DTT Tests active on Waiatarua Auckland

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324 posts

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#106577 24-Jan-2008 18:32

cranz: Bravia HD test loop (some sort of travel show about Australia) in 720p @ 7-10mbit, audio is up from what I can see but is HE-AAC so might not be able to decode the stream

EPG is live also I see, only just noticed this (showing 2 shows at a time per channel - current and next, matches live tv but not feeds being tested)

Why is it that the standard FAAD2 decoders present on my system are unable to decode the audio? Is there some additonal consideration?

openmedia

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#106585 24-Jan-2008 19:01

walt12:
cranz: Bravia HD test loop (some sort of travel show about Australia) in 720p @ 7-10mbit, audio is up from what I can see but is HE-AAC so might not be able to decode the stream

EPG is live also I see, only just noticed this (showing 2 shows at a time per channel - current and next, matches live tv but not feeds being tested)

Why is it that the standard FAAD2 decoders present on my system are unable to decode the audio? Is there some additonal consideration?

DVB requires the use of LATM encapsulated AAC, which FAAD2 doesn't currently support.

I've been working with Nico on the Mplayer mailing list to test patches for LATM support. He's now trying to push them upstream to the FAAD2 developers.

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.

Satch

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#106665 25-Jan-2008 09:01

Just to close off my discussion, I downloaded and tried MediaPortal (the latest stable version) last night. I didn't overly like what I saw.

I found it counter-intuative to navigate around and navigating back didn't always take me to the previous screen I was on. I also had trouble with full screen mode, with my mouse pointer sometimes disappearing totally, and other times the interface just did not show on the desktop although it was running. It was also noticably slow on my E6600 with 8600GT video card.

None of this is going to help in the WAF department, so I've had another thought about my options. Perhaps I stick with Vista MCE and initially feed Sky and free to air analogue into it. Then when freeview HD comes along, I replace the free to air connection with a Freeview HD analogue signal from a STB. I now need to find out if the Freeview STB's output an analogue signal, and whether or not I can run two IR blasters from MCE. I know this will kill the flexibility of recording more than one Freeview channel at a time, but it might be the price I have to pay to keep Sky.

sbiddle

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#106679 25-Jan-2008 10:09

Satch: Then when freeview HD comes along, I replace the free to air connection with a Freeview HD analogue signal from a STB. I now need to find out if the Freeview STB's output an analogue signal, and whether or not I can run two IR blasters from MCE. I know this will kill the flexibility of recording more than one Freeview channel at a time, but it might be the price I have to pay to keep Sky.

There is no way this will work as you have no way of recording the HD stream. It's highly probable that the ICT flag will be enabled for most if not all HD content that screens on Freeview. This means that any analogue ouputs from the box (incl component) will be 576i.

RustyGonad

495 posts

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#106680 25-Jan-2008 10:12

Satch: Just to close off my discussion, I downloaded and tried MediaPortal (the latest stable version) last night. I didn't overly like what I saw.

I found it counter-intuative to navigate around and navigating back didn't always take me to the previous screen I was on. I also had trouble with full screen mode, with my mouse pointer sometimes disappearing totally, and other times the interface just did not show on the desktop although it was running. It was also noticably slow on my E6600 with 8600GT video card.

None of this is going to help in the WAF department, so I've had another thought about my options. Perhaps I stick with Vista MCE and initially feed Sky and free to air analogue into it. Then when freeview HD comes along, I replace the free to air connection with a Freeview HD analogue signal from a STB. I now need to find out if the Freeview STB's output an analogue signal, and whether or not I can run two IR blasters from MCE. I know this will kill the flexibility of recording more than one Freeview channel at a time, but it might be the price I have to pay to keep Sky.

I should have read this a couple of days ago... Anyway - YOU CAN do what you want to do using Vista Media Center ie combine analog and digital tuners. This is an incredibily messy process to get going (its not for the faint hearted) but it does work. If you are not familiar with the registry and regedit - dont try this - get familiar with it first.

