felixrosbergen
Senior Member
I have seen this R5000HD mod mentioned in several threads...can somebody point me in a direction where i can find more info on this?
What is the R500HD Mod
- Thread starter felixrosbergen
- Start date
IVB
Senior Member
http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/home.htm
It's a way to capture HD into your PC (ie, SageTV). But, it can't capture the mpeg-4 now being used by DirecTV on their new channels (ie, USA-HD0, so at this point it's only really viable if you have Dish.
Tons of threads on the SageTV forum about it.
It's a way to capture HD into your PC (ie, SageTV). But, it can't capture the mpeg-4 now being used by DirecTV on their new channels (ie, USA-HD0, so at this point it's only really viable if you have Dish.
Tons of threads on the SageTV forum about it.
Basically they install a device that pulls the stream from the decrpyted side of the box and allow access to that through a USB port installed in the back.
It's a 100% quality solution, what they transmit out goes directly to your HDD.
I am with Bruce though, hold off as those are hardware specific the new component encoders will work with Direct/Dish/Cable/DVD player almost whatever.
It's a 100% quality solution, what they transmit out goes directly to your HDD.
I am with Bruce though, hold off as those are hardware specific the new component encoders will work with Direct/Dish/Cable/DVD player almost whatever.
Please bear with me as I do not post here often, but I spend a whole lot of time reading the posts here.
I have yet to pull the trigger on an R5000 mod and I keep thinking about the alternatives. The R5000 mod is not an option for everyone/every content provider as the mod only works with some STBs thereby limiting your options. The mod is also expensive, $500 per unit.
That being said, the yet to arrive HD encoding solutions that are surfacing (Hauppauge HD encoding from component connection) are cheaper, $250 with lower street prices down the road given the history with other such devices. You would also have to include the cost for a device of some sort for channel changing, say a USB-UIRT, about $50.
But here is the kicker IMHO, there has been much discussions about the content producers/providers/distributors wishing to close the "analog hole" to protect their content. I have read that the providers would downgrade the contents quality when outputting through component while maintaining the full quality when outputting over HDMI. Obviously, this is not upon us now, but if I am going to spend $500 for two HD sources for my Sage system, this is in the back of my mind. If this is really only in the cards for BluRay and HD-DVD players, big deal. But it seems like Dish is already talking about this.
I also expect that the capture over component will not be as good as the capture of the stream that the R5000 offers (digital>analog>analog>digital compressed in MPEG4 versus digital stream in original format directly).
So, what is one to do ? I am really trying to have the conversation. I don't know the answer, but would love to hear your take collectively.
I have yet to pull the trigger on an R5000 mod and I keep thinking about the alternatives. The R5000 mod is not an option for everyone/every content provider as the mod only works with some STBs thereby limiting your options. The mod is also expensive, $500 per unit.
That being said, the yet to arrive HD encoding solutions that are surfacing (Hauppauge HD encoding from component connection) are cheaper, $250 with lower street prices down the road given the history with other such devices. You would also have to include the cost for a device of some sort for channel changing, say a USB-UIRT, about $50.
But here is the kicker IMHO, there has been much discussions about the content producers/providers/distributors wishing to close the "analog hole" to protect their content. I have read that the providers would downgrade the contents quality when outputting through component while maintaining the full quality when outputting over HDMI. Obviously, this is not upon us now, but if I am going to spend $500 for two HD sources for my Sage system, this is in the back of my mind. If this is really only in the cards for BluRay and HD-DVD players, big deal. But it seems like Dish is already talking about this.
I also expect that the capture over component will not be as good as the capture of the stream that the R5000 offers (digital>analog>analog>digital compressed in MPEG4 versus digital stream in original format directly).
So, what is one to do ? I am really trying to have the conversation. I don't know the answer, but would love to hear your take collectively.
upstatemike
Senior Member
Actually it is already upon us... not only with Blu-Ray but also some TV sets will only provide full resolution or offer up conconversion when you use the HDMI connector. This is what prompted me to question the value of component based HD capture cards i another thread. Seems like you need to stay in the HDMI realm to avoid the intentional downgrades.
IVB
Senior Member
Also take channel lineup into consideration. IIRC, Dish isn't offering the same breadth as DirecTV (USA-HD, SciFiHD, etc).
That lack of consistency makes it hard to do an apples-apples comparison, but from where I sit, i'd rather pay the $500 for recording 2 HD shows off D*, even if it's downgraded; i think they're only pushing down to 720p, so it's still HD-level.
That lack of consistency makes it hard to do an apples-apples comparison, but from where I sit, i'd rather pay the $500 for recording 2 HD shows off D*, even if it's downgraded; i think they're only pushing down to 720p, so it's still HD-level.
