Slashdot Mirror

Popcornhour http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=catalog is was ahead of the game. The model C200 networked media player will play back any file format and has provision for a local hard drive or blue ray drive.

The C-200 supports NFS, SMB, FTP, and multiple streaming protocols.

This looks like what I'd like -- do you ever have it play DVDs from ISOs over SMB shares, and does it do it OK without barfing/freezing/etc?

Another option you might want to look at is Patriot's $99 Box Office Media Player. I don't have one, but I just read about it in Anandtech's new Apple TV review as an alternative that "will play virtually everything you have, regardless of container or format."

The specs page lists support for UPnP streaming and "[MPEG-2] MPG/MPEG/VOB/ISO/TS/TP/M2TS", but this avsforum post indicates it might meet your needs. From the post:

• "Will not see any of my .iso or .mkv when using the UPnP feature, but sees all when using the "NET" feature (SMB share)."
• "Handles DVD .iso very well, menu functionality is retained for those that have it."

Copied from another forum: "I checked the showmywhitespace database for my location and then found that it doesn't show correct results for my son's location North of Temecula CA (70-mi SE from Mt Wilson, N of L.A.), which is his ONLY source for network programs. It shows ALL channels being "free" for WSD, even though they aren't. First tip-off the database is hozed..."

Continued here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1048951&page=7

Same with my results showing a bunch of channels as "free" even though I regularly watch TV programs on those channels, which means I'll have TV Band Devices broadcasting over top shows/sports/news that I'm trying to watch. Grrr. This is a typical government cockup.

Just because there isn't space between two particular channels, doesn't mean there is no empty space there. Also, I'm afraid I can pull up quite a bit of evidence. To use your words, You must be one of those persons who offers an opinion, but actually knows nothing about the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_broadcast_television_frequencies

http://www.avsforum.com/hdtvfaq/HDTV-FAQ.htm#Are%20DTV%20signals%20broadcast%20on%20special%20frequencies?

Notice how each CHANNEL has a range of FREQUENCIES assigned to it, and how many adjacent channels have space between them? (VHS 4&5,

Also, each channel actually has more than one precise frequency assigned to it - audio and video are carried on different frequencies. The sub-ranges in this range could potentially be used without interference, with modern radio equipment, where it couldn't have been used before.

So, yes, there are frequencies between channels, and channels do not equal frequencies, there isn't even a precisely 1:1 correlation, more like a 1:2 (one channel is two frequencies).

Likewise it would be ridiculous if I lose my Free TV (via antenna) just because the FCC wants to sell-out to ATT, Verizon, and other megacorps. I can not take credit for these words, since they were written by someone else, but I agree with them wholeheartedly. SOURCE: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18860552#post1886055

- "The irony is that if the Bush FCC had dared to push something like this, it would have been attacked by progressives -- and rightly so -- because there's absolutely nothing progressive about this particular proposal. It takes away a free service that is currently enjoyed in at least 15 million households [i.e. 15% of the population], including many who aren't especially well off [poor].

"And it does so for the purpose of turning that spectrum over to some very, very big telecom companies to either warehouse [i.e. not use and sit idle] or offer expensive subscription services to a mostly well-heeled customer base of Blackberry and iPhone users. [Plus] the stations most likely to lose their spectrum are also those stations that are least likely to be part of any of the big media conglomerates.

"Which means that ownership diversity also takes a hit if this FCC Plan comes to pass. It's hard for me to find the words to express the level of disgust that I feel for this misbegotten proposal. But I'll certainly cheer when FCC Chair Genachowski goes away (may that happen soon!) -- he's even worse than Michael Powell was, and Powell was pretty awful. Meanwhile, I really miss Kevin Martin, who was something of a loose cannon, but at least he didn't seem to be so totally in the pocket of any particular industry."

