Tvix M-4100SH and M5100SH - Page 5

I plan to wait for the 4100. I'll get used to H.264 :-) I'm hearing that folks are able to compress a full length DVD title to around a 1GB and it still looks good. My DVD collection won't make a dent in a 500GB drive...

I've asked TVIX about the other questions. I'll post their answers as soon as I hear anything back.

This is a very exciting product to be able to record HD content and easily xfer it out over the network. The only other product that can do this is a HTPC. What really appeals to be about the 5100/4100 is that it is basically a HTPC but very small, very quiet, low power and (hopefully) doesn't require all the tweaking that a HTPC seems to require.

In the DVD recorder forums people are very frustrated with the lack of ATSC tuners + HDD + DVDR units. So far the only unit that comes close down converts everything to SD and that's unacceptable. It seems like most of the big name electronics manufacturers don't want anyone to record or transfer any HD content. It's interesting that there hasn't been any new OTA HD PVRs on the market in several years (in the US). Just TIVO and cable-companies. And these boxes are: 1) loaded with DRM crap; 2) not designed for transferring; and 3) require a subscription. Ugh, no thanks.

Along comes TIVX with an HD box designed for PVR and transferring stuff around. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Anyword on MKV support on the 4100/5100?

Yes, and not just any word: "NO" is the word said by Dvico

I mailed them and the anser was "No, and no plans".
I then read in another forum that someone read in another forum that.....(you get the point) ... that the reason was that the MKV container format is rather processor consuming, and that the 8623 chip is to weak for that.
True or not....?

/J

I would have said a lot pricey compared to the earlier models. And the price difference between 5100 and 5000 a lot more than that between 4100 and 4000.

The 4100/5100 have a newer chip. And they do H264. Any other major differences?

I am thinking that the extra cost is not worth it, especially as th 5000 will have had most of its bugs squashed and the 5100 is bound to have some new bugs.

The main problem with the 5100/4100 (IMHO!) is the chipset (8623). It's really only a very little improvement on the 8621 and what a price difference!.

See:
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/P...EM8620L_br.pdf

DVICO plan to launch a new player (5500) based on the 8634(5) chipset later this year.

See: http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/P...SMP8634_br.pdf

Also read this:
http://www.mpcclub.com/IFA-2006/Dvico_IFA2006.pdf

H.264 appears to be limited on the 4100/5100 and I think DVICO are being quite upfront about this in the above article and wish to move to the next generation of sigma chips (SMP863x) ASAP.

Thanks for the informative articles. I think what has possibly occurred is that Dvico has changed their mind about coming out with the SMP863x series chipsets at this time and for at least awhile, in their media players that is. I, and the rest of us would love to have the ability to stream HD content at 30-50Mbps, but I guess that probably isn't going to happen in the very near future. Based upon the assumption that the company won't be releasing two upgrades within the same year, I am guessing that the model beyond the 4100/5100 won't come out until spring/summer 2008. Obviously I could be wrong, but why would they put the 4100/5100 out now if they are going to be coming out with something almost exactly the same in a few more months? Of course I have also preordered the 4100 and am hoping for some very high transfer speeds, although I seriously doubt that it will get anywhere near the 30Mbps range.

dobeman,

The 4100 is still a good improvement on the 4000 and due to its 862x platform should be very stable. I have the 4000PA and 5000A and they both do exactly what I want for now (play DVD ISO's and FLAC encoded audio) without a glitch.

If the ripping of HD DVD and BR becomes a reality (ISO's) then I too will require a unit that can achieve high Mbps!

I just purchased a Canon HV20 High Def. camcorder and want to stream as high a bit rate as possible, and am also thinking about the future of burning HD DVD/Blu Ray material. I won't be buying a blu ray drive/burner until prices come down and software playback is drastically improved. Right now I just want to be able to play back my HDV camcorder files. I think it records somewhere around 25Mbps. Do any of you think that if I put the files on the hard drive in the 4100 that the bit rate would improve the HD stream, or would it make no difference than if I were streaming the files from my PC?

Any idea when we are going to hear from the testers about its H264 performance? Or are we going to have to wait until one of us buys the unit? Tvix and the testers seem awfully quiet on this issue and I'm starting to think that the 8623 might end up being a big disappointment with regards to H264 material just like the Netgear unit.

Any idea when we are going to hear from the testers about its H264 performance? Or are we going to have to wait until one of us buys the unit? Tvix and the testers seem awfully quiet on this issue and I'm starting to think that it might end up being a big disappointment with regards to H264 material just like the Netgear unit.

Does anyone know what chipset will be in the new Dlink Dsm-750?

Digitalconnection just confirmed that tuner will be OTA only. No QAM tuner is a deal breaker for me.

Very interested to see how this unit performs. Only really interested in it for playback of HD material, specifically H264 and MP2 stuff.

Does appear to be quite expensive in the UK, specially with the current $:£ rate its probably worth just importing yourself which would then cost around £200

Testers cant test without a product to test with yet. I plan on getting one and I will put up a review.

I'm with you on this....I keep checking their site and it's getting old....end of April is near!

