New IceTV branded PVR

Started by Mantorok, July 17, 2013, 01:13:43 PM

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prl

Quote from: mcpaton on August 10, 2013, 11:29:52 AM
...
As mentioned previously, Ad Skip keys are a must as are recording multiple shows from the same transport stream at a time without chewing up actual tuners.
Which PVRs use two tuners when recording two different services from the same transport stream?

What would be good, though, would be to have padding respected on both shows when recording consecutive shows on the same service, so that the shows don't typically end up split across two recordings.
Peter
Beyonwiz T4 in-use
Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

csutak40

Quote from: prl on August 10, 2013, 04:26:48 PM

What would be good, though, would be to have padding respected on both shows when recording consecutive shows on the same service, so that the shows don't typically end up split across two recordings.

Wouldn't the best solution be to merge them?  That's how TED handles it and I'm quite happy with that arrangement.  Easy enough to split them afterwards, if I want to.  Unless you mean on a different channel, in which case I agree. :P
Cheers,
Judy
Last Update Dec 9 2020; Beyonwiz V2, T2,

lukem

Quote from: Mantorok on August 05, 2013, 01:25:52 PM
Here's a couple more features related to HDMI I'd like to have included:


  • Support for automatic audio syncing (to remove lip sync issues between AV Receiver and TV)
  • Support for Consumer Electronics Control (HDMI-CEC)

HDMI-CEC will be supported.

RoderickGI

Quote from: csutak40 on August 11, 2013, 07:37:19 AMWouldn't the best solution be to merge them?  That's how TED handles it and I'm quite happy with that arrangement.

I used to be pretty happy with that arrangement on my TEDS/Toppy installation as well. But now I get each program recorded separately each with its own padding, whether on the same channel or same stream using one tuner, or different channels (having four tuners is great). When I press play on one of the recordings it starts playing at the time the program was supposed to start, not at the beginning of the file. So I have a lot less hunting around to find the start of the program, and none at all if the program started on time.

I'm liking this new functionality.

prl

I haven't actually had a PVR that has the capability to put consecutive shows on the same service into two separate, properly padded, recordings, but I consider merging the timers as simply a fudge.

The main problem with having this capability is whether the I/O system can cope with recording double the nominal maximum number of recording streams.
Peter
Beyonwiz T4 in-use
Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

JPP

Quote from: Paul55 on August 08, 2013, 05:36:38 PM
Quote from: gibster on August 08, 2013, 04:24:43 PM
The only real problem with my current setup is there are too many times that 3 interesting shows are on at the same time, or overlap by a few minutes and you can only record 2 events.

With PVRs so (comparatively) cheap these days, why not just buy another one to supplement the 2400? Then if one fails, you still have a backup. I'm sure the 4 tuner model being discussed will be more expensive than the current twin tuners.
I have had two TRF Topfield 2400's set up with just this in mind and used to have one for recording ABC and SBS and the other for the commercials. In practise though I found it a real pain to have to switch from one to the other to play back recordings. There was/is a TAP that allowed you to view one through the other (one thing the Beyonwiz does well), but it was very buggy and would often freeze one or both of the units.

The 2400 is already capable of handing 4HD streams plus a playback, so it has the grunt as is. The programming logic to handle 4 simultaneous recordings is also already there. All it needs is another twin tuner module and we're there.

As far as having multimedia capabilities in a PVR, my vote would be against that. So far, I've not come across any PVR that will do both jobs well - PVR and Multimedia. I would much rather have a totally reliable and highly capable PVR in one box and have another for the Multimedia functions. Most modern TV's already have a lot of these functions built in these days anyway.

So, to sum up, I would like a TAPable PVR with the reliability of my trusty TRF 2400(s). Being able to program ICE from within the PVR is a must ala ICE's Humax.
Phil.
Beyonwiz T2, DVDO Duo Video Processor

Paul55

Quote from: JPP on August 16, 2013, 01:52:58 PM

As far as having multimedia capabilities in a PVR, my vote would be against that. So far, I've not come across any PVR that will do both jobs well - PVR and Multimedia. I would much rather have a totally reliable and highly capable PVR in one box and have another for the Multimedia functions. Most modern TV's already have a lot of these functions built in these days anyway.

Completely agree - don't try to build a swiss army knife when we need a scalpel. Beyonwiz and Topfield have both drawn flak because they over advertised the media player functionality and ended up disappointing some owners. The result is that time and resources were wasted on the multimedia capabilities at the expense of core PVR functionality.
Build a kick-ass PVR and don't promote it as anything else.

