HD PVR - It's good but it has issues

[sheppy99]

My HDPVR is giving good results but it has a couple of issues.

When capturing using SPDIF the box freezes whenever the audio stops, with SKY HD the audio stops as you start to play a program so I have to start the capture program, switch to rear audio, get the program playing, switch to SPDIF, record the program, then switch back to rear audio before going back into the planner. Quite a faff really, and getting it wrong needs the box rebooting. Any chance of an updated driver or way of fixing this?

The supplied software can't make a standard 2 hour long 4.3 GB DVD due to not enough compression and the quality doesn't seem very good. Nero vision causes the sound to go out of sync although the quality is OK.

System specs:
Vista Ultimate, Q6600, 4GB, 300GB Raptor, 150GB Raptor, 7950GTX, 7600GT, Fast Track Pro USB Sound Card.

Playback of captured content works a charm at 1980 x 1080 using media center with no stuttering and Dolby Digital via co-axial output so I guess system performance isn't an issue

[Seraph]

Is it just with the SKY HD box that you are using as a source? I havent seen this problem with the PS3 or Sat HD box we have here. (will have a look into it though)

When recording are you leaving the bit rate as standard? As thats going to give you about an 8gb file. I havent found any software that cuts the size down to a single layer DVD and still retain the quality. Only option would be to convert to AVI etc.

Which version of Nero have you got? As im sure the one i have didnt give me any out of sync problems. <will be Nero 9>

[sheppy99]

It is just Sky HD that I use.
I've tried standard bitrate (default settings,) and VBR (variable peak, 11 / 19.8Mbps) both with and without Optical audio, it always gives me variable out of sync sound after a cut on Nero 9 Vision. Totalmedia doesn't give the problem but limits me to just over 1 hours video per single sided DVD and the quality isn't as good as with Nero. If both of those problems were cured I'd be a happy bunny!
I'm currently getting about 4 gigs per hour with VBR, and I have a 500 Meg 7.5 minute VBR test file in case you want to reproduce the error. Nero support are trying to tell me it's a missing frames in the file problem but I'm not so sure!
Do you know of an easy way to AVI that can then progress to DVD with good quality? The original captures are pretty well as good as the originals.
Thanks for your help!
Kevin

[sheppy99]

Any further thoughts on this?

[momo]

Check for drivers update and FAQ:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor...ort_hdpvr.html

[Seraph]

The only way your going to be able to get a full film to dvd is drop the CBR, maybe to 7Mbps. I would try to find the best pay off in quality to space, but the PS3 i have access to has died!! Waiting on a replacement.

I have stuck with dual layer dvd's for the time being. Nero 9 keeps crashing for me atm, so using an earlier version atm <7 i think>, so cant look into the audio sync problem.

[sheppy99]

I use VBR rather than CBR and when I tried to drop it last time I ran into frame dropping on fast motion issues.
I've just loaded the latest beta driver but so far it hasn't helped with the no SPDIF output from Digibox = frozen capture card issues.
Nero are now looking at the problem - or at least they have downloaded my test file - so hopefully they will come up with a cure.
Are totalmedia working on a new version of the software that will cure the SPDIF problems or allow better compression?
I do I.T. for a living and I'll happily test it as well as provide feedback

[jon]

When capturing using SPDIF the box freezes whenever the audio stops, with SKY HD the audio stops as you start to play a program so I have to start the capture program, switch to rear audio, get the program playing, switch to SPDIF, record the program, then switch back to rear audio before going back into the planner. Quite a faff really, and getting it wrong needs the box rebooting. Any chance of an updated driver or way of fixing this?

I'm having exactly the same issue. If there is any interruption to the SPDIF stream, totalmedia lock up and you have to turn the HDPVR off and then on again. As Sheppy99 states, the only method is to keep switching between analogue and SPDIF for review/capture. This is with the latest drivers. Really irritating!

[sheppy99]

I've had a reply back from Nero suggesting the captures I am getting have missing frames. Can someone help me fix this? All I want to do is capture 2 x 1 hour programs, remove the adverts and put the result on a standard 2hour DVD, it won't fit with total media and the quality isn't great.

Reply from Nero who I sent a test file to below.

We could finally download and test your file.
Unfortunately I can only tell you that the problem is related to your file.
We could reproduce the problem here with Nero Vision. As you stated, after adding chapters, or editing the file, it goes out of sync.
Still, we also tested the same file with other programs. For example, we converted the file into mpeg-4 using another software. The result is a file in sync but very jerky. This kind of problems, either out of sync, or jerky files, will always appear if you edit this kind of files. It will also happen with other programs, as there are frames missing in this file, that you will only notice after editing.
We are sorry, but we cannot do anything in this case. We can only recommend you to capture your files in another format from the beginning on.

[Seraph]

OK, so you have edited the file. Arcsoft are aware that edited files are losing sync. I know its an open issue with them, so they are working on it, but i havent seen anything from engineering about a fix yet.

With regards to file size, i dont think Arcsoft will do anything to increase compression, as i havent seen anything about this on any of the documentation.