Mvision HD200 Combo

jackbauer

ah i see. To be honest that has happened to me with the technomate 6900!

snaps

ok thanks guys. ill inform him, he must have settings wrong as he can get all the other HD channels apart from the canal+ ones!

Zonda999

My mvision combo finally came today lads:D
A week after ordering which wasnt too bad and its been well worth the wait. I have'nt had a good fiddle with it yet but i thought i'd give my first impressions.I got the smae shock as tony when i took first opened it. Theres no mention of "combo" at all on the manual and exterior of the box, but sure enough, it said combo on the box so no nasty surprises.

I was amazed at how small it is. It seems well built too. The remote is very good also, gives a reassuring feel in the hand. It outputted automatically at 1080i to my 40" samsung 1080p once turned on. First thing i did was update the firmware to the latest 3.11. This wasnt too hard(For a noob) but you have to do it twice as fat-tony explained. I then did a terrestrial search and sure enough, it tuned in the 4 Irish channels via DTT from Spur Hill. Getting 90% signal quality and they didnt look to bad on the 1080p screen either, i have to say

I have'nt connected it up to my sky dish yet but i will do this in the next couple of days.I cant wait to see the HD channels, in all their glory

I am a bit disappointed at how slowly it changes between the channels, despite the newest firmware. The sound changes straight away but you have to wait a couple of seconds for video to be displayed. I'm sure this is quicker on the satellite channels, though

Another thing that annoying me is the lipsync delay between the tv and my sony HT system(Which is connected to the mvision via optical). This is no fault of the mvision but i would like to have seen some options to deal with this.I'll have to go through the samsungs manual to try and find something to delay the video but i guess its no big deal

Have'nt tried the pvr functions either yet. I have no dedicated drive for this yet but i am going to try it with my 80gb ipod.

fat-tony

Good to know you got it ok. I must say I didn't notice any particular delay in switching between channels over and above that from any other sat box.

If you're getting a delay in the sound through the optical connection you should check your amplifier delay. There's no way the sound should be behind the video. It's normally the other way around! The reason why there's an audio delay setting in the amplifier is to compensate for the video processing delay in the Plasma/LCD panel. If you feed the sound directly (say via HDMI) to the TV and don't use the amp, then the TV automatically delays the sound so that it's in sync with the picture - although you lose the Dolby 5.1 surround that way!

Zonda999

fat-tony wrote: »

Good to know you got it ok. I must say I didn't notice any particular delay in switching between channels over and above that from any other sat box.

If you're getting a delay in the sound through the optical connection you should check your amplifier delay. There's no way the sound should be behind the video. It's normally the other way around! The reason why there's an audio delay setting in the amplifier is to compensate for the video processing delay in the Plasma/LCD panel. If you feed the sound directly (say via HDMI) to the TV and don't use the amp, then the TV automatically delays the sound so that it's in sync with the picture - although you lose the Dolby 5.1 surround that way!

Right, i had a go with the pvr functions using a 2gb flash drive last night and all seems to be going smoothly. I set it recording a half hour program and it recorded perfectly to the flash drive. That half hour took up nearly 1gb though, so i'll have to get an external hard drive. Put the flash drive into the pc and windows does'nt recognise the recording at all. It simply labels it as a "file" and it didnt play using media player or anything. Still have'nt hooked up the satellite dish yet so i cant say anything on HD recording as of yet

@ Fat-tony, it looks as if my sony HT system has no adjustment for sound delay(from the optical in port that i'm using). It is only a home theatre system(This model btw) after all, not an actual amplifier so i guess i'm snookered. Using the tvs speakers for now

Back on the pvr function, does any one know if the mvision would work with a usb powered hard drive?? As in, it wouldnt limit power from the usb port?? One like this for example

jackbauer

cant comment on the mvision but my technomate 6900 works with a 80gb usb powered hdd no problem. same thing with the recorded files i use videoredo to make em into dvds.

STB

The reason it just comes up with "file" is because that type file extension is not associated with any application in windows.

F2 - rename file to .ts (thats all they are - transport streams)

Plenty of apps if you wanna convert to other format.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58794744&postcount=2

If you dont want to convert them and just be able to view them on your pc then use VLC.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

zanardi

There's 3.18 firmware here:

http://www.mvision.tv/descarga/serieHD/HD200C_0318.zip

Has a few bug fixes, might sort out the sync your problems. Changing to mpeg4 channels takes longer than the mpeg2 ones.

fat-tony

I'm using the 3.18 firmware also. Though I thought this was for more stable PVR operation, rather than any fix of the sound sync. I must say I hadn't noticed a sync problem particularly.