2

In other words:
- it hurts the poor
- it hurts rural residents
- it add another expensive $1000-2000 annual bill
- it serves to further consolidate the industry away from private local station, and into the hands of megacorps
- stifles competition by monopolizing entertainment in even fewer hands (ATT, Verizon) than previously

I picked-up a lot of knowledge from here: http://www.avsforum.com/

And here which describes NTSC in great detail: http://www.videointerchange.com/pal_secam_conversions.htm

And: http://nfggames.com/games/ntsc/colourresx.shtm

http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/video-recording-formats

>>>It used Portland for one of the affiliates, Southern NH for one other... none of the Bangor stations were represented at all.

Dish offered me locals-only for $7 a month plus $5 service fee (back in 2009). I didn't have to buy anything else. It's possible the Bangor stations don't uplink their feed to Dish, and Dish can't provide what is not given to them. Sorry. I'd try DirecTV to see what they offer for locals. Here's a closeup of the Bangor DMA: http://www.truckads.com/Affiliate/images/bangor_dma_map.gif

I'd also go to http://www.avsforum.com/ for assistance with your antenna.

here

Whoever ever bought LG 60Hz LCD TV or LCD monitor knows about panel lottery in which LG sells AOU, CHI-MEI, even Sharp panels as their own
(for example, see comments on this page http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1132241&page=12

most current titles use VC-1 and old ones used MPEG-2, not H.264.

Here's a pretty thorough list of Bluray movies and what codecs they use.
http://media.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/blu-specs.txt

The link came from here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1155731

By this list, the most popular codec appears to be AVC (H.264), by a ratio of about 2:1 over VC-1.

verizon never sets the "do not copy" bit

That doesn't mean that you cannot copy some of the material on FiOS, though. I tried recording a movie on HBO to my DVD recorder and was blocked by the older anti-copying technology that applied to SD material.

If you are in the US, this is against FCC regs. Local broadcast channels carried in digital must be carried in clear QAM. I believe only the SD version is required to be in the clear, but if they don't carry the SD version, the HD must be in the clear. On TWC in Dallas, several other basic channels like WGN are also in the clear.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1072309

In this thread, someone suggests rather than going midevil on TWC, first try calling your local channel, ask for the network engineer, and let them know TWC is not carrying their channel in the clear. They frequently have contacts in the cable company, and have a desire to get their channel carried correctly so they have the largest possible number of viewers.

It was brought up before in the conversation and I just wanted to chime in. I set up my house which is three stories and needed a internet connection in every room with a TV for my DVR's.

I bought a lot (5) of used Actiontechs on ebay for like 30 or 40 dollars and used the b side of coax cable which was no longer used as the bridge for my XBMC server downstairs and 2 DVRs. One of my five routers didn't work and was happily replaced by my seller.

Its not the fastest compared to fiber (If I remember it clocked in just under my FIOS Speed, so faster the 10b but not 100b but I regularly watch movies downstairs over MoCa and have done so with the computer upstairs hammering away on a torrent. without so much as a hick up.

Some people give actiontech a bad rap mostly about it's NAT tables but I have 4 running & 1 in the closet as a backup with little trouble including using torrents and these routers can be programmed six different ways to sunday.

how to set up a Actiontech moca bridge:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1145636

If the Original poster or someone setting this up has any other questions, I'll be happy to answer.

This is not news. Many of us in the A/V community over at AVS Forums knew about this a very long time ago. This is why it is important to research a product before purchasing it.

I personally didn't notice it -- I was more bothered by the left/right coloration artifacts from the Dolby3D setup. :) This surprised me, as Dolby3D is generally thought to provide a better picture than its main competitor, RealD, at least from the conversations I've seen.

Most likely you watched Avatar 3D in either Dolby3D or RealD, both of which alternate images between the left and right eyes. This occurs at a rate of 144 FPS (so each eye sees 72 FPS) for both systems. It has been said that the 24- or 48-fps input signal can cause stuttering during fast horizontal pans, which may be what you were seeing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealD_Cinema
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_3D
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1085037

And that's the problem with this story - it's all theoretical until someone posts some before/after comparison shots.

