not send out a power supply by itself either. Thus I have to think this one through.'

The fact that no one has a place to send unit for repair doesn't bode well if there is a problem.

Did you disconnect the fan to reduce the noise?

The bad news is I found out its the power supply. No one seems to have parts though.There is one on eBay, item # 170030768208, that does not have any modules. It may go for a reasonable price.

As hackers are using the 6000, they have run the price WAY up on these. They were $100 a year ago - now $300-$400. I will keep an eye on it though.

As a sidenote, after looking all over for a power supply this week, I have been informed that the hackers finally have a way to mod the newer HD STBs like the 6100/811 and 9200/924. I suspect that people that get into that stuff will most likely start grabbing those units, which means the price of the 6000s will probably start falling (and in fact, they have over the past week or 2) pretty dramatically.

As more and more move to the newer boxes, the 6000 will most likely really plummet - so if anyone was thinking of swapping the 6000 for the 211/622 and selling the 6000 on the bay, time might be running out quickly, especially as the R5000HD module isn't that valuable to hackers.

I have had a VIP211/R5000-HD for about 4 months, and love it. Sometimes there are a few glitches, but most good programming is repeated so I usually get a second shot at it if something goes wrong.

Here's what I want to try- use a laptop for capture from the vip211 (that's all the laptop will do), and use an imac mini for playback through firewire. The imac will see the shared folder with the hd streams on the laptop (or on a big external drive). Running the dvr app from the apple firewire sdk should make the imac act like a d-vhs/avchdd. My tv (HL-R5678W) can use firewire devices.

So, I use laptop to record, imac for playback. Just use tv remote, select firewire device, choose recording to watch.

Is there any chance my vip211 recordings will work as a 'firewire' stream? Is anybody already doing this?

The imac can record from the tv through firewire, so I'm guessing the hd stream from a tv should be just as compatible as a stream from the vip211.

I don't see any problem with this, but don't want to buy an imac if someone already tried this and know it will not work.

Thanks.

For those of you using Sage, or thinking about it, the latest Sage 6.0 beta was just released last night with H.264 playback support. I have yet to try this version, but hopefully can tonight. There has already been one report of the H.264 video not working when encapsulated into a Transport Stream (this was some Euro DVB capture) so I dont know how its going to work (if at all) with E* R5000 captures.

Just thought I would give you guys a heads up. Hopefully once 6.0 is released we can have a good H.264 playback solution built into Sage.

I have had a VIP211/R5000-HD for about 4 months, and love it. Here's what I want to try- use a laptop for capture from the vip211 and use an imac mini for playback through firewire. The imac will see the shared folder with the hd streams on the laptop (or on a big external drive). Running the [VirtualDVHS] app from the apple firewire sdk should make the imac act like a d-vhs/avchdd. My tv (HL-R5678W) can use firewire devices.

Is there any chance my vip211 recordings will work as a 'firewire' stream? Is anybody already doing this?


Curt,
It should work. I've used the mac mini to push via firewire my R5000-HD recordings to an LG 3410A dvr. I found that I had to use and eternal USB2.0 drive though. When I transferred a file on the internal mac harddrive using VirtualDVHS, I always got glitches. I never tried using files from a networked drive. I have had success using network drives with the R5000-HD

TW

We have an R5000-HD modified 4DTV receiver for C-band. We have to use Zap2It for scheduling recordings because TitanTV does not have our C-band channels.

Yesterday, the interface to Zap2It broke, such that we cannot schedule recordings beyond 6 hours into the future. For several months, the Zap2It interface has been defective in that it does not allow the time covered by the grid to be advanced. We were able to work around this by searching for movie titles that we knew were upcoming. Now, searching for any title returns zero results.

Is there a solution or work-around for this problem?

Curt,
It should work. I've used the mac mini to push via firewire my R5000-HD recordings to an LG 3410A dvr. I found that I had to use and eternal USB2.0 drive though. When I transferred a file on the internal mac harddrive using VirtualDVHS, I always got glitches. I never tried using files from a networked drive. I have had success using network drives with the R5000-HD

TW

Thanks for the info. I'm going to give it a go.

I'm not familiar with macs, but think I will be able to figure it out.

I'm tired of (fighting) MCE 2005, and just want to be able to playback hd streams through firewire. I figure why not let the tv do the decoding- so I don't have to deal with pc's video cards/drivers/codecs/video settings/etc.

I'll report back if I get it to work like I want.

We have an R5000-HD modified 4DTV receiver for C-band. We have to use Zap2It for scheduling recordings because TitanTV does not have our C-band channels.

Yesterday, the interface to Zap2It broke, such that we cannot schedule recordings beyond 6 hours into the future. For several months, the Zap2It interface has been defective in that it does not allow the time covered by the grid to be advanced. We were able to work around this by searching for movie titles that we knew were upcoming. Now, searching for any title returns zero results.