The following is DViCO's response about why the M4000 can not play HDV files (HDV video from a Sony HDV camcorder captured with Sony Vagas softeware). Don't have any reason to believe the 4100 will be different.

--------------------------------------------------------
Hello David,

I am sorry about this. However, TVIX can play other regular files in same format without problem, it looks like the forat is out of spec. I know you can play files in your PC, but this is because lots of PC players can handle files not in spec. Also, currently, our engineers are working on other project including Tuner option and the next model. I don't think this will be looked by by engineers before these projectes are finished. Eventhough they check this probem, I am not sure it will be fixed or not.

Regards,
Eric

MrReis,
It states on Dvico's website that HDV camcorder files (which are MPEG 2) are supported. Are you possibly referring to Sony's new AVCH format they they are using on many of their camcorders? HDV has been around for quite awhile, whereas AVCH format just came out last year, and Nero is the only editing program which I am aware that will support it.

HDV is most certainly supported - I am playing back the high bit rate 1080i files captured from a Sony HDR-FX1 HDV camcorder. Haven't tried the 4000 but the 5000 plays fine.

I edited and exported an edited file, same CBR used in HDV.

Same here. I'll probably still get the 4100 but I just saved $140 on the tuner.

They said in their email, that they requested TVix to work on a tuner with QAM. But they have not heard back, and that it would probably be sometime before QAM was an option. 1st generation models are usually barebones. I'll think that I'll wait for something better from them or someone else. The DVR craze it just starting, and there should be better options fairly soon.

"Optional Digital Tuner"

Now, this has my interest. I wonder if it is a proprietry unit or whether you can just plug your own in.



Plugging in your own tuner -- now that would have been ultra cool. Remind me to patent that one.

Which leads me to my next question. Why does the propreitary turner not have QAM??? Is is because all proprietary stuff is, by dedinition, cheap?

can someone quickly run down the differences between qam and atsc, etc? it's slipping my mind at the moment.

I can read the text displayed on DVICOs web site just fine. I also understand the difference between HDV and AVCHD.

The files are captured is from a Sony HDR-HC3 camcorder using Sony Vagas software.

I am playing back the captured HDV files from a USB HDD. I upgraded to 2.1.0 firmware (from 1.9.8A firmware) which makes the problem worse: There is NO audio after the first three seconds of normal playback (i.e., without PAUSE or FF).

Additional information (from TViX 'info' button):

HDV Capture info
Video Info: MPEG2 HD 1440x1088
26.12 Mbps, 29.97 fps
Audio Info: MPEG1, 2 ch, 48 kHz

HDTV Capture info
Video Info: MPEG2 HD 1920x1088
18.15 Mbps, 29.97 fps
Audio Info: AC3, 2 ch, 48 kHz

I have been considering the Tvix 4100sh but in the UK its working out at £104 more expensive than the 4000pa. I will be using to stream my own dvd rips and some downloaded content. Im wondering if the 4100 is worth the considerably extra cash over the 4000 just now. I dont have an HD display although it accepts HD signals. I have no use for the HDMI port just now, and would be conecting through component.

Im thinking maybe it would be better to get the 4000 now and maybe next year see what is around in terms of h.264 playing devices. Any thoughts on this ?

Thanks

Sc00b,

If you only currently want ripped DVD's or audio (FLAC etc) as well as low/high res downloaded content then the 4000PA is the product for you. The 4100SH is certainly not worth £104 more than the 4000PA.

The benefits of the 4100SH are JPEG hardware support (faster loading), H.264 aned HDMI. But .. it's still not clear if the 4100SH has the processing power for high bit rate H.264 and the HDMI is not V1.3.

Also, if you haven't yet invested in any HD display equipment then the 4000PA is a good match for existing SD equipment.

Thats what i thought. Thanks.

QAM is the equivalent of OTA for cable companies. In my case, I subscribe to basic cable for $20/month with HD cable box included, and receive some of the channels that my OTA tuner can not pick up. The main channel in my area is FOX. Which of course means without QAM and FOX, I have no NFL football. QAM will be less important as we migrate toward cablecard. Cablecard of course offers access on new devices to all channels subscribed to. Basically Cablecard-less or QAM-less devices suck. For an extra $50, TVix could have put in cablecard slot in place of tuner slot. That will probably be the 3rd generation model.

Hi everyone. Been lurkin for a while so though I would join up

I am interested in a 4100+750gb HD but the UK price is £489 (KJG) however in the USA its $578 (DC) and at $2 to the £1 thats about £289 which is a massive price difference.

If I bought the unit from the USA what problems do you think I (and others) would get ?
I would of course have to source the HD Tuner in the UK.

Cheers.

I think id rather souce the hard disk elswhere than buy it packaged. Can get a 750gb for £150 and stick it in yourself. Still expensive but cheaper than buying it all from Kjglobal.

Incidently i just ordered the M-4000pa today from Kjglobal and i from a personal point of view really dont see the need to spend the extra £104 for the 4100 just now. Ill put a cheap 200- 400gb drive in it but i have got a readynas for storage now so would mainly use that.