The structure of the files output from the Mvision seems to cause problems for most players. The only one I've had success with is KMplayer - you can google for it. This is quite a nice player - will play almost anything. The files from the Mvision have no file suffix - you can stick a ".mpg" or ".ts" on the end and associate this file type with KMplayer. The files don't seem to be in the standard mpeg transport stream (.TS) format used by other machines, which is why VLC won't play them.

Have you tried BBCHD or Luxe HD (or the occasional ITV HD) wth your USB stick? Mine wouldn't handle the bit rate (mustn't be USB-2 compliant).

I use a fairly old 120GB external IDE drive in a USB enclosure and it's fine for SD and HD recording. Mind you, my PC struggles badly with HD material. Am going to try with a higher spec. graphics card.

fat-tony

Zonda999 wrote: »

Back on the pvr function, does any one know if the mvision would work with a usb powered hard drive?? As in, it wouldnt limit power from the usb port?? One like this for example

Zonda - I'm using a powered USB caddy (it's a 3.5" IDE drive). I'm not sure if the mvision would be able to supply enough power on the USB cable to run a 2.5" drive like the one you've highlighted.
Did you use the little USB extension cable supplied with the box? Mine wouldn't work - then I discovered it had an internal short-circuit:eek:

Zonda999

jackbauer wrote: »

cant comment on the mvision but my technomate 6900 works with a 80gb usb powered hdd no problem. same thing with the recorded files i use videoredo to make em into dvds.

Thanks Jack. I might email mvision themselves about this

STB wrote: »

The reason it just comes up with "file" is because that type file extension is not associated with any application in windows.

F2 - rename file to .ts (thats all they are - transport streams)

Plenty of apps if you wanna convert to other format.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58794744&postcount=2

If you dont want to convert them and just be able to view them on your pc then use VLC.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Thanks STB, i'll give that a try

zanardi wrote: »

There's 3.18 firmware here:

http://www.mvision.tv/descarga/serieHD/HD200C_0318.zip

Has a few bug fixes, might sort out the sync your problems. Changing to mpeg4 channels takes longer than the mpeg2 ones.

Has this only just been released?? I downloaded 3.11 yesterday and i though that was the most recent then. Will update mine with 3.18 later

fat-tony wrote: »

I'm using the 3.18 firmware also. Though I thought this was for more stable PVR operation, rather than any fix of the sound sync. I must say I hadn't noticed a sync problem particularly.

The structure of the files output from the Mvision seems to cause problems for most players. The only one I've had success with is KMplayer - you can google for it. This is quite a nice player - will play almost anything. The files from the Mvision have no file suffix - you can stick a ".mpg" or ".ts" on the end and associate this file type with KMplayer. The files don't seem to be in the standard mpeg transport stream (.TS) format used by other machines, which is why VLC won't play them.

Have you tried BBCHD or Luxe HD (or the occasional ITV HD) wth your USB stick? Mine wouldn't handle the bit rate (mustn't be USB-2 compliant).

I use a fairly old 120GB external IDE drive in a USB enclosure and it's fine for SD and HD recording. Mind you, my PC struggles badly with HD material. Am going to try with a higher spec. graphics card.

fat-tony wrote: »

Zonda - I'm using a powered USB caddy (it's a 3.5" IDE drive). I'm not sure if the mvision would be able to supply enough power on the USB cable to run a 2.5" drive like the one you've highlighted.
Did you use the little USB extension cable supplied with the box? Mine wouldn't work - then I discovered it had an internal short-circuit:eek:

Am still to hook up the satellite dish to the mvision yet so i'm restricted to the terrestrial channels for now

I really do hope the mvision can power 2.5" HD. As i said above, i might email mvision and see what they say. I'm not into this but i though a usb 2.0 port was a usb 2.0 port at the end of the day

Will try KMplayer later too

Funny you should mention about the usb extension lead. I plugged mine into the back straight away and i though my usb port was f**ked. I plugged in the flash drive directly and it then worked. i then tried the extension cord with my pc and no joy either so i guess ours came from the same batch!

fat-tony

Obviously a bad batch of USB extenders - I cut mine up and binned it!
The issue with USB ports is the current draw on the 5V connector. It's obviously enough to power a USB stick or a mouse, but there may not be enough to power a disk drive. Some ports are ok - others not.

gtg60

Ok, here's an idea relating to the PVR hard drive storage and usage.

Suppose I have one of those NAS hard drive caddys and connect the Mvision direct via USB, then I connect it to my network, would all my PC's on the network be able to access the data on the hard drive and play it?

Do you see my idea? Wouldn't this be VERY useful?

In theory this should work, right? But what about files that are currently being written to? Again in theory this should also work.

Actually, couldn't I, for example, convert a DVD to a .TS file and store it on the hard drive and be able to play it on the Mvision??

