Voom and MEdia Center PC's

[Threv]

Anyone here have any advice or info on setting up a Media Center PC with VOOM? I'm building a new machine and want to know what to expect.

Thanks!

 

[rvsixer]

About the only interaction I can see between an HTPC and VOOM box is SD PVR.

 

[GreatMac]

I have been using Voom with MCE 2005 very successfully. The MCE guide will provide info for all Voom channels, but not for the local over the air channels (this doesn't bother me, but may others).

The quality of recording from HD channels is fairly close to DVD quality, but it will depend on your setup (I saw a post from the MCE crew saying that the ATI AIOW had the best PQ in their experience). Make sure you calibrate your monitor properly.

But IMHO, even recording from SD channels is noticeably better than what I used to get from the DishDVR I had before.

I wish Voom would get in with a card manufacturer (and with MS) on producing a PC Card, it would instantly convert all MCE and other HTPC users into Voomers and it would increase subscribers tenfold :clap

 

[mikbro]

Try SageTV

SageTV is also worth a look - it has the Voom listings, supports multiple tuners (I have my 3 voom boxes connected to it and capable of recording 3 things at once). It also allows for me to connect analog cable or other providers. MCE limits you to 2 analog tuners and 1 OTA HDTV tuner, and you can only have one "source" (ie Voom) defined for the analog tuners.

It also allows you to have both the OTA listing and VOOM listings merged into one guide. A necessity for me.

You were right about the image quality - at the highest recording quality in SageTV (higher than the highest supported by MCE) you do get DVD quality and with the Voom boxes ability to squeeze/stretch you can record widescreen content "anamorphically" to get every last drop of image quality.

I don't mean to belittle MCE (I have tried 2005) - I just kept coming back to SageTV because of it's complete flexibility - though MCE does have an edge in the UI department.

 

[VorpalBlade]

You were right about the image quality - at the highest recording quality in SageTV (higher than the highest supported by MCE) you do get DVD quality and with the Voom boxes ability to squeeze/stretch you can record widescreen content "anamorphically" to get every last drop of image quality.

Can you elaborate on using anamorphic settings on the STB to improve Sage captures? I've just started using Voom and am trying to improve my Sage recordings as much as is possible.

SageTV is also worth a look - it has the Voom listings, supports multiple tuners (I have my 3 voom boxes connected to it and capable of recording 3 things at once). It also allows for me to connect analog cable or other providers. MCE limits you to 2 analog tuners and 1 OTA HDTV tuner, and you can only have one "source" (ie Voom) defined for the analog tuners.

It also allows you to have both the OTA listing and VOOM listings merged into one guide. A necessity for me.

I was gratified to see I could use my single Hauppauge PVR250MCE to get both the Voom programming and OTA locals into one guide using just one card and one STB. I had an hour or so of panic until I figured out that I could define the coax vid out as one source and s-vid as another. Once I got that done, Sage merged them both together in the guide.

Some cards may not have multiple inputs or support defining seperate inputs simultaneously, which would mean Sage would not be able to include both locals and Voom programming in the same guide.

 

[smodak]

MCE WAF > SAGE WAF

WAF - Wife Acceptance Factor

 

[CraziFuzzy]

Sage is actually VERY easy to use. I have two tuners in my Sage box, one hooked up to my basic analog cable, the other hooked up to the VOOM Box. Most of my recording gets done form the cable, but if it has a conflict, or if it is something that is only on a voom channel, it will grab it from the voom box. I have to use both the SVideo AND the composite out of the voom to the two inputs on my video capture card though. I could not figure out another way to have it associate locals AND sat channels to the same input. The program works amazing though. The two biggest drawbacks I've found are that the media player in it will not play windows media files, and it is pretty hard to adjust the input adjustments (contrast, brightness, etc) to get a really good picture.

i LOVE the networking option though... i can now watch any channel from my office PC, or on my wireless laptop.

 

[mikbro]

Can you elaborate on using anamorphic settings on the STB to improve Sage captures? I've just started using Voom and am trying to improve my Sage recordings as much as is possible.

