some technical issues & usage questions

[joshuawood]

Hi,

First, some techincal issues:

1. When I pause tv I just get a black screen. Audio and video stops. However audio and video is recorded (see 2). The total time (right hand side time counter) doesn't appear to increase either, and starts off at 1 hour. It looks to save to disk correctly, starting with a 0 byte file and increasing.

2. Playback of recordings has no sound, but video is fine. Video and sound play back in say VLC, so audio is recorded ok.

3. Is it possible to transcode the saved streams on the fly? 1gb per 10 minutes of footage is rather disk space consuming

4. I'm trying to determine if hardware decoding is enabled. What sort of cpu usage should I expect if this feature was working? I'm on a core 2 2.4Ghz, 4ghz ram, nvidia 9600 mobile gt, XP pro sp3, .net (all) is installed, using VMR9.

5. How does the EPG work here in NZ? It's set to use the DVB EPG, but I often get no data...It seems I only got data when I first updated it (and then still there was missing data). Do I still need to update it manually? I thought it would have just got new data as the tv streams come in?

I've tried to research these issues but get lost and over my head.

Some questions about the usage of the software.

a. For some reason, I'm finding it rather unintuative. I've tried reading the wiki but still get lost. I understand how the livetv preview vs timeshift mode works, but for eg, when I pause livetv and enter timeshift mode, how do I unpause and play?? There is no OSD play button.

b. What does the "..." button on the timeshifted tv OSD do? It does nothing for me. But neither do the other related timeshift buttons, so perhaps it's due to the video not showing...?

c. Also, why is there no record button? Ctrl+k doesn't seem to work for me.

d. When I paused livetv just now, at the top between current time and total time is the progress bar. This is red and is about 1/3 the length between the two times... shouldn't it be at the far left if I've only just started timeshift mode?

Thanks

[scim]

Having recently changed from using timeshift mode to Live Preview mode I can confirm that I am also seeing problem number 1 on your list. The timeshift file is produced, grows quite happily and can be viewed remotely using vlc etc while GBPVR is still paused but all I get on GBPVR is a black screen which doesn't change if I press play.

[sub]

These answers are assuming you're using DVB-T in New Zealand.

1. When I pause tv I just get a black screen. Audio and video stops. However audio and video is recorded (see 2). The total time (right hand side time counter) doesn't appear to increase either, and starts off at 1 hour. It looks to save to disk correctly, starting with a 0 byte file and increasing.

2. Playback of recordings has no sound, but video is fine. Video and sound play back in say VLC, so audio is recorded ok.

I suspect these two a related. Can you play a recording, then post the pvrx2.exe.log and pvrx2.exe-native.log?

3. Is it possible to transcode the saved streams on the fly? 1gb per 10 minutes of footage is rather disk space consuming

No its not. For digital channels it'll always record the original bit stream transmitted by the broadcaster. Hard disk is cheap, and adding more is a much better solution than looking at transcoding.

4. I'm trying to determine if hardware decoding is enabled. What sort of cpu usage should I expect if this feature was working? I'm on a core 2 2.4Ghz, 4ghz ram, nvidia 9600 mobile gt, XP pro sp3, .net (all) is installed, using VMR9.

If you're getting hardware acceleration working, your CPU will be down around approximately 15% or so. I'm not 100% sure you'll get the H.264 acceleration working on XP. Vista+EVR renderer is what Microsoft recommend for H.264 acceleration. Depending on the video decoder and videocard drivers you're using, you might get lucky though.

5. How does the EPG work here in NZ? It's set to use the DVB EPG, but I often get no data...It seems I only got data when I first updated it (and then still there was missing data). Do I still need to update it manually? I thought it would have just got new data as the tv streams come in?

They dont transmit the multi-day DVB EPG on New Zealands DVB-T system. They only transmit the now/next show information, which is next to useless in a PVR setup - you need to use xmltv instead.

a. For some reason, I'm finding it rather unintuative. I've tried reading the wiki but still get lost. I understand how the livetv preview vs timeshift mode works, but for eg, when I pause livetv and enter timeshift mode, how do I unpause and play?? There is no OSD play button.

