[markmon1]

This method is a bit obsolete. To continue there is now an app available and an updated process as documented in the new thread:

VideoProcessor

VideoProcessor turns a computer into a 4k HDR capable live video processor by connecting a video capture card to a renderer and taking care of details such as conversion, timing and HDR metadata. This allows advanced renderers to do things like 3D LUT, HDR tone mapping, scaling, deinterlacing...

www.avsforum.com

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


So this idea came from Dave Harper. Credit given where credit due.

You can use this method to play back any source through madVR. I tested some 1080p netflix content and had madVR upscale it to 4K. Looked great.

To make this work, you need a Monoprice Blackbird HDMI over IP extender. These are $129 here: Blackbird H.265 HDMI over IP Kit, Splitter System and Extender Up to 100m, 1080p - Monoprice.com
What this does is takes an HDMI input and encodes it as an IP stream on your home network. You'll then use a PC based IP player to play back the stream using the RTSP protocol. There are some limitations. First, the HDMI input only accepts 1080p. Second, the stream is reencoded on the fly, although I found the reencoded and madVR upscaled netflix looked better than just playing 1080p netflix. Since the device is only 1080p, it may be unable to handle any HDR. I haven't messed with this yet.

My plan is to throw it out there for anyone else that wants to expand on this and polish the process. I will also do more testing when I get more time. I'm sure a lot more could be done to polish this process and there's a good chance we can get it to do more than I have gotten it to do thus far. I'll lay out the steps if anyone wants to buy one of these and experiment.

Other areas this would be useful would be running 1080p sports through it from a TV tuner or youtubetv app on a player and using madVR's uspcaler to output 4K sports. In fact, this might be very useful.

Here are the steps:

• Get a source player. Apple TV, NVidia shield, roku etc. We will call this PLAYER moving forward.
• Get the monoprice blackbird linked above. You only use the transmitter. The receiver stays in the box unopened. We will call this BLACKBIRD moving forward.
• Hook up HDMI from PLAYER HDMI out to BLACKBIRD HDMI input.
• Hook up HDMI output from BLACKBIRD to TV or display. (This may be optional, I haven't tested).
• Using CAT5 cable, hook up ethernet from BLACKBIRD into your home network.
• The BLACKBIRD manual says that your BLACKBIRD will be on IP of 192.168.10.10, however, I found this was false. It defaulted to DHCP and was on my network. I found it looking in my router.
• Any video and audio going through your PLAYER will be rebroadcast over your home network.
• You can connect to this stream using the rtsp protocol such as rtsp://192.168.1.127/live/main/av_stream
• Now, the manual says you can use VLC to play back this stream. But there are direct show players that also can play streams.

I tested using zoom player.

• Open zoom player
• Right click and "Open", "Open streaming link", paste in the URL from above (replacing the IP with your BLACKBIRD IP). The stream will start playing
• If you've configured zoom player to use madVR, it will load madVR and madVR will be doing its thing.

I had a severe audio sync delay issue here, but I'm sure that can be addressed by adjusting the delay value in software or AVR input etc. Also, my nvidia shield was set to 60hz on my 1080p TV so it only output 60hz. This caused the stream to be encoded to 29.97fps instead of 23.976 fps. Need to test if changing the shield to 24hz first and/or removing the display altogether makes any difference here. Unfortunately, I don't have a 4K TV in the house, so testing this requires me to move a streamer back into my theater and attach to my HDCP capable AVR.

 

[blazin912]

This is awesome.. it may be a good way for me to piece my system together.

Need the strong streaming support of fire device or shield + dynamic tone mapping of MadVR..

 

[aeneas01]

this is great stuff, wonder if it will ever become a mainstream option, a box that's pre-configured specifically for this purpose? that said, can netflix and other services be streamed through madvr using something like kodi + netflix addon + external player (for kodi)?

 

[markmon1]

this is great stuff, wonder if it will ever become a mainstream option, a box that's pre-configured specifically for this purpose? that said, can netflix and other services be streamed through madvr using something like kodi + netflix addon + external player (for kodi)?

I dont think the netflix for addon has worked for quite some time now.

 

[Worf]

If the device is breaking HDCP, and it sounds like it is, make sure you buy the unit now because it's not long for the world.

 

[noob00224]

If the device is breaking HDCP, and it sounds like it is, make sure you buy the unit now because it's not long for the world.

Not a lawyer, but unless the device is specifically sold for this purpose I don't think it's illegal. Like Kodi boxes or any other number of devices/software.

 

[tvheadhunter]

Has anyone tried this? Any new news on how to do this?

 

[NamesLucky]

So this idea came from Dave Harper. Credit given where credit due.

You can use this method to play back any source through madVR. I tested some 1080p netflix content and had madVR upscale it to 4K. Looked great.

