Acer Revo RL100 & FreeviewHD?

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AllenG

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#91920 23-Oct-2011 11:32

Hi.

I just picked up an end of stock Revo RL100 from Noel Leeming for $799.

I thought I could use it as a media centre extender on my network. I already have 4 tuners in another PC.
It however looks like I won't be able to access these tuners from the Revo. I will be able to access the recorded TV.

The Revo has a built in TV tuner however some reviews I have read say it's not HD compatable. I have configured the tuner and my first attempt to view TV3 resulted in a hesitant picture for a few seconds then media centre error message about a "video problem" I am currently bringing windows up to date with windows update to see if this fixes things.

Has anyone got one of these and have you got it working well with freeviewHD?

Regards Allen.

sbiddle

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#536673 23-Oct-2011 11:45

The ability to use Windows as an extender is a feature that's been lacking in MCE from day 1. If you want to use your PC as an extender I'd recommend switching to any of the myriad of other applications that supports this.

Hardware wise that machine should work fine for Freeview|HD. It's seriously underpowered as a PC but has an ION chipset which will decode H.264 fine.

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AllenG

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#536768 23-Oct-2011 18:33

sbiddle: The ability to use Windows as an extender is a feature that's been lacking in MCE from day 1. If you want to use your PC as an extender I'd recommend switching to any of the myriad of other applications that supports this.

Hardware wise that machine should work fine for Freeview|HD. It's seriously underpowered as a PC but has an ION chipset which will decode H.264 fine.

Hi Sbiddle. I bought this specifically as an HTPC for the cinema room. It will not normally have any other duties.

Does anyone have any ideas to get the freeview AC3 working for freeview in media centre? Windows is fully updated. Do I need to install an AC3 decoder? I didn't think you had to on Win7. I didn't have to on my lounge PC, but this PC also has Cyberlink PowerDVD 9 installed that came with the BD drive.

I have got Freeview|HD tuned in, and have the recorded TV folder of my lounge PC (with the 3 x UHF & 1 x Sat tuners) added to the recorded TV library on the Revo.

TV and playback of the recordings from the lounge PC work except for the channels with AC3 audio. When I play these channels I get video but no audio and 20 to 30 seconds in get a "Video Error Files needed to display video are not installed or working correctly. Restart Windows Media Center or restart the computer".

the channels with AC3 audio works fine on my lounge PC.

I have never had a media centre PC on my Yamaha receiver til now. I noticed a couple of strange things with audio on the Revo. They may be normal but I'm not 100% sure.

1 The Revo has Three audio devices, Realtek HD audio, Stereo Audio and HDMI audio but media centre configuration doesn't give you the option of what "connection type" to use for sound? My lounge PC has 6 options here. The revo goes straight to "Number of speakers" selection.

2. With the HDMI audio set to 7.1 and media centre set to 7.1 I get the 7.1 channel lights lit on the receiver when media centre plays sound but the audio is all in PCM so far. I guess this is normal? I havn't tried playing back anything encoded in AC3 from within media centre other than TV1, 2, 3 which don't work. DVDs from the clear-fi app are passed through to the reciever OK in 5.1 DD & DTS.

Any help getting the Freeview AC3 working would be appreciated. I'll log a support ticket with aver NZ but any response will be tuesday at the earliest.....

Regards Allen.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#536825 24-Oct-2011 00:26

sbiddle: The ability to use Windows as an extender is a feature that's been lacking in MCE from day 1.

Hi sbiddle. I thought someone may have figured this out by now. Iv'e bought two mce versions of windows. how hard can it be to have the live tv stream to the other? I can share recordings now, and I believe there are ways to share guide data...

AllenG:
Does anyone have any ideas to get the freeview AC3 working for freeview in media centre? ......
........ Any help getting the Freeview AC3 working would be appreciated.

