Graph and TVPI external recorder beta

[carpeVideo]

The files shouldn't be missing, I incorporated everything into the code so it no longer uses it as a library.

I'll repost the source in a day or so.

[MediaDept]

Hi CV,

attached you find the recorder logs. I recorded 3 programs (SECAM, PAL, SECAM): The first recording was OK, the second one also, but the third one wasn't. It shows wrong colors again. They are all recorded with the same graph setup, so the second one should have showed up with wrong colors, instead the third one did

I hope the logs are helpfull to you.

Thanks.

MediaDept

[carpeVideo]

Hi,

Did you try the 1.5 beta?

[MediaDept]

Hi CV,

things were quite busy here, but today I did some testing one the new version. I started with a complete new installation of GB-PVR. Copying the gbpvr directory from your zip over my installation directory wasn't enough to get it working. Copying the files also into the plugins directory directly solved this issue. After some experiments, I found a simple solution for NOT storing all the files twice:

1. The plugin files only go to [GB-PVR directory]\Plugins\graphRecorder
   
2. change the privatePath in all the xyz.config files
   your version:
   
   Code:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
   <runtime>
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
         <probing privatePath="plugins"/>
      </assemblyBinding>
   </runtime>
</configuration>
   
   my version:
   
   Code:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
   <runtime>
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
         <probing privatePath="Plugins\graphRecorder"/>
      </assemblyBinding>
   </runtime>
</configuration>
   
   
3. save a copy of gbpvr.exe.config as PVRX2.exe.config in order to get the plugin working together with PVRX2
   

Afterwards I configured one set of graphs and set the video standard to SECAM_B and the mixer options according to my setup (see graphSetA.jpg). The result was as expected: The PAL channel had horrible colors and the SECAM ones were brilliant (on LiveTV as well as some recordings).

Playing a bit with the mixer settings showed, that the mixer settings in your plugin don't work as expected. If "Line In" is selected for recording in the windows mixer, this setting remains during a recording, but it should be "CD In" selected, as it is configured in the plugin. Neither does the unmute/mute feature work.

The last thing I tried was setting up a second set of graphs (using the same graph files as set A) for tuning the PAL channels (graphSetB.jpg). During preview, the picture freezes and the sound stopps when changing from a SECAM channel to a PAL channel or otherwise. But, when I change from SECAM to PAL (the picture freezes), leave the LiveTV and wait some seconds and the reenter the preview the channel is tuned with the right format. See the LiveTV-logs for details.

For me, it looks like a synchronisation issue as the two graphs are using the same resources (tuner card, encoders and so on).

When doing some recordings, the behavior is different: Two back on back recordings using different graph sets as well as two recordings with some time in between, work fine.

In addition I've got another "feature request": my capture device only uses a resolution of 320x240 pixel wich results in a very bad quality (the picture is streched in vertical direction and at the bottom several lines are missing). In the Software Recorder is a possibility to set the capture size per quality profile. When setting the capture size to full PAL resolution the picture is great (the complete picture is captured with correct aspect ratio). Unfortunatly, (until now) I've got no idea, where those values have to be set (neither in the DirectX-API nor the registry or some other place where the defaults are stored).

Thanks for your great improvements on this plugin

MediaDept

[carpeVideo]

Thanks for testing, unfortunately I am out of town so my debugging is even more limited than usual. On the audio side I need to re-write the selection code for the output to make the mute/un-mute from a drop down due to language issues that may fix several other issues. (is your PC using French ?)

Try another option for your pal/secam issue - create two graph recorder sources and use the same unique device ID on the first tab then GBPVR will do the conflict resolution. Another user is reporting that works well for him.

Oh and thanks for the config help - I will make that change in the next release.


As to the resolution issue this was actually one of the reasons for the utility as filters have more settings (sometimes less) than the software recorder allows - it is usually in several places. First the capture device filter, then usually the MPEG encoder, it may be on the filter or on an output/pin (I can't look at an example here). Your results may vary as some filters retain their settings in the graph and some don't (as you have already experienced). Their is a fix to that but it requires loading each graph during the config and creating a method to save the settings outside the graph, which unfortunately is too much of a time sink for me.

CV

[MediaDept]

Hi CV,

thanks for the tipps about the resolution issue, I will have a look at the filters and report. Regarding the mixer settings: my PC is located in Germany (with an English Version of XP Pro SP2) and I'm receiving PAL as well as SECAM encoded programs over one analog cable. That's why everything is a bit complicated here.

I will also try setting up two capture sources instead of two sets of graphs. What does the device ID have to look like? Is it a simple integer?

Thanks for your help
MediaDept

[carpeVideo]

What is generated is a simple integer (1,2,3) - although the return value is a string so I think it can support anything.

[psicotron3]

Hey MediaDept,

Let´s share some info

Code:
---------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urnchemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<probing privatePath="Plugins\graphRecorder"/>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
</configuration>
---------
3. save a copy of gbpvr.exe.config as PVRX2.exe.config in order to get the plugin working together with PVRX2

Great!! That will do the job. And we won´t have to include plugin files everywhere anymore. But here I´m starting to think...
SoftwareRecorder (if in use) will have to be placed at the same folder. And what about the other plugins? If we put more than one folder on that line we´ll never know from what folder the plugin is reading its files.

