Directivo, TivoNET, and ExtractStream

[son_of_mogh_worf@h...]

--- In ExtractStream@y..., gekea@y... wrote:
> so, doesn't it seem logical that if i were to capture this output 
and 
> apply a MPEG 4 codec...it would be better than what the standalone 
> tivo does? it is, by all accounts, applying a sub-par MPEG 
> codec to an analog input as well.

Possibly, but unlikely. The thing is that DirecTV spent a *LOT* of 
money (say, around $10K+) just obtaining an MPEG2 encoder. We know 
that the MPEG2 encoder contained within the SA TiVos don't cost $10k. 
The difference is the quality -- DirecTV's encoder are of higher 
quality that the SA TiVo's will ever be. MPEG2 compression is such 
that it's possible to select the quality of the compression by simply 
choosing a different codec, or bitrate. Yes, the quality is related to 
the prices, as well :).

And the thing is, these codecs are real-time codecs, so they must 
compress the video frame by the time another arrives.

At least your MPEG4 codec has the luxury of unlimited time to encode 
(more or less), so it's possible to do a higher quality encoding at 
lower cost than to do it in real-time.

OTOH, you get people like me, who plug in their SA TiVos, record on 
Medium quality, and can't tell the difference between it and actual 
cable (the signal is equally bad...).