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#1
02-24-2004, 11:43 AM
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Setting up BTV
OK I was installing a few systems this weekend and figured I would write down alot of the options I check, and/or adjust. Most are contained in many different places all over the boards and other locations. If any of these links become broken please post and I will correct and/or update them.
Note: These settings normally produce superb quality on ATI and PVR 250/150 combo and I would recomend a 1.8Ghz or above. Hopefully all the terminology is right, if not someone will be glad to correct me I am sure, or even add to this list. Before beginning you should defintially goto hauppauge's site if you haven't already and download their drivers, driver updates, and Intervideo NonCSS Decoders. Click on the product that applies to you, usually pvr250 or pvr150, make sure to do all 3 in order and follow their directions. You don't need to install their WinTV2000 app unless you want it for troubleshooting. Also Hurin has a step by step in this thread: Click Here _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ First if you have not already, run the setup wizard from the start menu to make sure you get picture and sound. If not then you need to troubleshoot that aspect. Check cable connection, sound etc... DISCLAIMER: This is mainly a list of the most common settings I adjust when setting up a system. This by NO means is suggesting that this is the only good setup out there. Typically I use this setup in conjunction with PVR-250/150 and ATI video card. Also note not all of these settings are done in all circumstances or have to be done together. Links used throughout this document: Hauppauge's Site PVR250/150 Drivers Step by Step Hauppauge Drivers PVR 250 Tips and Tricks Qualities by Cayars BTV Help Files Reg Hacks, Deinterlacing, Choppy Live TV problems etc.. Reg Hacks Deinterlacing Experimentation and user feedback. Snapstream Community site. Great articles on everything. ffdshow guide/How To with TT and/or Zoomplayer ffdshow homepage. Nvidia Decoders in BTV Desktop Icon: Desktop Icon for BTV is always useful, if you don't have one create one from the start -> All Programs menu, right click and choose create shortcut/send to desktop. The standard Icon will start BTV in its previous state, so if you exited the UI in window mode, it will start that way. If however you want to start in a particular mode all the time, use the below as a guide. Right click Icon -> choose properties -> Then add your desired tag from below after the quotes. Example for starting in FullScreen Mode. "Location of snapstream here\BTVD3DShell.exe" /displaymode:fs Other command line options: /displaymode:fs - Full Screen Interface /displaymode:windowed - Windowed Interface Online Docs for command lines: Click Link -> Click Beyond TV 3 Help "on left" -> Configuring BTV -> For Adv Users -> Command Line Calls. Can also be reached via your local help file: Start -> All Programs -> Snapstream Media -> Beyond TV 3. That's if its still located there from the default install. BTV Help Files Web Admin Since web admin has been masked from the start we need to enable it, if you desire to use it. The easiest way to do this is to open up internet explorer and type in "localhost" without the quotes into the address bar. This will bring up a screen that says "BTV redirector" Click on the link to take you to the web admin. If this doesn't work, type in the full address "localhost:8129/default.aspx" into the address bar. Next step is to enable web admin access from the system tray icon for BTV. While we are in webadmin goto Settings -> Adv Settings -> Misc Settings and enable Launch Web Admin from Tray. Note: Some have experienced problems getting to their web admin from outside the network, via the internet. If you are experiencing problems try this format: Code:
