Hava tuner with BTV

[TomXP411]

I saw the Hava at Fry's the other day - it's a Slingbox like device that does HD from component sources (meaning you can capture HD from your cable box...)

http://www.myhava.com/product_hava_platinum_hd.html

According to the specs, this provides a WDM tuner driver, but there's no word on how well it controls the cable box. Has anyone used this recently? I don't actually need the Hava's IR blaster; I already have a cable box; I just want to be able to use the component input as an HD capture device.

Any input you guys have would be great.

Thanks

[tscales]

Theoretically it should work. With their current discount code, it's about $130 shipped, so what the heck I ordered one.

We'll see.

[tmd720]

I have a first gen HAVA box (Wireless HD) and BTV recognizes and records from it. The stability and the video quality is really nice when it works right through wired network connection.

There are 2 things that need some attention.

The first is that HAVA driver doesn't respond to CBR video quality setting correctly. It usually ends up to some 1Mb/s quality which is pixelated. I get around the problem by setting the video quality to VBR, the driver will set itself to DVD quality which is pretty nice. Also, contrary to common sense, S-video input signal is better than component .

The second, if coax input is used, the channel tuning is not reliable at all. This may not be a problem for IR blaster channel tuning but I never tried.

[Octavean]

So do any of the Hava products actually output HD 720P or 1080i ? Is it really HD or sorta kinda fux HD?

[kandlg]

I found a post from the moderator on the Hava support forum:

"The hardware design of the current models absolutely, 100%, prevents them from delivering HD output format.

As far as the "HD" in the name of the product, I have to consider that creative marketing. You can connect the box to an HD source. The specs on the website are accurate if somewhat dense. Our main competitor, what's their names, Bling, Fling, I can't remember, also claim "HD compatible" on their higher end product and it is essentially the same story (so far)."

The full thread is here:
http://www.myhava.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1283

[Octavean]

I see.
Thank you for your candor. I think I’ll cancel my order. I’m sure it’s a great product nonetheless but I think I’d rather buy another Hauppauge HD PVR or another Silicondust HDHomerun.

[Khidr]

Just want to chime in on this, I had a Hava for a long time (still do, sitting on top of my dvd rack)... it's a truly neat device, but it's got a very specific purpose. When I was using it, I had no pc in my living room, one stb, and a computer in my bedroom I wanted to be able to watch tv on.

The Hava will do this, it will also let you access and control your stb from, well anywhere in the world. Once I built my htpc I quickly realized that true hd picture was more important to me than the flexibility the hava offers. Now I have the HD PVR and since BTV has BTV link (I was using VMC) I basically have a perfect solution.

The Hava is a great product, and it worked well with BTV, but it was a purchase I made in a pre-HD PVR world.

[lschroeder]

Originally Posted by tmd720

I have a first gen HAVA box (Wireless HD) and BTV recognizes and records from it. The stability and the video quality is really nice when it works right through wired network connection.

There are 2 things that need some attention.

The first is that HAVA driver doesn't respond to CBR video quality setting correctly. It usually ends up to some 1Mb/s quality which is pixelated. I get around the problem by setting the video quality to VBR, the driver will set itself to DVD quality which is pretty nice. Also, contrary to common sense, S-video input signal is better than component .

The second, if coax input is used, the channel tuning is not reliable at all. This may not be a problem for IR blaster channel tuning but I never tried.

I just received the HAVA Titanium HD WiFi. I am using Timmoore Firewire Channel changing for a Comcast STB, set to 3 digits with enter sent. Everything seems to be ok except for the video quality (has pixelation issue you described). I am using 4.9.0 build 6073 on my server and link machines. I am also using component (y form) in the BTZ wizard. Did you hook the HAVA up using S-video rather than component?

Where do you set the video quality to VBR to improve the quality?

[lschroeder]

Originally Posted by lschroeder

I just received the HAVA Titanium HD WiFi. I am using Timmoore Firewire Channel changing for a Comcast STB, set to 3 digits with enter sent. Everything seems to be ok except for the video quality (has pixelation issue you described). I am using 4.9.0 build 6073 on my server and link machines. I am also using component (y form) in the BTZ wizard. Did you hook the HAVA up using S-video rather than component?

Where do you set the video quality to VBR to improve the quality?

I found the place to change the quality to VBR. No need to use S-video.

I went looking in BTV web based Advanced Settings > Video Qualities. It had a button for Create New Qualities with a corresponding check box to make it VBR. I set the base to 8000 kb/s and peak to 9000 kb/s. I was roughly seeing figures in these ranges when using the HAVA player.
I then in the BTV player sat the MPEG-2 to this new setting and the pixelation disappeared.

It seems like everything is working now. My BTV, MCE, and HAVA players all seem to work with about the same quality video.

[lschroeder]

Originally Posted by tmd720

... Also, contrary to common sense, S-video input signal is better than component ...

Is this because in HD, HAVA component must convert the cable box's 720p or 1080i to 480i and HAVA S-video would send the signal directly as 480i.

Has anybody else tried both the component and S-video with their HAVA device?

I am using both HD and SD channels with the HAVA box. I use both BTV and the HAVA player locally and the HAVA player remotely. Component seems to work nicely but was wondering if S-Video might be better and work properly for both BTV and HAVA player.

Any comments about how using S-video input affects its use in BTV or with the HAVA player?