Skip in digital recordings

[Jaggy]

I am still having problems playing back recordings from Freeview satalite on the MVP with not skipping consistantly, same thing happens when entering a number & then hitting the skip key the resulting playback positon could end up anywhere in the recording.

On mvallevand's advice I have been trying to transcode these .ts recordings to .mpg's but the resulting transcoded recording still won't skip correctly, I started this thread asking for advice on transcoding http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=40792 but the response was small & the posted transcode settings still don't fix the problem, I'm fairly sure now after further testing that the one I thought was "great" doesn't actually fixes all the recordings either.

Right from the start of trying to use a digital tuner I have been wondering if the underlying problem is signal strength but looking at the log for my HVR-3000 after a recording the other night that had the random skip problem the lowest result were two -2500,100 (assuming -2500 is lowest) most were in the -3???,100 range & one up at -6599,100

2009-02-25 23:05:06.313 VERBOSE checking signal stats took total: 0ms (1,1,-2500,100).....(,0,0,0)
2009-02-25 23:11:37.204 VERBOSE checking signal stats took total: 16ms (1,1,-6599,100).....(,0,0,0)
2009-02-25 23:23:40.079 VERBOSE checking signal stats took total: 16ms (1,1,-3500,100).....(,0,0,0)
2009-02-25 23:33:42.657 VERBOSE checking signal stats took total: 16ms (1,1,-2500,100).....(,0,0,0)

does this look like it could be a signal issue?
I have a 900mm dish with the cable going directly to the HVR-3000 with no splitter or anything else in the circuit at the moment until I get this problem sorted out, so technically it should be a good signal.

I am using 1.3.11 & have multi record turned off at the moment as I was loosing post padding on the recordings from the analog tuners & the WAF was dropping rapidly as it is with the digital recordings not skipping correctly. This is really pissing me off as I have spent heaps & heaps of time on trying to fix this issue. All I want to be able to do is select programs we want to watch from the TV Guide & then later sit down to watch them & be able to skip the adds & if it skips to far jump back a bit.

Any & all help/advice would be welcome, after all the time I have wasted trying to get this to work I am quite happy to have to transcode all recordings to be watched later if there is a practical way by doing that to fix the skip problem & increase the WAF again.

[Jaggy]

I'm very surprised & hugely disappointed that no one out there doing any advanced transcoding of SD (mpeg).ts recordings to .mpg to fix up (what to me are apparent) timeline problems for good playback skips etc. I would have thought this was a reasonably common thing to do if the recording had issues??

Because of the WAF decline for the first time for well over three years I am thinking of looking at what other PVR software is available that may overcome this problem & I really don't want to do that

[mvallevand]

To be fair, transcoding is a problem for you because of an issue for MVP clients so it isn't that common a problem for other programs that only use PC clients. Because of the limited alternatives I can tell you that MythTV users are having the same problem with mvpmc and it doesn't look like transcoded files play well in SageTV either.

This isn't surprising since they both also use ffmpeg as transcoding engines, and an mpeg-ts file will be exactly the same whatever program you use to capture it.

Martin

[sub]

The MVP was a good choice when people were using analog hardware encoder devices, and capturing .mpg files. Its a poor choice now with the new digital TV systems popping up everywhere in the last couple of years. I've only used my MVP about once in the last year.

[Jaggy]

To be fair, transcoding is a problem for you because of an issue for MVP clients so it isn't that common a problem for other programs that only use PC clients. Because of the limited alternatives I can tell you that MythTV users are having the same problem with mvpmc and it doesn't look like transcoded files play well in SageTV either.

As I said in the other thread I don't have much understanding of this side of things, but I am (trying to anyway) learning fast. I never thought it was going to be such a pain or I wouldn't have allowed myself to be talked into adding digital when I did. At least I now know other PVR software isn't going to be the answer.

This isn't surprising since they both also use ffmpeg as transcoding engines, and an mpeg-ts file will be exactly the same whatever program you use to capture it.

You once suggested I needed to demux & then remux these files, could I ask ..how...with what program?? I just as a dumb idea (that probably won't work) if I transcoded then to something like divx & then transcoded them again to .mpg would that sort out the timeline?....I'm saying this not really knowing what the timeline actually is :confused:

The MVP was a good choice when people were using analog hardware encoder devices, and capturing .mpg files. Its a poor choice now with the new digital TV systems popping up everywhere in the last couple of years. I've only used my MVP about once in the last year.

Problem is (as you know) here in NZ it would cost me something like $1200 to replace the three MVP's with freight & the exchange rate, that "might" be possible if I actually got some sort of income, but unless things change a lot in the future that doesn't seem very likely at the moment But the one thing I do have (on & off) is time to learn new things

[sub]

The MVP was a good choice when people were using analog hardware encoder devices, and capturing .mpg files. Its a poor choice now with the new digital TV systems popping up everywhere in the last couple of years. I've only used my MVP about once in the last year.

Problem is (as you know) here in NZ it would cost me something like $1200 to replace the three MVP's with freight & the exchange rate, that "might" be possible if I actually got some sort of income, but unless things change a lot in the future that doesn't seem very likely at the moment But the one thing I do have (on & off) is time to learn new things

Sure, I entirely understand the frustration, and desire to get it work. This doesnt change anything though. The MVP isnt well suited to the streams that a lot of people are recording these days.

I have very little time available these days, and getting the MVP playing these digital streams is not a priority to me. Back when I first released GB-PVR in 2003, with MVP support, it was a really good match for what people were trying to do. Television has changed a lot since then. Its still a decent device for people with analog cards, but I couldnt recommend it for use with digital cards.

[mvallevand]

Jaggy, I wish I could give you better suggestions then I have but I can't. For cleaning the file in postprocessing.bat I'd recommend running it through tsremux or ts4np which allow command line passing. I think you will have better luck on google getting the detailed information you need on ffmpeg and these programs.

As for cost I hear you, outside the US the PCH is really priced for enthusiasts and not perfect either, while the price of a good quality fully compatible client is way too much for me right now too. I keep looking at cheaper alternatives myself.

Martin

[Etacovda]

try keeping an ear/eye out at your local university/college - i picked up two machines (pci-e, p3.4ghz, 1gb ram, 80gb sata hdd, case, keyboard, mouse, dvd drive and 15" lcd monitor) for 300nzd - thats 173usd...

(thread drag i know, but still appropriate)