Noob - video & audio problems

[RoyJ]

I've installed GBPVR and all seems to work OK apart from the following:

1. When setting up the channels on my Hauppauge HVR 1300 the program throws an error when tuning the last set of channels. Doesn't seem to cause any problems, I'll try the patch posted on the sticky or just add them manually.

2. When watching a recorded .dvr-ms file things seem a little unstable. If I pause playback and then resume, the sound carries on, but the picture is frozen. Stopping and re-starting sorts things, but playback starts from the beginning again. Example log file attached.

3. When playing a recorded .ts file I do not get any audio. If I pause playback, then PVRX2 locks completely. Windows Task Manager shows it as not responding and I have to end the task. Example log file attached.

Both the .dvr-ms file and the .ts file play (and pause) fine when played in WMP11 and this has no problems with the audio either.

I've searched the forums and there does not seem to be anyone with the same issue, so I'm guessing I'm just being stupid. Any help appreciated, as I've ran out of ideas.

Ver: 1.12.13 (clean install)
OS: Win XP SP3
MB: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
CPU: Athlon 64X2
GPU: Radeon 3200 (Onboard)
TV: Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1300

[RoyJ]

Regarding the first problem. I installed the patch from the sticky then tried to scan for channels again. The first two times this caused the program to crash with the usual "do you want to tell tales to Micosoft" box. On the third attempt it worked, and I now have all UK digital channels tuned.

I also edited the config file as directed, so now standby and hibernate work OK too.

I've tried various renderer settings, and so far VMR9 full screen exclusive seems to work best. I'm still not sure that the issues have gone away, but things seem a lot more stable than they were. This might just be coincidence though?

From checking various forums, there does seem to be some issues with sound drop-out and video freexing associated with my Gigabyte MoBo. It seems my next steps are to try different Cataylst drivers for the Radeon 3200 and/or a later BIOS.

Any advice appreciated - talking to oneself in forums seems almost as disturbing mad as doing it outloud.

[Elmo Putney]

Welcome to gbpvr and sorry you've been talking to yourself.

I think you are pretty much on the right track with the things you are doing to try to fix your problems. If everything works in Media player then its got to be down to a combination of Renderer and decoder.
Is your Live TV ok?

now standby and hibernate work ok

My Video was never quite right after coming out of standby, screen tearing and general poor performance, I assume you tried a clean boot to fix your problems?

[BigMoose]

I have the same mb as you and in general things work very well with it. However I'm using vista and EVR instead of XP - I could never get FSE to work with an older HD2600XT card but VMR9 custom worked well.

What audio/video decoders are you using? The PowerDVD ones work well with my mb and setup. I'm using 8.9 ATI driver but got annoyed with CCC and found it works better with just the driver installed as long as you can persuade it go go into the resolution you want. I've been meaning to install 8.10 and will probably do so soon.

[RoyJ]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, the issues I reported were after 'cold' boots rather than resuming from standby or hibernation. I'm just pleased I got these working as regardless of video issues, the recording scheduler seems to work perfectly.

Regarding decoders, I have PowerDVD 7 installed, but this only seems to come up as an option for x264 playback (which incidentally seems to work fine, as does DivX and XVID). I know I can find details of the decoder being used to play the file by checking File->Properties in WMP11, but how do I check which is being used by PVRX2?

As for the Catlyst Control Centre, I would like to keep it if possible. I have profiles set up for 720p and 1080p and plan to change between them by linking them to the remote control via the options in GBPVR. My Sony Bravia seems to make a better job of upscaling the video, so I'd like to send content in its native form as much as possible. I just want to get a stable system first before I start fiddling with this sort of nicety!

Thanks again for the feedback - It's nice to know there's someone out there.

[dark_half]

I know I can find details of the decoder being used to play the file by checking File->Properties in WMP11, but how do I check which is being used by PVRX2?

If you look at PVRX2.exe-native.log you should see something like this

Code:

2008-10-28 17:26:14.911    VERBOSE    playDVD@1
2008-10-28 17:26:14.912    VERBOSE    getSetting(ListGraphFilters)
2008-10-28 17:26:14.912    VERBOSE    Graph contains the following filters:
2008-10-28 17:26:14.912    VERBOSE     - Default DirectSound Device
2008-10-28 17:26:14.913    VERBOSE     - Video Renderer
2008-10-28 17:26:14.913    VERBOSE     - ffdshow Audio Decoder
2008-10-28 17:26:14.913    VERBOSE     - ffdshow Video Decoder
2008-10-28 17:26:14.913    VERBOSE     - DVD Navigator

[BigMoose]

I have profiles set up for 720p and 1080p

I see you're in the UK - have you managed to get CCC to do 1080p@50? Cause I never could, it'll do 1080p@60 but that's unusable for news tickers etc. I have managed to get powerstripe to do 1080p@50 which for BluRay playback was lovely but for TV including BBC HD I think 720p is smoother. Switching between modes from the remote would be dead handy though, is that easy to setup? I'll happily use CCC if it doesn't spanner up my interlacing!

PDVD7 should come up as an option to use for mpeg2 / SD playback in the config prog.

[RoyJ]

If you look at PVRX2.exe-native.log you should see something like this

Code:

2008-10-28 17:26:14.911    VERBOSE    playDVD@1
2008-10-28 17:26:14.912    VERBOSE    getSetting(ListGraphFilters)
...
2008-10-28 17:26:14.913    VERBOSE     - DVD Navigator

Checking the logs I get the following for playback of recorded material:

2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE getSetting(ListGraphFilters)
2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE - Video Renderer
2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE - CyberLink Audio Renderer (PDVD7.x)
2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE - ffdshow Audio Decoder
2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE - CyberLink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7)
2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE - GB-PVR Flow Status
2008-10-23 18:05:20.640 VERBOSE - CyberLink Audio Decoder

Tuning live TV gives:
2008-10-30 17:39:17.234 VERBOSE Starting graph...
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE locked=1 present=1 strength=3000 quality=100
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE getSetting(ListGraphFilters)
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - BDA MPEG2 Transport Information Filter
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - StreamBufferSink
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - GB-PVR PSI Parser
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - MPEG-2 Video Stream Analyzer
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - GB-PVR Flow Status
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - MPEG-2 Demultiplexer
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - GB-PVR TS Mon
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - Hauppauge WinTV 88x TS Capture
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - Hauppauge WinTV 88x DVB-T Tuner/Demod
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE - Microsoft DVBT Network Provider
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE getSetting(SaveGraphFiles)
2008-10-30 17:39:18.843 VERBOSE pRecControl->GetRecordingStatus() returns 0x00000000, 1, 0

This seems to list all available. How do I know which one is actually being used?