NextPVR Forums

dear Frank Z,

I hope you can offer some help, i have been trying everything to get my setup working - i think i have aready and tried all your posts and Wiki's, not sure what am i missing?.

I have a H4 MVP (via UTP), using the latest versions of GBPVR and Zprocess.
Router is a wrt54gs (running dd-wrt, but test all sorts of other firmware.)
Laptop is a winXP (all updated SP's), 1Gb ram, p4 M 2.4Ghz. tested via 54g wifi and 100mb wired.

I cannot initiate a transcoding via the MVP. It works fine when i test everything via the zproccess2.exe interface and also if i execute the runtranscode.cmd file.

The error after a failed request from the MVP seems very similar in all cases, i have attached some log for you to see. "Transcoder died early.."

Some of the other tests - with the same error:

I have tried both the trans2mvp.exe install and the .reg type install
I have played with the pre-start delay times and pushed to max
I have tried mplayer rc1 and 3,
ffmpeg (stock version and your suggest version),
i have also tried VLC.
excutting "RunTranscode.cmd" on the PC and the transcodeing fires off and runs perfectly - producing a correct output file.
Moved and renamed files to 8.3 standard (file and directory)

Any thoughts i what else i can try?
S.

Must be a hard problem, No replies at all. Not even any suggestions?!

An update:

I have now (hopefully) ruled out the laptop/PC side setup. I had a 2nd clean install (OEM) HP lappie from work. Loaded up BPPVR and then all the Zprocess stuff as per instrutions. Exactly the same problem.

I now hope/think it is a MVP issue.

I am using the WirelessMVP H4 model (although i am using it wired).

Does anyone else have Zproces working with a H4 wMVP?

Thanks,
S.

the.tangoman Wrote:Must be a hard problem, No replies at all. Not even any suggestions?!

An update:

I have now (hopefully) ruled out the laptop/PC side setup. I had a 2nd clean install (OEM) HP lappie from work. Loaded up BPPVR and then all the Zprocess stuff as per instrutions. Exactly the same problem.

I now hope/think it is a MVP issue.

I am using the WirelessMVP H3 model (although i am using it wired).

Does anyone else have Zproces working with a H3 wMVP?

Thanks,
S.

It's not a hard problem. It's difficult to explain. I'm still trying to figure out5 what to have you do next...

What I did notice is that you haven't sent me the complete ZProcess.log. Nor the ZERITECHRegSettings.txt file. If you wouln't mind.

Also, I do have a day job. I can't always get back to people as quick as other times... Have patience

Opi is having a similar problem to this, from this thread...
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post268310

I have a couple of things for both of you to do, while I finish my day of work and have a hard look.

Yes, ZProcess does things a bit different lately, in recent versions. It reads a log file generated by the transcoder, and discerns the fps and percentage complete...

I have noticed that this technique has made the default version of FFmpeg that comes with GB-PVR obsolete. Two versions of ffmpeg that I know work for me are linked on the wiki. I would create a different folder for the ffmpeg, like 'FFmpeg_rev12665'...

I think that both of you are using MEncoder, and you're having troubles, so I would like you to download the FFmpg, and change the settings in ZProcess over to FFmpeg.

Tangoman, download the test videos from my wiki page too, and test them...

Then when you are finished testing I'd like you both to send me all the logs again,. The ZProcess2.log will show the versions of the programs you are using. That's why You shouldn't be cutting them up...

IN the mean time, I'll think some more.

I've been thinking about this all day, and I've decided to write a couple of posts regarding installation. I'll probably be putting this on the wiki. If I talk about things that you already know, I apologize. I just don't want to miss anything...

[SIZE="4"]Without ZProcess...[/SIZE]
When ZProcess is not installed, GB-PVR calls FFmpeg.exe directly. It is installed by default in the [Program Files]\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\ffmpeg folder. The file size of the version that with GB-PVR is 6477312

(Many of the files have version numbers, but are not easily attained. I use file size for comparison)

Inside the config.xml there will be a few lines of interest:



With this configuration, when you try to play a non-mpg video with your MVP, GB-PVR will call ffmpeg and use the defaults stored in the above strings.

Of course wide screen videos will not play correctly on a 4x3 TV and everyone will be tall and skinny....

• But a key thing to check is, does GB-PVR play the videos straight through?
  
  
• When you click the 'blue' key on the remote and see the status bar, is the end time increasing faster than the current position?
  

If your computer cannot play a video straight through, you shouldn't bother with ZProcess yet. ZProcess can improve your processing, and in some cases may speed up the transcode, but if your computer is struggling now, find out why.

Maybe you have a very powerful computer, but your have many programs running at the same time. Maybe there is just one program that is cranking on your Hard Drive and CPU, and your computer can't breathe... Whatever the reason, you have to find out at this point before proceeding...

[SIZE="4"]ZProcess - using default version of FFmpeg...[/SIZE]

ZProcess and ZTranscode can still use the default versioni of ffmpeg that comes with GB-PVR. I've just started using a couple of altrenate versions that I find are better, faster, and can do dvr-ms files.

And it spits out a current frame rate that ZProcess can read and display. So for troubleshooting purposes I would prefer you to use an alternate version of FFmpeg. I will discuss that in the next post...

The ZProcess is set to use exactly the same default settings that one would find in the config.xml for use with the default ffmpeg. All except for the output dimensions.

ZProcess has set the defaults for output dimensions of 640x480 (NTSC) and 640x576 (PAL). The actual original defaults are 352x240 and 352x288 respectively. These lower specs are much easier on a processor, but the quality is not as good.

If you are having trouble getting ZProcess to work, try changing the output dimensions to the smaller rectangles...

