newbie difficulties and feeling overwhelmed-hauppauge 1600

[joemess]

hello, i'm grateful for this forum and hope it's just a matter of more looking and digging before i find the info i need. i'm trying gb-pvr for ota hd broadcasts with an antenna. i'm also trying wintv, sage tv, beyond tv (haven't been able to get watchhdtv to work at all). all programs work to some degree. wintv doesn't seem to allow editing of hd content with their supplied nanompeg editor or whatever. want to record shows and either convert them to xvid or dvd depending on how much i like them.

some of my issues w/gb-pvr are as follows:
1. audio stuttering in playback. tried ox 9.0b quartz.dll, no help. believe i have tried all the available video and audio decoders for mpeg2 playback. using vmr9 video renderer. think i have also tried all the bda multiplexer options available to me. using BDA recording plugin.


2. zap2it won't let me in, epg doesn't get updated, i guess they aren't accepting new users, or at least not activating their accounts for epg? without this all recordings will be manual more or less i guess? would this be a limitation with mythtv if i decide to put the hauppauge 1600 in an older machine to make it a linux box, no current free epg for the usa?

3. is there a way to autoconvert mpeg recording to avi or dvd-compatible mpeg2?

4. many of the built-in plugins don't show up as options when i start gb-pvr (ie. dvd, net radio, you tube). are these not actually in the current version yet? just curious.

5. will i be able to get the hauppauge 1600's remote to work with gb-pvr w/ota hd or does it only work with a cable box/satellite? it comes with the ir cable that attaches to the card so it seems like it should be able to work?

thanks for any help or links for this stumbling clueless person.
take care,
joe


system specs:
gb-pvr 1.08 no additional plug-ins installed
xp prof sp2 directx 9.0c .net 2.0
core2 duo 1.8
1 gb ram
hauppauge 1600
ati x1650 vidcard w/current drivers
onboard realtek audio

[sub]

some of my issues w/gb-pvr are as follows:
1. audio stuttering in playback. tried ox 9.0b quartz.dll, no help. believe i have tried all the available video and audio decoders for mpeg2 playback. using vmr9 video renderer. think i have also tried all the bda multiplexer options available to me. using BDA recording plugin.

These types of problems can be caused by lots of things, so can be difficult to resolve.

Reproduce the problem, then zip and attach your logs so I can see the decoders that are being used.

2. zap2it won't let me in, epg doesn't get updated, i guess they aren't accepting new users, or at least not activating their accounts for epg? without this all recordings will be manual more or less i guess?

To be honest, I dont know if zap2it have stopping accepting new accounts or not. Does it let you create on at http://labs.zap2it.com? I would have imagined that would tell you one way or another.

There will be several alternatives before zap2it goes away. There is already several xmltv grabbers on this forum that can be used to get listings from various sources. There will also be relatively cheap pay-for-listings options offered by a non-for-profit company made up or representives from several free software companies.

would this be a limitation with mythtv if i decide to put the hauppauge 1600 in an older machine to make it a linux box, no current free epg for the usa?

Mythtv also uses zap2it for listings in US/Canada, so would be in the same boat. (I'm also not sure the 1600 is supported in linux drivers yet)

3. is there a way to autoconvert mpeg recording to avi or dvd-compatible mpeg2?

Yes, there are options for converting files in the config app.

4. many of the built-in plugins don't show up as options when i start gb-pvr (ie. dvd, net radio, you tube). are these not actually in the current version yet? just curious.

GB-PVR has just undergone an total rewrite of the user interface, and some of the lower priority screens havnt been reimplemented yet. You can always use the old GBPVR.exe interface if you need these features.

From the list you mention above, dvd is in the current release though. Do you not get a DVD button on the main menu?

[joemess]

These types of problems can be caused by lots of things, so can be difficult to resolve.

Reproduce the problem, then zip and attach your logs so I can see the decoders that are being used.

--ok, i'll do this when i get home from work

To be honest, I dont know if zap2it have stopping accepting new accounts or not. Does it let you create on at http://labs.zap2it.com? I would have imagined that would tell you one way or another.

--it lets me create an account and login on that page only, but when i try to go to any other page it asks me to login again and then gives me the message "You have specified an incorrect or inactive username, or an invalid password." even though i'm using the same login name and password and have tried this with both ie and firefox.

There will be several alternatives before zap2it goes away. There is already several xmltv grabbers on this forum that can be used to get listings from various sources. There will also be relatively cheap pay-for-listings options offered by a non-for-profit company made up or representives from several free software companies.

--thanks, i'll check the forums. hopefully can use the xmltv grabbers in the usa?

Mythtv also uses zap2it for listings in US/Canada, so would be in the same boat. (I'm also not sure the 1600 is supported in linux drivers yet)

Yes, there are options for converting files in the config app.

--i see the options for converting to xvid. is there a built-in conversion option for dvd-compatible mpeg2. the hd mpeg2s need to be down-converted to be burnable as dvds right? what's the best way to convert to compatible .vobs with .ifo files etc? please ignore any questions you find annoying as i'm still doing research and don't want to waste too much of your time.

GB-PVR has just undergone an total rewrite of the user interface, and some of the lower priority screens havnt been reimplemented yet. You can always use the old GBPVR.exe interface if you need these features.

From the list you mention above, dvd is in the current release though. Do you not get a DVD button on the main menu?

--i see, i thought it was something like that. i see the dvd option in the new pvrx2 app, but not in the gbpvr app. also, i guess the "start pvrx2" will be added to the gbpvrtray icon in a later revision as that isn't there now.


thanks so much and i'll dive back into research now.
joe

[sub]

--it lets me create an account and login on that page only, but when i try to go to any other page it asks me to login again and then gives me the message "You have specified an incorrect or inactive username, or an invalid password." even though i'm using the same login name and password and have tried this with both ie and firefox.

Did it let you add a lineup? This is usually a button on the first page when you log in.

--thanks, i'll check the forums. hopefully can use the xmltv grabbers in the usa?

Yes, they were all USA grabbers I was referring to.

--i see the options for converting to xvid. is there a built-in conversion option for dvd-compatible mpeg2. the hd mpeg2s need to be down-converted to be burnable as dvds right? what's the best way to convert to compatible .vobs with .ifo files etc? please ignore any questions you find annoying as i'm still doing research and don't want to waste too much of your time.

I dont there is one by default, since I dont archive anything to DVDs myself, but you could easy add one by adding an additional conversion setting to the <CustomFFmpegConversions> setting in config.xml.

I cant tell you anything about vob or ifo files. I dont do any DVD burning myself.

--i see, i thought it was something like that. i see the dvd option in the new pvrx2 app, but not in the gbpvr app. also, i guess the "start pvrx2" will be added to the gbpvrtray icon in a later revision as that isn't there now.

In the next release I've replaced the 'start GB-PVR' option with a 'start PVRX2' option.

[joemess]

zap2it labs let me create a channel line-up, but won't let me access any page beyond that.

i think my stuttering audio is resolved. the only channels that do it now do it with the other programs as well so it must be a antenna/signal strength issue.

i hope to get some kind of xmltv thing figured out soon. i wish it was easier. this reminds me of installing linux years ago with all the configuration/tweaking, trying to get everything to work.

wintv seems like the most limited of all the programs i've tried so far. yahoo go for tv doesn't support the hauppauge 1600 yet.

i wonder if any cable channels will ever be purchasable a-la-cart via streaming via the web. the only channel i'll really miss when i ditch satellite will be turner classic movies.

thanks for all your work sub, now i just need to dig in and work out what i need to do for xmltv

take care,
joe