Playing extracted TiVo mpegs on Gateway Connected DVD Player

[wkozun]

I just got a Gateway Connected DVD player. THis is a digital media receiver, like the Turtle Beach Audiotron, but it plays not only music files but can display JPEGs and MPEG1-2s with bitrates less than 3Mbps. I bought it primarily to play music and view photos but I would also like to use it to play MPEG files archived on my PC(s).

So far I have not had luck getting it to play TiVo (TyTools) extracted files although I have been able to play other MPEGs that I have. That is the case even when the bitrate is below 3 Mbps, at least I think the bitrate is below 3Mbps. I have never changed my bitrates and according to TiVoWeb my Medium Quality BitRate VBR is 2.4M and Max is 2.7M. I have also tried with basic quality which is lower and shouldn't come anywhere near the 3M barrier.

Does anyone have a suggestion on a program I can use to determine what bitrate my MPEG files are? With XP I can see what the bitrate of MP3s is using file properties, but this doesn't work for MPEGs.

Is there any way I can change the settings in TyTools (or TyStudio) to downconvert to 3M?

Any suggestions on what programs to use to downconvert from TiVo High or Best quality to a setting < 3M? I tried TMPEnc once upon a time but it won't let me encode MPEG-2s without a license. Any other similar programs?

[rrm64]

I have the GoVideo version of this and had the same problem with most extracted MPEGs. I went to the Streaming Media Server folder on my PC and modified the filters.cfg file by removing the line under [MPEG] completely. After that, all my files play perfectly!

I hear that it is the same software on the PC for both units. Give it a try and let me know if this solves it.

Randy

[wkozun]

I upped the limit to >5000000 and it looks like files that I played with in TMPGEnc are ok, but any files that are from my TiVo via TyTools with now editing don't work.

When I get a chance I will try with files extracted with TyStudio.

What do you use to extract video from your TiVo?

[rrm64]

I use TyTools. I usually extract as a .TY and then convert to mpeg.

Randy

[wkozun]

What program do you use to convert the TY file to mpeg?

[bdonalds]

What is the maximum bitrate mpeg you have gone up to without pixellization and dropouts on your Gateway? I have the 802.11g model, and get some nasty dropouts at higher bitrates.

My source is Tivo'd->TyTooled mpgs, and the highest bitrate I have is just over 10Mbps, I believe. (which leads to a tangent question...am I ever really getting any source from DirecTV at that bitrate? Seems unlikely...)

Anyway, I just got the Gateway last night, so I haven't done much troubleshooting yet....just wondering if any of you have gone through the exercise yet!

....I really wish the dang thing had a bit more of a robust interface. It would be nice to be able to view the quality of the wireless connection, so I could rule that out. I am close to me access point, so I don't think the netwrok is the problem, but I'm not sure.

Bryan

[wkozun]

What is the maximum bitrate mpeg you have gone up to without pixellization and dropouts on your Gateway? I have the 802.11g model, and get some nasty dropouts at higher bitrates.

I have only been able to get up to 5 Mbps without dropouts. I tried changing my TiVo bitrate settings to go up to about 5.6Mbps but that caused lots of dropouts. FYI-I have a wired network.

Sometimes I get dropouts after fast forwarding as it seems to take the Gateway a few seconds to catch up to the stream. Pausing seems to help it catch up, but that may just be a coincidence.

[bdonalds]

I have only been able to get up to 5 Mbps without dropouts. I tried changing my TiVo bitrate settings to go up to about 5.6Mbps but that caused lots of dropouts. FYI-I have a wired network.

Sometimes I get dropouts after fast forwarding as it seems to take the Gateway a few seconds to catch up to the stream. Pausing seems to help it catch up, but that may just be a coincidence.

That sucks....have you played with the transcoding option on the D5 server software? Has that helped any on the higher bitrate MPEGs? Have you tryed to convert any MPGs to a lower bitrate?

One other one....I noticed if you are watching a long MPEG, like a movie, the progress bar (the thingy at the bottom of the screen) gives you the first 20-25 minutes. It starts a new bar one once you get to the right boundary. The problem I saw was, you can use the >>| key to advance 10 minutes, but if you try to advance past the progress bar, it skips to the next MPEG file. That seems kind of crappy.

...I need to play with it more before I ask these questions, I know...

thanks,

Bryan