The Voom box has a picture format menu setting (this is under the advanced settings) that enables you to output 16x9 content as "stretched" vertically instead of inserting the top and bottom black bars. If you record this stretched content (using all 480 lines of the capture capability of your encoder card) and then play it back using SageTV's ability to "letterbox" for you (or if your TV has a letterbox mode this will work as well) - you essentially get a recording of the full frame at DVD resolution (480 lines).

I had an hour or so of panic until I figured out that I could define the coax vid out as one source and s-vid as another. Once I got that done, Sage merged them both together in the guide.

Some cards may not have multiple inputs or support defining seperate inputs simultaneously, which would mean Sage would not be able to include both locals and Voom programming in the same guide.

Ah grasshopper - there is a better way
You can actually use the S-Video output from the Voom box to the S-Video input on the PVR-250 for BOTH OTA and Voom sat content

Check this out here. Much better video quality on the s-video output than the coax!

-and- If you happen to be one of those lucky people to receive channels from mulitples DMA's you can use this method to add several local broadcast listings to SageTV and then pair them down to the point where you only see the channels you receive and remap them (within SageTV) so that they tune the Voom box accordingly.

I Love SageTV!

Enjoy!

 

[roachxp]

I can't train the VOOM control in MCE2005 it will not let me do anything, can someone help. Everytime I train it in the test sceen it fail everytime.

 

[philhu]

I looked at SageTV. I like it

I was looking at bundles. What is the convertx box they talk about.

I do not see an advantage of that over the hauppauge cards.

Any ideas what the difference is?

And, how many tuners can you put in the sage box? Can you do a pvr-500 (dual tuner) and a pvr-250 to get a third stream? Would it integrate 3 guides in the listings?

If so, I could do Voom, DTV AND cable box, all in one box, which would be cool

 

[mikbro]

I looked at SageTV. I like it

I was looking at bundles. What is the convertx box they talk about.

I do not see an advantage of that over the hauppauge cards.

Any ideas what the difference is?

And, how many tuners can you put in the sage box? Can you do a pvr-500 (dual tuner) and a pvr-250 to get a third stream? Would it integrate 3 guides in the listings?

If so, I could do Voom, DTV AND cable box, all in one box, which would be cool

The Convertx box is a MPEG-4 encoder - the Hauppauge cards are MPEG-2. The advantage of MPEG-4 is you get *roughly* the same quality but take up a lot less hard drive space. If your ultimate goal is the best quailty recordings - go with the hauppauge cards. The PVR150 is a great card for the money and you can run several in one box. If you run out of PCI slots on your motherboad you can also use their USB2 encoders at ~$130-$150 ea.

Each input on each card can have a different guide source - and they are all combined transparently into one guide and used for conflict resolution when you setup your favorite shows to record. SageTV is available for a free download eval so you have nothing to loose. Keep in mind though that you are building PC that ideally has a 24x7 uptime and that your choice of hardware will factor into exactly how stable it will be. You can find a lot of information on SageTV's forums and in their excellent user manual.

I used to have a business building and selling HTPC PVR's based on SageTV software so if you have any questions on the best hardware to use pm me.

 

[philhu]

The Convertx box is a MPEG-4 encoder - the Hauppauge cards are MPEG-2. The advantage of MPEG-4 is you get *roughly* the same quality but take up a lot less hard drive space. If your ultimate goal is the best quailty recordings - go with the hauppauge cards. The PVR150 is a great card for the money and you can run several in one box. If you run out of PCI slots on your motherboad you can also use their USB2 encoders at ~$130-$150 ea.

Each input on each card can have a different guide source - and they are all combined transparently into one guide and used for conflict resolution when you setup your favorite shows to record. SageTV is available for a free download eval so you have nothing to loose. Keep in mind though that you are building PC that ideally has a 24x7 uptime and that your choice of hardware will factor into exactly how stable it will be. You can find a lot of information on SageTV's forums and in their excellent user manual.

I used to have a business building and selling HTPC PVR's based on SageTV software so if you have any questions on the best hardware to use pm me.

Great reply.

Can I buy the pvr-150 bundle with the remote? Or would the PVR-250 work better? Also, one card will get svideo from the voom box and one will get svideo from dtv and the third card will actually do tuning of the cable box.

