WDM Recorder using Software Compression

[normanr]

Also noticed that in either case, when I go into the configure the WDM recorder plugin -> Recording Source, under Recording Source section of the Software Recorder Configuration dialog box, it always shows "Video:Composite". The dropdown has option for "Video:Tuner", which is what I think should be selected. But even if I select that, save it and then relaunch the Config, the Recording Source still shows Video:Composite and not Video:Tuner. Could this have something to do with the reason it says "No Tuner found"? Is there a way to ensure the Recording Source dropdown says "Video:Tuner"?

This sounds like it's not saving (or loading) correctly. If you use RecorderTest to edit the config does it stick?

[topperdude]

Norman,

I haven't yet had a chance to thoroughly test RecorderTest but I did run the executable and noticed there were two instances each of the different recorders available in the dropdown, i.e. two instances of "Direct Plugin Recorder", "G07xxx ...". Interestingly, although there were two instances of the WDM Recorder plugin, only one had "(Broken passthrough...)" next to it.

Not sure if this is something in GBPVR or RecorderTest that Sub needs to look at or something with my local installation of GBPVR that I could fix. Just thought I'd mention it in case there's anything I should do before I get to testing RecordTest more thoroughly. Any thoughts?

-Topper

[normanr]

sub has put code into the new version of GB-PVR that will load the plugin classes without the 'broken passthrough' warning. (They never used to load). This means in a later version of the plugin the passthrough code can now be removed.

RecorderTest was written by me (so that I could test my plugins), before GB-PVR loaded recording plugins. So it uses a slightly different method to detect and load the files (so you might get a different list). It's really just a framework for testing the recording plugins outside of GB-PVR's service engine.

[topperdude]

sub has put code into the new version of GB-PVR that will load the plugin classes without the 'broken passthrough' warning. (They never used to load). This means in a later version of the plugin the passthrough code can now be removed.

RecorderTest was written by me (so that I could test my plugins), before GB-PVR loaded recording plugins. So it uses a slightly different method to detect and load the files (so you might get a different list). It's really just a framework for testing the recording plugins outside of GB-PVR's service engine.

Thanks for the info Norman. I am still unclear why the RecorderTest tool shows two entries for each of the plugins in the dropdown. And is that something I need to consider or should I just ignore while using RecorderTest to configure?

Thanks again,
-Topper

[jmontana]

Also noticed that in either case, when I go into the configure the WDM recorder plugin -> Recording Source, under Recording Source section of the Software Recorder Configuration dialog box, it always shows "Video:Composite". The dropdown has option for "Video:Tuner", which is what I think should be selected. But even if I select that, save it and then relaunch the Config, the Recording Source still shows Video:Composite and not Video:Tuner. Could this have something to do with the reason it says "No Tuner found"? Is there a way to ensure the Recording Source dropdown says "Video:Tuner"?

In my experience, if you select "Video:Tuner" and save, it will correctly persist that value. It's just that when you relaunch the config, it doesn't read the value properly, and you have to reset it every time. This is true for both the config inside of GBPVR as well as RecorderTest (which uses the same code, so doesn't surprise me.)

Anyone know why my AIW 9000 won't give me any audio in preview mode unless I turn on the option that says Preview requires audio to be rendered (I don't remember the option name exactly.) ? If I turn on that option, the audio is out of sync with the video, so I am forced to watch in timeshift mode all the time.

[topperdude]

In my experience, if you select "Video:Tuner" and save, it will correctly persist that value. It's just that when you relaunch the config, it doesn't read the value properly, and you have to reset it every time. This is true for both the config inside of GBPVR as well as RecorderTest (which uses the same code, so doesn't surprise me.)

Anyone know why my AIW 9000 won't give me any audio in preview mode unless I turn on the option that says Preview requires audio to be rendered (I don't remember the option name exactly.) ? If I turn on that option, the audio is out of sync with the video, so I am forced to watch in timeshift mode all the time.

jmontana - Did you use GraphEdit to create a graph for your AIW or did the AIW 9000 start working with the WDM Recorder plugin out of the box?

Anyways, if you are familiar with Graphedit, here's a link (provided by carpeVideo in another thread) that may interest you: http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33792569. It has a lot of graphs and info for ATI based cards.

An interesting post I read on that thread was regarding the graph for AIW 8500. The user (who seems to have a lot of experience with various ATI cards) mentions that "older" AIW cards had more "separate components" that needed to be included in the graph for proper playback whereas newer AIW cards the functionality is integrated so there are fewer components. Per the post, having fewer components, I understand, makes it easier to create a graph programmatically and probably the reason why newer analog cards might be easier to get to work with GB-PVR and similar software. For example, while building a graph for my AIW Radeon, I found it created a graph with the "standard components" (e.g. Audio Crossbar, Tuner, Video Crossbar, Mux, etc) that looked like it should work, but rendering this graph only provided audio, no video when "rendering" this graph. When I looked at the ATI components installed on my computer, I noticed there were a lot more than the "standard components" and I am guessing I may have missed adding some required components in my graph.

I also noticed there was a component that may be used to fix the sound delay (don't recall its name but it was something like ATI Audio Sync filter or something like that). You may want to try using GraphEdit to see if some component like this is installed on your machine and if so, create a graph with that component and see if that fixes the problem. If that works, then maybe you can try carpeVideo's plugin and see if the issue gets resolved in GB-PVR.

