Hi-Def PVR

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eXDee

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#107868 31-Jan-2008 21:54

openmedia:

1. You won't be able to record Sky in HD, or atleast it will be very very unlikely. They will use HDCP over HDMI to restrict this.

3. The copyright ammendment bill will make most PVRs illegal anyway in its current form.

1. So there will be no HDCP compatible capture cards at all?

3. Whats this? I haven't heard about this bill, how recent is it? Whats the current general stance on it and what are the big changes? Also, chances are.... who cares?

sbiddle

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#107870 31-Jan-2008 22:03

The bill is here

openmedia

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#107956 1-Feb-2008 12:39

eXDee:

1. So there will be no HDCP compatible capture cards at all?

Correct, the whole point of HDCP is to prevent capture.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

timbosan

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#107957 1-Feb-2008 12:55

Well, HDCP is designed to make it difficult for the common Joe Blogs to copy HD material, plus there are always ways around HDCP...

Rollux

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#108053 1-Feb-2008 20:16

mruane: Hey Rollux

Can you provide some information on the Bluetooth keyboard that you selected. I have been hunting for some time for a Bluetooth keyboard.

Anyone else found a Bluetooth keyboard that works?

Cheers Mike

Mine is a Microsoft Keyboard Elite for Bluetooth and Intellimouse for Bluetooth combo. Wasn't cheap ($199 from memory) but is great for me. Range is about 10m, about once a month it drops off and needs to be removed and re-connected, but no biggie. Batteries last about 3months, even with me playing games like Counter-Strike occasionally. (I use Energiser rechargables), but you get a warning saying they are getting low anyway. And it works in the BIOS/POST so that's a plus!

Lounge:
WIN7 HOME x64 HTPC - E6420 2.13Ghz - 4Gb 800MHZ PATRIOT RAM - ASUS HD5670 1GB
ASUS P5B-VM MOBO - LG BLU-RAY DRIVE - BG3595 TUNER - 1.5TB STORAGE
PANASONIC 42" FULL HD PLASMA - PIONEER VSX1019AHK RECEIVER - WHARFDALE DIAMOND 10 SPEAKERS

Man Cave:
XBOX 360 MODERN WARFARE 2 EDITION - PANASONIC 37" PLASMA - SONY MONSTA 5.1 SURROUND SYSTEM

eXDee

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#108065 1-Feb-2008 21:32

openmedia:
eXDee:

1. So there will be no HDCP compatible capture cards at all?

Correct, the whole point of HDCP is to prevent capture.

Hmm, yes i suppose. Unless Sky does unrestricted component it looks like a Media Centre PC is going to be not worth it at least for a while. Perhaps recording at 576p will be sufficient, but we'll see when it comes out.
I think i'm going to have to just use their PVR that they supply for recording. I hate DRM.

BarTender

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#108201 2-Feb-2008 19:59

eXDee: Hmm, yes i suppose. Unless Sky does unrestricted component it looks like a Media Centre PC is going to be not worth it at least for a while. Perhaps recording at 576p will be sufficient, but we'll see when it comes out.
I think i'm going to have to just use their PVR that they supply for recording. I hate DRM.

But you will never be able to get the content out of the box digitally... And if they are enforcing HDCP (which I am sure they will be) unless you manage to strip the HDCP you won't be able to even play it and record it in HD using a capture card.

They have you by the .... (insert 4 letter word here of your choosing!) unfortunately when you go with Sky. Thankfully that isn't as much of an issue with TCL Cable, but who knows when / if they will be going to HD on their service. Not that I even have a widescreen TV :D

Quic Broadband

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eXDee

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#108212 2-Feb-2008 21:27

Hmmm, well i'll see how it all plays out, im 90% sure we are getting Sky HD, so when we get that i'll see what options i have for connecting things up, and whether its worth making the HTPC for freeview only, or if you can get 576p output unrestricted.

I think it'll be cheaper buying a capture card + upgrades than buying a Freeview HD decoder anyway.
Would a 3ghz old Pentium 4, 1gb of ram, 9600XT and the appropriate DVB-T card be good enough?

Lastly, another unanswered question, has anyone tried using a wiimote to control their media centre? I assume if i get the right drivers and map the keys to keyboard ones i can control mediaportal/myth, whichever i choose.

Thanks for all your advice.

eXDee

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#109659 10-Feb-2008 14:59

Don't think its worth making another thread, so i'll bump this one, same topic anyway.

I've loaded up XP Pro + Mediaportal on a P4 2.4ghz, 768mb ram, ATI 9200SE, no tuner card. So far its looking good, and it'll get a P4 3.0ghz, 1gb ram, ATI 9600XT eventually.

Standby doesnt seem to be what i want as XP just turns off the monitor + hard disks, so the rest of the computer is still going, using power and the fans making noise. However hibernate seems to work great, with less than 20s to mediaportal home screen.

A few questions about mediaportal...
I've installed CCCP which is what i use on every computer, i assume this should work out fine with mediaportal since it uses directshow?

I have an ASX file that i've created of all the most popular radio stations in NZ. However when i load this up in mediaportal it will only play the first item, as well as the entire interface freezing. If i click it fades out and back in again, however if you constantly hammer the quit button it eventually quits. I then manually inputted a single mms stream for The Rock in the config which gives the same result. No biggy since the receiver has a tuner in it, but i like everything to work.

Under the pictures section ive added all our camera photos, however there are a couple of videos in there too. If i add .avi and .mpg to be filetypes for pictures, will they also show up and be selectable in the pictures section, provided i have all the right codecs?

What plugins is everyone running? I installed a music quiz one or something using the plugin installer, but its not under the plugins menu. Is there a web interface plugin? Emulators? There seems to be very few on the mediaportal site.

Lastly, what is the TV server? Is this what you install to tune in the TV channels from a capture card? It seems i could install mediaportal on the desktop pc's and get TV over the network, is this right?

Thanks in advance.

hashbrown

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#109750 10-Feb-2008 20:51

eXDee: Standby doesnt seem to be what i want as XP just turns off the monitor + hard disks, so the rest of the computer is still going, using power and the fans making noise.

Sounds like your BIOS is just configured for standby state S1. Check if you can change your BIOS settings to use standby state S3, which should kill your fans and give you a much faster startup than hibernating.

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