I am finding this in my AppleTV Log.
2019-01-15 09:06:09.039 [vd] v: Not trying to use hardware decoding: codec h264 is not on whitelist.
2019-01-15 09:06:09.041 [vd] v: Using software decoding.
I am using 2 EXTENDs so I would expect the transcoding to be done in hardware.
I have HARDWARE transcoding set on the the DVR server and am using a Mac mini 2011 Server (quad core i7).
This is normal. The h264 decoder on the Apple TV is not reliable so we don't use it.
So, Channels does not use it at all..Does this mean that the EXTEND is basically the same as the DUO as far as Channels is concerned?
What then does the HARDWARE setting in the DVR settings actually do?
You are confusing the hardware transcoding on the DVR/tuner with decoding on the client.
Your EXTEND transcoder is being used to convert the mpeg2 into h264. The h264 is sent to the Apple TV, which then decodes it using the CPU. The Apple TV has its own hardware decoder which we don't use.
Ok, what I have noticed however is that recordings are done in mpg format, not h264. Is this also as expected?
.mpg files can contain any video format, including mpeg2, h264 and hevc
You can run mediainfo on the file to see what's inside, or use the View Details in the episode dropdown on the DVR's web UI
Also the log you pasted above confirms that the recordings are in h264
Ok, cool. Thanks 