Why use anything other than mpg?

[presto]

I record all my shows in mpg. I created "qualites" that allow me to burn directly to DVD.

My question is what advantage is there to using anything besides mpg? My hour long shows are about 1 GB and the quality is indistinguishable from TV (I don't have a big screen or HD, just regular cable TV). If I want to save shows I can put 4 hours on a DVD.

My hard drive is 120GB and I currently have about 40hrs of record time left.

My system has 2GHz and 2G of ram. In the past I tried setting BTV to convert from mpg to divx but I got a lot of failures.

Now I hear about divx improvements and people talking about streaming divx. Should I experiment with using divx? What benefits should I expect? What do you use streaming divx for?

BTV has so many options I'm just trying to save some trial and error time by asking for other peoples experiences. Thanks

[kramsauer]

If you compress something down to a low enough bitrate such that your internet connection can upload it in real time, you can watch TV in a browser directed to your home computer.

[Khris]

I compress everything to DIVX with a quality setting comparable to MPEG yet savess a lot of space.

[Terminal]

I think the only advantage is in disk space savings. Some people save shows I do not. Once I watch it I usually delete it. Also the conversion takes a good deal of CPU, and my system is really not powerful enough to do that and record with my three tuners and watch a recording. So for me there is really no advantage, as I have plenty of disk space, and there is a slight disadvantage in that the conversion slows my system down.

[presto]

These are just the responses I was looking for. Thanks. Khris, could you tell me what divx settings you use? Do you record to one format and then convert to divx or do you record in divx?

[presto]

If you compress something down to a low enough bitrate such that your internet connection can upload it in real time, you can watch TV in a browser directed to your home computer.

So do you mean you can watch your recorded shows from a completely different locations, like work, or someone elses home?

What settings do you use for that? Do you watch them via snapstream.net?

[kramsauer]

Originally Posted by presto

So do you mean you can watch your recorded shows from a completely different locations, like work, or someone elses home?

What settings do you use for that? Do you watch them via snapstream.net?

That's exactly what I mean. You watch them through your web interface (if you're at your home computer, go to http://localhost:8129), or you can download them to another computer. In either case, I suppose you could use MPEG, but the files are so big you'd need the worlds best internet access or be willing to wait a long time. Or, you could use Orb.com to do the same thing.
The settings really depend on your network. I use one of the DIVX handheld profiles (high, I think).

[bits]

Originally Posted by kramsauer

That's exactly what I mean. You watch them through your web interface (if you're at your home computer, go to http://localhost:8129), or you can download them to another computer. In either case, I suppose you could use MPEG, but the files are so big you'd need the worlds best internet access or be willing to wait a long time. Or, you could use Orb.com to do the same thing.
The settings really depend on your network. I use one of the DIVX handheld profiles (high, I think).

If you have several computers on your home network you can watch recorded video on any of them regardless where the video file is stored on your network. Just map to the drive they are stored on and then double click on the video file of interest. The computer you are watching the video on just needs video playing software that plays that particular file type. Window media player for example will play most video formats although I personally prefer VLC. So, there is no need to reduce file size or change file type.

IMO the most efficient route to take is to record in mpeg2 at a setting that provides acceptable PQ, cut the commercials (reduces file size by 25-33%) watch and then delete. Also, HDDs are cheap and external USB drives work well.

When you go down the road of recording in mpeg2 and then converting to DivX or Nero Digital or wmv ect....then you have to be willing to accept the fact that your PC will spend lots of time encoding. I think it is even more important in this scenario to cut the commercials before re-encoding because you will spend lots of time re-encoding worthless material...25-33% of everything you re-encode is stuff you will not even watch...in fact it is stuff you will have to fast forward through!

[GeorgeH]

presto ---

I guess you record SDTV. HDTV is about 9GB/hr regardless.

I am not a fan of post processing TV. The labor of post processing SDTV/HDTV makes purchasing DVDs and transfering them to hard drives more cost effective.

[kramsauer]

Originally Posted by bits

If you have several computers on your home network you can watch recorded video on any of them regardless where the video file is stored on your network.

Of course. I was referring to across-the-internet viewing.

[kramsauer]

Originally Posted by GeorgeH

I am not a fan of post processing TV. The labor of post processing SDTV/HDTV makes purchasing DVDs and transfering them to hard drives more cost effective.

I suppose you could call it labor, but your computer is doing it for you automatically.

[bits]

Originally Posted by kramsauer

Of course. I was referring to across-the-internet viewing.

Why would you use across internet viewing when viewing on a computer on your own network?

[hoglander]

http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/show...138#post236138

Originally Posted by presto

So do you mean you can watch your recorded shows from a completely different locations, like work, or someone elses home?

What settings do you use for that? Do you watch them via snapstream.net?

[hoglander]

I use to use DivX. I just plain like the quality of full Mpeg better. I keep half the shows I watch. To manage disk space the best setting in BTV is the "Max Number of Shows" setting. I set many shows to a max of one. That way they just get rid of themselves. The shows I keep do add up but I'll just use that as an excuse to buy another drive when the time comes. Drives are getting bigger and cheaper all the time.

[bits]

Originally Posted by hoglander

I use to use DivX. I just plain like the quality of full Mpeg better. I keep half the shows I watch. To manage disk space the best setting in BTV is the "Max Number of Shows" setting. I set many shows to a max of one. That way they just get rid of themselves. The shows I keep do add up but I'll just use that as an excuse to buy another drive when the time comes. Drives are getting bigger and cheaper all the time.

Same here. I have been trying to justify using DivX for years and in the end the loss of PQ and the effort involved just did not and still does not make sense for my needs.

If you are going to view your files on a hand held device then that is a different story. I have no plans to ever purchase a PVP so....DivX'ing is not needed.

I think it is cool to take a video and re-encode it to some other format...just the thought of being able to do that is enticing, BUT in the end it is in fact a waste of time and effort especially given that HDD space is so very cheap and there really is not much video worth keeping for an extended period of time.