WDM Recorder using Software Compression

[rtiangha]

Sorry for being such a newb normanr, but how do I do that? I've found a copy of GraphEdit, but I don't know how to use it. I'll keep playing around though, but if you'd be willing to give me some guidance, I'd really appreciate it.

[normanr]

Add the capture device (add filter option in the menu or on the toolbar), you should be able to find it in the WDM Capture Devices category. You can 'render' a filter by right clicking the output pin and selecting render. You can also configure the filter by right clicking and hitting properties. Try adding the capture and moonlight mpeg2 encoder (find it in the directshow filters category) and joining them together. You should be able to render the output of the encoder. (It should add a decoder and a video output).

Basically GraphEdit allows you to play with what code does automatically. So it's a quick way to check if something is worth coding before you spend all the work :-)

[rtiangha]

OK, I've done that by adding the two things manually (actually, I managed to figure out how just after I wrote my message, but I wasn't sure I was doing it right).

Selecting my capture device and selecting properties gives me a video standard of NTSC_M with 1 Signal Detected and 525 Lines detected.

However, when I initially selected the properties of the Moonlight MPEG2 Video Encoder, it was stuck at PAL with 25FPS (I live in Canada so I'm NTSC; I've also noticed that there's no Canada option in the Software Encoder Plugin's options). Changing any of those options and hitting Apply gives that "Horizontal size is greater than..." error.

Is there anything in specific I should be doing or looking for? Also, I've only got .NET 1.1 installed (not the service pack or the security update) because this was a fresh install and I didn't want to spend too much time downloading knowing that I'd be wiping the drive later. Do you think upgrading will fix the bug that you thought was already fixed?

[rtiangha]

What I got in Graphedit (if it helps)

[rtiangha]

Hold on, when I right clicked on the Capture pin and changed the output size down to 640x480 and tried to change the options in the MPEG2 Encoder, I didn't get that Horizontal error.

I can't remember the Output Size of the Capture Device, but it was set to something that wasn't on the dropdown list (I'll see if I can replicate to find the exact number).

Going to see if I can timeshift with a resolution of 720x480.

[normanr]

GraphEdit doesn't use the .Net framework, so upgrading won't help yet.

ahh, i figured fiddling with the capture pin properties would get rid of the error. looks like i need to figure out how to change them programmatically now :-) it'll link up with the recording quality nicely.

[rtiangha]

Well, it didn't work. Still get the "Failed to communicate with the Recording Service" error. On the bright side, it seems to take longer before it blows up.

The Output Size on the Capture Pin is initially set to "752x240 (default)". If I change it to 720x480 or smaller, I can adjust any of the options on the Moonlight Encoder without encountering the Horizontal Size error.

Do you need my log files, or do you have a good idea of where the problem needs fixing?

[normanr]

I doubt that changing capture options in graphedit will affect gb-pvr (unless there's a system wide default you can change). I think the taking longer part is because GraphEdit is open, so no need for more log files at the point.

The plugin needs to have a 'quality profile setting' added to it to fix this here's hoping that i can find some free time soon

[rtiangha]

Ouch. Well, hope it isn't too painful to implement.

And this is a silly question (and I suspect the answer is that it makes no difference), but in the Software Encoder settings, there's no Canada option in the Country field so I picked United States since I figured we both use NTSC so it should work. Could that be contributing to the problem (I doubt it myself, but had to ask anyways )?

[normanr]

Yea, the canada country code is also 1 which is the us code too. If i showed all countries then I'm not sure which one to reselect.