mikinho

[mikinho]

Sorry to keep apologizing and delaying but I’ve had a hectic couple 80-hour work weeks. 

I can’t commit to a specific day but Part 2 will be published this week.

[mikinho]

[quote=”joao12345″]
Oh I installed this on my HTPC to play MKV files through MCE…now i get it whatever files my PC’s MCE can play the xbox can play? I dont have an xbox so i am really not familiar with its features.
[/quote]

Any standalone media file that has a corresponding DirectShow or Media Foundation decoder can be transcoded to play on Media Center Extenders.  This is only true in Windows 7 Media Center, in Vista Media Center the transcoding framework did not exist.

[quote=”joao12345″]
Completely unrelated topic: A friend from work says he has his xbox in the garage and his master bedroom is on top of the garage he says he has a 35foot HDMI from xbox to his tv in his bedroom and he controls it with the normal out of the box control…is he lying?
[/quote]

If he means the Xbox controller, then no he is not lying.  The Xbox controller uses 2.4GHz wireless technology with 30-foot range.

[mikinho]

[quote=”joao12345″]
Oh I installed this on my HTPC to play MKV files through MCE…now i get it whatever files my PC’s MCE can play the xbox can play? I dont have an xbox so i am really not familiar with its features.
[/quote]

Any standalone media file that has a corresponding DirectShow or Media Foundation decoder can be transcoded to play on Media Center Extenders.  This is only true in Windows 7 Media Center, in Vista Media Center the transcoding framework did not exist.

[quote=”joao12345″]
Completely unrelated topic: A friend from work says he has his xbox in the garage and his master bedroom is on top of the garage he says he has a 35foot HDMI from xbox to his tv in his bedroom and he controls it with the normal out of the box control…is he lying?
[/quote]

If he means the Xbox controller, then no he is not lying.  The Xbox controller uses 2.4GHz wireless technology with 30-foot range.

[mikinho]

Someone over at tgb asked what good signal levels were for the Ceton InfiniTV4.

According to the OpenCable specifications the tuner must be able to tune in the -15 to +15 dBmV rms (75 ohms) range.  Ideally you’ll want your signal level between -12 to +12 dBmV, the closer to 0 the better.

I consider the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) to be the more important of the two measurements. SNR ratio is basically the power ratio between a signal’s meaningful information and the unwanted background noise. If you have a great SNR it can make up for a weak signal level in many cases. For SNR it should always be above 30db but the higher the better, a good SNR is around 34db and great around 37db.

If you are a cable modem user and you don’t have your InfiniTV4 yet a good way to get a rough estimate of your signal levels is your cable modem diagnostics webpage.  Most cable modem provide their diagnostic webpage via [url=http://192.168.100.1/]http://192.168.100.1/[/url].

It is only a rough estimate though as the relevant signal frequencies are different and each device measures the information at a different level of accuracy.  But if you are waiting for your InfiniTV4 then something to check ahead of time.

On my particular setup my cable modem reads a signal level of 4 dBmV and SNR of 38 dB.  The  The Ceton InfiniTV 4 reads a signal level of -3 dBmV and SNR of 36 dB.

[mikinho]

Someone over at tgb asked what good signal levels were for the Ceton InfiniTV4.

According to the OpenCable specifications the tuner must be able to tune in the -15 to +15 dBmV rms (75 ohms) range.  Ideally you’ll want your signal level between -12 to +12 dBmV, the closer to 0 the better.

I consider the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) to be the more important of the two measurements. SNR ratio is basically the power ratio between a signal’s meaningful information and the unwanted background noise. If you have a great SNR it can make up for a weak signal level in many cases. For SNR it should always be above 30db but the higher the better, a good SNR is around 34db and great around 37db.

If you are a cable modem user and you don’t have your InfiniTV4 yet a good way to get a rough estimate of your signal levels is your cable modem diagnostics webpage.  Most cable modem provide their diagnostic webpage via [url=http://192.168.100.1/]http://192.168.100.1/[/url].