Is there a solution or work-around for this problem?

I use the R5000 for Starchoice and C-band. I just used ZAP@IT to schedule the next three days from Starchoice. It doesn't have a favorite channel list any more and can get very slow but it is still useful sortof. I gave up on ZAP2IT for C-band a long time ago I use the DishTV listing from Titan TV and edit the channel number and Satellite name before saving the schedule info to the PVR. John

Wondering if anyone can venture into a suggestion here. It's been a long term issue when using the R5000HD software, but I am very sure its not the software that's the issue.

I feel confident that there is something in Windows I am overlooking. The computer is 3Ghz system with a gig or ram and a Raid 0 Hard Drive, so throughput should not be an issue. It's set for always on so there should be no standby issues.

About 1 in 20 times if the R5000HD DVR is recording I try to do something else else that in virtually meaningless in terms of cpu cycle needed (ie, open up My computer OR delete a file OR hit the HDTVtoMPEG2 button to advance 10 seconds) the computer becomes unresponsive for about 15 seconds and then the DVR overflows so I have a time gap in my capture.

It's happened on several machines and I just can't see how something this miniscule can cause an overflow (on the other hand, I can often run 2 different instances of the highly intensive mpeg2repair and have no issue).

Again, no powerdown or standby of the hard drives.

It's very frustrating because as noted, even the most mundane operation can trigger it.

Wondering if anyone has any thoughts?

I'd suggest trying it without the RAID. Use a plain old on-board ATA controller. Also, disable any virus software, if you have it.

Wondering if anyone has any thoughts?
I would get task manager open (or download process explorer from sysinternals.com) with processes displaying. Maybe you will see an application taking up high cpu percentage when it happens so you can pinpoint the source of the problem.

Also, do you have any mapped network drives or shortcuts to apps on network drives that may no longer be there? Just a thought.

Maybe try safe mode (with and without networking) to see if that makes difference.


It's happened on several machines
Any common hardware/apps/etc between these? (besides the dvr app).

I would get task manager open (or download process explorer from sysinternals.com) with processes displaying. Maybe you will see an application taking up high cpu percentage when it happens so you can pinpoint the source of the problem.

Also, do you have any mapped network drives or shortcuts to apps on network drives that may no longer be there? Just a thought.

Maybe try safe mode (with and without networking) to see if that makes difference.


Any common hardware/apps/etc between these? (besides the dvr app).

the problem is when i say it locks up.....it locks up for 10 or so seconds...so you cannot get the taskbar open - or even maximize it if its in the tray. I suspect even if it was open, it would be frozen as well.

I have mapped drives, but why would a mapped drive cause the machine to lock when i delete a file off the main drive?

If I were telling the drives to quit spinning after x number of minutes (which I am not) maybe not giving a process a high enough priority for cpu cycles - but I just cannot see where this would be happening, considering where everything is set.

I'd suggest trying it without the RAID. Use a plain old on-board ATA controller. Also, disable any virus software, if you have it.

Well, i know that its MUCH MORE SLUGGISH with a single drive than a Raid 0 drive - and I have done it with 1 drive and same thing. In fact, when I only run 1 drive I have the most buffer overflows, 2 drives in Raid0 less, but still more than when I run 3 drives in Raid0.

Try setting the Task Manager to realtime priority.

the problem is when i say it locks up.....it locks up for 10 or so seconds...so you cannot get the taskbar open - or even maximize it if its in the tray. I suspect even if it was open, it would be frozen as well.
Just leave the task manager open, sorted by CPU% column. But you are probably right, it may not 'update' while the problem is occurring.

I have mapped drives, but why would a mapped drive cause the machine to lock when i delete a file off the main drive?
I know I had a hard time tracking a similar type of problem on one of my pc's at work. Every time I would right-click an icon, I had to wait about 5 seconds before anything would happen. If I remember right it was some shortcuts (in the registry) to a mapped drive that was no longer used and Windows for whatever reason was trying to retrieve icon information of the executable or something when doing simple things like right-clicking an icon. I don't remember how I found it- packet sniffer or registry monitor or something like that. It may have nothing to do with your problem, but Windows is kinda weird sometimes and things that shouldn't be related sometimes are.

Try booting into safe mode (plain 'safe mode' - no networking) to see if that makes any difference. I think you are going to have to play the 'elimination' game.

Well, i know that its MUCH MORE SLUGGISH with a single drive than a Raid 0 drive - and I have done it with 1 drive and same thing. In fact, when I only run 1 drive I have the most buffer overflows, 2 drives in Raid0 less, but still more than when I run 3 drives in Raid0.
I don't think your raid0 setup would cause the problem described. (I just had a hard drive failure which broke my raid0 of course. You'll get a nice blue screen stop error when it happens. I had an image backup of the raid0 system, but when I restored it to a single drive-no raid, Windows would blue screen on bootup. I think it is because the backup image boots to a raid0 setup with the raid drivers installed, and booting from a single sata disk instead causes problems because it doesn't have sata driver. Live and learn. Again and again.)