The Comcast ones are pretty devistating: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271

Guess you don't have FioS in your area.

Verizon simply takes the content as they get it from the station, and forwards it onto their users.

Comcast on the other hand, compresses it more and then sends it down the wires.

here is the discussion about it

Ermmm.. ok.. lets pull apart some of your trollish stuff....

a) the PS3 DOES upscale DVDs and some other SD content VERY well... and it gets better... Arguably its one of the best upscalers around. I really dont know what you are talking about by saying its not as good.
http://www.avforums.com/forums/ps3/641470-ps3-dvd-upscaling-performance.html
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=852732
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1180189

b) the firmware which introduced DVD upscaling is now VERY old, and on a NORMAL ps3 would have been updated more than 2 years ago, either via the internet (newer firmware always required to access PSN), or updated via certain games/Blu Ray discs.

The plain fact is, most upscalers are now very good, and you woudl be very hard pressed to choose between them. The PS3 is VERY good, and is likely to get better, due to its powerfull processor.

And yes, Sony, although would love to sell more BD, they also sell DVDs and do promote the PS3 as a great DVD player.

Ermmm.. ok.. lets pull apart some of your trollish stuff....

a) the PS3 DOES upscale DVDs and some other SD content VERY well... and it gets better... Arguably its one of the best upscalers around. I really dont know what you are talking about by saying its not as good.
http://www.avforums.com/forums/ps3/641470-ps3-dvd-upscaling-performance.html
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=852732
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1180189

b) the firmware which introduced DVD upscaling is now VERY old, and on a NORMAL ps3 would have been updated more than 2 years ago, either via the internet (newer firmware always required to access PSN), or updated via certain games/Blu Ray discs.

The plain fact is, most upscalers are now very good, and you woudl be very hard pressed to choose between them. The PS3 is VERY good, and is likely to get better, due to its powerfull processor.

And yes, Sony, although would love to sell more BD, they also sell DVDs and do promote the PS3 as a great DVD player.

I'm all in favor of something that does the job better than HDMI. If you need closed captioning in the US, HDMI doesn't work for you. It omits the necessary data from the video source.

I'm all in favor of something that does the job better than HDMI. If you need closed captioning in the US, HDMI doesn't work for you. It omits the necessary data from the video source.

Precious? I thought most Blu-rays only used a third of the available bandwidth.

You thought wrong. Blu-Ray has a maximum read rate of 40 Mbps, and it already has so many "features" that suck-down the bandwidth that there's barely room for an HD movie (best to have at least 15-20 Mbps for the 1080p feature film).

A single loss-less audio track can use as little as 5 Mbit, and a much as 18 Mbit - you do the math if you add multiple language support. The PiP commentary and the regular audio commentary tracks also have to be accounted for, leaving you precious little headroom for a high-quality video track. Adding yet-another full-resolution video track to create the 3D effect will mean the players will require 2x speed minimum, and that breaks the standard.

That is, unless you want to sacrifice resolution for your fancy 3D features...or else throw-out the high-quality audio options. something has to be cut short to fit a video that big on a standard 40 Mbps stream.

luckily yours hasnt got the seven blinks of death yet! i got a 30 inch just like yours and its badass.... when it dies on you go here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=928945

You might want to have a look at these threads on the Samsung 7/8/9 series firmware over at AVS.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1134497&highlight=linux
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1047445&highlight=linux

You might want to have a look at these threads on the Samsung 7/8/9 series firmware over at AVS.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1134497&highlight=linux
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1047445&highlight=linux

My AppleTV, PS3, BlackBerry, DVD player and iPod will all play MPEG-4. None of them will play MKV. Can you give a few examples of popular hardware devices that'll play MKV?

Well, considering that all of those you list have a stake in closed architectures, I'm not too surprised. Neither Apple nor Sony has ever shown much interest in supporting open standards. Have you yet discovered that your PS3 also won't play all flavors of DivX/XviD even in the AVI container?

