Available tuner not being used

[cher]

Something has gone a teeny bit haywire and the attached zip appears to contain only a shortcut.

Sorry!

attached

[Graham]

attached

I can see nothing in the logs to suggest a problem.

I stand by my view that it is most likely a reception problem. Before digital switchover in the UK, my local OTA transmitter operated at reduced power and I had much the same symptoms that you describe. I jumped through many of the same hoops that you describe trying to tie the problem to a cable or a splitter or whatever. I still have a box full of cables and splitters and amplifiers. Things were worse in the summer and when the wind blew and I have no doubt that my symptoms were caused by the trees that surround the house.

In other posts on the same subject, there seems to be a shared view that the tuners in televisions are more sensitive than the tuners in computer devices and a television will always gets a better picture when reception is borderline.

I know of nothing that you can change in NextPVR that will improve your situation. The tuner locks onto a frequency and captures a stream of data at that frequency. Typically, that stream contains more than one channel. NextPVR splits the stream and extracts the channel that is required. For recordings (or Live TV plus recording), NextPVR can extract each and all of the channels from within the stream on a single frequency and record multiple channels using a single tuner.

NextPVR does not "process" the broadcast for a channel. The channel broadcasts a MPEG2 (typically) stream and NextPVR extracts the MPEG2 stream from the full stream for that frequency and passes the MPEG2 stream to the decoder. If you are getting a dodgy picture, then either you are receiving a dodgy MPEG2 stream due to reception issues or you are using a decoder that may not be doing the best possible job with glitches in the MPEG2 stream. Have you tried the Microsoft decoder that is built into Windows 7?

[johnsonx42]

the other possibility is that you are encountering a performance issue with your hard drive, and it can't keep up when recording multiple streams at once. in some cases a hard drive can be experiencing a large number of errors which it is able to overcome with lots of re-tries and re-allocations, at the expense of huge latency.

[cher]

Have you tried the Microsoft decoder that is built into Windows 7?

No, I hadn't. I don't feel competent to mess with the decoders! I just used the LAV codec pack. But, I switched to the MS and Hauppauge decoders, and the audio and video is MUCH cleaner.

Thank you for that suggestion!
cher

[cher]

the other possibility is that you are encountering a performance issue with your hard drive, and it can't keep up when recording multiple streams at once. in some cases a hard drive can be experiencing a large number of errors which it is able to overcome with lots of re-tries and re-allocations, at the expense of huge latency.

I can see that that could be a problem, except from my diagnostic dance, I realized that my poor recordings were not from the recording process or tuner mis-assignment, but from poor input. With NPVR LiveTV the audio and video are awful (just since the re-install) so my recordings are awful, and I'm only using one stream, yet Hauppauge's Live TV is clear. I'm convinced it's a setting in NPVR that I need to change. The decoder change suggested by Graham has helped a lot.

cher

[whurlston]

With NPVR LiveTV the audio and video are awful ... yet Hauppauge's Live TV is clear.

Those two programs use essentially the same code so it's going to boil down to decoders used. Does it look better if you record something in NextPVR and they watch it using Windows Media Player?

Edit: Just saw your last post.

[Lao Pan]

No, I hadn't. I don't feel competent to mess with the decoders! I just used the LAV codec pack. But, I switched to the MS and Hauppauge decoders, and the audio and video is MUCH cleaner.

Thank you for that suggestion!
cher

Don't use the LAV Video Codec in NPVR it doesn't play well with the Microsoft demux filter that NPVR uses.
It gives the same symptoms as you are getting and poor skip performance.
Use either the Microsoft Video Codec or the PDVD13 codec that comes with SAF unlocked from Hoborg.

[Graham]

SAF unlocked from Hoborg.

I use this ... http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post414049 ... Send a forum private message to Hoborg and ask for the unlocked version. Alternatively, you may have the MainConcept decoders if you have WinTV installed. The MainConcept decoders should appear in the NextPVR Settings Decoders dropdown list if they are installed.

It will not cause a problem to try all of the decoders listed in the dropdown lists in NextPVR settings. The problems begin if you install "random" decoders or "codec packs" and the decoders interfere with one another. I advise uninstalling LAV and any other decoders that you have installed (outside of a software install such as WinTV). Try the MainConcpet decodes, if you have them. If you ain't happy with MainConcpt get unlocked SAF (which will install everything that you need to watch TV anywhere on the planet).

[cher]

Don't use the LAV Video Codec in NPVR it doesn't play well with the Microsoft demux filter that NPVR uses.
It gives the same symptoms as you are getting and poor skip performance.
Use either the Microsoft Video Codec or the PDVD13 codec that comes with SAF unlocked from Hoborg.

I went back and read the post that suggested the LAV codecs and found my error. The forum post suggested using the LAV AUDIO codecs. I applied audio and video. I did get them in the SAF pack from Hoborg, but it's not the unlocked version.

Thank you.
cher

[cher]

I use this ... http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post414049 ... Send a forum private message to Hoborg and ask for the unlocked version. Alternatively, you may have the MainConcept decoders if you have WinTV installed. The MainConcept decoders should appear in the NextPVR Settings Decoders dropdown list if they are installed.

That's the exact link I followed - the LAF codec pack I got was in SAF6. But, I made the mistake of selecting LAF for both audio AND video.

I'll contact Hoborg to get the unlocked version.

Thank you for all your helpful suggestions!
cher