[SIZE="4"]ZProcess - Alternate FFmpeg...[/SIZE]

Last year, someone gave me a version of ffmpeg that would do dvr-ms files. That version is still available on the wiki.
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...eg-alt.zip

Just recently, I discovered a version of ffmpeg that I like very much. It seems to also handle dvr-ms files very well, but also transcodes a variety of file formats. And I have found some files transcoding much much faster than the original...

http://tirnanog.fate.jp/mirror/ffmpeg/ff...ev12665.7z

I strongly suggest that you download the latter of the two versions. But do not bother overwriting the default version of ffmpeg. I would create a brand new folder to hold the alternate version of ffmpeg.

I use: C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\Third Party\FFmpeg_rev12665

(International users can use their native folder convetion ('c:\programme...')

To tell ZProcess to start using the newer version of ffmpeg, open the config settings and click Paths, and then double click on the ffmpeg path. Locate and OK the new file...

The alternate version of FFmpeg has a file size of 7945216

Of course to be sure that ZProcess is always using FFMPeg, you must change the preferred transcoder in the config, from MEncoder (the default) to FFmpeg...

[SIZE="4"]Testing with ZProcess and the Alt FFmpeg...[/SIZE]

Assuming that your are with me still, you got through a succesful on-the-fly transcode with the defaults with GB-PVR using ffmpeg, and with the picture being squished...

And you have downloaded the alternate ffmpeg, and told ZProcess to use it.

Let's manually transcode something. I have several test videos that I'd like to use for this walkthrough.

http://www.epgtools.com/Zehd/16-9%20Pattern-tests.zip

In the zip are two transcoded mpgs, that you can check to be sure your MVP can play, and one test wmv file.

Run ZTranscode and double click on the Input File text box and load the 16x9 pattern.wmv file... The file information should show that it is a 16x9 video...

(There is one thing that is assumed here. You have Mencoder already installed. We will discuss using it later, but for now, it's sister, mplayer is used to get the file information of the wmv, so if you don't have it installed, your better back up and get that done)

Click the start and pay attention to the percentage and the framerate...

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

As discussed previously, the framerate MUST be faster than the video playback framerate. In fact it really should be A LOT faster than the playback framerate. NTSC usually plays back at 23.97 or 29.97 Frame Per Second, while PAL usually has a fps of 25...

But just a couple frames faster, just ain't gonna cut it. Make sure that it is at least around 45 give or take.

A way to see what the framerate would be under load would be to start Viewing the file while it's being transcoded. (You'll notice how it slows down a bit when you view the file)

[SIZE="4"]Troubleshooting[/SIZE]

OK, so now if it is working OK, we can take a moment and get familiarized with some log files that I might need if things don't work so well later...

The main one is usually ZProcess2.log found in your 'mvp_cache' folder which was created in your GB-PVR Recordings directory. Actually there's a dated folder that contains the files. The cache will last only as long as set in the config (later)

There will also be a fps log that is associated with the file you just transcoded. This can give you a clear idea of when the file started having trouble...(if the fps starts out fast and then slowly decelerates, you have a problem you have to look for...)

In the Application directory, the folder containing ZProcess and ZTranscode, you will find ZERITECH-Regsettings.txt, transcode.log, GetDimensions.bat, dimensions.info, and RunTranscode.cmd. All of these files can be used to help understand what problems you may be having and provide clues.

It's a lot to zip together. Try not to edit any of the files.

Now, once we have ZTranscode manually transcoding a file, we can try using ZProcess. In a way it's the same operation. Open the program, load a show, and click start. ZProcess should call ZTranscode, and you should see a flashing green icon in the system tray. (That's ZTranscode working away)


Now let's take a look at the logs. In the ZProcess2log, look for something that reads like this...

(That's 1.42 seconds from first starting ZProcess, to the first frames of video being generated. BTW, this is where I spent an awful lot of time, to get it faster and faster. I finally realized that the real bottle neck was the transcoder itself (ffmpeg or mencoder) that takes a majority of the time before first frames...)

You can use this to help decide how much PrePlay Delay you need with GB-PVR. By Default, a 5.5 second delay should give ZProcess/ZTranscode/FFmpeg enough time to start transcoding and build up enough of a lead, before the MVP starts displaying video... But sometimes it's not. If your 'seconds to first frames' is much more than mine (1.5 secs) than increase your preplay to about 7500 milliseconds...

It's at this point, if ZProcess doesn't create enough video in time, that the MVP would crash. (It might play the sorry video if you have that installed)

[SIZE="4"]Trying out MEncoder[/SIZE]

If you like FFmpeg, then you might just wanna stay with it. But Mencoder can help with subtitles, picture quality adjustment, sound normalization, and for many file formats, is much faster.

(Actaully, ZProcess will auto switch between the two transcoders for some file formats. Eg: Even if you have the preferred transcoder set to MEncoder, if you want to see a dvr-ms, it auto switches to FFmpeg... Currently mp4 is the same)

The version that I have been using very successfully is RC2.

http://www3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/release...1.0rc1.zip

I have it saved to a folder 'C:\Program Files\MPlayer-1.0rc2' and I pointed ZProcess to that non default folder...

Some people have reported trouble using rc2. I don't know why. I'm starting to suspect that there are processor specific versions of MEncoder out there. I'm developing on a AMD Sempron, but the same build runs for me on two other Pentiums... Go figure.

RC2 file size is 12246016.

You could try RC1. It's file size is 9544704

When you have ZProcess pointed to MEncoder's path and set the preffered transcoder to MEncoder, we can try another batch of tests...

By using the defaults, you should be able to manually transcode the file. You can compare notes and see the framerate that MEncoder achieves.

I hope that your computer will be able to run with MEncoder. I do like it better than ffmpeg. I like the subtitle and colour correction support. Pehaps that will be built into ffmpeg soon enough