To make this work, you need a Monoprice Blackbird HDMI over IP extender. These are $129 here: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=39686
What this does is takes an HDMI input and encodes it as an IP stream on your home network. You'll then use a PC based IP player to play back the stream using the RTSP protocol. There are some limitations. First, the HDMI input only accepts 1080p. Second, the stream is reencoded on the fly, although I found the reencoded and madVR upscaled netflix looked better than just playing 1080p netflix. Since the device is only 1080p, it may be unable to handle any HDR. I haven't messed with this yet.

My plan is to throw it out there for anyone else that wants to expand on this and polish the process. I will also do more testing when I get more time. I'm sure a lot more could be done to polish this process and there's a good chance we can get it to do more than I have gotten it to do thus far. I'll lay out the steps if anyone wants to buy one of these and experiment.

Other areas this would be useful would be running 1080p sports through it from a TV tuner or youtubetv app on a player and using madVR's uspcaler to output 4K sports. In fact, this might be very useful.

Here are the steps:
- Get a source player. Apple TV, NVidia shield, roku etc. We will call this PLAYER moving forward.
- Get the monoprice blackbird linked above. You only use the transmitter. The receiver stays in the box unopened. We will call this BLACKBIRD moving forward.
- Hook up HDMI from PLAYER HDMI out to BLACKBIRD HDMI input.
- Hook up HDMI output from BLACKBIRD to TV or display. (This may be optional, I haven't tested).
- Using CAT5 cable, hook up ethernet from BLACKBIRD into your home network.
- The BLACKBIRD manual says that your BLACKBIRD will be on IP of 192.168.10.10, however, I found this was false. It defaulted to DHCP and was on my network. I found it looking in my router.
- Any video and audio going through your PLAYER will be rebroadcast over your home network.
- You can connect to this stream using the rtsp protocol such as rtsp://192.168.1.127/live/main/av_stream
- Now, the manual says you can use VLC to play back this stream. But there are direct show players that also can play streams.

I tested using zoom player.
- Open zoom player
- Right click and "Open", "Open streaming link", paste in the URL from above (replacing the IP with your BLACKBIRD IP). The stream will start playing
- If you've configured zoom player to use madVR, it will load madVR and madVR will be doing its thing.

I had a severe audio sync delay issue here, but I'm sure that can be addressed by adjusting the delay value in software or AVR input etc. Also, my nvidia shield was set to 60hz on my 1080p TV so it only output 60hz. This caused the stream to be encoded to 29.97fps instead of 23.976 fps. Need to test if changing the shield to 24hz first and/or removing the display altogether makes any difference here. Unfortunately, I don't have a 4K TV in the house, so testing this requires me to move a streamer back into my theater and attach to my HDCP capable AVR.

Have you had time to see if HDR works by this method? I am trying to determine if it is possible to stream HDR content and have it tone mapped by MADVR.

 

[bennynihon]

So this idea came from Dave Harper. Credit given where credit due.

Can an HDMI capture card be used to accomplish the same thing? Source player, such as Apple TV, is captured into PC where the stream is processed with MadVR and then output to the TV through the GPU's HDMI out?

 

[Roussi]

Has anyone tried this? Any new news on how to do this?

Yes, it works, I tried it: playing Youtube and Amazon Prime (should be HDCP?) on an old Android 5.1.1 tablet, capturing/encoding and streaming to MPC-HC with madvr.

Maximum encoded stream is 1080p30 HVEC at 20 Mbps. You can also select AVC up to 20 Mbps; not sure about frame rate - one captured stream somehow reported 120 fps, so maybe it can stream 3D. Max resolution is 1080p.

There is a manual with instructions how to stream to PC.

 

[Roussi]

Have you had time to see if HDR works by this method? I am trying to determine if it is possible to stream HDR content and have it tone mapped by MADVR.

No, did not try HDR; I have the technical capability, but not the time and expertise.

It can encode to HVEC (although 1080p only, and maybe 8 bits only), so theoretically seem possible, but I expect it strips the metadata, so not enough hope or motivation to make the effort.

 

[tvheadhunter]

Yes, it works, I tried it: playing Youtube and Amazon Prime (should be HDCP?) on an old Android 5.1.1 tablet, capturing/encoding and streaming to MPC-HC with madvr.

Maximum encoded stream is 1080p30 HVEC at 20 Mbps. You can also select AVC up to 20 Mbps; not sure about frame rate - one captured stream somehow reported 120 fps, so maybe it can stream 3D. Max resolution is 1080p.

There is a manual with instructions how to stream to PC.

Thanks!

 

[Thomas Alexander]

I'm curious to dig this topic up in light of blackbird releasing a 4K/60 version for $300. Still a good idea? Has anything else come around to improve video quality from streaming boxes?