Sorted it (For good I hope). Watched the last 15 mins of final RWC game in cinema room on 120" projector in 5.1 DD. I'm not a sports fan but I was quite impressed with the surround audio mix with crowd noises in the surrounds and commentators and game up front.

I updated all the drivers I could find for the Revo on the Acer support page. (Nvidia graphics, Nvidia 3d, Realtek audio, Nvidia chipset, Wifi) No difference. TV channels with AC3 still had no audio and froze about 30 seconds in with a video error.
After a lot of googling I found an generic suggestion for media centre HDMI multichannel issues, though quite why it works and what effect it will have on other AV apps I don't know.

In control panel set the default HD audio device (HDMI in my case) to 2 channel. Edit media centre and go through the speaker setup again and set speakers to 5.1 (or 7.1) and save. TV1, 2, & 3 now bitstream to the receiver in DD 5.1 Yay!

Don't know yet if changing the default sound settings to 2 channel will do for for multi channel Xvids in media player etc.

Regards Allen.

Deev8

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#537303 25-Oct-2011 14:39

AllenG:
sbiddle: The ability to use Windows as an extender is a feature that's been lacking in MCE from day 1.

Hi sbiddle. I thought someone may have figured this out by now.

The someone who would have to figure out how to make a Microsoft product work is Microsoft of course. I don't think that anyone doubts they have the ability to sort it out if they want to, but they obviously have never given the issue any priority.

On the other hand there are other Media Centre applications available, some of which are free, that can provide the functionality very well.

sbiddle

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#537306 25-Oct-2011 14:48

Deev8:
AllenG:
sbiddle: The ability to use Windows as an extender is a feature that's been lacking in MCE from day 1.

Hi sbiddle. I thought someone may have figured this out by now.

The someone who would have to figure out how to make a Microsoft product work is Microsoft of course. I don't think that anyone doubts they have the ability to sort it out if they want to, but they obviously have never given the issue any priority.

On the other hand there are other Media Centre applications available, some of which are free, that can provide the functionality very well.

There was a software extender that did work with Vista MCE.

Microsoft's focus was clearly on embedded devices as extenders, something that lots of people in the HTPC have been doing for a long with with PCH and Hauppauge units, rather than a bulky PC.

CYaBro

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#537311 25-Oct-2011 15:05

I've got one of these Acer RL100 and use it for Freeview|HD and have it connected to a Yamaha receiver via the HDMI and haven't had any issues with sound.

You can buy DVBLink TVSource which allows you to share tuners over the network with Windows Media Center.
They have a 20 day free trial @ http://dvblogic.com/ProductsN.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#537385 25-Oct-2011 18:29

Hi All.

I have found a solution that looks set to achieve the holy grail of a software extender for Win7 MC, and the developer is actively working on it and responding to feedback.

It is called "Shared Guide Potato" see article here: http://thedigitalmediazone.com/2011/09/07/shared-guide-brings-softsled-one-step-closer/
and forum here: http://thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=523
Download here: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=fc502126faae22c3&sc=documents&id=FC502126FAAE22C3%21178

This requires you to have Windows media centre on both PCs.
You need to install Remote Potato on your primary media centre PC which of it's self gives you the ability to view and schedule recordings, view guide data and stream live and recorded TV to a web browser, Iphone/Ipad or Android device over your network or internet. It is a pre-requisite for using the "Shared Guide Potato" add-in.

Remote Potato website is here: http://www.remotepotato.com/Default.aspx

After installation of the Shared Guide Potato add-in to the slave PC, a "Shared Guide" is available on the Slave pc that shows the full EPG or favourites EPG from the Host PC. It shows scheduled recordings on the EPG, and in a scheduled recordings list. It allows you to schedule new recordings on the host PC. The look and feel is very much the same as if you were directly on the Host PC.
I believe you can also do this with multiple Hosts.

For Live TV if you select a currently showing program from the shared EPG and that channel is set up on a Tuner in the slave PC then live TV will start.

