File Sharing playback issue

[Bob27]

Hello,

After much testing I believe I have found a bug which causes problems with File Sharing and files that are growing in size (ie being recorded).

I have been having a program with my setup here (which has a server and 4 client systems, all XP Pro systems except one Vista client). Basically when you are using the File Sharing method to stream files across the network, recordings which are currently being recorded as well as live tv stutter horribly. After reading the forum posts it seems many people are having the same issue. I want to use File Sharing because it seeks much faster than Streaming.

I decided to investigate and narrow down the issue as much as possible.

I have tried many codecs (NVIDIA, Cyberlink, DScaler) and all have the same problem. On the other hand VLC works fine on the same file. CPU usage is low during the stuttering.

This issue occurs with both an analog card and DVB.

Interest to note that I believe this is a client issue. I say this because if I go into Video Library and play a file which is currently being recorded though there (from PVR software which isn't GBPVR) I get the exact same stuttering. When I stop the recording and play the file again GBPVR plays it normally.

Of further interest, if the recording is happening on a Linux server then GBPVR can play the file back fine, but it does not detect that the file is still growing and cuts off after it thinks it reaches the end of the file (which would have been the end of the file when the playback began). It's likely the Linux server is not telling the Windows system of the changing file size.

Further information, if you set the server to store it's files on a remote system then you get the same stuttering even when played back on the server itself.

With the information above I believe the issue is in the way the GBPVR handles growing files over the network.

Maybe if GBPVR limited how often is recalculated the playtime this issue will be solved?

I am happy to provide more information here if needed. Sorry for the long post but this is the one and only issue I am having with GBPVR, otherwise it is a fantastive piece of software.

[stustunz]

just use streaming and the problem goes away

[Bob27]

This isn't a good solution for me. I find streaming to be slow, especially skipping forward/backward through a file.

I'm pretty sure this is just a bug in GBPVR.

[whurlston]

Of further interest, if the recording is happening on a Linux server then GBPVR can play the file back fine, but it does not detect that the file is still growing and cuts off after it thinks it reaches the end of the file (which would have been the end of the file when the playback began). It's likely the Linux server is not telling the Windows system of the changing file size.

Sounds like you are recording in transport stream format. This issue is because there is no directshow source filter that can properly handle a transport stream file while it is growing. Those of use who used the HDHomeRun before the BDA drivers were released are quite familiar with the problem. We could watch live tv or a completed recording. We could not timeshift or watch a currently recording program because of it. It is not a GB-PVR problem but a directshow filter problem. The HDTVPump creator was working on it but I'm not sure if he ever came up with a solution.

Further information, if you set the server to store it's files on a remote system then you get the same stuttering even when played back on the server itself.

Are you sure this is not a network issue? I'm not saying it is, but you may want to check.

[Bob27]

Sounds like you are recording in transport stream format. This issue is because there is no directshow source filter that can properly handle a transport stream file while it is growing. Those of use who used the HDHomeRun before the BDA drivers were released are quite familiar with the problem. We could watch live tv or a completed recording. We could not timeshift or watch a currently recording program because of it. It is not a GB-PVR problem but a directshow filter problem. The HDTVPump creator was working on it but I'm not sure if he ever came up with a solution.

Is this issue just related to BDA or analog as well? I have the same problem with both.

This did get me thinking of trying to play a file currently being recorded by GB-PVR in the Video Library on the server itself (as in setup config to look in the Recordings folder for ordinary video files). Playing the file this way played perfectly where it would badly stutter on client systems reading the file over the network.

So the issue I have is with using GBPVR to play a growing file across a network. I'm kinda out of ideas on this pretty big issue for me.

Are you sure this is not a network issue? I'm not saying it is, but you may want to check.

No, it was the first thing I checked. I have had a similar configuration with other programs (Media Portal, MythTV) without issue. Also VLC is able to play these files without issue.

[stustunz]

vlc doest not
it only plays upto the point where you started it well it did when i tried it (so its not exactly sharing the file or streaming)
ive been down this road no one gave me any answers that helped getting it to work
i put it down to my server machine not having the speed
thats why i just put up with slowness of streaming
others have asked if we could have the best of both but sub said no
but sub did say he had made some changes for the next release so maybe it will be faster