ZProcess - Old Support Thread...

[zehd]

Two more things... I realized that the special "Use cache, resume if able' feature can bite you in the bum if it fails once... Because the next time ZProcess Tries to transcode, it first sees if there's a already transcoded file ,a dn then copies it into place rather than transcoding it all over again...

A symptom is when the avi playing of the MVP drops off at exactly the same point over and over. It's because that's how long the file is, and there isn't no more...

To fix that, go to the back up folder keeping the copy of the already (Partially) transcoded file, and delete it.

Then try again. ZProcess should see that there is no backup, and then start from the beginning...

For testing purposes, you may want to just leave it on the default of 'do nothing'

[zehd]

EDIT: Forgot - which logs files would you like - I am very new(yesterday) to the GBPVR and there are a lot of log files.

Zip and send every *.log file in the Gbpvr folder... (c:\program files\devnz\gbpvr)

Edit: Check your PM

[Skybolt]

Did you say/mean 9x% CPU running with nothing running? With or without ZProcess Idle? And your other monitoring software is off, and services not running...?

Just so you know, ZProcess is only a shell. Unfortunately, Task Manager blames the cpu on it, because it is the onwer of the spawned process, in this case fmpeg.exe (Which is the actual transcoder)

Nope - Sorry, just the opisite. with my HA apps running and GBPVR stuff, while watching TV through the MVP the systemIde process is in the 90's most of the time, I understand how ZProcess operates as shell, It has allways been fmpeg.exe which is the hog and that process is running in the 90's killing the system.

It does sound like you have your computer loaded up....
...First of all, 512 Mb isn't enough for a PVR MVP server...

Yeah it's kinda like the little engine that could, the only problem is that so far it can and does. I agree 512 isn't enough memory, the poblem being is this is an older Asus P4B which only accepts SIMM's, WhchI can not find any longer. So I would need a real good reason to build a new server and the cost of that plus the time would equal an another MCE box which I have been pondering.

I suggest, trying to turn off all extra services (except gbpvr recording service), and running apps, and trying again with ZProcess set to Normal and the MVP Pre-Play set to 9000 or 10000...

Tried that already, I guess I will need to experiment some more with getting ffmpeg to run beter.

I did notice your OC'd system, which is why I think I can still get this to work.

BTW I do need to compliment you on many front's, First your Zporcess app is simply great, the best I have seen for this type of interface, direct and to the point and it actually works! Very well thought out. Your support page is also very well thought out, very nice. And well how you support your app, well that speaks for it self. It is very rare one comes across support like this, and it is greatly appreciated, thank you!

I won't be able to test this for a while as the weather finally broke here in Long Island, NY and the grass has gotten really tall. I will check back in after some more testing, thanks again zehd.

-Skybolt

[4zm4r3d02]

I just downloaded and installed ZProcess ver 1.0.0.370 from the wiki link http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...rocess.zip

The paths are still "hardcoded" in ZProcess-Install.bat, and when I finally get it installed and run it, the mouse pointer turns into an hourglass whenever I move it over the ZProcess window.

I guess I'll just have to stick to transcoding "by hand", or using batch files. Thanks for all your efforts.

[Skybolt]

zehd - Thanks for all of your efforts this weekend. I think you are right - I need some more horse power. Looks like I will be building a new server in the near future. I really like GB-PVR over sage, alot. Over all it take less to operate, and with a little effort it can be alot nicer for the MVP. So "I'll be back" thanks, again.

-Skybolt

[jksmurf]

If you are going to try it. Please read most of the wiki page. Most importantly is the file naming. (ZProcess = ffmpeg.exe, FFmpeg = fmpeg.exe)

Zehd, can I ask you a Q about the renaming? If some other transcoding component or plugin uses the real ffmpeg, but only finds ffmpeg, will it blow up (presumably so?). Is there any way around it? I haven't tried it but your front end looks tempting, I guess the only thing that has stopped me having a go at it is if any other process wants ffmepg.

k.

[Skybolt]

Well I tried an MCE box, P4 2.8 w/1g ram. all extra services shut down. The video played great with ffmpeg still running at 97-98% cpu. I was able to stop the playback and return to the menu without crashing. but even after stopping and returning to the menu, ffmpeg was still running and restarting or selecting a new video was not working, totally black screen. Is this correct?

I can't believe the video quality of the MVP and composite out! amazing. and being able to resize the video is great. ZProcess convert's the wide screen to full screen very nicely.

-Skybolt

[zehd]

I just downloaded and installed ZProcess ver 1.0.0.370 from the wiki link http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...rocess.zip

The paths are still "hardcoded" in ZProcess-Install.bat, and when I finally get it installed and run it, the mouse pointer turns into an hourglass whenever I move it over the ZProcess window.

I guess I'll just have to stick to transcoding "by hand", or using batch files. Thanks for all your efforts.

I would strongly suggest downloading the beta. I'm planning on moving the beta into 'stable' relase....

But I have to say, that ZProcess does make the Hourglass appear whenever it is transcoding. That is by design to sort of stop the user from clicking while it's transcoding. But if your know what you're doing, the mouse still point's and clicks like normal...

[zehd]

I just downloaded and installed ZProcess ver 1.0.0.370 from the wiki link http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...rocess.zip

The paths are still "hardcoded" in ZProcess-Install.bat, and when I finally get it installed and run it, the mouse pointer turns into an hourglass whenever I move it over the ZProcess window.

I guess I'll just have to stick to transcoding "by hand", or using batch files. Thanks for all your efforts.

It should be quite easy to edit my install.bat to point to the location you have your ZProcess/Fmpeg...

[zehd]

Well I tried an MCE box, P4 2.8 w/1g ram. all extra services shut down. The video played great with ffmpeg still running at 97-98% cpu. I was able to stop the playback and return to the menu without crashing. but even after stopping and returning to the menu, ffmpeg was still running and restarting or selecting a new video was not working, totally black screen. Is this correct?

I can't believe the video quality of the MVP and composite out! amazing. and being able to resize the video is great. ZProcess convert's the wide screen to full screen very nicely.

-Skybolt

No. That should not be happeing.... (I believe you are having the problem, It's just not the normal operation) If it's setup right, when you stop a AVI (ZProcess/ffmpeg transcoding in the background on the fly) GB-PVR 'closes' the process (I think it crashes it rather harshly actually )

Hunter, (if present - and it is always present if you're using the Trans2MVP profile) is diesgned to watch the ZProcess window, and the FMPEG cmmdline window. If either of them is 'closed' Hunter kills the other one...

So, when you Stop an AVI, GBPVR closes ZProcess, Hunter closes FMpeg...

The only thing I can thing of is win 2k3 might not let me kill processes like the way XP allows me to...

I suggest you add a clomun to your task manager that shows Base Priority. If FMpeg is using 90-1000% Processero but it's at 'Normal' or 'Below Normal' (not recommended) then it should be all good. FMpeg takes what it needs....

And here's another cool trick. If your computer is a killer powerful one (P42.4ghz/1GB RAM) Edit this in the config.xml (I'm adding this edit in ZProcess soon)

Code:

<MvpHighPriority>false</MvpHighPriority>

The default is true... I have found recently, that with this in 'false', and the System Performance set to 'background services' and 'use system cache', my computer runs smoother, GBPVR uses less CPU running an MVP server, and there's more horsepower available for a smoother transcode...

Good luck