[sengsational]

I'm curious about what experiences MyHD users have collected using the AverMedia A180 board along side the MyHD board in the same system.


From what I understand, sage w/gallm, watchhdtv, and beyondtv4 (others?) all allow some level of functionality for the AverMedia board, but I was uncertain as to how well any of them played with the MyHD.


I must state that I'm convinced that MCE 2005 is not for me. I don't understand why MS has made an OS where an application would do. And MCE doesn't play nice with my old reliable MyHD, so to hell with it.... let's stick with apps that can run the AverMedia card. And I don't have a Fusion or ATI Wonder, so I'd rather not explore those avenues (there seem to be plenty of threads for the confusion that arises from talking about too many things at once).


So, Avermedia A180 and MyHD.


I'm looking to 1) improve the timed record scheduling process (by not using the MyHD software for that!). Since we're all MyHD users here, we know how it works, so no need to go into the "whys". Also, I'd like to 2) remove the PITA of having playback of TS and DVD interrupted for recordings. Currently I use a software player if I know something is going to record, but that doesn't work well with HD-sized files.


So how does the Avermedia A180 work with MyHD? Do the recordings play correctly with MyHD? Can you save only one subchannel? Does the scheduling work well? (I know many of these depend upon the software you have chosen). Does the scheduler play well with TitanTV?


Please advise. Thanks.


--Dale--


{edit: Since the Fusion 5 is only $20 more than the A180, and it runs under 3rd party tools, I guess it would only be fair to include that hardware in the discussion as well, if it beats the A180 in some ways}

 

[Karyk]

Don't you need some software to record with the A180? You might want to try the SageTV forum on their beta software. I'm having really bad luck determining whether Sage TS files created with a Fusion card using the beta will play properly on a MyHD, but you might have better luck with the A180.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17

 

[TPeterson]

Kary--


Heck, the Fusion-sw captured TS files don't play properly on MyHD (at least, using today's beta). Have you tried processing the Sage files through ATSCtoTS or HDTVtoMPEG (w/TS output)?


{edit: Oops! sorry, Dale, I guess that my very first post to your thread was OT. }

 

[Karyk]

I don't have a Sage license and there is no 15 day trial on the beta, so I'm thinking of popping down $79.00 (or whatever) just to use a beta. But the problems with Fusion files and MyHD were reasons I was even asking--but for the record I don't have any issues with the latest version of the Fusion software I've tried and playback on MyHD.


To bring this back on topic, I am correct on needing software with the A180 aren't I? Assuming so, are there any other options for the card besides MCE and Sage beta?

 

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karyk I am correct on needing software with the A180 aren't I? Assuming so, are there any other options for the card besides MCE and Sage beta?

I slogged through a lot of posts and saw sage, watchhdtv and beyondtv4 mentioned, not to mention MCE. But I thought I'd ask in "the MyHD community" to see if someone had already done the heavy lifting. $79 for a beta is pretty heavy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TPeterson {edit: Oops! sorry, Dale, I guess that my very first post to your thread was OT. }

Hey, it had "MyHD" in it...close enough!

 

[avekevin]

I'm not sure if this will help, but I know that the Hauppauge PVR-250 card works well with the myHD MDP-130. You can find the 250 cards for $80-90 if you look around.


You can get the PVR-150 for even cheaper. Buy.com is selling it for $60 right now.

http://www.buy.com/retail/Product.as...781&adid=17662


Kevin

 

[miimura]

avekevin,


You missed the point. The PVR-150 and PVR-250 are NTSC cards. The Avermedia A180 is an ATSC HDTV tuner card. It records HD Transport Streams to hard drive.


- Mike

 

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by miimura You missed the point. The PVR-150 and PVR-250 are NTSC cards. The Avermedia A180 is an ATSC HDTV tuner card. It records HD Transport Streams to hard drive.

Mike, You've got that right. I'm pure digital since my signals are all OTA; I watched my last NTSC signal over a year ago.


--Dale--

 

[avekevin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by miimura avekevin, You missed the point. The PVR-150 and PVR-250 are NTSC cards. The Avermedia A180 is an ATSC HDTV tuner card. It records HD Transport Streams to hard drive.

My mistake. I thought you were referring to the Avermedia NTSC hardware encoder card.


Kevin

 

[BenCJedi]

I am also interested in adding this card to my MyHD MDP-120 to help me be able to record two programs simultaneously. It seems every aspect I have explored to add a card to my other PC would require much upgrading, so the logical thing to do would be to try to get more recording capability in my existing HTPC/home workstation.