It is only a rough estimate though as the relevant signal frequencies are different and each device measures the information at a different level of accuracy.  But if you are waiting for your InfiniTV4 then something to check ahead of time.

On my particular setup my cable modem reads a signal level of 4 dBmV and SNR of 38 dB.  The  The Ceton InfiniTV 4 reads a signal level of -3 dBmV and SNR of 36 dB.

[mikinho]

Honestly, there isn’t much to it.  I’d start with installing Haali Media Splitter via [url=http://haali.su/mkv/]http://haali.su/mkv/[/url].  A new version was released yesterday.  Install with all the default settings and you should be good to go. 

If you need multiple audio andor subtitle support that gets trickier.  If you need help with that please create a new thread on our forums and I’ll be happy to step you through your different options, you have a few and none of them are perfect.

[mikinho]

Honestly, there isn’t much to it.  I’d start with installing Haali Media Splitter via [url=http://haali.su/mkv/]http://haali.su/mkv/[/url].  A new version was released yesterday.  Install with all the default settings and you should be good to go. 

If you need multiple audio andor subtitle support that gets trickier.  If you need help with that please create a new thread on our forums and I’ll be happy to step you through your different options, you have a few and none of them are perfect.

[mikinho]

[quote=”joao12345″]
Its great to know the bare bones xbox arcade works perfectly for watching live tv.

One last question the Xbox can play MKV files right????
[/quote]

Not natively but you can add support via 1- a DirectShow MKV splitter such as Haali Media Splitter or MPC-HC standalone filters, or 2- a MediaFoundation MKV splitter, currently limited to DivX.

[mikinho]

[quote=”joao12345″]
Its great to know the bare bones xbox arcade works perfectly for watching live tv.

One last question the Xbox can play MKV files right????
[/quote]

Not natively but you can add support via 1- a DirectShow MKV splitter such as Haali Media Splitter or MPC-HC standalone filters, or 2- a MediaFoundation MKV splitter, currently limited to DivX.

[mikinho]

[quote=”hpservertech”]
I thought the only difference between an arcade & say a pro was that the pro came bundled with a hard drive out of the box.  But that was the only difference between any of them.  And since you can add a drive after an arcade could be made a “pro”.

Correct?
[/quote]

It depends on the hardware revision you are looking at.  The Jasper hardware revision introduced Arcade units with 512MB internal memory on them.

[mikinho]

[quote=”hpservertech”]
I thought the only difference between an arcade & say a pro was that the pro came bundled with a hard drive out of the box.  But that was the only difference between any of them.  And since you can add a drive after an arcade could be made a “pro”.

Correct?
[/quote]

It depends on the hardware revision you are looking at.  The Jasper hardware revision introduced Arcade units with 512MB internal memory on them.

[mikinho]

Part 2 will be published on Wednesday at noon CT.  It will now include some information on dual InfiniTV4 in several of the setups.  Part 3 I don’t know yet, this weekend didn’t get as expected.

[mikinho]

Part 2 will be published on Wednesday at noon CT.  It will now include some information on dual InfiniTV4 in several of the setups.  Part 3 I don’t know yet, this weekend didn’t get as expected.

[mikinho]

[quote=”Beerman”]
This sounds promising but didn’t work for me but maybe I’m not understanding what is needed to work.  I’ve not tried this yet on any OCUR’s but did on my HDHR and HVR2250.  Still only shows 4 QAM tuners and not 8.  I ran TV set up twice.  Am I missing something?
[/quote]

Assuming you have one of each, both the HDHR and HVR2250 are dual tuners so they would give you a total of 4 tuners.  If you have two of each tuner then it should allow you to use all 8.

[mikinho]

[quote=”Beerman”]
This sounds promising but didn’t work for me but maybe I’m not understanding what is needed to work.  I’ve not tried this yet on any OCUR’s but did on my HDHR and HVR2250.  Still only shows 4 QAM tuners and not 8.  I ran TV set up twice.  Am I missing something?
[/quote]

Assuming you have one of each, both the HDHR and HVR2250 are dual tuners so they would give you a total of 4 tuners.  If you have two of each tuner then it should allow you to use all 8.

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