Video problems

[Dan8]

I am new to NextPVR, so please excuse me for any mistakes.

I use the NextPVR 2.2.6 version with Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit. I have both Service Packs 1 & 2 installed. My graphics card is a HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770, which has the latest driver installed. I live in the United Kingdom, England.

I was originally using Windows Media Center with my USB TV Tuner, but I became frustrated with it due to video settings. When comparing Windows Media Center with Windows Media Player 11 video playback, for some reason Media Center displayed the video with worse colour settings. It was too bright, colours did not look natural, and black colours had a annoying green tinge to them. If anyone has any suggestions about fixing this I would appreciate this.

Now on to my NextPVR issues:

1) When watching Live TV or recorded TV, depending on the channel, the video does not always fill the screen. On channels such as BBC1 there is two black bars down the side, but on Channel 4 the video fits the screen perfectly. I get the same problem when watching recorded TV (using Media Center to record) in Media Player. But not in Media Center, the video always fits the screen correctly.

2) When watching recorded TV the video flickers, as in the picture becomes lighter for a second and then returns to normal. This happens repeatedly at random times. I experience this problem once again when watching recorded TV and DVDs in Media Player.

3) I cannot hear sound when watching DVDs, I have a video feed but no sound. I have set the decoders to Video Renderer "EVR", Audio Renderer "Default", MPEG2 Video "Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder" and AC3 Audio "Microsoft MPEG-1/DD Audio Decoder". I have tried changing the Audio Render to all available options but still do not hear sound. I use headphones as my audio output.

I do not know much about decoders and how to sort these problems, so I would appreciate any help from anyone for any of the issues. I have only been using NextPVR for 2 weeks!

Thanks,

Dan8

[gEd]

1. what happens if you press F7 during playback to cycle through the screen fill modes?
2. maybe dynamic contrast adjustment in the ati driver?
3. try changing the AC3 audio decoder to something else? Are there any others available in the selection list? If not you can either download and install ffdshow or LAV decoders and try them out. Alternatively there is a codec pack called SAF that will do the same thing and also correctly configure all the npvr decoders for you. This is what I use and find it works fine. Others either don't like codec packs and think they are the work of the devil or tried SAF and didn;t like it. It's up to you.

4. Welcome! You will find the forum a friendly and helpful place.

[Grampz]

Hello..

I have found that there is a very fine line in nPVR's use and hardware/os configuration. The latest issue i have faced is getting Win7-64 to abandon it's native decoders and allow npvr's config page to govern the environment. I do not know much about Vista-64 but assume that it is closely related to Win7. Do know that nPVR will only use 32 bit drivers as it is a 32 bit app. Most problems are with decoding from what I notice....

Hang in there and bug us all with questions... nPVR kicks ass!

Greg

[whurlston]

#2 is definitely Dynamic Contrast being enabled on either the TV or in the video card drivers. With ATI, it seems to get reset to "On" for a lot of people whenever they install new drivers.

#3 Definitely change AC3 decoders (to LAV Filters, AC3Filter, etc). The Microsoft audio decoders will only decode AC3 when used in Microsoft applications (Media Center, Windows Media Player) due to licensing issues.

[johnsonx42]

also, you said you are using 2.2.6. That is not the current version, you should be using 2.3.6. Perhaps it is just a typo though.

the link to 2.3.6 is in the thread linked in my signature (post #2), along with other information you may find helpful. The link to the afforementioned SAF codec pack is also in there.

[imilne]

Number 1) sounds like an underscan problem (and Media Center may have applied a default overscan to compensate). GBPVR used to do this too, but there isn't an option in NPVR for it.

You can make your own aspect ratios though than you can apply to fix it. You need to use notepad to open up config.xml from C:\Users\Public\NPVR, then find the section where <AspectRatio> is mentioned. Then slot something like the following in to whatever bit matches your screen shape (probably the 16:9 one):

Code:

<AspectRatioMode name="Overscan">-0.03,-0.03,1.03,1.03</AspectRatioMode>

Then once back in Live TV, use F7 to toggle through the available options until the Overscan one is activated. You should notice a slight 'zoom' to the picture if it's working.

Iain

[Dan8]

Thank you for all the suggestions; so far:

I have tried cycling through the options of video size by pressing F7, there are no options that fix my issue. I will look into the underscan problem fix "imilne" suggested.

I have turned off "Dynamic Contrast" within ATI Catalyst Control Center, just need to watch a video/DVD now and see if is fixed.

Under "AC3 Audio" on the DVD settings tab, there is only "Microsoft MPEG1/DD Audio Decoder" available to choose. So will I need to look into decoders codec packs like "gEd" suggested? Strangely I use "Microsoft MPEG1/DD Audio Decoder" under the "Decoders" tab for live and recorded TV viewing and I can hear sound when using this.

I have also downloaded the latest version, 2.3.6, I did not realise I was not up to date, thanks "johnsonx42".

Once again thanks for all your help guys.

[gEd]

So will I need to look into decoders codec packs like you suggested?
That would be my recommendation, yes.

[whurlston]

Re: #1: When you ran the Media Center setup, did you happen to choose "TV" as your display? If so, try choosing Flat Panel.

[Dan8]

The flickering video problem has been fixed. Thanks again for help.

To answer whurlston's question I choose "Flat Panel" as my display in Media Center, as I use a monitor instead of a TV.

I will now look into Codec packs and overscan options.