htpc_user

[htpc_user]

I recently ran across an Hauppauge ATSC USB tuner for the Xbox One. I wonder if that means DVR capability is coming?

[htpc_user]

I manually change the channel on my satellite box all the time. Are the newer Hauppauge boxes that are said to be used for recording video games also compatible with TV sources? Meaning, will they work with Media Center?

[htpc_user]

What’s newer than the Colossus, is internal, records in 720p or 1080i from component, and works in Media Center?

[htpc_user]

I got my receiver and HTPC to working together (knock on wood).  But I still have a question.  What I did was similar to what NightCactus suggested; I set Windows to stereo and at first I set Media Center to stereo as well.  That worked the way I wanted it to.  Messed with it some more and left Windows at stereo and MC to 5.1.  That worked as well; it doesn’t seem to matter how Media Center is set.  It’s still going to bitstream DD & DTS and it will still play 2 channel sources as stereo.

So the question I have to you all using receivers, if you have Windows set to HDMI and configured as 5.1 (or 7.1) does your receiver show “Mulit In” or something similar?  I’m a member over at AVS and have posted in the Denon X Series “Official” forum and there’s a guy on there who says he uses a 6450 (I have a 6570), he has Windows set to HDMI/5.1, and he says his receiver does not show “Multi In” when the HTPC is just sitting on the desktop.  On mine, as soon as I configure Windows to 5.1 my receiver immediately changes to “Multi In” even when just on the desktop doing nothing else.  The problem with this is when I play my recorded shows that I have recorded from the satellite box, which are all 2 channel, they play back in ONLY 2 channel.  I can’t use the receiver’s surround modes to apply anything like DTS Neo or Pro Logic II.  This is because the HTPC is doing the decoding and not the receiver.

Doing things the way I described in the first paragraph works 98% of the time but there is a problem with that.  Any bluray that only has an LPCM 5.1 or 7.1 track is sent to the receiver as 2  channels and then played back in DTS Neo 6 Cinema which is what I have the receiver to default to on the HTPC’s input.  I think in that case Windows would have to be set to 5.1 so that it will do the decoding and pass it to the Denon.

What am I missing or is this what you guys are experiencing too?

 

[htpc_user]

Thanks, guys; it’s good to know there are still some hanging on.  When my HTPC was working well I thought it’s the greatest thing ever.  When I get error after error afer bug I’m ready to toss it out the window.  I’ve about given up on recording since it’s the playback of those that give me the most trouble.  Not to mention a storm last year knocked out my amplifier for my antenna so I haven’t been able to pick up any ATSC channels which have made my 2 digital tuners useless.  So all I have is the analog tuner for DirecTV.

I am thinking about getting an AMD A8-6500 and an Asrock FM2 moherboard with 4GB of RAM.  Probably going to go with an SSD this time, too.  On paper, AMD’s APUs seem to be the perfect choice but AMD does make me a little nervous.  I currently use a 6570, and I have a little problem with that because for some reason it will not keep the manual Deinterlacing setting of “Vector Adaptive”.  I will go to watch a recording and it looks really bad and I know just what it is…go to CCC only to see that it has changed back to “Automatic Deinterlacing”.

I think that I am going to do a reinstall very soon, possibly this weekend, to see if that helps anything. 

[htpc_user]

[quote=bsieve]

I am having a weird issue with the guide data in WMC. It is not updating but the issue seems to be that it can not connect to the servers only on my HTPC. When I go to redo setup it hangs on the retrieving information step till I reboot (several hours). If I do a restore to my 5/2 data it works fine and once the restore is done it immediately updates. After some time though the system updates (I know I can turn this off but would prefer not to) and then it can not connect again.

Connecting to the internet is fine and my other PCs download the guide data fine it is only my HTPC effected for some reason. The other PCs have the same updates as far as I know.

I have not had time to trouble shoot it as life is crazy (and not sure if I will have time in the next couple months) so I was wondering if anyone had seen something like this before.

Thanks in advance

Brad

[/quote]

Yes, I have seen it.  Try changing your DNS settings under “Use the following DNS server addresses:” to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.  See if that works.

[htpc_user]

[quote=skirge01]

[quote=Aaron Ledger]

…which is why I like the lazy route of BDMV or ISO rips. Storage is (was and will be again) cheap (unless you are Michael and have to expand a RAID array to get a new controller ).

[/quote]

True, but, in my mind, that’s still no reason to waste such space.  We’re talking up to 20+GB being saved per rip.  Rip 100 Blu-rays and you could have potentially “wasted” 2TB on menus, forced trailers and legal threats, interviews, commentary and other extras you’ll never watch.  I used to want the convenience of a quick rip, but realized how quickly it became so utterly wasteful.

