[mythtv-users] Verifying HD content with a HD-3000

[Byron Poland]

On 5/15/06, Joel Turner <jturner421 at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On May 15, 2006, at 8:09 PM, Byron Poland wrote:
>
> On 5/15/06, Joel Turner <jturner421 at aol.com> wrote:
>
> On May 15, 2006, at 5:24 PM, Byron Poland wrote:
>
>
> On 5/15/06, Joel Turner <jturner421 at aol.com> wrote:
> I am curious how one can verify that they have succesfully set up an
> HD-3000 for HDTV viewing. I currently have an SD setup with the
> primary
> card being a PVR350. I purchased the HD3000 several months back but
> never got around to setting it up. Last weekend, I succesfuly set
> it up
> according to the Wiki directions for QAM256. To set up my card I
> went to
> Zap-It, configured a digital cable lineup to use for the HD-3000,
> associated the card with it, created a channels.conf and imported it
> into Myth. I also changed the entries in the channel table for each
> entry (mplexid and serviceid) and zeroed out atscsrcid. It is
> currently
> the second tuner in my system. Coming from the wall I have split the
> cable with one feed to the HD-3000 and the other to my Cable box.
> I am
> using Charter in Madison, WI and was able to receive approximately 30
> channels unencrypted including all local channels on the HD-3000.
>
> Here is where I am confused if I'm actually capturing HDTV content.
> Charter supplies what they call HDTV capable boxes and have
> reserved an
> upper band of channels on their service for HDTV. For instance Fox
> is on
> channel 8 and channel 757. If I use the HD-3000 as the selected tuner
> and schedule it to record the show 24 on channel 8, am I capturing HD
> content as it's broadcast in HD? Is there a way to check the
> completed
> file for information that would confirm that I have? I'm planning on
> purchasing an LCD shortly and would love to be able to confirm that
> everything is set up properly.
>
> Thanks in advance for your responses.
>
> --Joel
>
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> While its recording you can check the system status (myth web or on
> the frontend, or watch the log file) to see if it is your HD3000 tuner
> recording or not.  additionally when its done, the size alone of HD
> vs. SD should tell you if its in HD.
>
> in my experience of a backend with both SD and HD tuners, with 6=SD
> and 601=HD,  I had to explicitly select it to record on 601 for it to
> record in HD.
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> Perhaps my example was  poor.  I've verified in upcoming recordings
> that it is using tuner 2 (HD3000).  I'm also assuming that the size
> of the recording will be about 6GB per hour if not greater.  As for
> the 6 vs 601 in your example, I have no idea what it's actually
> using.  Charter does not show station identifiers over QAM_256. When
> verifying channels with mplayer I know that it showed content from
> FOX.  I updated from my imported channel.conf the mplexid and
> serviceid to the FOX entry populated by mythfilldatabase when I set
> the zap-it line up to the card in myth-setup.  I assume the end
> result is that what I provided it with the proper settings for tuning
> with the HD3000 and so that it would also have the correct entries
> for grabbing schedule information from zap-it.
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>
>
> Perhaps I'm mis-understanding your question, but it sounds like you've
> verified that you have in fact recorded HD content, so does that mean
> your question becomes how do I verify that I recorded the correct HD
> channel?  I guess that is a trial and error, or look at the database
> and see that your channel id's match your channels.conf and match what
> they actually are ie... fox is at 267000000 3 1 and those numbers
> match your channels.conf.
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> I'm probably not explaining it properly.  I used the procedure in the Wiki
> for using QAM_256 to test for frequencies that were tunable.  One of the
> frequencies that I tuned into was obviously FOX.  I change the [0003] entry
> in my channels.conf to FOX.  I import into Myth as explained in the Wiki.  I
> populate the data which creates the proper entries into dtv_multiplex and
> channel table based on the zap2it lineup. I then do this:
>
>  Fixup
>
> In order to fix my channels now, I noted the mplexid and serviceid from each
> channel that had been imported and then removed them from the database. I
> then inserted those entries into the channel rows that mythfilldatabse
> created.
>
> I ran mythfilldatabase again just to be sure and found that everything was
> in order.
>
> So I should now have the proper tuning QAM_256 tuning information for FOX.
> What I really want to know at this point since I do not have an HDTV is
> there an alternative method based on file size or another program that can
> verify the bitrate and/or capture size?
>
>
>
> =
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>
>
You can run tcprobe (part of the transcoder app) on the file, also
mplayer and vlc and xine all probabably spit out information on it.
Another good this is a tovid, and I beileve it has an idvid script
which uses mplayer to dump all kinds of useful info about a video
file.

here's an example of idvid (from tovid) or a HD stream:
$ cd ..
byron at glide:~$ idvid
/myth/pretty/Grey\'s_Anatomy_-_2006-05-14\,_10-00_PM_-_17_Seconds.mpg
Generating dependency list file...
--------------------------------
idvid
Video identification script
Part of the tovid suite, version 0.26
with: core magick dvd vcd transcode
http://www.tovid.org
--------------------------------
Gathering video information. This may take several minutes,
so please be patient...
=========================================================
               File:
/myth/pretty/Grey's_Anatomy_-_2006-05-14,_10-00_PM_-_17_Seconds.mpg
              Width: 1280 pixels
             Height: 720 pixels
       Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
             Frames: 0
           Duration: 00:19:15 hours/mins/secs
          Framerate: 59.940 frames per second
       Video format: MPEG2
       Audio format: ac3
      Video bitrate: 38810400 bits per second
      Audio bitrate: 384000 bits per second
     Audio channels: 6 channels
Audio sampling rate: 48000 Hz
=========================================================
Audio is compliant with the following formats:
  384000 bps 48khz AC3 DVD (Dolby Digital)
Video is compliant with the following formats:
  Not compliant with (S)VCD or DVD
This video does not seem to be compliant with (S)VCD or DVD
standards. If you burn it to a video disc, it may not work.
=========================================================