Just thinking aloud now but wouln't that be interesting...

byte

Some of the USB/NAS drives I have looked at cannot be used as a USB drive and NAS simultaneously. Maybe there are some out there that can though, possibly at the upper end of the market.

gtg60

byte wrote: »

Some of the USB/NAS drives I have looked at cannot be used as a USB drive and NAS simultaneously. Maybe there are some out there that can though, possibly at the upper end of the market.

Thanks for the input, pity it mighn't work the way I wanted

Still think it would be a great feature if I could get it to work, more research methinks

kiki

Received my HD200 Combo unit at the weekend - and got it working. Took a while to figure out how to get output from 576p to 1080i (TV is 1080p). Whatched the wales game on BBCHD - WOW fantastic picure quality - Hadnt seen HD before and now very impressed. TUned in DTT - I live Co Louth, 5 km South of Dundalk - picture 100% on DTT- a big improvement on RTE1 over the analog signal I get from same aerial.

Couple of things I noticed or have questions on.

1. The Info on the Channel shows a signal for "HD" on RTE1,RTE2,TV3 and TG4 - but I dont think they are in HD - why is that ? The info also shows a "$" symbol normally used for encrypted signals - dont think it is encrypted ?

2. EPG works for DTT signals for whole week - on the Satellite Dishes, It shows on current and next programmes and then only fills in the blanks as you change to that chanel on the SAT. Where does this information come from ? Is it in the transmission data on one or more SAT channels or how does box get it ? Can the SAT list be updated via one SAT channel only ?

3. Changing channels on DTT seems slower than on the SAT - can take 1.5 seconds before picture appears on DTT - about .5 seconds on SAT.

4. HDMI cable - none was supplied with box - the price to buy these things is huge - Is this just the celtic tiger prices ? Why so much for a cable ?

5. had to switch output type from RGB (I think) to get HD in anythinks more than 576p - Should I use the output in 576p, 736p or 1080i (TV is Sharp 46" 1080P). Which is best let the box do upscaling or let the TV figure it out ?

gtg60

Firstly, I am still awaiting delivery of mine (should be here today, c'mon postie!)

kiki wrote: »

1. The Info on the Channel shows a signal for "HD" on RTE1,RTE2,TV3 and TG4 - but I dont think they are in HD - why is that ? The info also shows a "$" symbol normally used for encrypted signals - dont think it is encrypted ?

I would speculate that because the transmission is in MPEG4 (which is only used for HD on sat) then the box 'thinks' it is in HD

kiki wrote: »

2. EPG works for DTT signals for whole week - on the Satellite Dishes, It shows on current and next programmes and then only fills in the blanks as you change to that chanel on the SAT. Where does this information come from ? Is it in the transmission data on one or more SAT channels or how does box get it ? Can the SAT list be updated via one SAT channel only ?

This is pretty much normal, if you are used to Sky then this is a big change all right.

kiki wrote: »

3. Changing channels on DTT seems slower than on the SAT - can take 1.5 seconds before picture appears on DTT - about .5 seconds on SAT.
?

Apparently there is a non genuine firmware that is supposed to be faster at channels changes but I have no experience of it

kiki wrote: »

4. HDMI cable - none was supplied with box - the price to buy these things is huge - Is this just the celtic tiger prices ? Why so much for a cable ?
?

Which, the Mvision is expensive or the HDMI cable is?
Because just over 200 Euro for a combined DTT and FTA HD sat receiver ISN'T expensive IMHO

kiki wrote: »

5. had to switch output type from RGB (I think) to get HD in anythinks more than 576p - Should I use the output in 576p, 736p or 1080i (TV is Sharp 46" 1080P). Which is best let the box do upscaling or let the TV figure it out ?

Not 100% what you mean but you'll problably have to leave it in 1080i to allow you to watch the HD channels anyway.

kiki

Cable price for HDMI seem large - box price is good. cable was over 50 EUR !

The question re 1080i is based on idea that BBC HD is not 1080 as far as i know so why use 1080i when perhaps a slightly lower res setting in Progressive may allow for more information to TV per scan - then just allow the TV to upscale 720p to 1080 does this make sense or is my thinking off ?

Also I have found the files for firmware update - is there a programme to download it ? and where is that ?

Unooffical firmware - hmmmmm. extra feaures perhaps ? where and what ?

slegs

kiki wrote: »

Cable price for HDMI seem large - box price is good. cable was over 50 EUR !

The question re 1080i is based on idea that BBC HD is not 1080 as far as i know so why use 1080i when perhaps a slightly lower res setting in Progressive may allow for more information to TV per scan - then just allow the TV to upscale 720p to 1080 does this make sense or is my thinking off ?

Also I have found the files for firmware update - is there a programme to download it ? and where is that ?