While some DVD players support DivX and often won't cough with XviD, the manufacturers did so to enable you to play the now-defunct DivX discs. I took back a Sony DVD player and replaced it with a Panny because the Sony had no DivX support and wouldn't play my XviD-encoded programs. Sony wants everyone to conform to the .mp4 container that they prefer.

In answer to your question, how about a COWON A3 for starters? It even supports 720p/H.264 Matroska files (I have a lot of those). Or maybe some of these devices?

If you buy products that are designed to close off your options, then you can't really complain when you find your choices are more limited. While it's possible to argue that hardware manufacturers have been slow to support Matroska because of its small market share, I think it's even more plausible that manufacturers prefer to support formats that give them more control. Not to mention that large manufacturers are much more comfortable dealing with something like the MPEG LA than with an open format like Matroska. They probably have a hard time getting their heads around supporting something that doesn't required licensing fees. (Like in the case of Linux, business types usually think "free" = "inferior".)

I'm claiming that I have the oldest operational car amplifiers until I find somebody who can best me. Two Kenwood power amps. Circa late 70's, early 80's. Model# KAC-7020 and KAC-8200 Details: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1111037 Enjoy.

Perhaps I'm killing them (except for the one DOA), however I'm not sure how I do that.

They are stationary, in a well ventilated space. No extreme temperatures or humidity. No pets, no kids. There are no known issues with the power company (no brown-/blackouts in over a decade).

So please tell me how I kill them. It would save me a trip to the post office every now and then.

It seems I'm not alone in this. Google is filled to the brim with people that are on their n'th replacement.

So maybe it isn't me. Maybe it isn't all the others that suffer high failure rates. Maybe, just maybe, it's that the design or build quality is poor. I think so, at least.

I have an old 360. I first played it in the summer when the Xmen game movie game first came out (rental). It was hot outside and the video started to have artifacts, like when a video card is over heating. Maybe their ventilation is just barely adequate in an AirCon room and degrades over time. Whatever the cause, I bought a $20 snap-on fan for the 360 and have never had another problem since. The stock fan was quiet and the snap on less so, but it beats a trip to the post office.

Perhaps I'm killing them (except for the one DOA), however I'm not sure how I do that.

They are stationary, in a well ventilated space. No extreme temperatures or humidity. No pets, no kids. There are no known issues with the power company (no brown-/blackouts in over a decade).

So please tell me how I kill them. It would save me a trip to the post office every now and then.

It seems I'm not alone in this. Google is filled to the brim with people that are on their n'th replacement.

So maybe it isn't me. Maybe it isn't all the others that suffer high failure rates. Maybe, just maybe, it's that the design or build quality is poor. I think so, at least.

Ummm, hate to replay to myself, but how is this offtopic? he said he couldn't use Avast because you can't turn off the update messages, I said it IS possible, but I didn't have the link handy. Well here it is, just as I said, and for those that can't bother to click on a link the correct answer is-Right-click the Avast icon in the tray and select Program Settings. Then select Update (Basic) and uncheck the sliding box notifications and select Silent. You can also enter the time in minutes between update checks. I use 1440 (24 hours). So there you go.

The best place to ask is here

Tivax makes a converter box which is only about $15 with a rebate card and has a serial port on the back. I got two of them with my coupons. You can control the unit through the serial port (turn on, change channel, zoom, etc). You don't get access to the digital signal, what you get is a good quality analog picture at standard resolution, which your analog PVR can record. For me this was what I wanted; the HD stream itself is a deluge of data; you really don't want to capture it at full-res if you'll be watching on an SDTV. (In fact my old PVR box isn't fast enough to replay full HD video streams, it requires considerable CPU). I am using wish scripts to send the serial commands. Perhaps somebody has written code for MythTV to use it by now.

That's assuming full bandwidth, same as the OTA broadcasts use. Almost all cable and satellite operators recompress the data to use much less bandwidth and squeeze more channels in.

With fast panning shots, it's *incredibly* easy to tell the difference between 30 and 60fps.

