New user issues. DivX, SSX?

[jpm4104]

I am a new user of the 3.7.2 release, input is a plextor px-tv402u. When BTV is set to record in the divx format, (divx ssx?) the showsqueeze and smartskip options are grayed over in the playback settings menu. Why is this so? I have seen no threads about this topic, and and a search for SSX and disable options comes up empty. Is anyone familiar with these problems? Any tv402 users out there?

[pukka_parker]

Using the Divx format on the plextor means that you are already recording in a compressed format. This is why showsqueeze is greyed out. I guess that smartchapter can only process MPEG2...

Nigel

[jpm4104]

just found this in the blog:

Rakesh Says:

July 20th, 2005 at 11:32 am
3.7 doesn’t have HDTV support. As you found out Jean-Francois, there isn’t any software encode support for DivX (ie now ShowSqueezing to DivX) — you can only record and timeshift in DivX with Plextor boards.

I guess that sort of answers my problem. But I tooled around in webadmin and found that through that channel I could tell it to add smartskip and squeeze, but I haven't tried to see if that will actually work.

Anyone using the plextor who has recording or filesize or any tips, please put them out there.

NEWS TEAM... ASSEMBLE!!" ::blows conch shell::

[Kraidii]

I'm not new to beyondtv, but I'm happy they now support .. sort of .. the Plextor. The problems I am having seem to be similar. I cannot get the the file size for recorded shows to change regardless of the Video Quality settings. The files generated are quite large and I'm sure that the compression is minimal. I also have no clue to what the .ssx file type is. Media player seems to play it OK but all of my other players that play divx cannot. I cannot, therefore confirm the bitrate of recordings etc, since my tools will not recognize the file type. Fustrating!

[rmccormi]

I can't get media player to play my SSX (on a non-BTV machine)

My files sizes do change, but they are still too big. Recording properties said it should be aproximatly 340mb per hour with my custom DivX VBR setting. I have 1/3 hour simpsons (cartoon) recordings that are bigger than 1gb.

On the other hand, my SmartSkip works fine (and ShowSqueeze has been replaced by "Convert to AVI").

[BenH]

It does not take long to convert SSX to AVI . The SSX is so you can join a recording in progress from the begining . A avi does not have headers to tell what format the file is in until it is finallized . A ssx does not need headers so it can be streamed .

I wish they would support software encodeing divix . I edited to add this and take out a confusing line. Sorry for getting hopes up Rmccormi .

[rmccormi]

Originally Posted by BenH

I wish beta was not under NDA.

I'm a beta tester, but the betaprogram page currently just said that 3.7 is released and there are no current betas. When I saw your post I got all excited thinking that a new beta auto coverted to avi once the recording was complete, but alas, there is no beta (at least not for me).

SS: Please just make it just auto-covert to AVI as soon as the recording is done.

Others: Can this be done currently using post-processing or something? Also, is there anything that will allow my work PC to play the SSX files I have here today? If it is just missing a header, couldn't I run some program to re-create the header or something?

[dlandrum]

Originally Posted by rmccormi

... my custom DivX VBR setting ...

Check the Admin log. I bet you will see entries where the plextor fails to accept the custom settings, and BTV uses the default recording quality.

[rmccormi]

Humm, I will check that out. Why does SS have custom DiVX settings if the only cards they support are the Plextor cards which don't support custom resolutions? Anyway, my custom VBR setting definatly did something because it is the only one of the DiVX settings that for some reason shows regular TV in "letterbox format" on my non-widescreen TV. Only with my custom setting do I have 1/2" black bars on the top and bottom (though it doesn't look squished) and for some reason I kind of like how it looks that way.

[The Newest Newb]

My Plextor just arrived today but I think its going back. The whole point of this was to avoid having to use Autogk/Showsqueeze to convert the file. My Mega View 566 PMP(which is a certified DivX device) won't play ssx files. Why doesn't the Plextor have a straight-forward DivX output? Any suggestions short of file conversions?

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by The Newest Newb

My Plextor just arrived today but I think its going back. The whole point of this was to avoid having to use Autogk/Showsqueeze to convert the file. My Mega View 566 PMP(which is a certified DivX device) won't play ssx files. Why doesn't the Plextor have a straight-forward DivX output? Any suggestions short of file conversions?

I think that post #6 in this thread covered why. I would give the conversion to AVI a try before sending it back.

[The Newest Newb]

I'll try it, but what do I use for the conversion?

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by The Newest Newb

I'll try it, but what do I use for the conversion?

I believe that it is one of the showsqueeze options (it's been a while since I tried it). I have my plextor on a server with other devices right now so I don't see these options. I'll try to reconfigure tonight to see if I can remember how it works.

[The Newest Newb]

Thanks. I'll check it too, but I seem to remember it being greyed out when I changed over to the Plextor after removnig my BTV250.

[nanook105]

Here is what I found:

• Once I removed the non plextor device, the Divx/SSX recording settings became available.
• Even in this configuration, you can still only showsqueeze to WMV. There isn't a way to specify a showsqueeze to AVI
• After the recording is completed, if you look at the details in Recordings (in the FSI/Viewscape), there is an option to convert it to AVI.

I'll have to convert a couple to see how well they play in other players.