Any common hardware/apps/etc between these? (besides the dvr app).

Yes, that are all identical clones of each other - yet some have the issue and others do not.

The only real difference is the number of drives in the Raid and the size/model of the drives.

As noted, the less drives in the Raid0, the more chance of an overflow when clicking to delete something or opening My Computer.

Wondering if anyone can venture into a suggestion here. It's been a long term issue when using the R5000HD software, but I am very sure its not the software that's the issue.

I feel confident that there is something in Windows I am overlooking. The computer is 3Ghz system with a gig or ram and a Raid 0 Hard Drive, so throughput should not be an issue. It's set for always on so there should be no standby issues.

...Wondering if anyone has any thoughts?A gig of ram might be a little low. I have two R5000 PC's (one with RAID 0 and the other with plain old ATA). I've never seen an overflow on either one, but they both have 2 gB of ram. They sit somewhere around 800 mB of ram usage with only the R5000 programs running.

Wiith only 1 gB you could be dangerously close to swapping.

A gig of ram might be a little low. I have two R5000 PC's (one with RAID 0 and the other with plain old ATA). I've never seen an overflow on either one, but they both have 2 gB of ram. They sit somewhere around 800 mB of ram usage with only the R5000 programs running.

Wiith only 1 gB you could be dangerously close to swapping.

As the recommended minimum was 512k, I assumed 1 gig was safe. It's just very strange that some machine have issues and others do not appear to - in fact handling twice as many tasks with never a blip - which is where thats a little confusing to me.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking to see if I have any 1Gig sticks of memory that i can swap out and test.

Wiith only 1 gB you could be dangerously close to swapping.Swapping is dangerous now??! I have 384 MB in my machine and I don't think I've ever had a buffer overflow. (R5000 Motorola cable box mod)

Swapping is dangerous now??! I have 384 MB in my machine and I don't think I've ever had a buffer overflow. (R5000 Motorola cable box mod)

I've never seen anything up to 800MB of use either, even when running h2 or m2r on the box at the same time - but at this time I'm open to atleast try anything - although I agree with you - I seriously doubt that is it as my most reliable boxes never have an issue with only 1 measly Gig :D

Do the Task Manager in realtime priority already!

Do the Task Manager in realtime priority already!

Ok... the task manager appears to have 4 options - none of them for realtime priority and underview there is a refresh now and update speed - which is already set to high.

I am not seeing an option to set to realtime priority.

My P.O.S. dual PIII system with 760 of ram has yet to have an overflow. It's got other problems (no glitch-free dVHS transfers yet), but it's never had a problem recording.

I have 1 GB of RAM and run multiple programs while recording to the R5000 - Internet, MPEG2VCR churning away on a file on the same RAID and no problems at all. RAM is not a likely candidate to cause problems.

Ok... the task manager appears to have 4 options - none of them for realtime priority and underview there is a refresh now and update speed - which is already set to high.

I am not seeing an option to set to realtime priority.
Set update speed to high

Right-click taskmgr.exe in Processes tab, select Set Priority->Realtime
(any applications 'priority' can be changed here)

I think the theory here is that task manager will now get alot of attention and not 'pause' the same time you are having a problem.

Set options to 'Always on Top', Processes tab showing, click on CPU column to sort by cpu%-descending. When the problem occurs, see if any application is sucking up all the cpu time (will be top of the list of processes).

Try safe mode. try safe mode. Try safe mode.

FYI, on an earlier subject, HBO via E* on 110W and 148W. Beverly Hills Cop was 13.30Mbps off 110W and 12.74Mbps off 148W. True to form, the PPV channel was off the air after the game last night and programming did not resume until 6am.

So it appears when a Sports Game in HD is scheduled for the HD-PPV Transponder slot, as soon as that game is over, HBO off 110 benefits overnight with more bandwidth than it receives even on 148 (which is strange when you see that 148 only has 2 HD Channels 24/7/365 on the transponder) and what is happening on 110 is the 3 HD Channels are being reduced to 2 HD Channel and 1 HD Slate with a DishHD Logo.

FYI, on an earlier subject, HBO via E* on 110W and 148W. Beverly Hills Cop was 13.30Mbps off 110W and 12.74Mbps off 148W. True to form, the PPV channel was off the air after the game last night and programming did not resume until 6am.

So it appears when a Sports Game in HD is scheduled for the HD-PPV Transponder slot, as soon as that game is over, HBO off 110 benefits overnight with more bandwidth than it receives even on 148 (which is strange when you see that 148 only has 2 HD Channels 24/7/365 on the transponder) and what is happening on 110 is the 3 HD Channels are being reduced to 2 HD Channel and 1 HD Slate with a DishHD Logo.