Even with fairly slow moving shots, I can tell the difference. Try the aforementioned comparisons at:
http://loot-ninja.com/2007/04/29/video-comparison-24fps-vs-60fps/ ...and even better depending on your PC configuration/codec ability:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1069482

If I only needed a computer for MS word 2003, and never used it for ANYTHING else, then yeah, it would be idiotic of me to get a faster CPU than I needed. Four points really:

1: I (and apparently others in this thread) really do notice the difference, and the judderiness can be a pain (especially for fast moving shots).

2: If others needed a faster computer for other things, then the majority would be holding the technology back for the fewer people (and for 'undreamt' purposes that faster CPUs could provide, which eventually the majority could take advantage of).

3: I know I said many people can't tell the difference, but I think it's more indifference that I would be irritated by. In fact, I believe most people may be able to tell the difference after all. Try the comparisons at this thread. Take a look - you may be surprised.

4: I said this earlier too, but again, part of my iritation stems from how they often show soaps and cookery progs at 50/60 fps, and yet movies fare off worse than these, being shot at only 24fps.

I totally agree. The linked video was useless as a comparison, because the video itself was running at 24fps. I did notice a difference on the bouncing ball (the 2nd ball is relevant, the first is just camera technique and you could make it look similarly blurry at 60fps if you wanted), but I could not see any difference in the ut2k4 side by side.

It wasn't the best video I could have posted, as it was small, and they used an inefficient codec (causing some jittering). The comparison on this thread is much, much better (thanks to Sigma 7 for the heads up). If you can't see the massive difference between the 30 and 60fps, then I would be very surprised: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1069482

There's a 24fps vs 60fps video too, which has an even more pronounced difference (partly due to the fact that 24 doesn't into 60fps very well causing different time lengths for each frame).

Nor should I have been able to according to scientific fact.

The 'fact' you're thinking of is possible referring to how humans only need 24fps to perceive something as moving video? That doesn't mean faster frame rates won't look much smoother and less annoying.

They have, to my knowledge, always been screened at 24fps or thereabouts and will always be broadcast at a similar rate. Any extra frame rate is just wasted.

Soaps, sports, documentaries and cooking programmes will often run at 50/60 fps.

Fair point. An earlier post mentioned this comparison which has both comparisons (25 and 30 with 60fps):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1069482

You're quite right that the 60fps version had a few glitches in it (thanks to bad video quality). It's surprisingly hard to get smooth and fast video on the PC for various reasons, unless you know what exact codecs to use.

An earlier post mentioned this comparison which is probably better:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1069482

With 24 FPS on a 60 Hz monitor, you render two frames every five monitor refreshes. Naturally, this won't be smooth since it generally means frames are displayed for either 2 or 3 frames depending on the cycle.

A better comparison would be 30 FPS and 60 FPS, or some other value that's exactly half of the monitor refresh rate. (Here's one: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1069482). While I notice at least some choppiness in 30FPS, it's tolerable. However, the 24FPS looks incredibly choppy.

Here's another useful site. It's a discussion forum, but it's filled with lots of RF engineers and hobbyists that are experts in the field.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1048951

Yes,it is nice to have HD,the problem is that the big companies will ruin it by compressing the hell out of it to squeeze in more channels. personally,seeing as how many artifacts end up in the overly compressed HD,I'd personally rather have uncompressed SD than HD,thank you very much. I'm just lucky I'm on a small cableco that is going to stick with SD until they are finished upgrading their network,which they figure will take around 2 years. New servers,lots of fiber being laid,and with each new piece my Internet connection gets a little faster and snappier. But if all the providers start compressing the hell out of the HD signals I don't see HD adoption taking off. Who in the hell would want HD if they compress it so bad it looks like a low bitrate .wmv? But as always this is my 02c,YMMV

> b) All digital TV being broadcast today is being broadcast on UHF.

Incorrect. Most is, but not all.

The DB8 is one of the better choices in UHF antennas.
Probably not much reason to try the very similar PR-8800 or 4228.
You might try the XG91 yagi.