The OSD buttons are pretty crappy. I'm not that interested in mouse control, so these buttons havnt had a lot of attention. The pause button toggles pause on/off (ie resumes playback if clicked again).

b. What does the "..." button on the timeshifted tv OSD do? It does nothing for me. But neither do the other related timeshift buttons, so perhaps it's due to the video not showing...?

Subtitles.

c. Also, why is there no record button? Ctrl+k doesn't seem to work for me.

Again, I dont care about mouse control. Press the record button on your remote.

d. When I paused livetv just now, at the top between current time and total time is the progress bar. This is red and is about 1/3 the length between the two times... shouldn't it be at the far left if I've only just started timeshift mode?

Assuming you had the EPG working, this is showing you're you're watching an hour long show, the red bit is the bit of the show that isnt available, the green bit is the bit that is available.

[joshuawood]

Firstly, here are the 2 logs you wanted from playback of a recorded show.

I got hardware accel working. Previously I was around 35-50% CPU, but I added some registry info telling the codec to use VMR9, and it's now around 15% as you said, spiking to around 30% when OSD stuff like the mini guide.

Thanks for answering my UI questions, they all make sense. But about the NZ EPG, I'm not getting the current/next show info unless I force an EPG update. I don't care about a weeks listings etc via xmltv, but would be nice to have the current/next info if that's possible to get going.

Two more questions:

Over the last few days I've had about 2 errors, abnormal program termination or something, I forget exactly what sorry. Both were the same and close GBPVR. This might be a rouge issue.

Since I tried recording a channel, it seems GBPVR will automatically start recording when I now launch liveTV. I know this because when I make config changes it warns me it is currently recording, but I have not manually started this. Wonder if it's related to my issues with timeshifting/ recorded playback.

Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.

[sub]

But about the NZ EPG, I'm not getting the current/next show info unless I force an EPG update. I don't care about a weeks listings etc via xmltv, but would be nice to have the current/next info if that's possible to get going.

GB-PVR pretty much ignores now/next, and wants a full multi-day EPG so only collects the info when it does an EPG update. It couldnt schedule recordings off now/next etc, so thats of no use to GB-PVR.

For xmltv, you can set your xmltv filename to "http://epg.pvr.geek.nz/epg/listings-freeview.xml.gz", and it'll automatically download the xmltv listings for you. Worth noting though, best to recreate your capture source rather than just changing the EPG setting, since the channel names will be slightly different.

Over the last few days I've had about 2 errors, abnormal program termination or something, I forget exactly what sorry. Both were the same and close GBPVR. This might be a rouge issue.

You'd need to post the logs when it happens.

Since I tried recording a channel, it seems GBPVR will automatically start recording when I now launch liveTV. I know this because when I make config changes it warns me it is currently recording, but I have not manually started this. Wonder if it's related to my issues with timeshifting/ recorded playback.

When you make config changes, it needs to restart the recording service, which will interfere with any recordings or live tv that is occurring. The warning may say "currently recording" if a tuner is in use (even if not recording, but watching live tv).

If you've got 'use live preview mode' ticked in the config app, then it wont be actuall recording to disk when watching live tv.

[joshuawood]

Ok I set up the EPG anyways. Thanks. Any suggestions as to why recordings don't play back sound, or I get a black screen in timeshift mode?

[sub]

Any suggestions as to why recordings don't play back sound

Reproduce this, and post the logs and I'll see if anything stands out.

[joshuawood]

I did, they're about 4 posts up. Or do you want new ones?

[sub]

It looks like its trying to use the monogram decoder for playback of AC3 audio for some reason. I'm not sure how that would happen, and havnt seen it here.

Have you applied all the patches from the survival guide thread?

[joshuawood]

Yes, but I haven't added this:
<BDAUseGenericNPForATSC>true</BDAUseGenericNPForATSC>

Because that doesn't appear to apply to me. Nor have I applied the MS .net remoting hotfix because I'm not getting that crash.

Why would it be trying to play back AC3? I don't use TV3 AC3, only TV3 AAC, as I have no surround sound setup. So it should have recorded in AAC and play back in AAC.

I don't believe I have an AC3 filter/decoder installed full stop. Do I need one? I don't see why if I'm not using AC3.