xx.xxx.xxx.xxx:pppp/default.aspx Recording Qualities: This post has great info on this subject and I find I like these settings. Things have changed in 3.5 and I made the adjustments to the settings below. Still doing some testing and really its all preference on what you prefer. Make sure to click on the pull down menu that says "Show more options". The included Best (DVD Ready) is very similar to the 3.25 one below, just a tad lower video bitrate and DVD Stream instead of program stream. I don't notice much difference between the two, so give it a try before you go doing all the below typing. You can also just up the video bitrate on the Best (DVD Ready) setting, to 7250, max is 20000 just FYI. You can add these qualities by going to: Web admin -> configure -> Adv Settings -> Qualities -> Create New Quality Name: 3.25GB/Hour DVD Standard Play Type: MPEG-2 Audio Frequency: 48000 Audio Bitrate: 224000 Frames per second: 29.970 Dimensions (pixels): Custom 720 x 480 Video Bitrate: 7250 Variable Bitrate Encoding Enable: Not Checked MPEG2 Stream Type: Program Stream Bidirectional (Interpolative) Frames Per Group: 2 Predictive Frames Per Group: 4 Click the "Create New Quality" again and enter: Name: 2.5GB/Hour DVD Long Play Type: MPEG-2 Audio Frequency: 48000 Audio Bitrate: 224000 Frames per second: 29.970 Dimensions (pixels): Custom 720 x 480 Video Bitrate: 5750 Variable Bitrate Encoding Enable: Not Checked MPEG2 Stream Type: Program Stream Bidirectional (Interpolative) Frames Per Group: 2 Predictive Frames Per Group: 4 Click the "Create New Quality" again and enter: Name: 1.8GB/Hour DVD Extra Long Play Type: MPEG-2 Audio Frequency: 48000 Audio Bitrate: 224000 Frames per second: 29.970 Dimensions (pixels): Custom 720 x 480 Video Bitrate: 4125 Variable Bitrate Encoding Enable: Not Checked MPEG2 Stream Type: Program Stream Bidirectional (Interpolative) Frames Per Group: 2 Predictive Frames Per Group: 4 Sharpness Adjustment: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Globespan \ Parameters \ ivac15 \ Driver \ SharpnessValue Or just do a search in the registry for SharpnessValue this should be the first one in the list. Max setting is 7 from what I hear. Worth adjusting to see if it helps. May not be available on the PVR150 MPEG Decoder: Note: you must have installed the decoder from Hauppauge's site: hcwsmd04.exe Web Admin -> Configure -> Adv Settings -> Player Settings -> Under preferred MPEG-2 Decoder choose Intervideo NonCSS Third party decoder article. I typically recomend TheaterTek2.0 for our systems, they use the new Nvidia decoders and they are very nice. To be able to use these 3rd party decoders you will either have to have TT2.0 installed or purchase the Decoders from Nvidia for $20. Here is how to get them working as well. First goto the directory C:\ Documents and Settings \ All Users \ Application Data \ SnapStream \ Beyond TV\ ensure you can see hidden files and folders or you won't get here. Next open the file CustomSettings.xml by right clicking and choosing open with notepad. If you want make a backup of this file before proceeding. Just under the 3rd line which should read <Type>Decoder</Type> cut and copy the following: <Item> <PropertyCollection> <Property> <Name>Guid</Name> <Value>71E4616A-DB5E-452B-8CA5-71D9CC7805E9</Value> </Property> <Property> <Name>Filter Name</Name> <Value>NVIDIA Video Decoder</Value> </Property> <Property> <Name>DMO</Name> <Value>FALSE</Value> </Property> </PropertyCollection> </Item> Make sure it meshes well with the rest of the document, IE the formatting. Next go into web admin or BTV playback settings and choose this as the new decoder. If you have any problems or want more information here are links to two threads on this matter, there are many more, and a quick search will produce them. HTPCNews Post BTV Forums Post Startup: I like to change it to so only the taskbar icon loads at startup since most of my customers will load into BTV from an interface like MyHTPC Web Admin -> Settings -> Adv Settings -> Misc Settings Change Default Beyond TV Interface to Start Beyond TV in Background. Recording Preferences: Web Admin -> Settings -> Recording Preferences I change the Default Quality to 3.25GB/Hour setting. If you have shows that you don't want this high of a quality, then you can edit them individually via: Web Admin -> Setup Recordings -> Then click edit on whichever show you wish to edit the settings for. Time Shifting: Since we are using a much higher default recording quality, we should change the time shifting buffer. The default is 512 which is only about 9 minutes at the 3.25GB/Hour setting. I usually change to 1536 (512x3) I just like round multiples like that, its right at 30 minutes too. Web Admin -> Settings -> Adv Settings -> Time shifting Buffer Deinterlacing and such: Here is a great site for Hauppauge Tips and Tricks "Click on 250 Tips and Tricks on the left from the link above" Found in this thread, which has Great Info. Another good thread with lots of experimentation by the users. To gain access to your registry: Click start -> run -> type "regedit" and press enter. When you find the value that pertains to you. Right click, Edit, and then enter a 1. It will fill in all the other info. Quote:
On BOBWEAVE Setting 0 - Auto 1 - On 2 - Off I have had good results from just changing the Dxva and Hwmc settings and not adding the BOBWEAVE. I would say try them all and see if it makes a difference. If it Does NOT then change them back. I also go into BTV -> Settings -> General Settings and choose Hardware for the Deinterlace Mode. ffdshow ffdshow setup is quite simple, you can follow the guide here but that is mainly for setting ffdshow up with TheaterTek or Zoomplayer for post processing on DVD's. All you really need to do is download ffdshow and install and click the next button alot. I used the version dated 1 May 04 that was available at that time; however, with snapstream I believe any should work. Keep in mind as of now ffdshow doesn't "Officialy" support, or is not currently working with mpeg2 so you are NOT supposed to be able to apply ffdshow post processing to LiveTV or other Mpeg2 recorded streams. If you showsqueeze to WMV or DivX then you will be able to use ffdshow on those images to really create some superb PQ. -Download ffdshow and install. -Open up the ffdshow configuration screen. -Check the OSD box, this is just a display so you know ffdshow is working, turn off when done testing. -Go into the codec area and ensure the following codecs you wish to support are checked. Raw Video - DVD's DivX - Showsqueezed stuff to DivX XVid - Another compression like DivX used in progs like Gordian Knot. WMV - Showsqueezed stuff to WMV MPEG2 - Straight recording off the Hauppauge card and LiveTV at least it should be but in ffdshow it says "broken" IE this isn't working hopefully future versions will support it. -I won't go into every setting in ffdshow as that would be a whole other beast. HTPC News has a great guide I linked above and it talks about alot of the settings. If not AVS Forums are a great resource along with the ffdshow FAQ thread. One tip however, I prefer to resize the image to the desktop resolution Work around for ffdshow with LiveTV Basically you follow the above setup method for BTV, what I had to do, to get ffdshow working is the following. Enable "Raw Video" in the codec list in ffdshow, its last at the bottom of the list, change it to "all supported" Then in BTV itself goto settings -> player settings -> Video renderer and ensure it says "overlay" and not "3D accelerated" 3D accelerated gives you the pretty see through menu's while overlay does not; however, with overlay you get ffdshow working. It's also a good idea to turn on the OSD in ffdshow so you know when it is on, at least for the testing phase. Versions of ffdshow this has worked with: 20040828 20040520 sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow AVS Forum FAQ on ffdshow, LONG read but good for anyone getting into ffdshow. Search: Choppy, Live, Picture, Quality, Fuzzy, Ticker, Nvidia, Decoders, TheaterTek, TT, 2.0
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Chris McDeed Monster HTPC Setting up BTV Last edited by MonsterHTPC; 01-04-2005 at 02:51 PM. |
#2
02-24-2004, 03:18 PM
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Excellent suggestions.
Although some of the characters did not copy and paste correctly in the thread. And did you not mention the PVR250 Reg Hacks? Registry hacking always fun, -Brett
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A Sample of My Beyond Media Projects: Game Library: Browse and play your ROMS, Arcade Games, and PC Games within BM! MSN Messenger for BM: Add MSN Messenger to BM. Includes MSN notifications over any module, and a chat client! PIN Plugin for BM: Add PIN protection to any module in BM, including the settings! BTV Recorded Shows: Brings the BTV Recording Library into BM with full show details. |
#3
02-24-2004, 04:28 PM
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