Before I got cable, I used C-Band and the HBO east feed on C-band was IIRC around 14 mbps constant with null packets and the west feed was 13 mbps, and these are the feeds that Dish uses as a source, so it cant get any higher than that. Yes, it is sad to see that many times on the 148 transponder that the null packet stream is the highest bit rate on the channel. My cable system seems to just pass the 14 mbps constant bit rate HBO stream through the system.

Mike T

Same deal with Saving Private Ryan last night - slightly higher on 110W, though only literally several hundreths of a point.

I must assume beside the DISH-HD Slate on the PPV on 110, the other variable you cannot plan for in advance is the bandwidth that SHO-HD needs on 148W where HBO and SHO share a transponder, while they are on seperate transponders on 110W.

Thus, its almost impossible to plan for in advance :(

Speaking of which, as 148W is an old E* bird (Echostar 1 was their first I believe), anyone know if the bandwidth for the transponders are the same as the current 110/119 birds?

Same deal with Saving Private Ryan last night - slightly higher on 110W, though only literally several hundreths of a point.

I must assume beside the DISH-HD Slate on the PPV on 110, the other variable you cannot plan for in advance is the bandwidth that SHO-HD needs on 148W where HBO and SHO share a transponder, while they are on seperate transponders on 110W.

Thus, its almost impossible to plan for in advance :(

Speaking of which, as 148W is an old E* bird (Echostar 1 was their first I believe), anyone know if the bandwidth for the transponders are the same as the current 110/119 birds?

All the HDTV transponders on Dish use 8PSK modulation and have a total bit rate of around 40 mbps. So if you only have 2 signals on the transponder each one would have about 18 mbps as there is overhead with the encryption and other data streams. Since the max bit rate of HBO is around 14 and Shotime is about the same, then there would be plenty of bandwidth, that is why the null packet stream sometimes is much higher than either HBO or SHO on 148W sat. That is why HDNet looked so good as there were only 2 signals on the transponder and they ran a constant bit rate around 18 mbps, then they added another signal so now HDNet movies runs in the 9-12 mbps range. TSReader will show all this info if you have a compatible satellite tuner.

Mike T

I had thought the newer birds were capable of 45Mbps, but wasn't sure if they had more capacity per transponder than the old birds - and quite simply - you could very well be right at 40Mbps because I don't remember where the number I heard came from.

I hear you about filling up the transponder, but it still makes no sense why they would limit the roughly 17.5Mbps of SHO East and 14.25 Mbps of HBO which share a transponder on 148W. It just makse no sense not to run them full out bitrate instead throw away data to null bits. There just should be no time that HBO on 110 is ever higher than 148W.

It does make sense on 110W why the HBO bitrate would rise when they do not use the PPV on Transponder 13 that shares HBO-HD and TNT-HD.

I had thought the newer birds were capable of 45Mbps, but wasn't sure if they had more capacity per transponder than the old birds - and quite simply - you could very well be right at 40Mbps because I don't remember where the number I heard came from.

I hear you about filling up the transponder, but it still makes no sense why they would limit the roughly 17.5Mbps of SHO East and 14.25 Mbps of HBO which share a transponder on 148W. It just makse no sense not to run them full out bitrate instead throw away data to null bits. There just should be no time that HBO on 110 is ever higher than 148W.

It does make sense on 110W why the HBO bitrate would rise when they do not use the PPV on Transponder 13 that shares HBO-HD and TNT-HD.

The source of the HBO and Sho programs is C-band and the bit rate they use on C-band is around 14 mbps, so if dish just passed the data through, you would only get the 14 mbps of the original feed from C-band, this is what my cable company does and I get 14 mbps on these feeds.

I do have an R5000, just to trying to say a little bit on topic :-)

Mike

...It's got other problems (no glitch-free dVHS transfers yet), but it's never had a problem recording.

I'm in the same boat with a faster system (4800+, 2GB mem). I've tried a few ways but cannot get a completely glitch-free DVHS transfer. The best I've done so far is about 4 audio glitches and no video glitches during a 2 hour movie. I've run the recording off the hard drive and there doesn't seem to be any issue with the recording. VideoRedo+ reports no errors with the recording, too.

Any hints? Maybe we can find a solution to this issue. I'm running XP with the SP2 1394 patch.

Andy

I'm using WinXP Pro SP2 with the meivhs drivers.

I'm gonna try using my Mac to do the transfers. If that doesn't work. my options will be to keep the material on a hard drive and watch using my MyHD card, or to go back to the 169time solution, which gave me good results over 75% of the time. I also have a machine I can install Win XP Home SP1. Maybe the firewire drivers will work a little better . . .

