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[jmone]

Updated 10 Feb 2017: Review of OPR-NH100P HDMI Encoder
I've received my HDMI Video Encoders and had a bit of a play.  What it does:
- HDMI Capture from any source (even ignores HDCP so you can capture from STB etc)
- Has a Web interface for configuration and puts a link to the Video Stream on your network
- Provides access via to the video over a HTTP, HLS, FLV, or RTSP stream so no drivers to load etc
- Auto changes the Frame Rate of it's output to match that it is receiving
- Adjustable Bitrate for h.264 and h.265(HEVC) Video up to 32,000kbps
- Support a 2nd Stream (eg you could have a 2nd low res one for phone etc)
- Supports 23.976/25/30/50/50 fps in up to 1920x1080 and the frame rate output = the input!
- Supports AAC, AAC+, AAC++ or MP3 for audio encoding but it is only 2ch (note: it has to be feed with decoded Audio, no bitstreams like DD/DTS etc).


Streaming Options: Once you have configured your desired Video and Audio options, you have a range of web links that these streams are then transmitted using, including:
- The HTTP and FLV links play without issue in MC using using "File --> Open URL --> http://192.168.1.100/0.ts" or ".../0.flv" respectively using the "JRiver URL Reader".  They work out of the box, are solid, don't drop out and the Audio Sync is perfect.
- The RTSP link is problematic in MC ("File --> Open URL --> rtsp://192.168.1.100/0" uses the "JRiver RTSP Reader") but either stalls on playback or it tends to drop out after a while, but if you buffer the file to the disk first then play in MC it is fine (See below). 
- The HLS link (http://192.168.1.168/0.m3u8) just does not work for me either in MC or ffmpeg so I don't know what is going on there.

Final Thoughts and Notes: 
- Overall, it kind of feels like the approach HDHomeRun have done with the TV Tuners by grabbing the video source and making it available on the NW to client devices.
- They seem to use the same chipsets from IP Camera (mine is a hi3516a) so they tend to be reliable but only support 2ch Audio.
- The Video Quality looks pretty good but is softer than the original
- I was getting some instability using 32Mbps on HEVC (the box would reboot after a few minutes) but it was fine on 24Mbps (I could not see the quality difference) and will probably run it lower again.
- It tends to work best if you are watching a single video source.  Switching inputs, frame rates, resolutions does may mean you have to stop/start the playback in MC.

These HDMI encoders in a box are certainly getting better but from MC's POV I think it would be good to have TV Style Features such as:
- Simpler way to import, tag, etc in MC these streams (under the TV Section???)
- Ability to buffer the stream to disk and is played from there (eg to TS/JTV) instead of live (solves issues with stream stability causing playback to stop).
- Ability to keep a recording

==================================
Psudeo Buffering / Recording Integration with MC:  Here is a little workaround to if you want to record these streams (including RTPS) to a file for later playback in MC:
1) Download FFMPEG and unzip to a folder of your choice
2) Create a "Name_of_Your_Choice.bat" file in the same directory as FFMPEG and add/update the following to the BAT file for both the stream name and where you want the file to be saved to

Code: [Select]

set livefilename="\\MAIN\Media\Downloads\Live %date:~-4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2% %time:~0,2%-%time:~3,2%-%time:~6,2%.ts"
start ffmpeg -i http://192.168.1.100/0.ts -acodec copy -vcodec copy %livefilename%
timeout /t 10
C:\Windows\System32\MC22.exe /Play %livefilename%
timeout /t 10
C:\Windows\System32\MC22.exe /Import %livefilename%3) Import the "Name_of_Your_Choice.bat" into MC and change the Media Type to "Video", and any other tags you want (you can create multiple batch files for multiple streams)

When you now Play "Name_of_Your_Choice.bat", MC will
- Kick off the recording of the Stream to your HDD
- Wait 10sec then start playing the stream
- Wait another 10sec then import the stream into your library
** Important ** to stop the recording of the stream you will need to manually close the Cmd Box that has FFMPEG running in it.

