GBPVR Recordings that Stop

[rwnz]

I have often burnt GBPVR recordings to re-writeable DVD's and more recently I attempt to play them across my network through a Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD. The DVD's have often suffered from losing sync between the audio & video or missing a few frames. On the ShowCenter the video stops and locks, or the sound keeps playing and the video eventually catches up.

I can resolve the DVD problem by performing stream correction using VideoReDo but this does not prevent the lockup's on the ShowCenter. This led me to think that the ShowCenter doesn't handle MPEG2's well but it plays AVI's fine so I converted one of those to an MPEG2 and it played without glitching as well. Therefore I wonder if the problem lies with the MPEG2's created by GBPVR. I have converted a couple of them to AVI and they have played OK, but that is too inconvenient for regular use. I also tried GBPVR's automatic conversion to AVI but the result wouldn't play.

Are there any thoughts on why I may be having these problems with GBPVR generated MPEG2 files? My computer spec's are in my signature. My current GBPVR is 1.3.11 but this MPEG2 issue was no different with earlier versions.

I'd like to get a new tuner to record terrestrial Freeview (for the widescreen, clean signal, and additional programming). My computer is not suited to processing HD and the ShowCenter won't handle the H.264 Freeview encoding so I'll make do with standard def for the meantime. I've determined that a WinTV-HVR-900 (or possibly a WinTV-NOVA-T Stick) from Hauppauge should do this for me. Is the output of either of these likely to be worse or better for me? I'm confused as I understand that these non-HD models have an MPEG2 output. As the Freeview transmission is H.264 it must mean that they process the signal to convert it from H.264 to MPEG2. Is this correct? If this is the case then does the computer or the USB stick do the conversion? If it is the computer then I fear I may be worse off than I am now because my current WinTV-PVR-150 has on-board processing.

[sub]

I have often burnt GBPVR recordings to re-writeable DVD's and more recently I attempt to play them across my network through a Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD. The DVD's have often suffered from losing sync between the audio & video or missing a few frames. On the ShowCenter the video stops and locks, or the sound keeps playing and the video eventually catches up.

I can resolve the DVD problem by performing stream correction using VideoReDo but this does not prevent the lockup's on the ShowCenter. This led me to think that the ShowCenter doesn't handle MPEG2's well but it plays AVI's fine so I converted one of those to an MPEG2 and it played without glitching as well. Therefore I wonder if the problem lies with the MPEG2's created by GBPVR. I have converted a couple of them to AVI and they have played OK, but that is too inconvenient for regular use. I also tried GBPVR's automatic conversion to AVI but the result wouldn't play.

Are there any thoughts on why I may be having these problems with GBPVR generated MPEG2 files? My computer spec's are in my signature. My current GBPVR is 1.3.11 but this MPEG2 issue was no different with earlier versions.

I'm not aware of any issues, or anything non-standard about the .mpg files that come from a PVR150. I should mention though, everything about the .mpg is up to the hardware MPEG2 encoder on this device, so there is no GB-PVR settings that will have any effect on this, and you'd see the exactly the same type of streams from any other software using your PVR150.

I'd like to get a new tuner to record terrestrial Freeview (for the widescreen, clean signal, and additional programming). My computer is not suited to processing HD and the ShowCenter won't handle the H.264 Freeview encoding so I'll make do with standard def for the meantime. I've determined that a WinTV-HVR-900 (or possibly a WinTV-NOVA-T Stick) from Hauppauge should do this for me. Is the output of either of these likely to be worse or better for me? I'm confused as I understand that these non-HD models have an MPEG2 output. As the Freeview transmission is H.264 it must mean that they process the signal to convert it from H.264 to MPEG2. Is this correct? If this is the case then does the computer or the USB stick do the conversion? If it is the computer then I fear I may be worse off than I am now because my current WinTV-PVR-150 has on-board processing.

When you do a recording on a digital device, you'll get a recording with the same audio/video type as the original broadcast. ie, if you recording a Freeview HD channel in New Zealand, you'll end up with a .ts file that has H.264 video and HE-AAC audio. GB-PVR (or the device) does not convert the original broadcast on the fly to any other format.

Its also worth noting that the analog side of the HVR-900 is not usable by GB-PVR due to the lack of hardware encoder on the device.

[rwnz]

When you do a recording on a digital device, you'll get a recording with the same audio/video type as the original broadcast. ie, if you recording a Freeview HD channel in New Zealand, you'll end up with a .ts file that has H.264 video and HE-AAC audio. GB-PVR (or the device) does not convert the original broadcast on the fly to any other format.

Its also worth noting that the analog side of the HVR-900 is not usable by GB-PVR due to the lack of hardware encoder on the device.

Thanks sub. I assume that the references to MPEG2 recordings in Hauppauges's product spec's for the WinTV-HVR-900 & WinTV-NOVA-T Stick are for those countries that have digital TV broadcast in MPEG2, and that here in NZ I'll need a better computer before I can record our terrestrial MPEG4 signal (as it must be in HD) and a different digital media receiver before I can interface that recording to my TV.

I assume that the hardware encoder on the WinTV-HVR-1300 is for the analogue signal only and that it too won't produce an MPEG2 output from an MPEG4 H.264 signal (and of course that may not solve my playback stopping issues either).

[sub]

Thanks sub. I assume that the references to MPEG2 recordings in Hauppauges's product spec's for the WinTV-HVR-900 & WinTV-NOVA-T Stick are for those countries that have digital TV broadcast in MPEG2

Yes

and that here in NZ I'll need a better computer before I can record our terrestrial MPEG4 signal (as it must be in HD) and a different digital media receiver before I can interface that recording to my TV.

Yes. You'd be able to record ok, but wouldnt be able to play those recordings with that hardware.

I assume that the hardware encoder on the WinTV-HVR-1300 is for the analogue signal only and that it too won't produce an MPEG2 output from an MPEG4 H.264 signal (and of course that may not solve my playback stopping issues either).

Correct.