zero-byte recording with TV Walker Mini and PVR150 combo

[jksmurf]

Right,

I am getting a zero-byte recording, and while there are quite a few previous threads on this, hopefully it is OK to start new one for this specific device/combination of devices (PVR150 and Lifeview TVWalker Mini USB).

I have scoured the forums and recent solutions yield:

1. Try the Native Utilities Patch 12 July 2006. I have this installed. No go.
2. Check you have a MUX Filter installed. Yes, I believe I do. I tried three runs with simultaneous Walker Mini and PVR150 recordings and got 0kb recordings on all of them, for the Walker only. The PVR150 recording grew normally each time. Test details below, with logs.
3. Signal Strength? It's fine, I tested using a DSL box.
4. My system is so old I'm afraid if I ever ask it to hibernate it will never wake up. So I don't use that.
5. I have more than sufficient HD Space.

From previous posts/discussions with sub, the Walker Mini should work with either the native Mux HTMpgMux.ax or with the IVIMux.ax from WinDVD Creator. The three runs I tried confirmed that one or the other of these was being used. I tried:

(i) Native TVR ONLY installed but NOT WinDVD Creator. HTMpgMux.ax was used (in Livepreview) view gorecorder graph. A 0-byte recording made on the Walker when I did a quick record. Exited gracefully.

(ii) Native TVR NOT installed but WinDVD Creator ONLY installed. IVIMux.ax was used (in Livepreview) to view gorecorder graph. A 0-byte recording made on the Walker when I did a quick record and the system appeaerd to just continue recording (both Walker and PVR150 recordings) way PAST the end of the shows. System locked up, no way to ctrl-alt-delete. Switch off to reboot. (Exited rather disgracefully). I used WinDVD Creator3 Trial btw. I have not (yet) tried WinDVD Creator2, but the 0-byte issue is problematic for both the HT and IVI muxes.

(iii) Both the Native TVR AND WinDVD Creator installed. HTMpgMux.ax was used (in Livepreview) to view gorecorder graph (which I am given to understand means the filter has a higher "merit" than ivimux.ax). A 0-byte recording made on the Walker when I did a quick record. Exited gracefully as in (i).

Now, LIVE TV when the Walker Mini is used works fine when either the HTMpgMux.ax or the ivimux.ax are used by the Walker, except that (maybe due to slow startup/USB bus hog or whatever) the USB-UIRT channel changer did not work. It works fine when only the PVR-150 is set up in GBPVR. I'll leave THAT issue for later.

Cheers and Ta

k.

p.s. Quick Q about muxes. I have generally always installed the whole TVR and Creator progs, as it installs a bunch of filters. However, if I can identify the 1 or 2 filters it appears to use from lastgraph or gorecorder, presumably it is OK JUST to register those, rather than install a massive prog I'll never use i.e. it doesn't need any of the dll's or multitude of other filters? This would seem to be the case from the folks installing the Cyberlink Mux, for e.g. If this is the case, I'll just make myself a mux dir and a batch file to register those, for future use.

[sub]

To be honest, I dont even want to look into this. The Lifeview TVWalker Mini USB is a piece of crap.

[jksmurf]

The Lifeview TVWalker Mini USB is a piece of crap.

Oh. ... Well that would be my general assessment too. I guess I'm just annoyed I bought it and it's just been sitting in the cupboard for almost a year. So I thought I'd drag it out again, and knowing a bit more (enough to be dangerous) about how all this stuff works, I'd thought I'd try and beat it into submission ... "work, you barsteward" ... I guess I was hoping a NativeUtilities.dll patch similar to the one you produced for the HVT1300 devices would fix it once and for all.

Would this then mean that all the other similar "sister" GO7007 devices (with essentially the same mux filters) are also cr*p? i.e. the "RoverMedia TeleBox U2", "micro CATCH TV Walker", "Typhoon TV PVR Universal", "Sinovideo Nicam TV USB" (and maybe even the "Leadtek Winfast TV Walkie") because this would seem to be the case (this note is in case anyone else is intending to try to use such a horrible thing).

k.

[sub]

I know how you feel, but there is just too few people with this device. Its just not worth me focusing my time on. Same goes for all the GO7007SB devices.

When I'm not answering questions on the forums, I'm trying to squeeze in some development time for the next release. I'd rather be spending time doing that development, that supporting this temporamental device that probably has only half dozen users. Its better to spend that time on mainstream devices like the Hauppauge and ATI ones, or the BDA DVB devices. Improvements in these areas will benefit a large number of users.

Whilst I havnt done anything to explicitly break it, I havnt plugged mine into my machine in over a year. A lot of stuff has been changed in that year.

[jksmurf]

No worries, at least I know where I stand. I might plug away a bit on my loneseome and report any successes (or failures as the case may be), but won't trouble you any more with requests for help for "the thing".

Cheers
k.

[KingArgyle]

jksmurf....I believe if you are using MPEG-2 as your output format, the GBPVR support for this is broken in the last couple of releases. Only MPEG-4 seems to be working on my end.

[jksmurf]

jksmurf....I believe if you are using MPEG-2 as your output format, the GBPVR support for this is broken in the last couple of releases. Only MPEG-4 seems to be working on my end.

Well now that IS interesting. I never even thought to try MPEG4 because of my MVP transcoding weakness. No wonder I've been pulling my non-existent hair out... I think I need to give up while I can still count the follicles on one hand. Sub has already stated (and fair enough, what he says makes sense, greater good and all that) he isn't going to pursue it. Might have to bite the PVR500 bullet, or another PVR150 if I can biff one of my PCI cards.

Lucky you :-)
Cheers for that!

k.

[KingArgyle]

I don't know if he can do it because of Non-Disclosure agreements or to that nature, but it might be nice to extract the Walker and Plextor code from GBPVR, and release it to the community. This way it could be maintained and tweaked as a recording plugin. This way somebody doesn't have to start entirely from scratch.

[sub]

Sorry, the GO7007SB stuff is covered by non disclosure agreements.

[KingArgyle]

I suspected that it would be.