Updated versions of the DVR and PVR software are available in the beta section of the download (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support_download.htm#Beta) area.

Version 2.4g of the DVR removes the limit of 4 R5000-HD USB devices on a single PC (the multi-instance version still limits simultaneous captures to a max. of 4). The problem of muxing the incorrect audio or SAP with Dish 211 and 622 systems has been addressed. Fixed not finding program in certain cable streams. OTR code changes.

Version 2.4c of the PVR removes 4 device limit (matches 2.4g DVR).

Version 1.1a Disk2Tape utility fixes display of "99%" when the transfer is actually complete.

-R

Updated versions of the DVR and PVR software are available in the beta section of the download (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/support_download.htm#Beta) area.

Version 2.4g of the DVR removes the limit of 4 R5000-HD USB devices on a single PC (the multi-instance version still limits simultaneous captures to a max. of 4). The problem of muxing the incorrect audio or SAP with Dish 211 and 622 systems has been addressed. Fixed not finding program in certain cable streams. OTR code changes.

Version 2.4c of the PVR removes 4 device limit (matches 2.4g DVR).

Version 1.1a Disk2Tape utility fixes display of "99%" when the transfer is actually complete.

-R

Thanks! I really appreciate that you're providing updates. It was one of the reasons for replacing the 169time system with the r5000 (the r5000 is also much easier to use).

Andy

My Motorola Comcast Box has been very unreliable with the R-5000 HD PVR. SOmetimes it simply does not change the channel, sometimes it does. When I use the remote interface and click on numbers, frequently it ignores my first few clicks and then doesn't take all the info. I think this is my problem, that the channel change signals are being sent to my Motorolla 200 series box too rapidly and it does not change the channel properly. So instead of chanel 231 I get channel 23 (CNN!) This is very frustrating, please help! Thanks

I just got 2 Starchoice DSR 505a's moded with the R5000 and I've got everything set up nicely. But I have encountered a problem with 2 channels (that I've found so far) and all that is recorded on them is a blank screen & no sound. They are channels 580&581 Much & MuchMore Music. I know I'm getting the signal and channel since I have the reciever hooked up to an external TV and it gets the picture just fine. But when I record these 2 channels with either STB the file grows as its recording, but when I view the file its blank. Also when I view the channel through the HD5000 DVR media preview software the channels are blank as well. Any suggestions?

I just got 2 Starchoice DSR 505a's moded with the R5000 and I've got everything set up nicely. But I have encountered a problem with 2 channels (that I've found so far) and all that is recorded on them is a blank screen & no sound. They are channels 580&581 Much & MuchMore Music.

Are the channels music video channels or just music channels? I don't think the R5000-HD supports recording music only channels. If there is video with these channels, what does it look like?

TW

Are the channels music video channels or just music channels? I don't think the R5000-HD supports recording music only channels. If there is video with these channels, what does it look like?

TW

Yes to clarify they are Canadian music video channels and I found a third that records a black screen with no sound as well, 583 CMT, country music video channel (not that I really care about this one :p ). So I'm seeing a theme here, although I am able to get and record 591 PUNCH which is music video request channel.

Ok, an update on my blank channel issue. I found that its a codec issue that affects 3 of my Starchoice channels, 580,581& 583. If I use the Nvidia decoder with VMR9 I do get a picture on these channels. Unfortunately I can't seem to use VMR9 because it causes the jitter/stutter on my HD channels and NVidia doesn't do overlay on a secondary monitor so I am stuck using the Sage mpeg encoder with overlay but then I can't play these channels. So would these channels be encoded differently and in such a way that the Sage mpeg encoder can't play them?

Well, I cannot give you an answer without any certainty - but I can tell you that one 3 different movie titles on Star Choice - out of the blue - for whatever reason - the R5000HD is identifying these Video stream types as 0x1b. I think that's reserved for H.264 video.
This is causing HDTVtoMPEG2 and MPEG2REPAIR to not find any PIDS.

However, older versions of HDTVtoMPEG2 that were less picky have no issues with this - thus showing that it is actually MPEG2 and should have been encoded Stream Type 0x02.

I cannot tell you if this is a bug in the R5000HD Muxer or if it is only doing what the SC Data Stream is telling it to do. On the other hand, I had never had this happen until this past week.

I can logicially assume that if for whatever these channels were behaving in the same way, just as HDTVtoMPEG2 and MPEG2REPAIR think they are a different codec than what they really are, that it is possible some of the players you throw it at would have a black screen and no audio as well.

Since they are both coming from StarChoice, it does seem a bit odd.