If you need VHF-HI, try YA-1713 or Y10-7-13.

If the analog stations have a lot of snow, a preamp should help.
I'd try a Winegard or Channel Master. Avoid radio shack.

If the transmitters are nearby, it is possible you have too
much signal and the tuner is overloaded. Try a splitter
(with unused ports terminated) or an attenuator (about $2).

If the analogs have ghosts, that is multipath. Try moving the
antenna. The XG91 yagi might be better than the DB8 8-way,
or it might be worse. A good demodulator chip can compensate for
static multipath to some extent, so your digitals might be ok.
You want a 6th generation demodulator chip. I don't see the chip
listed on Hauppauge's web site.

Problems on analog other than snow and ghosts are usually
interference. Filtering out unused frequencies can help
(e.g. FM trap).

Digital suffers from the same problems as analog, but
you don't get the helpful clues like snow or ghosts.

} I suggest RG-59 (coax) as opposed to twisted pair.

I've never heard of twisted pair being used for an antenna
connection. Perhaps you mean twinlead. Twinlead has
slightly less loss than coax, but it has other problems
and coax is usually a better choice. You don't want RG-59,
you want RG-6, either quad shield or Belden's trishield.
RG-11 is better, if you are willing to deal with it.

If you need more help, there are experts at avsforum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=381623

Is the AV Science Forum. I gathered a lot of valuable information on that site while I was building my home theater earlier this year.

These folks http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=695922/ will be happy to tell you how awesome they can be and you'd be surprised how little they sell for these days since they lack the coolness of being able to be wall-mounted.

This is a rather unusual case involving a MAJOR case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing...

But in my case, as a deaf guy who depends on closed captioning or subtitles in movies, the "upgrade" to high resolutions screwed up one thing: Everyone forgot about closed captioning.

This thread does a much better job of explaining it than I ever could: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=699933

Bottom line: If I get a DVD that does not (for whatever reason) include subtitles, but instead only offers CC, then I must watch it in 480i in order to view the captioning.

I can't tell you how annoying it is to pop in a movie, see no subtitles, then fumble around with the PS3/TV settings until it works (and even then I end up watching the movie on my laptop because it's just easier that way).

It looks much better than Comcast cable.

You can pry my FIOS from my cold...dead fingers...

ABC/ESPN chose 720p because they claimed it handled live motion sequences like sporting events better than 1080i. NBC and CBS are both in 1080i, I believe. I think Fox is 720p as well.

I can't tell what the native resolutions are any more since my Motorola box from FiOS upscales everything to 1080i. Personally I'd rather let the scaler in my nice Sony HDTV handle this function rather than some crappy circuitry in a set-top box. Comcast, in contrast, used a Moto box that passed through the HD signals and let the TV handle them. OTOH, Comcast is well known for compressing HD content to fit additional channels into its infrastructure; FiOS claims that it does not further compress its retransmitted content. If you're interested in these matters, I recommend spending some time browsing AVS Forum.

The downside, though, is that they're not using the right compression scheme. Artifacts which I would not have noticed on DVD are readily apparent on BluRay disk. Either they need a better algorithm or a lot more bits.

It depends on the quality of the transfer. This is why there are lists like these.

AVForums and AVSForum are two completely different sites. And of course you will get a wide variety of levels of expertise. But if you take your time to weed through the chaff there is a lot of good information on AVS Forum.

I've got an AVR 4306 - this is my second Denon, having outgrown the "gazintas" and "gazoutas" of my previous one (which now does duty as my bedroom stereo)

I've been very VERY happy with it. I really like that this particular model upsamples all video inputs to HDMI, greatly simplifying my remote control macros and keeping the cabling from being such a tangle.

I don't think that the fact that they make a silly, overpriced cable for "golden ears" (or more likely for wannabe "golden ears") really shouldn't dissuade you from the whole company. Judge the product on features and how it sounds and how it treats your video. My guess is that you might get some decent advice, reviews, and alternatives from AVS Forum.