In effect you set up the first tuner + guide, backup some settings from the registry, setup the second tuner, and then combine the registry settings. Here's a link with detailed instructions - although this can be difficult to interpret.

http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/xp-media-center-2005-software/10380-dtv-analog-tv-works-together-8.html#post83036

If you wanted to do this I would recommend using the following:

Hauppauge PVR150 - for Analog/S-Video Sky capture
Hauppagge HVR3000 or equiv for Freeview.

Why - cause I know they work - that what I used.

Setup the PVR150 first, using S-Video input including the MCE Remote control and IR Blaater. Add the guide (using one of the many documented methods). Use this as the starting point for the base registry backup. Use a guide source that includes all of the Freeview channels. You should also use an app called TweakHauupage to turn off all the signal processing on the PVR-150, it will look absolutely terrible with everthing turned on.

You will still only be able to record one channel at a time (per tuner), unless you add more cards but then it gets really messy, however in theory it should still work.

Satch

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#106682 25-Jan-2008 10:34

sbiddle:
Satch: Then when freeview HD comes along, I replace the free to air connection with a Freeview HD analogue signal from a STB. I now need to find out if the Freeview STB's output an analogue signal, and whether or not I can run two IR blasters from MCE. I know this will kill the flexibility of recording more than one Freeview channel at a time, but it might be the price I have to pay to keep Sky.

There is no way this will work as you have no way of recording the HD stream. It's highly probable that the ICT flag will be enabled for most if not all HD content that screens on Freeview. This means that any analogue ouputs from the box (incl component) will be 576i.

Duh, I knew this already. Another case of my fingers acting faster than my brain. Thanks for the reminder sbiddle...

Maybe I'm not destined to have a HTPC...

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#106695 25-Jan-2008 11:03

Try GB PVR. I found it far simpler in the configuration area than MP.

http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?p=239294

What hardware do you have currently in the tuner dept?

Satch

1985 posts

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#106697 25-Jan-2008 11:08

walt12: Try GB PVR. I found it far simpler in the configuration area than MP.

http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?p=239294

What hardware do you have currently in the tuner dept?

Who, me? I don't have any hardware for my HTPC yet. (I installed MP on my "normal" PC which has a WinFast tuner card, analogue only BT878). I'm trying to do all the investigation up front so I don't end up buying hardware which I can't use for my intended purpose.

I've PMed RustyGonad to get some clarification from him. He mentioned a hack which works on Vista MCE, yet the link is to the XP MCE hack. If this hack works for Vista, then I'll be one happy man!

Fossie

1240 posts

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#106704 25-Jan-2008 11:40

Hmmm bt878 analogue card...;)

Maybe someone should start a PVR/HTPC Freeview Thread...

Back to the actual topic, what are the mux's looking like now?

openmedia

3449 posts

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#106712 25-Jan-2008 11:55

All channels are now HE-AAC except for Kordia's 1KHD channel which is still MP2.

The TVNZ TV1 + TV 2 are running 720p loops off BluRay. TV6 and Sport are live, and TV7 = TV2 in SD

Media Works Mux as C4 live, but TV3 is running HD test loops

Kordial mux is the most interesting. A bunch of Live SD channels, plus a bunch of odd inactive channels including one called "Trevors Test Channel" which appeared yesterday.

Can anyone under windows confirm the audio specs of the various HE-AAC streams. I've now got decoding working under Linux, but I'm not sure if the bitrate and frequency are being reported correctly.

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.

walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#106722 25-Jan-2008 12:34

Satch:
walt12: Try GB PVR. I found it far simpler in the configuration area than MP.

http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?p=239294

What hardware do you have currently in the tuner dept?

Who, me? I don't have any hardware for my HTPC yet. (I installed MP on my "normal" PC which has a WinFast tuner card, analogue only BT878). I'm trying to do all the investigation up front so I don't end up buying hardware which I can't use for my intended purpose.

I've PMed RustyGonad to get some clarification from him. He mentioned a hack which works on Vista MCE, yet the link is to the XP MCE hack. If this hack works for Vista, then I'll be one happy man!

Give GB PVR a try, you never know ...