My Motorola Comcast Box has been very unreliable with the R-5000 HD PVR. SOmetimes it simply does not change the channel, sometimes it does. When I use the remote interface and click on numbers, frequently it ignores my first few clicks and then doesn't take all the info. I think this is my problem, that the channel change signals are being sent to my Motorolla 200 series box too rapidly and it does not change the channel properly. So instead of chanel 231 I get channel 23 (CNN!) This is very frustrating, please help! Thanks

I don't have your setup with cable, but did have an issue with channel changes as well with my Starchoice DSR401 receiver (also made by Mot). What seemed to do the trick for me was starting all channel changes with an enter, then the channel numbers, then enter. Once in a while it will not change the channel properply, but it is now very rare. May or may not help in your setup, but since both boxes are made by MOT I thought I would pass it along. David at Nextcom was very helpful last year when I was having this problem and changed how the dvr sent the ir commands. Good luck getting it working right.

Darin

Didn't the DSR401 need an External HDD-200/HDD-201 and thus the IR repeater as opposed to directly inserting the remote control codes into the CircuitBoard ?

I you have windows media center 2005 and a xbox 360 you can watch your ts files without converting them to anything just intall a program call hdtvpump i am sure if you google it you can find it. i installed it an it work great no more making a hd dvd.

Yes. IR repeater from the HD200.

Darin

I can see how an IR repeater would be a little more touchy than a direct feed to the IR input on the circuit board.

... I'm going to give it a go.
I'm not familiar with macs, but think I will be able to figure it out.
I'll report back if I get it to work like I want.

Update.

Well, I got an imac mini. Downloaded firewire sdk. Fiddled around a bit to get virtual d-vhs and my tv to communicate. Not really what I had in mind, but it works with my r5000-hd streams.

I was thinking that one of the apps in the sdk would make the mac act like an avhd, but that is not the case. Only virtual d-vhs can output streams to the tv. I was hoping to be able to select from the tv a list of streams to play (like an avhd, I presume), but with the virtual d-vhs app, you have to load the stream file first (just like loading a tape into a d-vhs deck, I guess), then control the 'vcr' with the tv (or the virtual d-vhs program).

Playing the streams through firewire is nice, the computer does what it's good at- sending a stream of data, the tv does what it's good at- decoding/displaying a ts stream (in hardware of course). The picture/sound is as perfect as the original (tested with recent 'discovery atlas hd' r5000-hd recordings). I like bypassing all the unnecessary layers that are usually required to playback a stream, letting the tv do all the hard work an hdtv is supposed to do- decoding hd streams/converting to native resolution/etc.

I also took an mpg (originally an hd stream that I converted to a dvd mpg with ffmpeg) and ran it through vlc, converting it back to a ts stream. It played throught the virtual d-vhs, with 5.1 sound and a great picture (played with virtual d-vhs WHILE it was converting in vlc). I also played a dvd using this method (no upconverting dvd player needed). Open dvd in vlc, set to stream out to a ts file, load ts file in virtual d-vhs, play (WHILE converting). I think unix pipes fits in here somewhere (any unix guru's out there?).

As soon as I get this all figured out, my tv will break down, and there will be no tv's left that have firewire. :)

Any chance the Nextcom people put out a osx version of their software? I didn't think so. (So I could eliminate my 'capture' laptop).

I don't have your setup with cable, but did have an issue with channel changes as well with my Starchoice DSR401 receiver (also made by Mot). What seemed to do the trick for me was starting all channel changes with an enter, then the channel numbers, then enter. Once in a while it will not change the channel properply, but it is now very rare. May or may not help in your setup, but since both boxes are made by MOT I thought I would pass it along. David at Nextcom was very helpful last year when I was having this problem and changed how the dvr sent the ir commands. Good luck getting it working right.

Darin

Thanks, it appears to work now (or at least did last night on one show) with the new R5000HD program file they sent. Can't seem to copy the program file into the program files directory for some reason, it always makes a shortcut (as a Mac person, Windows still mystifies me at times). I have been running it from the desktop where the zip file landed...

Thanks, it appears to work now (or at least did last night on one show) with the new R5000HD program file they sent. Can't seem to copy the program file into the program files directory for some reason, it always makes a shortcut (as a Mac person, Windows still mystifies me at times). I have been running it from the desktop where the zip file landed...

I'm a Windows person, my new imac mini mystifies me at times :)

In Windows (XP), if you 'drag and drop' a file (or shortcut) to a different location on the same drive (letter), it will move the file. If you 'drag and drop' a file (or shortcut) to different drive (letter), it will be copied. If the icon has a little arrow in the bottom left corner, it is a shortcut. Also, when you 'drag and drop' a file (or shortcut), when you see a little + by the icon, it will be copied, if no + then it will be moved. (If I remember right, Windows 98 would make shortcuts when dragging an executable file to a different location, indicated by the shortcut arrow that would appear as the file was being dragged).

A surefire way to move files is to right-click the file(s), then select cut or copy, then go to the folder you want, right-click then choose paste. Cut will move the file, copy will obviously make a copy of it.

You can copy a file by holding down the Ctrl key as you drag it, no matter where it is.