If you select a currently showing program from the shared EPG that you have no tuner for in the slave PC you are given the option to record once or record series. This initiates a recording or series recording on the Host PC.

By accident I found that once this recording has started you can browse the shared "Recorded TV" Library and immediately start playback on the slave PC.

In effect this is streaming live TV from the Host PC tuner to the slave PC via a recording.
After providing feed back to the developer He is working on trying to make the triggering of a recording on the Host and starting of playback on the slave seemless and appear as if you were watching live TV from the tuner on the host.

He says he basically has it working. If this is the case then he has basically achieved the sharing of tuners to a slave PC by buffering it with a recording on the host. If this turns out to work maybe someone can make an announcement and "Sticky" it?

Check it out.

Regards

Allen.

Nety

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#537477 25-Oct-2011 22:29

Can I ask why you did not just buy a Xbox 360? It does all what you describe above but natively. No need to install or set anything up other then setting the Xbox as and extender which takes all of 2 mins. It gives you the exact same interface as you have on the main PC. You can set recordings, watch what you have recorded or are recording even continue watching something that you had started watching on the main PC from where you left off plus basically anything else you can do from the main PC.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#537489 25-Oct-2011 22:48

Nety: Can I ask why you did not just buy a Xbox 360?

Hi. I think having an HTPC is more flexible than an Xbox 360. I have a choice of media player apps and perhaps a larger range of supported codecs and file types. I also have support for HD audio. Can you play FLAC and DVD Vobs with DVD full menus etc on an xbox? Can you play 96k/24 bit audio on the Xbox? Can you Skype or browse the web with an Xbox (possibly I don't know?)

Also I am an amputee and unfortunately they don't make one handed controls for any of the consoles so the gaming part of an Xbox 360 is wasted.

Regards Allen.

Nety

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#537693 26-Oct-2011 12:59

AllenG:
Hi. I think having an HTPC is more flexible than an Xbox 360. I have a choice of media player apps and perhaps a larger range of supported codecs and file types.

It is more flexible certainly however as you have found there is no magic bullet to make it a extender to a existing Media Centre. A Xbox is designed by Microsoft to work as a extender and as far as I know is the only one that gives you the same interface and abilities as Media Centre itself.
As for file types as long as you use something like the DivX codes which use Microsoft Media Foundation's DXVA then they play quite happily though the Xbox.

I also have support for HD audio. Can you play FLAC and DVD Vobs with DVD full menus etc on an xbox?

Your right it does not do HD audio although it does do surround sound and as the only source for HD audio in practical terms are blurays that seems a bit of a mute point anyway (see below).
I am not sure for FLAC but DVD Vobs work fine (I use Media Browser on the Media Centre which works on the Xbox as well).

Can you play 96k/24 bit audio on the Xbox? Can you Skype or browse the web with an Xbox (possibly I don't know?)

Not sure never tried. I do not think there is Skype on the Xbox or a browser but IMHO I do not understand why people want to browse the web on a TV. That's what PC's or laptops or tablet's are for. Unless you are sitting very close to the screen on a TV everything is just to hard to read. Anyway each to their own. As far as I know not possible on a Xbox.

Also I am an amputee and unfortunately they don't make one handed controls for any of the consoles so the gaming part of an Xbox 360 is wasted.

Just because Xbox's are "gaming" hardware does not mean that they have to be used as such. In my case I brought the Xbox as a extender first. Yes I have kids and am a bit of a kid myself so it does get some use as a gaming device but it is still first and foremost a extender in our house. We use a logitech remote to control it so is no different to control then the Media Centre in the lounge. It is relatively small, relatively quiet and at least when I got it the only device that would allow me to watch live TV though a extender.

Anyway I hope the guy developing the software extender comes though as I know a lot of people want a PC option.

Edit: Opps missed the "see below". The one limitation that does irk me a little is that it is not capable of playing blurays