Unooffical firmware - hmmmmm. extra feaures perhaps ? where and what ?

You got screwed on the HDMI cable. You can buy top quality HDMI cables on eBay for around 10eur

gtg60

kiki wrote: »

Cable price for HDMI seem large - box price is good. cable was over 50 EUR !

Argh, don't tell me you went somewhere like DID for it, you can get HDMI cables for less than a tenner in Argos, Powercity or the like.

kiki wrote: »

The question re 1080i is based on idea that BBC HD is not 1080 as far as i know so why use 1080i when perhaps a slightly lower res setting in Progressive may allow for more information to TV per scan - then just allow the TV to upscale 720p to 1080 does this make sense or is my thinking off ?

No, I see where you're coming from. First off BBC HD is in 1080i and you are best feeding this signal direct to your TV as 1080i and you are right, feeding your TV a 576 signal will probably result in your TV producing a better picture, is there an 'Auto' choice in Output resolution?

kiki wrote: »

Also I have found the files for firmware update - is there a programme to download it ? and where is that ?

Unooffical firmware - hmmmmm. extra feaures perhaps ? where and what ?

You just put it on a USB stick and follow on screen instructions.
Unofficial firmware usually includes something called a softcam and if you've only got your Mvision connected to a Sky dish then it's of no use anyway.
Just get the latest genuine firmware to enable PVR and stick with that until somebody else (me) tests the non genuine one to see if there's an improvement.

kiki

Argh, don't tell me you went somewhere like DID for it, you can get HDMI cables for less than a tenner in Argos, Powercity or the like.

Yes - got taken on the cable Bought in Maplin of all places - will be more careful in future. Thought they were reasonably priced so didnt check - wont make that mistake again.

is there an 'Auto' choice in Output resolution?

Will Check this out this evening.

You just put it on a USB stick and follow on screen instructions.
Unofficial firmware usually includes something called a softcam and if you've only got your Mvision connected to a Sky dish then it's of no use anyway.
Just get the latest genuine firmware to enable PVR and stick with that until somebody else (me) tests the non genuine one to see if there's an improvement.

have two dishes - on on 28E and the other on 13E with Diseq switch. Was hoping to watch TPS and other French channels on 13E as well as the BBC/ITV etc on 28E.

gtg60

kiki wrote: »

have two dishes - on on 28E and the other on 13E with Diseq switch. Was hoping to watch TPS and other French channels on 13E as well as the BBC/ITV etc on 28E.

Ooh, jealous now, looking to this in the near future, the non genuine firmware may indeed be of interest to you, I have a link for it somewhere, PM me if you need it.

jackbauer

Where are you guys purchasing them from?

gtg60

jackbauer wrote: »

Where are you guys purchasing them from?

Cheapest places I have already listed them on first page of this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58820440&postcount=4

watty

Do note the Satelllite and Cable stickies and Charters regarding Irish law, pay TV hacking and zero ability to discuss it on boards.ie

gtg60

My Mvision arrived in the post today will have a play around with it and report back later.

STB

gtg60 wrote: »

Ok, here's an idea relating to the PVR hard drive storage and usage.

Actually, couldn't I, for example, convert a DVD to a .TS file and store it on the hard drive and be able to play it on the Mvision??

Yes you can.

I am presuming the structure is the same for the Mvision, if not just do 1 to 2 and whatever for 3. I have a Clarketech HD 5000 and Technomate 6900. Normally recorded files are generated as - .idx .ifo and .trp.

Idx are index files. IFO's are info files. The trp's are MPEG2 transport stream files.

1. I used free Mpeg Streamclip to try and replicate the process from a DVD.

If you are trying to rip AVi's to TS then use the free Quickmedia converter.

2. You then have to process that .TS file through the free ClarkeTech Movie Converter - basically a ts to trp recognition tool.

3. Then throw the file into your "records" directory (check what folder normal recrded files are puts in on the Mvision). And play from the file button as usual.

gtg60

STB wrote: »

Idx are index files. IFO's are info files. The trp's are MPEG2 transport stream files.

Followed the instructions but don't have any .idx files, how did you create them?

gtg60

Is anybody using a Dragon CAM and a FTV card to get Channel 4 HD on this receiver?
I'm getting weird sound and picture dropouts with an occasional 'Signal Lost' message flashing up on the screen.

fat-tony

gtg60 wrote: »

Is anybody using a Dragon CAM and a FTV card to get Channel 4 HD on this receiver?
I'm getting weird sound and picture dropouts with an occasional 'Signal Lost' message flashing up on the screen.

I don't use a CAM, but I would recommend that you update the receiver firmware to at least the 3.11 spec (on the shop site) or 3.18 available if you google. This may resolve your issues.