Help with my PC.

[wodger]

Hi,
I've had disappointing results with my PVR thus far and am wondering if people could comment on my PC/specs.

I don't necessarily want a hard-out HTPC.. I want to be able to record freeview via DVB-S and watch a recorded program at the same time OR record something and surf the net at the same time OR watch a recorded program and surf the net at the same time. I realise that is probably a little bit like a friend of mine who said "I don't want much from my laptop, I just want to be able to play games like Warcraft and maybe watch movies and DVDs on it".

That said, I can put up with some jitter and less than 100% quality, but what I've had so far has been boardering on terrible. THAT said, it's usable, but it is actually tempting me to just buy a satellite capable PVR device, which I don't really have the money for!

So far my experience in using my PC as a PVR has been jittery playback and/or recordings. If the file itself was recorded ok, then VLC plays it back perfectly, but GBPVR doesn't. I have read through the sticky topic on this, tried the direct-x file downgrade trick, checked the mux's in use on my system, done a fresh install of XP and tried again.. all with very little change. Putting everything in config onto the Cyberlink options (decoder, renderer and multiplexer) and that helped, but not greatly.

The main problem with jitter and jumping playback (and/or recording) seems to be when the PC is BOTH playing AND recording something at the same time.

Here are the specs of my PC, sure it isn't all that uncommon and should be capable of something useful?! Or maybe it isn't?!? I'd be very grateful people's time in commenting on it and offering suggestions of things I can change/try to make it better.

Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. 8PE667 1.x
2.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
1024 Megabytes Installed Memory
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with TV out (playback is dualview, full screen on the TV)
Hauppauge HVR-3000 (using satellite input only)
IDE hard drives:
[Hard drive] (200.05 GB) -- drive 4 - USB drive
[Hard drive] (120.03 GB) -- drive 3
[Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 2 - recordings go onto here
[Hard drive] (40.02 GB) -- drive 1
[Hard drive] (80.03 GB) -- drive 0 - system's C drive
(There is no CD drive connected via IDE.)

I do suspect that the video card isn't up to scratch, but it does play back perfectly via VLC... I am considering dumping the HVR-3000 in favour of a NOVA-S-PCI because it appears to be compatible with mythtv, in case I decide to try that. Is that a good option with regards to GBPVR? I ONLY use freeview via satellite as my analogue reception is no good at my house.

I really need bang for buck, and dont' want to spend a huge amount of money. If the cost of getting what I want out of PC based PVR solutions approaches $600 then I'll seriously considering spending that plus a bit more to get a dedicated PVR box and leave my PC free for other stuff.

Again, people's comments and time appreciated.

Cheers
Julian.

[stustunz]

my personal experience with dvb-s
i tried all the muxes they all seemed to give me similar results
either they stopped recording early or missed bits or were jumpy
the good news is if you choose dvr-ms (microsoft mux) then the recordings are fine
only problem is you get get dvr-ms files instead of mpeg which are easier to stream etc
i think to use the cyberlink mux you need a really stronge signal (big dish)

the mx440 is a bit below spec but some say it works as long as you use the latest drivers

as for video/audio decodes
up till last week i was sold on the nvidia video decoder but have found a cyberlink one to be a better alround decoder for both mpeg and dvr-ms
i still use the nvidia pure video audio decoder as this is the only audio decoder which will put the sound to the correct speakers (ie speaking to centre speaker)

[wodger]

I just tried dvr-ms.. it was better while recording and playing back at the same time (timeshifting), but it starting jumping and then pausing after a couple of minutes. What are the specs of your computer? Have you solved the problems, or is it an uphill battle?

[stustunz]

i have 6600 nvidia card (soon to replaced with 8500 or better)
sempron 2800(1.7ghz)
1G ram
xp 2005 media centre(basically xp pro)

i use full screen exclusive
cyberlink video decoder
hardware accel on (you may not be able to use this with your card hence the jumpiness)

you need to figure out where the bottle neck is im guessing the mx440

i have 3 analog tuners and one dvb-s (hvr4000)basically the same as the hvr3000

i am pretty happy with the play back right now have had some real headacks getting it to where it is from trial and error sorry there is no silver bullet

but personally i always try for hardware acceleration on the video card
reason been is that then when the the system needs to do other stuff there is less chance of jumpiness in the playback

does it record the file fine if not time shifting then playing it back

[Captcol]

Have you tried watching it in just single screen rather than dual, your vid card may be struggling with the dual application.

Do your temperatures play up at all on your graphics card?

[McBainUK]

I do suspect that the video card isn't up to scratch, but it does play back perfectly via VLC...

VLC is probably using a different render and so getting the CPU to do more of the work.

With a P4 like you've got you may get some mileage using Overlay mode. See here.

edit: OMG, I've been reading American posts on here to much, I've just used the phrase "mileage" to mean how well something will perform...

[wodger]

If recording and then playing (without doing anything else at the same time) it's usually fine, yes.

[wodger]

Have you tried watching it in just single screen rather than dual, your vid card may be struggling with the dual application.

Do your temperatures play up at all on your graphics card?

When playing with VLC it plays fine on dualview. I've got speedfan, but I'm not sure where to get the video card temperature. Other temps seem fine.. see attachment (taken when not playing a movie, admittedly.) There is a fan not shown on there (taken from an old power supply) blowing air over the HDDs.

[stustunz]

i found the cyberlink audio decoder caused things to stop after a few minutes what are you using for that

there is no way i wpould even atempt to run 2 monitors off that card and expect the video to be ok
sorry it just wont do it

[wodger]

there is no way i wpould even atempt to run 2 monitors off that card and expect the video to be ok
sorry it just wont do it

I hear ya, but what do you make of the fact that it works fine under VLC? What would be the best bang-for-buck agp video card that I could get to replace it? Has to have TV out dualview..