DVB-T in New Zealand

[smctainsh]

Hi,

Firstly, my apologies if this has already been asked or already been posted in the forums.

I have been searching for a solution to a problem I've had recently. I recently downloaded GB-PVR and installed it, and configured my TV Tuner (Pinnacle PCTV 300e) to work with it. Next, I scanned for digital channels, and my TV tuner picked them all up successfully. However, when I open GB-PVR and attempt to view the digital channels, for every channel I only get audio and no video whatsoever - just a blank screen.

I was wondering if CoreAVC would work with this (in order to get H.264 playback as required by NZ DVB-T) so that I could receive the video as well. Also, any ideas on performance of CoreAVC (in terms of speed, etc.)?

Thanks in advance for any replies, and great job on GB-PVR!

Smctainsh

[dgrind]

Not sure about CoreAVC but the Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra works a treat. Give it a go. Have had no problems at all with video using that.

[antcodd]

Not sure about CoreAVC but the Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra works a treat. Give it a go. Have had no problems at all with video using that.

Hi, I'm actually a friend of smctainsh's. Did the powerDVD codec work out of the box? What filters are you using, any other settings I should know about? I bought powerdvd deluxe the other day specifically for TV but I can't get hardware acceleration to work (so it is too slow) - I've been trying to get it working for days :mad:. Cyberlink support spent days not replying to my email then sent back a response of how they don't support HDTV! I've sent them a rephrased email not mentioning HDTV and using some other H.264 file as an example - hopefully they will actually dignify that with an answer. It's so frustrating where it works for everyone else.

Thanks,
Anthony

Geforce 7900GT
Vista Home Premium 32bit
AMD Athlon64 3500+
PowerDVD 7 Deluxe 7.0.2414

[dgrind]

Worked right out of the box for me. Installed "Vista Codec Pack" back before PowerDVD and GB-PVR but don't think any of that is actually being used and to get the AAC audio working have installed the suggested MONOGRAM decoder.

Now that I look at it, it does seem like although I am getting video I am not getting hardware decoding when playing/watching TV through GB-PVR. Try recording something and then playing it back in the Cyberlink player. My CPU usage (Q6600) drops from 30% (software decoding) to approx 5% hardware decoding when playing in their player.

[antcodd]

Worked right out of the box for me. Installed "Vista Codec Pack" back before PowerDVD and GB-PVR but don't think any of that is actually being used and to get the AAC audio working have installed the suggested MONOGRAM decoder.

Now that I look at it, it does seem like although I am getting video I am not getting hardware decoding when playing/watching TV through GB-PVR. Try recording something and then playing it back in the Cyberlink player. My CPU usage (Q6600) drops from 30% (software decoding) to approx 5% hardware decoding when playing in their player.

Thanks for the quick reply,

Do interlaced channels work properly for you (more than a blank screen that is)? I don't even get acceleration in PowerDVD. Does your information tab in PowerDVD configuration show 'DirectX VA (in use)' when you play a H.264 file in it? I'm thinking more and more it's my out of date build not working properly in vista, there are several newer updates but I can't get them to install (they claim "This product is already install"). I'm trying to get a full download out of Cyberlink like they recommend.

Thanks for the help,
Anthony

[dgrind]

Do interlaced channels work properly for you (more than a blank screen that is)?

Interlaced channels work fine.

Does your information tab in PowerDVD configuration show 'DirectX VA (in use)' when you play a H.264 file in it?

Yes it does. Also on the video tab there is a tick box labeled "Enable Hardware Acceleration" which is checked

I'm thinking more and more it's my out of date build

If I remember right the H.264 codec wasn't in PowerDVD until after 7.0 (7.2?) and you need PowerDVD Ultra to get it. Does your version of PowerDVD support H.264 decoding?

Looking at the PowerDVD site shows

MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) NEW†

† Denotes video features only available in PowerDVD Deluxe or the HD264 Pack

Make sure that you have the correct version which is able to do H.264 playback.

Good Luck

[antcodd]

Interlaced channels work fine.


Yes it does. Also on the video tab there is a tick box labeled "Enable Hardware Acceleration" which is checked


If I remember right the H.264 codec wasn't in PowerDVD until after 7.0 (7.2?) and you need PowerDVD Ultra to get it. Does your version of PowerDVD support H.264 decoding?

Looking at the PowerDVD site shows


Make sure that you have the correct version which is able to do H.264 playback.

Good Luck

Yeah I have PowerDVD 7 Deluxe which does support H.264. I don't get the hardware acceleration box ticked during playback (though it is stick during DVD playback) and get DirectX VA (not in use).

PowerDVD has a weird version numbering scheme - 7.0 is normal, 7.2 is Ultra and 7.1 and 7.3 are special OEM versions for blu-ray or hd-dvd drives apparently.

It is good to know that it is definitely possible to make it work - I'm fairly confident it is the out of date build I am using that is the problem. It's just a matter of waiting for the response from cyberlink with the full version download of the latest build.

Thanks again,
Anthony

[sub]

I'm pretty sure the Geforce 7900GT doesnt have the type of H.264 acceleration support required for decoding our streams. I think you need either an nvidia 8xxx or ATI 2x00/3xx0.

[sub]

I've had the coreavc decoder working here. It gives nice low CPU and has major screen corruption when changing channels. I've asked the author of CoreAVC about this, and he indicated he is aware of the problem and hopes to fix it in the future.

For now, I'd just recommend people stick with the CYberlink H264 decoder.

[smctainsh]

Thanks for the replies.

I purchased the HD264 pack from Cyberlink and I only get video on TV1 and TV2, and not on any other channels. Is there a solution to this?

Also, I have an nVidia GeForce Go 7400; would that be capable of H.264 hardware decoding?

Thanks in advance,
Smctainsh