Hardware Decoder/VMR9 Issue

[MicroSark]

Hi all. This is my first post, so apologies in advance if I've chosen the wrong forum.

Firstly, let me say that GB-PVR is a brilliant bit of software, and I will definately be sending some cash for it. I've paid good money for software that isn't half as good.

Okay, now my problem...

I'm using a WinTV PVR250 with a nVidia FX5200 graphics card which has a built-in hardware MPEG-2 decoder supporting VMR. I'm not sure, however, that GB-PVR is using the hardware decoder for playback. It isn't listed in the drop-down box for hardware decoder device, so I have to select software. VMR9 should be the way - right?

OK, I've done that. Problem is I can pause and re-commence live TV (or playing the recording while it's recording), but can't rewind or fast-forward.

I read in another post that you need to enable SBE to be able to do this, but if I do, GB-PVR reports "Error: Failure playing back file" when I try to watch live TV or playback recordings.

I've also noticed that my CPU usage is higher running GB-PVR to play back recordings than when I use, for instance, Windows Media Player 10 which I know definately uses the VMR/Overlay.

So, 2 questions:

1. Is GB-PVR using my hardware decoder?
2. If not - what are the correct settings to be able to do it?

System summary:
Pentium P4 3.0e (Prescott, hyper-threading)
nVidia XFX 5200 256Mb video card (latest forceware drivers)
WinTV PVR250
512Mb System Memory
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
DirectX 9.0c

Just as an aside, when GB-PVR is recording (without playback) it uses LESS than 1% of my CPU capacity at full high quality DVD res - WOW! Top coding.

Thanks again for a great program.

[sub]

VMR is render. The render is the final stage of the process. It is responsible for the actually drawing the raw frames onto the screen. In GB-PVR can tell VMR from Overlay (which is an earlier generation render), by whether the OSD graphics overlaid on the video is semi-transparent. Rendering consumes some % of CPU.

Sitting in front of the render is usually video decoder which is responsible for taking an MPEG stream and converting it to raw frames, which it hands to the renderer. Decoding consumes some % of CPU (typically more than the rendering stage).

The FX5200 isnt a real hardware MPEG2 decoder in the same sense as the PVR350 or XCard. It contains some functions which can be used to assist the decoding process, but still relies on having a software decoder which is capable of using these functions. Even with this decoding "assistence" a lot CPU will still be consumed. For a finger in the air guess, it might reduce the CPU usage to 75% of what would be without hardware assisted decoding. I dont have an nVidia card, but I guess the nVidia nvDVD decoder would utilize these features??

The XCard and PVR350 are different thing altogether. These entirely replace the decoder and renderer, and only consume a couple of percent of CPU.

It may be worth trying a couple of the other MPEG decoders on the Config app playback tab. If GB-PVR uses the same decoder as WMP10, then the CPU usage will be the same. Same goes for SBE - try some other decoders.

BTW, VMR rendering typically uses more CPU than Overlay rendering, as it has to do things like alpha-blend mixing the OSD onto each frame (the semi-transparently guff).

[MicroSark]

Thanks for the reply sub - that explains at least some of it.

I am definately getting the semi-transparency in the mini-guide and other OSD functions.

I'll have a play around with a few things this evening and see what happens.

[MicroSark]

I've been playing around with the settings a little, and I've finally managed to get the proper functionality on pause/playback of live TV, with the minor inconvenience of the loss of transparency for the OSD.

The settings that finally worked are:
Hardware decoder - none
Software decoder - system default
Use overlay manager
Use FFDSHOW post-processing if enabled - checked
Use SBE for live TV if available - checked

CPU usage seems to be about the same. I can live with it, so I'm happy for now.

Now saving up for another PVR card (hopefully a 350 next time - any known issues with a 250 and a 350 in the same box?) and a USB-UIRT device to change channels on my sky tv box.

Hope this helps someone else.

[zed]

Quote[/b] (MicroSark @ Oct. 13 2004,15:43)]Hope this helps someone else.

Yes! It was just the info I've been looking for but haven't had the time to play with. Now the pause, skip, etc. seems to be working. Thanks!

[Steerpike]

Quote[/b] (MicroSark @ Oct. 13 2004,15:43)]... I've finally managed to get the proper functionality on pause/playback of live TV, with the minor inconvenience of the loss of transparency for the OSD.

The settings that finally worked are:
...
Use overlay manager
...

So in summary, using VMR, you were not able to pause/playback live TV, but by switching to Overlay mode, you were?

[MicroSark]

Correct. I cannot pause/rewind/fast-forward live TV unless using overlay. All other options cause the error described above.

<Begin-rant>

I'm still waiting BTW for a response from XFX (the manufacturer of the GeForce FX5200 card I am using) for some support about getting anything to recognise that there IS a hardware MPEG-2 decoder present. It looks like the only way to get the drivers for it is to BUY nVidia's NvDVD app.

This completely sucks IMHO. If you've bought a card for it's hardware capabilities you shouldn't have to pay extra for the drivers for your OS to recognise it - especially not win-doze.

Lets face it, you wouldn't buy a printer labelled "manufactured for Windows XP&quot and get it home, only to discover that you've got to spend an extra 100 quid on a driver to make it work under XP, would you?

<end-rant>

[Steerpike]

Interesting ... I finally tried using pause, ff, etc with live TV and the only thing I'm able to do is pause and restart (Crtl-Q). The Pause works great. But pressing ctrl-F, ctrl-R, crll (rt. arrow), etc have no effect.

I tried switching from VMR9 to Overlay, but no luck (and with overlay, screen blacks out when I move mouse, image returns after overlay timesout). I tried setting the FFDSHOW option, but get an error. I tried setting the SBE option; does not seem to have any appreciable effect.

So I can record, and playback, and I can pause live TV. But Can't 'catch up' on the live tv. I'm using the intervideo nonCSS decoder, and I've made the required settings for CC. This is not the end of the world for me ... I mainly want to record entire shows using a schedule, but ... if I can get live TV to work (with pause and FF), I will build a standalone PVR.

My video card is a radeon 7500.

[societyblind]

I have a 7500 AIW as well, but I can't seem to configure it properly, could you please help?

[GoodGuys]

Use SBE for live TV if available - checked

Where is this setting?
Thanks,
GGF