Colossus H.264 recordings -- can not seek or FF or REW

[msmith8228]

Can anyone help me?

I have been experimenting with my new Colossus board and NPVR to record HDTV from my satellite set top box (both component video and HDMI) and the recorded quality is excellent. All the channels on my satellite box are 1080i and AC3 so setup was vary straightforward.

I also have a another satellite box that has a R5000 modification so my experimental setup allows me to compare the quality of the R5000 1080i mpeg2 TS captures to the Colossus H.264 captures -- and so far the quality is very close.

The one problem I am having is that it is not possible to seek forward or reverse or FF or REW when watching the Colossus H.264 recordings. The picture freezes although the sound indicates that the jump has completed -- but with no picture. The only way to recover is to stop playback and then immediately resume -- the resume point is at the new jump point. The same recording from the R5000 MPEG2 file works perfectly with seeking and FF or REW.

I am using the Pure Video decoder for R5000 mpeg 2 files and CoreAVc decoder for Colossus H.264. I have experimented with just about every H.264 decoder I can find and the CoerAVC decoder by far gives the best picture quality -- but with the seeking problem. All the other H.264 decoders I have tested (ffdshow, Cyberlink) give terrible screen artifacts (although they do seek OK). I have tested the same NextPRV Colossus H.264 recordings with Zoom Player and the same CoreAVC H.264 decoder and everything works perfectly (seeking , FF and REW).

I have also tested the LAV H.264 decoders as well as the MPC-HC H.264 standalone decoders but they both give a blank screen in NPVR with the Colossus H.264 files -- these same decoders work perfectly with these files using Zoom Player

I am using Windows XP and moving to Windows 7 is not an option -- and so far the only acceptable H.264 decoder from a picture quality standpoint is CoreAVC.

From past experience I have seen seeking issues caused by the file source - splitter filter and I suspect that it has something to do with the splitter used by NextPVR (the Microsoft default one and I believe and it can not be changed) whereas the splitter used by Zoom Player is Hallii which works quite well.

Can anyone give me an idea as to where sole this problem?

Michael

[Graham]

Have you tried the decoders in ... unlocked ... SAF ? http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?50227-Saf6

[mvallevand]

I am using Windows XP and moving to Windows 7 is not an option

Too bad because that is the best solution for h264 playback. Installing colossus software on your box should install the good cyberlink drivers.

Do you still need timing.info with the R5000 http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...-PC-Client and NetworkRecorder? Maybe the client changes over the months have helped.

Martin

[Reddwarf]

The Cyberlink PDVD12 H.264 decoder is the best I'v tried so far, the LAV decoders does not work well. If your recordings donu may need to use mvallevand's 't have a .Timing.Info file you may need to use mvallevand's WriteTime to create it.

[msmith8228]

Thank you everyone for your replies:

Graham: I believe that I have tried everything that is available in the unlocked SAF and the CoreAVC H.264 directshow decoder is still the best for the Colossus type of H.264 1080i interlaced video found in a transport stream. The problem is that these are 1080i recordings and interlaced H.264 material is not all that common. All the H.264 decoders do a great job on 1080p and 720p material -- but tend to choke on 1080i - interlaced files as they seem to create screen artifacts when the image pans quickly from one side to the other. So far the only decoder that works on my Window XP systems that can do a great job on interlaced files is the CoreAVC decoder.

Martin: The install of the Colossus software does not install any Cyberlink drivers -- as far as I can see. The only software application are WinTV and Arcsoft -- and the Arcsoft drivers are apparently not exposed to the system for use by other applications.

I do not need a timing file anymore. My original setup with your Network recorder had my R5000 devices located on a another system on my network -- linked to my NextPVR server by your Network recorder software. In this configuration the timing files seemed to be required to get correct playback. Once I moved the R5000 devices to the same box as my NextPVR server the need for the timing files disappeared.

At this point my two R5000 modified Satellite boxes are working great with your Network recorder software. Anyone who is still using SageTV + the R5000 is crazy not to move over to NPVR + the R5000 and your Network recorder. I have been running it for about six months now with little or no issues.

Reddwarf: I was under the impression that the Cyberlink PDVD12 directshow drivers were not available for use by other applications like the ones from PDVD11, PDVD10, PDVD8 and PDVD7 -- all of which I have tried -- and they all seem to suffer from the 1080i - interlaced issues as I indicated above.

Michael

[Reddwarf]

If you install the trial version of PDVD12 you'll get the decoder but you'll have to manually register it to make it available to npvr. I'v explained this in another post in this forum.

[mvallevand]

Sorry I did mean Arcsoft, I don't know why it won't work, it must be an older video card. I set my cable STB to always output 720p to avoid issues with h/w deinterlacing.

Glad to hear the r5000 is working, especially as SageTV users still claim the r5000 as a reason not to move.

Martin

[mulletback]

To get the Arcsoft video decoder working, you need to 1) register ASVid.ax, and 2) create an ASVid.log file. See http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post410281