thanks mate,

Very happy to see you again TJ!

If just a firmware upgrade and we can record Astro, that would be great and I think ppl will definitely like it since we can record and watch later.
Really hope it's very user friendly and can just plug-in external HDD/USB will do
But don't know what format is that and whether Astro will charge extra ?

Thanks for the Pinnacle recommendation, will check it out soon!

Most probably will be .mpg, .mpeg .ts .tp and all sorts.

@18mbps bitrate.

From my korean sources, it's prolly the same just that their codec are less process hogger unlike Astro which I'm not mistaken is using H264 instead of MPEG2.

Astro use H264 at bitrate only 8-9mbps. That's half than MPEG2.

this is a Mac option. Lots more PC versions

Is it?
Quite low to be honest.
In Hongkong their bitrate still over 15mbps even in H264.

I wonder the quality.

DO you have Astro streamed video files?

http://hotfile.com/dl/33103480/b609910/Ast...pture_3.TS.html

Jurassic Park is in HD and 5.1. Interesting to see stuff that you've missed on the DVD version because of the lack of definition, including animatronic gaffes. Hopefully Spielberg would fix some of this including the inconsistent color values between the CGI scenes and non-CGI scenes.

The Lost World is also in HD and 5.1. Tried to sync it with my DTS DVD and it won't. This means that at least for this movie, the frame rate is 25.


fuad

This post has been edited by writesimply: May 9 2010, 12:16 PM

That is interesting, but can the Byond box process it properly due to high compression ratio?

Friends of mine also suggesting me to go Mac for multimedia purposes (eg, video, imaging, etc), but I'm worry about the learning curve since I only familiar with Microsoft OS
Hmmmmm, may be it's time to consider an entry level Mac machine setup .....

If you're talking about H.264, B.yond decoder can definitely handle MPEG-4. If it can't handle the decoding, then we won't be getting any HD channels.

B.yond also handles MPEG-2 otherwise we won't be able to view the SD channels. The decoder can also decode MPEG-2 HD if Astro transmits it.


fuad

any update on astro new channel for beyond?

Lol... you can't compare that way. Hongkong is using terrestrial broadcasting, unlike astro using satellite. Hence the bandwidth issue is even tighter for satellite broadcasters. If you want to compare with terrestrial broadcasting in malaysia, rtm did quite a good job too, around 14Mbps in h264 for olympics beijing 2008... just that the audio was the sucky mpeg layer 2 audio lol not dd.

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Added on May 9, 2010, 2:29 pmwow mind sharing us how did you record that stream? ... hrm so hbo is only 1280x720p ? :/ thought it was 1920x1080i


edit: ok... i found out from the previous threads.... 199usd for hdfury2... and another xxx usd for hd-pvr... but ure not recording the original bits...just the resampling of video... =/

This post has been edited by kaspersky-fan: May 9 2010, 02:46 PM

Refer to this thread:

Testing HD capture from Astro B.yond.


Testing video capture from the B.yond decoder HDMI output.

The setup goes from Astro Byond (HDMI)-> HDFury2 (Component + Optical out) -> HD-PVR -> Media Center

The LCD TV gets it's feed via HD-PVR component pass through.


The video capture details. Input source is 1280x720.

Click on the pics for larger pictar.

Things left to do:
1. Get DVBLink to work.
2. Get IR Blaster to work.
3. Setup EPG.

Test clip:
http://hotfile.com/dl/32892570/e27ac3f/Ast...apture.mp4.html

I wish i could have that for recording videos...

This post has been edited by Qash-M: May 9 2010, 02:47 PM

hrm, he should try recording 1080i lol.... since hd-pvr supports up to 1080i... would like to see how good will it be =D

I would have, if i had one of those...
That's other people recording...

its an expensive combination, 199 for hdfury2, 200++ for hd-pvr.... around 400++ (usd) for all....


can't afford it =/ ... will be patiently waiting for astro's recording firmware update ...

That's about RM650 for hdfury2 & HD-PVR... Should i buy DVD/HDD recoder instead?

Ahh I see. No wonder.

I have HK copies, too bad it can't run smoothly on my crappy rig.
Since it's 1080i AVC

But their quality is great nonetheless but less sharp than Korean's MPEG2 1080i IMHO. Just that sometimes, pixelation occurs on very fast/bright/tblinking scenes.


Trust me. Downloading transport streams is a pain in the butt. But am satisfied.

oh yeah, i love downloading them, then i get to analyze the quality... since its not resampled... but i dont dl dramas ahahahaha, i only go for music videos, smaller size but shorter length.... its okay, i love music videos a lot lol

when it comes to mpeg-2... can't expect much...18Mbps imho is not enough for fast scenes.... ever tried getting 40Mbps mpeg-2 720p live recordings? you'll melt! =D

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Added on May 9, 2010, 3:23 pmno.. u dont need to, astro's quality is not worth resampling again (for sd channels....)

i used to record from them, but i've stopped...ever since their quality has decreased tremendously (even audio streams they dont spare lol)

This post has been edited by kaspersky-fan: May 9 2010, 03:23 PM

No HD record lah if use B.yond...