HVR-1600 QAM, GBPVR hangs during recording

[Anthony]

I've been trying to record digital stations from a QAM cable source with my HVR-1600 tuner cards (I have two).

Unfortunately, I haven't had much success. A few shows complete successfully, but most of the time GBPVR freezes during recording. No errors or anything, it just acts like it's still recording the show (in the status display and the tray icon), but the show actually stopped recording partway into the show.

I've tried changing the <BDAUsePsiParser>false</BDAUsePsiParser> to false, but it still hangs during recording.

Didn't know which logs to send, so I've attached them all.

What now? Fall TV season is starting soon, so I'd like to get this working!

Thanks,

Anthony

[Anthony]

I never received a response to this question, but I think I figured it out on my own. It was apparently a signal strength issue.

I purchased a Motorola 484095-001-00 Signal Booster and installed it before my splitters. I ran the WinTV scan again and didn't see any difference in the quality readings, but it seemed to run a little more stable.

So, back in GBPVR, I've been recording several digital stations this last week. All have completed successfully and without difficulties.

I've also noticed the analog stations look nicer now too. None of the "snow" in the picture that had been there before.

I don't know if my cable signal was just weak, or if I had split the signal too many times, but the Signal Booster seems to have solved my problems.

Anthony

[sub]

OK, cool. Signal strength would probably have been my first guess.

[Anthony]

I guess I spoke too soon... I'm still having problems with some of my QAM recordings.

GBPVR appears to record the show without difficulty, no errors or anything. However, the entire show is an unwatchable "mess" of digital noise. Bits and pieces of the picture are all over the place (I clipped a frame and attached it to this message).

My signal strength appears to be good. I can record another show on the same station and it will turn out fine. But every few shows or so I end up with these messed up recordings. Naturally, it's usually the shows I'm most interested in.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Anthony

[Anthony]

I did a little more experimenting. It seems the bad recordings are all with one station afterall (Local NBC station).

I tried changing the <BDAUsePsiParser> option back to "true", but it had no effect on the recording.

I also tried switching GBPVR to the Cyberlink MUX in config, but noticed GBPVR is still producing DVR-MS files? Shouldn't it make MPG files?

Help!

Anthony

[Anthony]

More observations...

I can WATCH the suspect channel on "Live TV" in both GBPVR and WinTV. No noise or errors of any kind.

However, RECORDING the suspect channel results in an unwatchable file, whether I record in GBPVR or WinTV.

What's going on, and how do I fix it?

Anthony

[sub]

I also tried switching GBPVR to the Cyberlink MUX in config, but noticed GBPVR is still producing DVR-MS files? Shouldn't it make MPG files?

It'll only use the Cyberlink mux if you actually have it installed.

What is the output of muxchecker on your machine?

[sub]

It could be a playback problem. What video decoder are you using?

[Anthony]

Hi Sub,

> What is the output of muxchecker on your machine?

-----
GB-PVR has detected the following multiplex filters on your machine:

Found: InterVideo Multiplexer
FILE:
VERSION: $ê

Found: CyberLink MPEG Muxer
FILE: c:\winxp\system32\mpgmux.ax
VERSION: 5.0.1307
-----

I don't know what the Intervideo Multiplexer is. It looks garbled and doesn't give any info about the file, so I don't know where it's located or how to delete it.

In any case, I selected the Cyberlink multiplexer in GBPVR (Misc tab of config application) but still get DVR-MS files out.

> It could be a playback problem.
> What video decoder are you using?

I do not watch videos in GBPVR.

I watch most of my videos over my network using a TViX M-4000 media player.

On the computer, I use "Media Player Classic".

I've also tried Windows Media Player 10 with the raw DVR-MS files.

In all cases, the video (and audio) is garbled and choppy, if it plays at all.

I've tried loading the bad files into VideoRedo, but they look just as garbled there and it often reports errors in the file (seems to vary wildly from file to file).

As far as the installed codecs, I'm not sure where to check that to give you more info.

But like I said, I can WATCH the same show live, on the same station, without difficulties. It seems the problem is only when recording.

Anthony

[sub]

In any case, I selected the Cyberlink multiplexer in GBPVR (Misc tab of config application) but still get DVR-MS files out.

Do a recording then attach the GBPVRRecordingService.exe.log and GBPVRRecordingService.exe-native.log and I'll take a look.

(when it comes to high def, most people find the Microsoft DVR-MS mux does a better job with these high bitrate streams, but we'll see why its not using the cyberlink mux so you can at least try...)