Can someone explain why the Rate KB/s on the Nextcom DVR will show roughly 3700 on HBO from E* and roughly 7400 on HBO from C-Band - and yet the file size and bitrate are very similar for the actual title?

The stream from C Band consists of the whole transmitted MUX. The direct stream is just the video and audio of the desired channel. John

Are you saying I should be able to get HBO-HD East and West in the same stream even though I am just tuned to one of the channels with the IRD :confused:

If not, then I guess I am still not comprending the difference. What else would be in the mux?

Both East and West could be in the same stream. The channel you selected is decrypted the others are not, so they can not be seen. The R5000 software only records the decrypted channel.
John

Got it. thanks.

On another question, I recorded a movie - but the PVR did not change it to the correct channel. I noticed this about 82 seconds into the cap and changed the channel manually to the correct channel.

Now when I try to trim file with HDTVtoMPEG2 I cannot see past the point where the channel change occurs.

Several years ago someone else had this issue (as did I) and I realized you could cut the file into smaller sections with H2, load all but the first section so it sync'd on the good channel - then load the first section and manually back it up to where the screen went blank on the first wrong channel - include it from there and re-assemble.

For whatever reason, that doesn't seem to work now.

The file is over 8 meg so I know its all there. TSREADER reports only the typical 0x11 and 0x14 PID. The bars do go from green to red at the point of the channel change unfortunately.

I have used the Nextcom Transport Stream Cutter and told it to extract from 1Min 30 seconds forward - still a big file but no video or audio.

Nothing seems to be able to pull out the the movie that is taking up over 8 gig of file space.

Any suggestions on things to try?

Or am I just stuck with an encrypted channel cap such as CTDISH noted above?

Use one of the old versions of HDTVtoMPEG2, from before the time when it did PID stripping and renumbering.

I actually did that as well......same deal.

TSReader is only showing the usual 4 PIDs in the stream.

never mind....maybe i was out of line..sorry..t

i don't know that i would spend 500 dollars to a company that does not have a phone number......kind of suspect to me...can't even call them ask some questions about new products..t


That's pretty funny. But actually, I have bought a lot of stuff in this hobby that way.

At any rate, I had good success with these guys many moons ago when I had my DTC100 modded.

It was $1k back then, and I had to send them my DirecTV box (which back then cost lot's more than now), so what do you think about that as an act of faith!

i don't know that i would spend 500 dollars to a company that does not have a phone number......kind of suspect to me...can't even call them ask some questions about new products..t

They are extremely responsive to email inquiries. I've been doing business with them since their inception, and have not experienced any lack of response to any of my questions.

i don't know that i would spend 500 dollars to a company that does not have a phone number......kind of suspect to me...can't even call them ask some questions about new products..t


I can't even get a legit local address or phone number for the local management at my baby bell local phone company.

And your point?

mynever mindt

I can't even get a legit local address or phone number for the local management at my baby bell local phone company.

And your point?


But they now know who you are! :D

I got exemplary service and support both before AND after I got one of their units. I didn't even buy it from them (thanks, Madpoet).

The box I had serviced came back exactly as promised but was returned sooner than I was expecting. Excellent working with them.

my apologies...spoke with David a while ago and very very nice fellow.

my question to you guys...

if you have the hughes receiver for directtv....and sent it to be modified...what happens when you cancel your dirrectv and give that stuff back..what will they say about the mods?


next question...the h10 and 20 are out to support mpeg 4....which means the hughes was mpeg 2 right?
but the h10 and 20 should do mpeg 2 also...

would there be any difference in quality of the HD video in the hughes or the new h10/20? or would that quality be the same? I mean the h10 and 20 are not improving mpeg2 but adding mpeg4 capability, right?

You guys that are transferring the HD video to your computer....those are some pretty big files too right? a lot of space?.....t

if you have the hughes receiver for directtv....and sent it to be modified...what happens when you cancel your dirrectv and give that stuff back..what will they say about the mods?



You shouldn't be modifying something you don't own. DirecTV could charge you for the STB if they want to. IOW, if you're leasing equipment, I wouldn't be modifying it.

You shouldn't be modifying something you don't own. DirecTV could charge you for the STB if they want to. IOW, if you're leasing equipment, I wouldn't be modifying it.
oh i agree...but some have done that..

i would like to find a receiver/dvr that i could buy and own and then when the hdd filled up with hd content switch it out and store the drives until blu ray or something comes along....t

qUESTION ON THe 5000...

is this a receiver and 2nd component? one being 700 dollars and the other being another amount, or is the 5000 one component and all just one package with software and everything needed to receive and transfer to computer?

Is the 5000 a hughes receiver that is modified to do what it needs to do and with the software or is there another component i need to buy? thanks..t

A Hughes receiver is not an MPEG4 unit. The only directv units that they modify are the RCA-DCT100 (and Proscan model which is the same) or the Hughes E86 unit (which is rebranded under several different models).

