Colossus issue with 3.3.8

[johnsonx42]

I guess it's about time I got the sticky updated for 3.3.8, as we already have a critical patch... I don't have time at the moment, but will later tonight.

[johnsonx42]

for the patch description, does this fix apply only to Colossus, or HD-PVR devices as well?

[ScaryBox]

I'll chime in here. Hopefully it will be helpful, but I'm no where near as knowledgeable as you folks.

System i5 on an Asus MOtherboard. 8Gb Ram. Various Hard Drives. Windows 7 Home Premium. Two Colossus Capture Cards.
Two Cogeco Cable (Canada) Digital HD receivers connected via HDMI to the capture cards
Output is to an LG HD TV via HDMI for video, SPDIF output from the native (onboard) optical on the motherboard to a LG 2.1 sound bar.
I am currently running without antivirus just incase that was an issue.

I have read the posts here and post 473612 and I am sure that it's all the same trouble I have been having and it's been around since 3.2.9

As with everyone else, using 3.2.9 restarting the recording service always corrected the problem, so I just had Task Scheduler reboot the computer every day at 4am. I was also experiencing the change channel issue where, when the channel was changed either via the guide, channel up/down, or entering the channel numbers the blaster would change the channel on the STB but Npvr/nrecord couldn't sync/pickup the capture. Then I discovered that the capture card was capturing and nrecord/npvr was writing the temp .ts file and the file could be played using vlc player etc etc. So I came to the conclusion that there was a bug in npvr that would get repaired in a fix or update. Didn't worry about it much as the daily reboot left me only dealing with the channel change and, if I hit stop and then livetv it would play on the new channel just fine.

Installed 3.3.8 and these behaviours remained the same plus I now had the choppy/stutter livetv and recordings (including the temp .ts files).

I have tried various decoders. Turn on/off the "wait longer before" and "restart livetv channel change" settings. - no result.

I tried changing the priorities of the services to above/below normal. Even put my computer into a "clean boot" state to ensure as few as possible services were running. No result from any of these

Tried this: Closed all npvr programs and disabled service. Started the WinTV recording service and ran WinTV. - capture still stuttered not as badly but every 6-7 seconds. Picture was much better but it "seemed to me it was the audio capture that was getting inturupted and causing the picture to stop. (Audio/Video timestamp sync thing?) Could change channels no problem but stutter existed right away. This behaviour in WinTV did not exist with 3.2.9 installed.

Then I tried this: Arcsoft Capture software - capture was better but still stuttered a tiny bit here and there. stutter was evident in the captured file when viewed in vlc. This behaviour did not exist with 3.2.9 either.

I think they are two separate issues.

That being said, the question in my mind is; What has changed with the install of 3.3.8 that could effect both the WinTV recording service and the Arcsoft capture software even when npvr and npvr recording service are not even running?

Sorry for my babble but I thought maybe a more detailed description might help here.

Still lovin the Npvr! Great stuff Sub! And everyone else who helps out!

I'm off to make some logs.

Cheers

[johnsonx42]

did you notice that sub posted a patch http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post480491 which several users reported fixed the issue?

[ScaryBox]

Ack and I forgot to ask.....Sub is the npvrwriter.ax you last uploaded a fix or just the extra logging you mentioned?

[ScaryBox]

Me oh my, I prolly shoulda gone to bed a while ago. Sorry guys. Thanks Johnsonx42 wasn't clear on the fix versus logging thing.

[ScaryBox]

Fix worked perfect. Channel change good now too. Thanks guys. I know I'm a little slow, but sometimes get lost in the forums looking for fixes/info etc. Apologies if I seem a bit dopey on the forums.

[sub]

I guess it's about time I got the sticky updated for 3.3.8, as we already have a critical patch... I don't have time at the moment, but will later tonight.

FYI, I also did a quiet update of the installer to roll in this patch.

[sub]

for the patch description, does this fix apply only to Colossus, or HD-PVR devices as well?

I'm not sure it. Potentially it could have happened to Colossus/HDPVR/HDPVR2 and even Analog, which all share this component, but I suspect it was only happen with Colossus and only in a certain scenario (related to the varying sizes of the packets being delivered by the device).

[ScaryBox]

Hey sub.

Looks like the problem with channel change still exists for me. Doesn't happen every time but after 2 or more channel changes in succession. Live buffer file writes ok, so I know the capture starts and is good but npvr either doesn't play it, or plays it after a 12 second delay, or plays it in a choppy/stuttering fashion.

I've attached logs for you. Let me know if I can do more.

Ken