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spideronfire

15 posts

Geek

#106737 25-Jan-2008 15:18

Has anyone had any luck getting the AAC audio to work in Windows? I'm using GB-PVR and from the ts I record I can demux the aac with tsconverter and convert the latm aac to wav using winamp. So i can remux a file into an mkv or mp4 after converting the audio but still got no idea how to get it working for live tv.

euanandrews

1528 posts

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#106747 25-Jan-2008 16:28

Satch: Maybe I'm not destined to have a HTPC...

Patience will prevail, these boys know what they are talking about.

What I don't understand though, is your need/desire to have both Freeview and Sky....its just duplictaing many channels....

The only gain is TVNZ6, TVNZ sports extra (which never has anything), some regional channels, paliament and radio....hardly worth the effort in my mind.

If you like sky (which selection is far greater) and plan to keep it, just provide a tuner for that and forget Freeview...

But if you really want Freeview, save some money and ditch Sky.

Myself, I'm going for a dual DVB-T tuner, Freeview only...no bills, HD content, play and record at same time.

But my point being, no rush, building a perfect HTPC takes time and research to do it properly, and these are the right guys to ask your questions.

sbiddle

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#106752 25-Jan-2008 17:09

spideronfire: Has anyone had any luck getting the AAC audio to work in Windows? I'm using GB-PVR and from the ts I record I can demux the aac with tsconverter and convert the latm aac to wav using winamp. So i can remux a file into an mkv or mp4 after converting the audio but still got no idea how to get it working for live tv.

GB-PVR doesn't support AAC audio in the current version. sub has it working so one can only assume the next version will have full support.

munchkin

939 posts

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#106757 25-Jan-2008 17:29

Satch: Just to close off my discussion, I downloaded and tried MediaPortal (the latest stable version) last night. I didn't overly like what I saw.

I found it counter-intuative to navigate around and navigating back didn't always take me to the previous screen I was on. I also had trouble with full screen mode, with my mouse pointer sometimes disappearing totally, and other times the interface just did not show on the desktop although it was running. It was also noticably slow on my E6600 with 8600GT video card.

None of this is going to help in the WAF department, so I've had another thought about my options. Perhaps I stick with Vista MCE and initially feed Sky and free to air analogue into it. Then when freeview HD comes along, I replace the free to air connection with a Freeview HD analogue signal from a STB. I now need to find out if the Freeview STB's output an analogue signal, and whether or not I can run two IR blasters from MCE. I know this will kill the flexibility of recording more than one Freeview channel at a time, but it might be the price I have to pay to keep Sky.

Having Sky as the only feed to your Vista HTPC would by far be the easiest solution to what you want to do. I'll agree that Mediaportal lacks stability and in general is 'quirky'. You won't be able to feed an HD signal into Media Center via an STB as it currently lacks support for that unless you have a Cable Card or the recently announced DirecTV receiver for Windows Media Center, both of which aren't available here and wouldn't work anyway.

You can run two IR blasters from MCE, but again, MCE assumes that each video source has the same channel line up. Fiddling with this is as RustyGonad mentioned, very messy.

RustyGonad:
I should have read this a couple of days ago... Anyway - YOU CAN do what you want to do using Vista Media Center ie combine analog and digital tuners. This is an incredibily messy process to get going (its not for the faint hearted) but it does work. [...]

I know that this exists, but I specifically said it doesn't simply because it is very messy. Reading The Green Button, people initially had problems where MCE thought that both tuners had the same channel line up, and then when that was sorted, the secondary tuner wouldn't switch because the first tuner had the same channel on it or was in use etc. (I think that the most common error was that to change to a channel on the second tuner, you had to occupy the first tuner or switch to a channel that both tuners could access?) I also couldn't find any reference to it working with Windows Vista [although that doesn't mean it doesn't work] - I'm at that state where I have my MCE machines working, and I have learnt the hard way to not fix something that isn't broken.

I know that Media Center can be used to watch two sources when one is an external source (Sky etc) and when one is ATSC OTA HD, but that reserves channels below 100 for that particular purpose.

Fossie: Hmmm bt878 analogue card...

BT878 + ablecay ryptcay ...

That was a magic little card when I had one