ZProcess/FFmpeg wait time...

[zehd]

re: [ZProcess] Cannot play more than 1 movie per session
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=21572

First off, can somone please move the above thread to the ZProcess sub-forum... Thanks

Anyway, the person who posted the above thread was unable to have ZProcess play a second video. I just wanted to hammer out the transcode concept some more. Maybe something has changed in GBPVR...

OK. ZProcess has been around for a bit, but to reiterate, ZProcess is a front-end for ffmpeg. It acts as a go between for GBPVR and ffmpeg.exe when someone wants to view an avi file on an MVP. It does that by faking out GBPVR to think IT is ffmpeg.exe...

Anyway, the way I understand it,
1 User asks the MVP to play xyz.avi.
2 GBPVR knows it can't play avis, calls ffmpeg to transcode on the fly to mpg
3 serves the mpg to the mvp. User 'thinks' he's watching an avi...

During #2, GBPVR asks ffmpeg to make a temp mpg named after the MVP and it's mac address. Let's call that mvp1234.mpg. It's created in the recordings folder.

On the first transcode, while watching the movie, the transcode progress can be watched. The right number keeps increasing until it gets to the end... When the movie first starts, the 'end time' starts at around 10 secs but tries to keep ahead of the current location pointer.

On the second movie, the end time is the length of the PREVIOUS movie... In theory, the end time should be zeroed out again because we are starting a new transcode. But instead it's getting the end time from the pre-existing mvp temp file (I think)..

In previous versions, GBPVR used to wait for the new MVP1234.mpg to be recreated, before it attempt to serve it to the MVP (I think)

But now, I think GBPVR is seeing a preexisting MVP1234.mpg file and starting to serve that, despite ZProcess/FFmpeg furious attempt to crank out the new MPG during that 5500 Transcode Pre-Delay.

The result is, I think, GBPVR thinks it playing one file, but when ZProcess/FFMpeg starts transcoding, the rug gets pulled out from under GBPBR and it drops to the Video plugin screen...

Is that the case? Should I write logic into ZProcess to delete any preexisting mvp1234.mpg right at the start, and then start transcoding the new file?

Thanks guys...

[sub]

On the first transcode, while watching the movie, the transcode progress can be watched. The right number keeps increasing until it gets to the end... When the movie first starts, the 'end time' starts at around 10 secs but tries to keep ahead of the current location pointer.

On the second movie, the end time is the length of the PREVIOUS movie...In theory, the end time should be zeroed out again because we are starting a new transcode. But instead it's getting the end time from the pre-existing mvp temp file (I think)..

This makes me think the temp file for the first movie was unable to be deleted for some reason.

When it receives any request to playback a file from the MVP it does the following:

1) checks the requested file exists
2) if its an AVI file, it deletes the temp file from any previous run, then starts ffmpeg
3) waits for file to be created
4) opens the media file
5) reads the duration.

In previous versions, GBPVR used to wait for the new MVP1234.mpg to be recreated, before it attempt to serve it to the MVP (I think)

But now, I think GBPVR is seeing a preexisting MVP1234.mpg file and starting to serve that, despite ZProcess/FFmpeg furious attempt to crank out the new MPG during that 5500 Transcode Pre-Delay.

Its still waiting for the file to exist, but if the prior step to delete the file failed for some reason (ie, still in use by another process), then yes it'll see the old file.

[zehd]

On the second movie, the end time is the length of the PREVIOUS movie...

I should have said that the MVP/GBPVR only displays this Previous movie's end time during the Transcode Predelay time, and then when the transcoded file starts, it shows OK. I suppose that end time data is coming from somewhere. I thought it was the registry

This hasn't bothered me too much as it only lasts for a second, and the end time is dispayed as correct...

Perhaps, Hemme (from other post) and I are trying the second movie too fast. and the clean up hasn't had a chance to complete... I'll check that out today.