Nothing else.

Personally I believe the RCA-DCT-100 is a better quality ird than the hughes model as the hughes model has a tendency to overheat and go defective. Mine lasted for less than 2 months. The RCA's are workhorses, but they have no YPbPr output - only RGB.

I can't believe that someone has an old Hughes E86 unit they don't own at this point.

I can't see D* ever wanting it back.

has anyone else here had this problem with the hughes reciever?



Fanatic..."YPbPr output - only RGB." what difference in HD content and quality would this make? thanks..t

If you search AVS, you will find this is a well documented problem with the Hughes E86.

As its an older unit, you will have to search the archives.

No difference in quality as to the output....its just a different output - just like firewire is different than usb. DVI is different than Composite.

Most projectors use RGB - just like your computer monitor does. Some HDTVs have RGB inputs, some have YPbPr inputs....if you have a YPbPr input only on your HDTV, you would need a transcoder to convert the RGB to YPbPr.

If you search AVS, you will find this is a well documented problem with the Hughes E86.

As its an older unit, you will have to search the archives.

No difference in quality as to the output....its just a different output - just like firewire is different than usb. DVI is different than Composite.

Most projectors use RGB - just like your computer monitor does. Some HDTVs have RGB inputs, some have YPbPr inputs....if you have a YPbPr input only on your HDTV, you would need a transcoder to convert the RGB to YPbPr.
ah i see.....

on your old hughes can you tell me what brand receiver it was? David uses mitsubishi's now..thanks..t

Check the Directv website. They were all the same unit - 100% the same inside - they put 4 or 5 different names on the outside. Even his website says "Hughes E86 (or clone)".

Clone doesn't mean they are different inside.

Quite honestly, I don't know why it matters if you don't already own the unit. You might get lucky if the unit has been well ventolated in the past and you keep it well ventolated in the future. Or you might go through the same luck I did. You just have no way to tell how the older units have been used.

But, whatever. It's a well known problem for the Hughes E86 model IRD.

Looking for a suggestion.

Setting up the software on the unit connected to the R5000HD as the Server.
Setting up the software on my upstairs laptop as a Client.

Client says "Found Server: 192.168.0.7: 7070" in the lower right of the screen, but I am not getting the program listing from the server.

What am I doing wrong???

Yes, the Server is on system 192.168.0.7, and they are both set to Port 7070.

Any ideas???

Looking for a suggestion.

Setting up the software on the unit connected to the R5000HD as the Server.
Setting up the software on my upstairs laptop as a Client.

Client says "Found Server: 192.168.0.7: 7070" in the lower right of the screen, but I am not getting the program listing from the server.

What am I doing wrong???

Yes, the Server is on system 192.168.0.7, and they are both set to Port 7070.

Any ideas???

If XP, make sure your firewall has 7070 open and not blocked.

On another question, I recorded a movie - but the PVR did not change it to the correct channel. I noticed this about 82 seconds into the cap and changed the channel manually to the correct channel.

Nothing seems to be able to pull out the the movie that is taking up over 8 gig of file space.




For the 622/411/211, if you change the channel, you need to restart the recording otherwise it will just record garbage. The same is true for C-band (although they may have fixed it on C-band in a later version). dish 6k/dtc100/e86 will probably cause a remuxer restart and then have a good recording. YMMV

Techtom

Usually its just an overflow error instead of remuxer start for me on a dish6k/dtc100/e86, but as you say, you can get a good recording out of it.

The C Band was where the problem came up on - I guess I have 8gig of garbage :(

I assume that is the TCP (not UDP) port. It is open and the one seems to see the other, but I am getting nothing from the Server.

The PVR software tells me it is 2.4b (same on both ends). It is in the System Tray on the client.

Any ideas?

I guess I have 8gig of garbage :(

Maybe try playing it in vlc. If it works, set vlc to stream it back out to another ts stream, or program stream.

Could also try the free tool HDTV2DVD, which uses ffmpeg.

Maybe one of these won't choke on it.

I have a vip211, maybe I could try to duplicate the problem by recording/changing channels.

I capture from the vip211, test it with vlc, trim if needed with h2m. If I want to archive to dvd quality to save some space, I run the trimmed ts file through ffmpeg (super long command line) that converts to 16:9 dvd w/ac3 preserved - and no audio sync problems. (Seems to be the only reliable way to convert without having audio sync problems).

Actually I deleted it this morning. I did try playing with vlc as well - no go.

Based on earlier posts about the Kbps, I assume its the wrong channel in the mux and still encrypted.

Apparently this happens with CBand, the newer mods and possibly cable if I read the post above correctly.

Only the older versions( E* or BEV 6000 and D*) will allow a channel change.