Vista + TV Pack: does DVB-T, EPG work?

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nztommo

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#25344 19-Aug-2008 08:20

I'm looking for some assurance from someone who has done this succussfully:

If I do a clean install of Vista Ultimate + Windows Media Centre TV Pack 2008 (+ the other updates assoc with TV Pack), will I be able to:

Tune (without any further hacks etc) DVB-T Freeview channels - yes/no?
Receive EPG via MHEG5 over DVB-T - yes/no?
Mix DVB-T and Analogue tuners and tune them both - yes/no?

I'm intending to but Nova-T 500 (dual DVB-T) and reuse my MCE-150 from my MCE2005 set-up. I'll install PowerDVD 8 for h.264 support as I believe TV Pack still does not include this.

I greatly appreciate sage words of wisdom from one who has the direct knowledge - I am sooooo confused after having read through the forums as there appears to be contradictory advice everywhere!

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek

#157952 19-Aug-2008 12:26

The only DVB-T broadcast in NZ is Freeview HD, and that uses h.264.

Vista Media Center TV Pack does not support h.264 broadcasts, therefore you will not be able to watch Freeview HD in VMC.

I assume this pretty much answers all your questions below.

Quidam

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#157958 19-Aug-2008 12:54

Yeah, I think the TV Pack (from NZ's perspective) isn't anything to get too excited about.

In fact I think you will need to use something like dvbsbridge (google it) which I believe sits between your h.264 feed and WMC.

I reckon you should just use another application. I'm currently using Powercinema, and after doing all the necessary patches, it seems to work very well (baring the occasional crash -I think it has a bug or two), but reckon Mediaportal or gbpvr are your best bet.

"There is no way to Peace -Peace is the Way" (A. J. Muste)

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek

#157968 19-Aug-2008 13:08

Quidam: Yeah, I think the TV Pack (from NZ's perspective) isn't anything to get too excited about.

It adds multiple tuner support which is one of the big things I was waiting for!

In fact I think you will need to use something like dvbsbridge (google it) which I believe sits between your h.264 feed and WMC..

VMC uses its own codecs. So regardless of what it is passed, it needs to decode it within VMC. As the TV Pack does not support h.264, you won't be able to see any picture :(

I reckon you should just use another application. I'm currently using Powercinema, and after doing all the necessary patches, it seems to work very well (baring the occasional crash -I think it has a bug or two), but reckon Mediaportal or gbpvr are your best bet.

Personally I feel that nothing beats the VMC interface. It's a matter of whether or not you can live with no HD in VMC and use a second piece of software for those few HD programs you wish to watch.

Quidam

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#157989 19-Aug-2008 13:46

Yeah, the Media Centre Interface (and the tight integration of the application into the operating system) make it a tough act to follow!

But if it can't handle a DVB-T H.264 I'm just not interested in playing..

"There is no way to Peace -Peace is the Way" (A. J. Muste)

nztommo

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#158087 19-Aug-2008 19:11

Satch.

Sort of.

I understand VMC does not include h.264. So does this stop VMC from tuning in Freeview channels, or simply stop you watching them?

WHy does the installation of say PowerDVD 8 (which has h.264 codecs) not allow VMC to function? Isn;t that the same as added codecs packs....?

I've been using MCE2005 and I love the user interface, I really, really really want to explore options of VMC. I've looked at DVBviewer (crap) gbpvr (average).

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek

#158100 19-Aug-2008 19:42

Give it a go and let me know how you get on...

burtz

168 posts

Master Geek

#158109 19-Aug-2008 20:05

I don't know what the TV Pack is but I have installed the Fiji beta over my old Vista Media Centre install and it certainly does have support for h264. I watched Terrestrial Freeview channels thru a HVR-4000 card. It records and plays back but has no epg support so I have gone back to DVB Viewer.

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freitasm

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#158111 19-Aug-2008 20:11

nztommo: Why does the installation of say PowerDVD 8 (which has h.264 codecs) not allow VMC to function? Isn;t that the same as added codecs packs....?

Because it's not integrated into the product, which does not "recognise" the decoders to be used.

freitasm

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#158112 19-Aug-2008 20:12

burtz: I have installed the TV Pack or the Fiji beta over my old Vista install and it certainly does have support for h264. I watched Terrestrial Freeview channels thru a HVR-4000 card. It records and plays back but has no epg support so I have gone back to DVB Viewer.

This was an early beta version, which probably will expire soon. The latest beta versions and the release do not have this feature.

paulobrien999

12 posts

Geek

#160784 29-Aug-2008 18:17

so. will this work with DVB-T card like Nova T 500?

i understand that h264 is not in final release of tv pack so no HD but does this mean that freeview terrestrial will not work AT ALL? or just not in HD?

theres people talking about putting back a H264 DLL from the beta. does this work? will the DLL die on the 31/8/08 or will the DLL still work past that date? ie: ongoing working DVB-T media centre.

nothing else on the market comes close UI wise to Microsoft stuff, but if someone wants to prove me wrong there.. please be my guest... i just want my nova t 500 card to work with MCE.

gbpvr and mediaportal are ok, but the ui is nothing on VMC (unless im missing the skin of the century or something??)

Mattv

242 posts

Master Geek

#160802 29-Aug-2008 20:49

paulobrien999:
so. will this work with DVB-T card like Nova T 500?

i understand that h264 is not in final release of tv pack so no HD but does this mean that freeview terrestrial will not work AT ALL? or just not in HD?

All NZ Freeview DVB-T is H.264 so no you will not get anything (other than the 2 radio stations)

paulobrien999:
theres people talking about putting back a H264 DLL from the beta. does this work? will the DLL die on the 31/8/08 or will the DLL still work past that date? ie: ongoing working DVB-T media centre.

I tried this about a week ago with no success. Would love to hear differently from anyone though

paulobrien999

12 posts

Geek

#165527 18-Sep-2008 23:40

ok, so ive got dvbviewer working on Vista mce

and there is this dvbsbridge application which is meant to 'virtually' stream the dvbviewer signal in to VMC. has anyone got this working in NZ? or because VMC does not support H264 then vista would actually stops the stream working? or can this dvbsbridge take any stream and make VMC play it?

also i have heard this dvbsviewer only supports 1 tuner..

anyone had any luck on this path?? dvbviewer (although pretty average interface) seems to do the busines, so if this dvbsbridge works getting the stream working in vista, then surely its gotta be the way???

currently using gbpvr, but average interface and reliability i find...

sbiddle

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#165539 19-Sep-2008 06:48

paulobrien999: ok, so ive got dvbviewer working on Vista mce

and there is this dvbsbridge application which is meant to 'virtually' stream the dvbviewer signal in to VMC. has anyone got this working in NZ? or because VMC does not support H264 then vista would actually stops the stream working? or can this dvbsbridge take any stream and make VMC play it?

also i have heard this dvbsviewer only supports 1 tuner..

anyone had any luck on this path?? dvbviewer (although pretty average interface) seems to do the busines, so if this dvbsbridge works getting the stream working in vista, then surely its gotta be the way???

currently using gbpvr, but average interface and reliability i find...

DVBSBridge will *not* get you H.264 in VMC - VMC has no H.264 support so it will simply not work.

I use GB-PVR myself and find it's reliability is top notch. The interface isn't the best but stick the Community3 skin on it and it looks nice. There are still a few issues with the GB-PVR tsreader which does result in some sync issues if you're running in timeshift mode and the odd issue with picture breakup in playback (again the issue of the tsreader - PowerDVD8 tsreader works fine but has some other limitations) but other than that it never ever fails on me.