Playing a bit with the mixer settings showed, that the mixer settings in your plugin don't work as expected. If "Line In" is selected for recording in the windows mixer, this setting remains during a recording, but it should be "CD In" selected, as it is configured in the plugin. Neither does the unmute/mute feature work.

Besides the unmute/mute, the selection for what mixer line is used for capture works very well here. It´s changed as soon as the recording starts. Looks like it´s based on searching the "Audio Capture Filter" inside your graph and selecting a matching entry. You may try to search on the filter properties and see if it can be selected there and what is the name of "CD In" (That was the case here with "Line In" using a differente name). I couldn´t find any Audio Capture Filter in you logs, from where do your gaph gets the audio to be rendered?

The last thing I tried was setting up a second set of graphs (using the same graph files as set A) for tuning the PAL channels (graphSetB.jpg). During preview, the picture freezes and the sound stopps when changing from a SECAM channel to a PAL channel or otherwise. But, when I change from SECAM to PAL (the picture freezes), leave the LiveTV and wait some seconds and the reenter the preview the channel is tuned with the right format. See the LiveTV-logs for details.

I have a similar problem with freezing preview, as I already told CV.

In addition I've got another "feature request": my capture device only uses a resolution of 320x240 pixel wich results in a very bad quality (the picture is streched in vertical direction and at the bottom several lines are missing).

On my setup resolution can be saved with the graph. I do the following:

Unconnect the "Video Capture" output pin, right click THE PIN (not the graph) and select "Pin Properties" you´ll find the resolution settings there Change it to whatever you want, reconnect the filters by draging the line (don´t use the "Connect Filters" button) and save your graph. Hopefully the graph will save your resolution setting.

To get the properties page for the Video Capture Output Pin you may need to have proppage.dll inside graphedit folder and registered into windows (with "regsvr32 proppage.dll").

[MediaDept]

Hi psicotron3,

SoftwareRecorder (if in use) will have to be placed at the same folder. And what about the other plugins? If we put more than one folder on that line we´ll never know from what folder the plugin is reading its files.

On the net, I found the following about .config files:

You can customize this behavior by specifying a privatePath in your application's configuration file. The privatePath is a semi-colon delimited list of directories in which the common language runtime will search for private assemblies. These directory names are relative to the application base - they cannot point outside the application base. The directories on privatePath will be searched after the application base itself. The following configuration file adds a bin directory to the assembly search path.

http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/...hpath.aspx

As far as I understand, the information in e.g. gbpvr.exe.config is only used by gbpvr.exe, not by the files (plugins) related to gbpvr.exe. That is, gbpvr.exe is searching all the paths mentioned in the privatePath attribute for plugins. Each of the plugins has its own search path (i. e. its subdirectory). I don't have any other plugins installed (at the moment) because I'm still at the very beginning of setting up this machine so I don't know whether "normal" plugins also need those .config files.

Besides the unmute/mute, the selection for what mixer line is used for capture works very well here. It´s changed as soon as the recording starts. Looks like it´s based on searching the "Audio Capture Filter" inside your graph and selecting a matching entry. You may try to search on the filter properties and see if it can be selected there and what is the name of "CD In" (That was the case here with "Line In" using a differente name).

OK, I'll have a closer look at this tomorrow. When I tested it today, enabling the CD In mixer input didn't work, but perhaps I can work it out. Let's see ...

I couldn´t find any Audio Capture Filter in you logs, from where do your gaph gets the audio to be rendered?

In this case from nowhere, as it was only LiveTV and no recording. As soon as my card gets tuned, the sound is available over the CD Volume for playback. Thats why my preview graph only consists of tuner, a/v crossbar, video capture device and renderer.
BTW traversing the graph in order to find the audio devices shoudn't be necessary as they are explicitly mentioned in the plugin config ...

I have a similar problem with freezing preview, as I already told CV.

Alright, I'll test out CV's proposal using two different capture sources tomorrow. Let's see how it behaves then.

On my setup resolution can be saved with the graph. I do the following:

Unconnect the "Video Capture" output pin, right click THE PIN (not the graph) and select "Pin Properties" you´ll find the resolution settings there Change it to whatever you want, reconnect the filters by draging the line (don´t use the "Connect Filters" button) and save your graph. Hopefully the graph will save your resolution setting.

Thanks for the details. I hope my capture device is as smart as yours

MediaDept

[MediaDept]

Hi CV,

What is generated is a simple integer (1,2,3) - although the return value is a string so I think it can support anything.

I just browsed a bit through your source code and found the following:

Code:

public override string getUniqueDeviceIdentifier()
{
    // this should return a unique string for each physical device.
    return "GraphRecorder:" + GRconfig.oid.ToString();
    return "GraphRecorder:" + GRconfig.uniqueDeviceId;
}

Which variable do you want to be returned?

MediaDept