Can you set the letterbox properties per card or is it system wide? I want to use the voom stretch/sage letterbox for that card/svideo, and not use it for the rest.

And finally, does sage control a voom box? I know the bundle contains an ir sender to control other boxes, but can it do a voom box?


Thanks!

 

[mikbro]

Great reply.
Can I buy the pvr-150 bundle with the remote? Or would the PVR-250 work better? Also, one card will get svideo from the voom box and one will get svideo from dtv and the third card will actually do tuning of the cable box.

I believe the retail kits for both ship with the same remote control - the retail kit for the PVR-150 also includes an IR emitter - though I have not tried to use it with SageTV. For channel changing duties I would recommend the USB-UIRT - it has native support in SageTV and can be used to all the devices in your system (Voom, DirecTV, and Cable).

Can you set the letterbox properties per card or is it system wide? I want to use the voom stretch/sage letterbox for that card/svideo, and not use it for the rest.

The encoder will record full screen whatever you throw at it... when you playback you can alternate between "Fill", "Source", "4x3" and "16x9". In your case when you record 16x9 content from the VOOM box (and set the Voom box to Stretech 16x9 content so it takes an entire 4x3 screen) you would play it back in SageTV in the 16x9 AR. Since this is a playback setting and not a recording setting you can alternate any recording you have made between the ARs I mentioned with the press of a button.

And finally, does sage control a voom box? I know the bundle contains an ir sender to control other boxes, but can it do a voom box?

Yep - with the USB-UIRT I mention above - there are menu options to teach it the VOOM buttons same as you would for your Directv and cable boxes.

 

[philhu]

Re SageTV

The link below for SageTV seems to include all I need,all I have to do is buy 2 more pvr-150 cards? Correct?

SageTV Single-Tuner Bundle & Remote

http://store.freytechnologies.com/M...creen=PROD&Store_Code=SOS&Product_Code=STVSBR

 

[mikbro]

Yep - you would need another tuner card in addition to the one in the bundle. It seems like SageTV does support the IR Emitter included with the package. The only downside to it is that it only has one "emitter". This would need to be located somewhere when it can shower all of your receivers with it's signal when it changes channels. The USB-UIRT comes with a built-in emitter (very poowerfull) but also has a connection for you add an additional emitters (2 more actually with a splitter) so you can have emitters taped directly to your equipment for more reliable channel changes.

 

[philhu]

Yep - you would need another tuner card in addition to the one in the bundle. It seems like SageTV does support the IR Emitter included with the package. The only downside to it is that it only has one "emitter". This would need to be located somewhere when it can shower all of your receivers with it's signal when it changes channels. The USB-UIRT comes with a built-in emitter (very poowerfull) but also has a connection for you add an additional emitters (2 more actually with a splitter) so you can have emitters taped directly to your equipment for more reliable channel changes.

I did some reading and I think the USB-UIRT is what I want. So if I buy the bundle, leave out the ir transmitter included in it, and use the usb-uirt, I should be good to go!

 

[Threv]

Changing Channels with Media Center Remote

I have finally built the my media center PC and everything seems to be OK except that I can't get the Media Center remote to change the channels.
I have done the setup (both automatic and manual and still no luck)
any advice or hints (and no don't tell me to get SAGE thanks!)

 

[mikbro]

I have finally built the my media center PC and everything seems to be OK except that I can't get the Media Center remote to change the channels.
I have done the setup (both automatic and manual and still no luck)
any advice or hints (and no don't tell me to get SAGE thanks!)

Get Sage!

(sorry couldn't resist )

You trained MCE to use the VOOM remote correct? When MCE changes channels do you see the LED on the front of the VOOM receiver blink? It blinks everytime it detects a valid IR code. If it is not blinking do your have the IR emitter connected to the MCE remote sensor? If not connect it and place the IR emitter just to the right of the little satellite LED on the front of the Voom receiver (this is where the IR sensor is on the Voom box).

 

[Threv]

I knew someone would say that (ya bunch of freakin smart alecs!)

I thought I hade all that setup but the IR sensor does nothing. I'll check my setup again.
(is there a "backdoor" to these settings or only the MCE interface?

 

[1kftlbs]

Is there any way to connect through DVI or component?? I would like to record in 1080i if possible.....