[jmone]

FYI - Here is my Graph Info

Code: [Select]

Filter Graph Info:

    Filter 'JRiver Audio Renderer'
        CLSID: {A4002F8E-510F-442C-8AD3-F9C7B23FB394}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'In'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_IEEE_FLOAT, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'madVR'
        CLSID: {E1A8B82A-32CE-4B0D-BE0D-AA68C772E423}
        Host: C:\Users\natha\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 22\Plugins\madvr\madvr.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'LAV Video Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2

    Filter 'LAV Video Decoder (auto-configured)'
        CLSID: {EE30215D-164F-4A92-A4EB-9D4C13390F9F}
        Host: C:\Users\natha\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 22\Plugins\lav\LAVVideo.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_H264, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'madVR'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2

    Filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
        CLSID: {E8E73B6B-4CB3-44A4-BE99-4F7BCB96E491}
        Host: C:\Users\natha\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 22\Plugins\lav\LAVAudio.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type Unknown GUID Name: {53544441-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'In' of filter 'JRiver Audio Renderer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_IEEE_FLOAT, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
        CLSID: {A4207487-E7D8-406B-9882-B66370DE2492}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Video' of filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_H264, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'LAV Video Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_H264, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO

    Filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
        CLSID: {A4207487-E7D8-406B-9882-B66370DE2492}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Audio' of filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type Unknown GUID Name: {53544441-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type Unknown GUID Name: {53544441-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
        CLSID: {171252A0-8820-4AFE-9DF8-5C92B2D66B04}
        Host: c:\program files (x86)\lav filters\x86\lavsplitter.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver URL Reader'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Stream  Sub type TIME_FORMAT_NONE, Format type TIME_FORMAT_NONE
        Output Pin 'Video'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_H264, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Audio'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type Unknown GUID Name: {53544441-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'JRiver URL Reader'
        CLSID: {8C60ABF3-CA3C-40E4-8767-7A894CA6EDF1}
        Host:
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Stream  Sub type TIME_FORMAT_NONE, Format type TIME_FORMAT_NONE

[jmone]

I found a "cheat" to record the RTSP stream from (and it also proves buffering to the RTSP stream to disk is a good idea).  If I do a "convert format" on the RTSP entry then MC will push the stream to the disk and you can then play the recorded file recording indefinitely without it dropping out....  but MC will delete the file when you "cancel" the conversion unless you are playing the file at the same time (in which case it will not be deleted).  Any way this cheat is not so good as you are re-encoding the RTSP steam with in itself is an encode of the HDMI steam, that was decoded by the STB!

[imugli]

I'd love to see a way to integrate rtsp or http streams in MCs TV functionality as channels, so we can use guide data, watch and schedule recordings, while not actually using up a tuner, or even just integrate web tv streams into the TV functionality.

There are a number of guides on YT on how to set up a RPi as a TV signal streamer, and I'm sure it would be even easier with a couple of quad tuner cards in a single PC, but the ease of playback on end devices is somewhat lacking (as you've discovered, it's rather "manual" and disconnected from the whole TV experience).

I'm not sure how the logistics for this would work, but I envision you would need to add the channels manually with their stream URLs (or perhaps import from some sort of list e.g CSV) as opposed to doing a channel scan, then run an xml guide as I'm not sure that OTA guide data would be available via HTTP.

Being able to (in effect) tune to a http / rtsp stream would be the bees knees IMO.

[jmone]

Yup.  In this case we have a Network Capture Device that presents an Video/Audio stream that MC can already see and play, so that "hard bit" is done.  It seems logical to be able add them to the "TV Devices" section as you then get the ability to not only "play" the stream but also:
- Play (with a buffer)
- Record
- Schedule
- etc

Given this thing just eats whatever HDMI Stream it is given, the trick is to then change the channel on the HDMI source (STB etc) so you can then record in MC the correct channel.  MC already supports using IR Blasters to control 3rd Party HW using "Remote Relay" (under the Tools --> Options --> Remote Control).  What would be needed is to link a "Virtual" Channel to a set of IR Codes so that MC could make sure the STB is ON, and change it to the correct Channel prior to watching or recording.  This info could be stored as a part of the Channel Info when adding the device/chanels in MC's TV Setup much like the tuning freq is now.