My knowledge is pretty limited as I've just started playing around with GraphEdit, GB-PVR, etc, so I hope someone more experienced can correct me if my understanding is not correct.

Hope it helps,
-Topper

[jmontana]

jmontana - Did you use GraphEdit to create a graph for your AIW or did the AIW 9000 start working with the WDM Recorder plugin out of the box?

Out of the box. I must admit I don't understand how to take a graph from GraphEdit and make GBPVR use it. Is there a tutorial for that?

Anyways, if you are familiar with Graphedit, here's a link (provided by carpeVideo in another thread) that may interest you: http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33792569. It has a lot of graphs and info for ATI based cards.

An interesting post I read on that thread was regarding the graph for AIW 8500. The user (who seems to have a lot of experience with various ATI cards) mentions that "older" AIW cards had more "separate components" that needed to be included in the graph for proper playback whereas newer AIW cards the functionality is integrated so there are fewer components. Per the post, having fewer components, I understand, makes it easier to create a graph programmatically and probably the reason why newer analog cards might be easier to get to work with GB-PVR and similar software. For example, while building a graph for my AIW Radeon, I found it created a graph with the "standard components" (e.g. Audio Crossbar, Tuner, Video Crossbar, Mux, etc) that looked like it should work, but rendering this graph only provided audio, no video when "rendering" this graph. When I looked at the ATI components installed on my computer, I noticed there were a lot more than the "standard components" and I am guessing I may have missed adding some required components in my graph.

One of the few times I looked at the graph, I remember seeing a LOT of components, and one of them was orange. I don't recall which one right now. I'll check when I get home.

I also noticed there was a component that may be used to fix the sound delay (don't recall its name but it was something like ATI Audio Sync filter or something like that). You may want to try using GraphEdit to see if some component like this is installed on your machine and if so, create a graph with that component and see if that fixes the problem. If that works, then maybe you can try carpeVideo's plugin and see if the issue gets resolved in GB-PVR.

Thanks. I'll look. The really weird part is that when I initially installed GBPVR I was able to use the card in preview without that "requires audio to be rendered" checkbox and it was in sync. After upgrading to 99.5, and now to 99.12, that won't work anymore. Along the way, I definitely played around with ATI drivers and whatnot, so I don't think it's GBPVR that's the problem.

Just frustrating that I know it can work, but I can't figure out how!

[topperdude]

Thanks. I'll look. The really weird part is that when I initially installed GBPVR I was able to use the card in preview without that "requires audio to be rendered" checkbox and it was in sync. After upgrading to 99.5, and now to 99.12, that won't work anymore. Along the way, I definitely played around with ATI drivers and whatnot, so I don't think it's GBPVR that's the problem.

Just frustrating that I know it can work, but I can't figure out how!

I wonder if while playing with different ATI Drivers, you ended up installing one that needed the Audio Sync filter to be separately included in the graph to fix the audio sync problem.

My original AIW Radeon does not work with the most recent drivers found on ATI's website. Here's a link that may give you more info for your card. The first few posts may be helpful to you in figuring out which version of ATI drivers may work best with your card:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33870258

Here's another link that you can use to find older drivers that may work with your card:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33873367

Hopefully this will help resolve the issue and you may not have to mess around with GraphEdit.

-Topper

[jmontana]

I wonder if while playing with different ATI Drivers, you ended up installing one that needed the Audio Sync filter to be separately included in the graph to fix the audio sync problem.

My original AIW Radeon does not work with the most recent drivers found on ATI's website. Here's a link that may give you more info for your card. The first few posts may be helpful to you in figuring out which version of ATI drivers may work best with your card:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33870258

Here's another link that you can use to find older drivers that may work with your card:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33873367

Hopefully this will help resolve the issue and you may not have to mess around with GraphEdit.

-Topper

That looks very promising. Thanks for the links! I'll definitely give this a try.

[dshoup]

I'm begining to think sub has broken the plugin saving code somehow. After you change settings try, hitting the all the OK buttons until the config app saves and restart the service. Then re-open it add see if your changes have persisted. (In the worse case you can use the recordertest to change your settings)

I have tried this with no success. I seem to be having the same problem as topperdude (post #1236). Therefore, I tried using the recordertest.exe program. It does not work either. Recordertest also loses my settings the same way that the main configuration utility does. It also fails to render a video image. I some times when I click on the Preview TV or Record TV buttons, I get the error “Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the application will close immediately”. There can then be a variety of things listed under this message such as “Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040217”, and “Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component”. Other times it brings up a video window, but there is not picture (window is black).

I can get a video image in graphedit (see attached files). I get video with the configuration shown in the files (rendered VP pin). I also get video with this configuration and the VPVBI pin rendered to the same video port manager, and I get 2 functioning video screens if I have the VP pin rendered (with or without VPVBI) and I also render the capture pin (renders to a new box called video renderer 0011). If I just render the capture pin without the VP pin rendered at the same time it says this graph can’t play and I get a black video window. As an aside, I do not get audio in graphedit using these configurations (I assume I would need to add audio filters to the graph—but I did not mess with it long enough to figure this out).

Any suggestion on how to get the software recorder to recognize & remember the proper recording source? (by the way...welcome back, its great to hear from you!)