No audio on one client PC

[pgoelz]

I know this is simple but I haven't figured it out yet....

I have GBPVR 1.3.7 running fine on one PC. I have it running as client on two other PCs using file sharing (works better than streaming over wireless). All PCs are running WinXP Pro SP3. The server is wired to the router and the two clients are wireless G. I know the issues with wireless, but I don't think this is related.

On the server and one wireless client PC, everything works fine. Videos play fine and audio is fine.

On the other wireless client PC, videos play for maybe 10 seconds with no audio and then they freeze. If I try to play the same file (still over the network) in WMP11, the same thing happens, and the WMP process hangs and will not shut down. I have to kill the WMP process using task manager.

I checked the codecs on the server and the client that doesn't work and made sure the same codecs were present and in the same order. Still doesn't work.

GSpot says the codecs required are installed, but the names it shows don't match anything in th elist of installed codecs.

I find this whole video / codec thing intensely frustrating and confusing. Is there any easy way to sort it out?

Paul

[sub]

On the other wireless client PC, videos play for maybe 10 seconds with no audio and then they freeze. If I try to play the same file (still over the network) in WMP11, the same thing happens, and the WMP process hangs and will not shut down. I have to kill the WMP process using task manager.

GSpot says the codecs required are installed, but the names it shows don't match anything in th elist of installed codecs.

You might need to install some other decoders and try them.

[pgoelz]

No, I'm pretty sure the needed codec is there. It used to work. I just can't figure out how to determine A) what codec is required and B) what codec WMP or GB-PVR is actually using since what Gspot displays doesn't match the actual codec names (ie., filenames) in control panel and since I don't know how to view what WMP is actually using.

Is this a job for Graphedit? I hope not.... I could never figure that program out.

Paul

[sub]

What decoders do you have selected on the playback tab? Best to not use 'system default'.

[pgoelz]

That's the funny part.... it didn't matter what decoders I selected. For example, I selected ffdshow but it didn't seem to be using it even though it was installed. At least the tray icon never showed.

I did the brute force thing and removed a couple codec packs (that used to work) and then re-installed K-lite and everything works again (PVR and WMP11).

In the same vein.... while everything works on the client PC now, the video aspect ratio is 16:9 even when I set it to 4:3. The monitor is a 16:9 monitor... is something reading the monitor type and over riding the 4:3 setting in Config?

Thanks,
Paul

[sub]

I did the brute force thing and removed a couple codec packs (that used to work) and then re-installed K-lite and everything works again (PVR and WMP11).

Yeah, as I thought - decoders.

In the same vein.... while everything works on the client PC now, the video aspect ratio is 16:9 even when I set it to 4:3. The monitor is a 16:9 monitor... is something reading the monitor type and over riding the 4:3 setting in Config?

Its worth noting you need to have the video decoder set to something other than 'system default' for aspect ratio control to work. You may also need to press F7 until you get to the 'auto' mode.

[pgoelz]

Ah, bingo! On two counts. I missed the fact that I needed to select something other than system default. I also missed the F7 thing (which appears to persist from session to session?). All is well now. Thanks!

I should add that for me anyway, wireless seems to work OK if I stick to file sharing. There are occasional hiccups and very momentary freezes but it recovers. If I switch to streaming, it does not recover from the hiccups. The only down side is that live TV doesn't work at all well with file sharing.

Paul