IanL-S

Quote from: Paul55 on August 16, 2013, 05:30:50 PM
Quote from: JPP on August 16, 2013, 01:52:58 PM

As far as having multimedia capabilities in a PVR, my vote would be against that. So far, I've not come across any PVR that will do both jobs well - PVR and Multimedia. I would much rather have a totally reliable and highly capable PVR in one box and have another for the Multimedia functions. Most modern TV's already have a lot of these functions built in these days anyway.

Completely agree - don't try to build a swiss army knife when we need a scalpel. Beyonwiz and Topfield have both drawn flak because they over advertised the media player functionality and ended up disappointing some owners. The result is that time and resources were wasted on the multimedia capabilities at the expense of core PVR functionality.
Build a kick-ass PVR and don't promote it as anything else.

Right On Phil and Paul.

I have a 2400 that deals with Nine, Seven and Community and a 7100+ that does Ten, ABC and SBS ....

The key thing is the recording process. Any media support should be limited to MPEG2 ts/ps and MPEG4 ts/ps so we can edit recordings and send them back and then play them.

Ian
Ian
IceTV: IceBox + BYOB IceBox + 2xTRF-2400 + 2xTF7100HDPVRtPlus + SKIPPA [RIP] + T2 + U4 + V2
No IceTV: a few Toppys and T2
Synology NAS
Check out the oztoppy wiki and oztoppy Forum for Toppy help

gibster

Quote from: JPP on August 16, 2013, 01:52:58 PM
The 2400 is already capable of handing 4HD streams plus a playback, so it has the grunt as is. The programming logic to handle 4 simultaneous recordings is also already there. All it needs is another twin tuner module and we're there.

As far as having multimedia capabilities in a PVR, my vote would be against that. So far, I've not come across any PVR that will do both jobs well - PVR and Multimedia. I would much rather have a totally reliable and highly capable PVR in one box and have another for the Multimedia functions. Most modern TV's already have a lot of these functions built in these days anyway.

So, to sum up, I would like a TAPable PVR with the reliability of my trusty TRF 2400(s). Being able to program ICE from within the PVR is a must ala ICE's Humax.

I agree 100%. Give me a reliable true quad tuner pvr that will work 100% with IceTV and I'll snap it up. I'm doing my recordings manually now using the guide info for my favorites off the IceTV site. IceTV and the TRF2400 wasn't reliable enough, and once I upgraded to Win7 64bit my TED/TEDS setup quit working, so have to set all timers by hand, merge and adjust padding etc. A pain, but I get my recordings.

Now the problem is new shows and new seasons are all starting at the same time and there is a couple of nights I need 4 tuners to get everything. Maybe I watch to much TV.. LOL

gib
BeyonWiz V2

Mantorok

There hasn't been much action in this topic for a while.  Can anyone from Ice give us any updates, an ETA or some teasers?

Heinz

Hi Icers!

We'll do a media centre without Blu-ray drive, based on feedback from The Forum and a focus group of existing customers. This also facilitates our clustering concept by removing some hurdles for media streaming.

Happy smart recording, Heinz

bodogbodog

Quote from: Heinz on October 18, 2013, 04:58:58 PM
We'll do a media centre without Blu-ray drive, based on feedback from The Forum and a focus group of existing customers

I think that's a good call - Blu Ray drives are 10 a penny and most media systems will already have one or two, and if network storage is supported then if people really want to move files to BR media they can do it on another device with BR recorder
Beyonwiz V2: 4 HDTV Tuners, 16gb SD + unRaid 10TB NAS + IceTV Skippa (for old times sake - make me an offer and it's yours!)
Beyonwiz V2: 2 HDTV Tuners - spare

Vortical

Just as long as it interacts properly with IceTV (especially late guide changes) and the pvr side of things works smoothly I'm sure Ice will be on to a winner.

I really hope it's not something that is not very responsive to remote control key presses as I have seen some new pvr's that are very slow to react especially when ad skipping and this can be a real painful experience.

Any extra features they add like the media player ect... I'm presonally not interested in but are a bonus and a selling point i guess, again if they are going to add features like this make sure it's a smooth pleasant experience as most other all-in-one devices tend to be absolute crap in this "media player" area

Paul55

I too am primarily interested in the PVR functionality. Making the device 'multi-purpose' is a risk IMO - devices tend to be judged by their weakest feature.
Whenever I recommend a PVR, I always advise people to think of it as a PVR that MAY have some useful media player use. i.e. Don't buy it for the media player functionality - get a dedicated media player for that.
Having said that, I approach the new Ice device (maybe call it the devICE  ::) - or is that too subtle?) with interest and an open mind.

holden

If you are going to have media player functionality why not incorporate like Plex and the multi platform support is a bonus