[/quote]

I use DVDFab HD, and I rip only the “Main Movie” of the bluray to the server.  That saves several GB’s.  If I wanted to watch extras I’d just put the disc in.  I ripped Avatar to the server Saturday, and even though it was only the movie it was still about 40gb.

[htpc_user]

I’m not quite sure how you mean lagging/stuttering, but my HTPC has really been bugging me as well.  And it has been a stuttering issue as well.  Sometimes I notice a slight (and sometimes it is very slight) stutter on bluray and recordings.  At times I have seen the stutter very pronounced.  Netflix is nearly unwatchable due to the jerkiness, but I’ve read where many people have this problem.  I haven’t been able to pin point the cause.  I don’t know if it’s because of standby, Radeon drivers, the 6570 its self, or some other corruption.  My system was pretty smooth when I was using a 2600xt, but then I couldn’t play 3D bluray.  I’m not sure for the small percentage of 3D that I watch it’s worth everything else being “broken”.

Also, I’m not using a receiver…at least not with the HDMI.  My HDMI goes straight to the TV.  I have a 6570 video card.  Again, I’m not sure if we are talking about the same kind of stutter but I found your problem interesting as they do sound similar.  My sound is also fine; it’s just the video that’s not.

[htpc_user]

[quote=phoneguyinpgh]

Well Michael, replacing the video card seems to have cured it.  I installed this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121448&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-  installed the most recent drivers, did a rough calibration and watched the recording that was flashing before.  The frame rate was still bouncing but the brightness was not flashing with it.

With the cheap Tv I can still not set the pixel format to anything but RGB and have the scaling not over scan or underscan.  And it’s still odd that the bedroom machine has a 5450 but doesn’t flash yet the living room did.

[/quote]

That is a nice looking 430GT.  I wish they would’ve had that one when I bought a 430GT.  However it might not have made a difference because the 430GT I had caused terrible stutter with my live TV and recordings.  It was ever so slight but definitely noticeable.  I took it back out, sent it back, and put my 2600xt back in.

[htpc_user]

[quote=Aaron Ledger]

Have you tried the Silverlight 5 RC? That is the only fix I have found to make Netflix somewhat tolerable on the PC.

[/quote]

Here’s the deal with that.  I installed Silverlight 5 RC about a month ago and it did not solve the problem.  Also something else that I noticed that I found strange…before installing 5 I had looked at cpu useage during Netflix playback and it was around 13%.  When I installed 5 and checked cpu useage it was around 50%.  Also after the install of 5, the movie that I tested with didn’t even look like it was in HD any more (G.I. Joe).  I ended up having do a system restore because of another problem I was having, and I just decided to wait on Silverlight 5 to see if it matures any and I am forced to update it.

Josh, my cpu is an E6600, and I have 2gb RAM.

[htpc_user]

[quote=Aaron Ledger]

You should take a look at WinDVD. It is less expensive than PDVD and TMT and sounds like it will serve your needs.

You should use the 30-day trials of all three software packages so you can give them a spin. You’ll also get 90 days of free BD playback 🙂 .[/quote]

I might be wrong but I don’t think any of them allow bluray playback in their trials.  I’m pretty sure PDVD doesn’t, and I know WinDVD doesn’t.  Only one I’m not 100% sure about is TMT.

[htpc_user]

I think I was under the impression that the OP already had SageTV and I couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t work.

[htpc_user]

I’m confused.  What do you mean by SageTV being gone?

[htpc_user]

I had the Celeron 430 in my son’s PC; it was a freebie computer from my wife’s workplace.  I used it for him to watch ripped DVDs in Media Center and to watch stuff recorded from my HTPC.  It worked well.  I think what it comes down to, is this a cpu you already own?  Or are you thinking of buying this cpu?  If you already own it then I say, yeah, use it.  But as others have mentioned, if you’re buying then there are much better choices.  I never tried a full size bluray because I was using a wireless adapter in his computer, and my network just won’t handle a bluray over wireless.  But I was able to play a bluray that I ripped down to DVD-9 size using DVD Fab.  I was using the Celeron 430 along with a 4550.  It did play fine when watching HD recordings made from ATSC.

[htpc_user]

On my son’s PC, I have the Recorded TV set to my HTPC’s Recorded TV folder.  It works fine.  His doesn’t have a tuner in it, so it doesn’t have any recordings of its own.  But it shows the recordings I have made on my HTPC, and they play back OK.

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