Anyway, for now I'd be happy to be able to handle the watching and recording of the RTSP stream better.

[jmone]

Just ordered this model for myself (AliExpress) for about US$300 - http://www.oupree.com/1-Channel-H.265-HDMI-Encoder.html  It will take a few weeks to get to Oz however as it is Chinese New Year now.

This ones has a wider range for encoding rates (up to 32Mbps), and options for H264 and H265 / AAC, AAC+, AAC++, and MP3 plus supports RTMP / HTTP / RTSP / UDP / HLS Stream Protocols and ONVIF streams.

[jmone]

OK - Playing some more, this really is a good little box for HDMI Capture.  To can confirm the following reliably captures and plays the stream:
1) Use FFMPEG to capture stream to a file : ffmpeg -i rtsp://192.168.1.167:554/main -acodec copy -vcodec copy test.ts
2) Play the file in MC

FFMPEG handles any missed packets and errors (where MC would just stop playing, or stop the video playback).  Errors reported are from FFMPEG are like:

Code: [Select]

[rtsp @ 00000000058d8000] PES packet size mismatch
[rtsp @ 00000000058d8000] max delay reached. need to consume packet=10780.9kbits/s
RTP: missed 3 packets
During playback of the file in MC you will may hear or see the dropped packets but the Audio and Video stays in sync.

I've tried a bunch of ways over the years to capture HDMI video into MC but this is the best so far.  The biggest downside of this box is that you get 2ch Audio only.

Given MC already uses FFMPEG then all the components are inplace for MC to reliably support these devices.

[jmone]

FYI - Updated the OP with my latest thoughts and a simple Batch File for MC to open, record and import these streams.

[RoderickGI]

The biggest downside of this box is that you get 2ch Audio only.

That is a pretty huge downside though, for some of us.

Good work otherwise, but I am wondering how long such a device will exist, given it bypasses HDCP.

[jmone]

I agree on the 5.1.  I've given this model back and the one I ordered won't arrive for some weeks so I'll see what it does as it seems to support higher bit rates and a wider range of Audio Codecs.  On the HDCP side, China has been making $20 HDMI Splitters for years that strip HDCP.  I bought one from Amazon in the US (and I think they are still for sale).

On Balance, this is the best box I've played with for capturing HDMI so far, lets see what the next one can do...

[jmone]

...another thought on the 5.1 is that I'm using from the HDMI 2 Out port of my AVR.  I could always feed the MCPCM Audio from my AVR back into the PC... however, no idea how to sync it up

[jmone]

Got the new box, had a play and updated the OP with the details.  This newer box has stream options that just work with MC (uses the "JRiver URL Reader" instead of the "JRiver RTSP Reader".  Nice and stable.  Pretty good quality Video, just missing 5.1 Audio.

[astromo]

jmone, fantastic effort.

You've demonstrated what I knew was possible. Nice to know there are options out there for those who get tv out of a magic box.

Agree that 5.1 audio is a no-brainer default in today's world. I see from the OEM website that the firmware is upgradable. Maybe one for the future? You might be able to nudge the OEM with a bit of focused feedback.

[jmone]

I've been in discussion with the MFR and while it can not do 5.1 encoding, I've asked if it is possible that it can do "passthrough" of the audio bitstream.... and they said they will check with their engineers and get back.  Maybe.

[jmone]

Here are some example 10 sec clips captured from my AVR using a STB as the source.  The Original Broadcast was in 1080/50i but it was grabbed from the AVR which deinterlaced it to 1080/50p.  Both were captured to file using ffmpeg to a TS container.
- h.264/AVC (24Mbps) and 320 MP3 - edit - dead link
- h.265/HEVC (24Mbps) and 128 AAC - edit - dead link