Monoprice Blackbird 4K HDBaseT Extender Kit, 120m, HDR, 18Gbps, [email protected], YCbCr 4:4:4, HDCP 2.2, PoC, RS-232, Loop Out and Bidirectional IR - Monoprice.com

This Blackbird™ 4K HDBaseT™ Extender Kit allows you to extend [email protected] HDMI® video signals to distances up to 394 feet (120 meters) over a single Cat6 Ethernet cable. It complies with t

www.monoprice.com

 

[Han Wedge]

I'm curious to dig this topic up in light of blackbird releasing a 4K/60 version for $300. Still a good idea? Has anything else come around to improve video quality from streaming boxes?

Monoprice Blackbird 4K HDBaseT Extender Kit, 120m, HDR, 18Gbps, [email protected], YCbCr 4:4:4, HDCP 2.2, PoC, RS-232, Loop Out and Bidirectional IR - Monoprice.com

This Blackbird™ 4K HDBaseT™ Extender Kit allows you to extend [email protected] HDMI® video signals to distances up to 394 feet (120 meters) over a single Cat6 Ethernet cable. It complies with t

www.monoprice.com

I'd like to know if someone did it with this extender kit

 

[steppi85]

Hello everyone! I have read your post and it looks very interesting and I have decided to do an experiment. Yesterday I ordered this product on Amazon:

4K60 PRO | elgato.com

I read from Elgato support that there is an official software used by Elgato that uses native Madvr. Here the link

Elgato Game Capture 4K60 Pro MK.2 – Playback HDR Video Using Potplayer

I would like to understand if any of you already have this product and if you are happy with it ..
I would like to use it to my nvidia Shield with madvr tone maping hdr + chroma etc ... with Netflix, PrimeVideo etc...

 

[PixelPusher15]

Hello everyone! I have read your post and it looks very interesting and I have decided to do an experiment. Yesterday I ordered this product on Amazon:

4K60 PRO | elgato.com

I read from Elgato support that there is an official software used by Elgato that uses native Madvr. Here the link

Elgato Game Capture 4K60 Pro MK.2 – Playback HDR Video Using Potplayer

I would like to understand if any of you already have this product and if you are happy with it ..
I would like to use it to my nvidia Shield with madvr tone maping hdr + chroma etc ... with Netflix, PrimeVideo etc...

Did you try this out?

 

[steppi85]

Did you try this out?

It works well, but I can not manage hdr well, unfortunately I think it is a limit of the Elgato 4k60, on the box it says "hdr", but it does not pass the signal to the TV, I think it performs a tone mapping (very poor) .. . I wrote to Elgato, they told me they want to work on the problem and that they will write me an answer in the next few days ..
In the meantime, I also ordered this:

DeckLink – Tech Specs | Blackmagic Design

Maybe it's a more professional tool, it will arrive on Friday and I can't wait to try it out. The only limit of this is 24 fps, against Elgato's 60, but I using it only for movies and not for gaming, 24 is fine too.

On the features it says that it passes all the metadata of hdr, I can't wait to try it ..

 

[PixelPusher15]

It works well, but I can not manage hdr well, unfortunately I think it is a limit of the Elgato 4k60, on the box it says "hdr", but it does not pass the signal to the TV, I think it performs a tone mapping (very poor) .. . I wrote to Elgato, they told me they want to work on the problem and that they will write me an answer in the next few days ..
In the meantime, I also ordered this:

DeckLink – Tech Specs | Blackmagic Design

Maybe it's a more professional tool, it will arrive on Friday and I can't wait to try it out. The only limit of this is 24 fps, against Elgato's 60, but I using it only for movies and not for gaming, 24 is fine too.

On the features it says that it passes all the metadata of hdr, I can't wait to try it ..

Did you try the Elgato with MadVR? I would think you'd want it to do zero tone mapping and instead pass the signal to MadVR...?

Honestly, I have no clue how these work together. I'm just kicking the tires on what's possible out there. I'm having the hardest time calibrating my Epson 5050 for HDR and even when I think it's good for a couple of movies it's crap for a third. The problem is I stream only and would like an option that isn't a Lumagen for good HDR to SDR conversion.

 

[steppi85]

Did you try the Elgato with MadVR? I would think you'd want it to do zero tone mapping and instead pass the signal to MadVR...?

Honestly, I have no clue how these work together. I'm just kicking the tires on what's possible out there. I'm having the hardest time calibrating my Epson 5050 for HDR and even when I think it's good for a couple of movies it's crap for a third. The problem is I stream only and would like an option that isn't a Lumagen for good HDR to SDR conversion.

You are in the same situation as me, the system would be perfect, but it does not go well hdr. Friday the new acquisition card will arrive and I will keep you updated, I'm sure that with that hdr it passes directly, to then be processed by Madvr

 

[Dennis Moore]

Did it work?