My real question is... will this work? :


WinXP Professional

MyHD MDP-120

Avermedia A180 (recording-only fine if MyHD can play files it records back)

Nvidia Geforce 4 MX4000

P4 3.06Ghz W 1GB DDR system ram

 

[Cliff Watson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenCJedi I am also interested in adding this card to my MyHD MDP-120 to help me be able to record two programs simultaneously. It seems every aspect I have explored to add a card to my other PC would require much upgrading, so the logical thing to do would be to try to get more recording capability in my existing HTPC/home workstation. My real question is... will this work? : WinXP Professional MyHD MDP-120 Avermedia A180 (recording-only fine if MyHD can play files it records back) Nvidia Geforce 4 MX4000 P4 3.06Ghz W 1GB DDR system ram

Ben,


I know that the Fusion5 Lite works with MDP-120. That is what I have installed in one HTPC and can used both to record at the same time.

 

[BenCJedi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cliff Watson Ben, I know that the Fusion5 Lite works with MDP-120. That is what I have installed in one HTPC and can used both to record at the same time.

Thanks for the info Cliff. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I'll let others be the gineau pigs for this Avermedia card... It's cheap enough I could get one for $45 (w/ gift certifcates) and pop it in my Gateway server (with other required upgrades though). I also realized after reading the forum that my MDP120 was going to not work at all on the Gatwway because it is running MCE 2005.

 

[TPeterson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenCJedi Thanks for the info Cliff. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I'll let others be the gineau pigs for this Avermedia card... It's cheap enough I could get one for $45 (w/ gift certifcates) and pop it in my Gateway server (with other required upgrades though). I also realized after reading the forum that my MDP120 was going to not work at all on the Gatwway because it is running MCE 2005.

Ben, I must have missed something, as I thought that MCE was just XP with additional services, in which case the MDP-120 and MyHD sw should be perfectly happy campers.

 

[BenCJedi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TPeterson Ben, I must have missed something, as I thought that MCE was just XP with additional services, in which case the MDP-120 and MyHD sw should be perfectly happy campers.

Really? I thought I read on here a few other times that MyHD doesn't work in MCE. I thinking it has something to do with digital rights management in MCE and the MyHD drivers/sofware not being compliant with that.

 

[TPeterson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenCJedi Really? I thought I read on here a few other times that MyHD doesn't work in MCE. I thinking it has something to do with digital rights management in MCE and the MyHD drivers/sofware not being compliant with that.

I don't have MCE either, but I thought I'd read that MyHD, FusionHDTV, etc., could all be run "stand alone" under MCE exactly as they do on WinXP and the only "problem" was that, unlike Fusion's BDA drivers, MyHD had no way to run integrated with MCE's built-in TV sw. Perhaps somebody who knows what he/she is talking about (i.e., who has both MyHD and MCE) can step in here before Ben and I come to blows....

 

[Cliff Watson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TPeterson I don't have MCE either, but I thought I'd read that MyHD, FusionHDTV, etc., could all be run "stand alone" under MCE exactly as they do on WinXP and the only "problem" was that, unlike Fusion's BDA drivers, MyHD had no way to run integrated with MCE's built-in TV sw. Perhaps somebody who knows what he/she is talking about (i.e., who has both MyHD and MCE) can step in here before Ben and I come to blows....

MCE is a frontend application just like any other application and can be closed so the user reverts back to the Win XP Pro desktop.

 

[Nrmf]

you might want to look at meedio for a front end to the AverMedia 180 i think they support that now.

 

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nrmf you might want to look at meedio for a front end to the AverMedia 180 i think they support that now.

Thanks for offering the additional option for software; there seems to be quite a few options that support the Avermedia A180 or the Fusion 5 lite. I presume that no matter the software, the same transport steam file is determined by the hardware? Or maybe not (one might do single-subchannel, which I would want). But I don't see many folks claiming great success doing playback of their A180 or F5 files with MyHD, or if they are talking about it, they're saying it doesn't work (or doesn't work well). I think that until I hear about no-brainer successes, I'll limp along with MyHD's scheduler, my home-made library manager, and manually scheduling watching around recordings.


--Dale--

 

[huesmann]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karyk I don't have a Sage license and there is no 15 day trial on the beta, so I'm thinking of popping down $79.00 (or whatever) just to use a beta.

PCAlchemy offers the Sage s/w at $15 less than the MSRP, FYI. Not bad.