New user new install and a few "issues"

[johnsonx42]

read the section in the getting started sticky about posting logs. also please ensure you have installed all the required microsoft updates.

[longjohn119]

You don't mention what video card you have. Probably the quickest and cheapest fix would be find an ATI HD series videocard, even an used one as long as it's the HD series and run ATI's Avivo codec and let the GPU do most of the computing instead of your CPU. It should knock down your CPU usage 15-25 percentage points, it's kind of halfway between a software ddecoder and a full hardware decoder. Even coupled with the options in the ATI driver that are traditionally CPU hogs like noise reduction and color enhancement it uses less than any other codec I have and looks better than the Microsoft WTV or PowerDVD 7 codecs for HDTV. It also comes with the Avivo Converter which can convert about any format to another and faster than any other converter I've used. (Including the one nVidia has the audacity to charge you extra for) You also get an H.264 codec and the converter will convert to and from that format. You can probably find something $40 if you shop around for instance Tiger Direct has an HD2400 AGP for 35 bucks. You aren't going to run any high end games on it but it's a DX10 card and made for HDTV and works with the Avivo codec and converter. Cripes the codec and converter alone are worth that much

[Reddwarf]

I just discovered that the CPU usage is 40 - 50% when watching an old Gun Smoke Western rerun in BLACK AND WHITE. Maybe I just need to find a more efficient Video Decoder that requires less CPU resource than the HCW MPEG-2 Video Decoder that I 'm using now. Anybody know of a good readily available MPEG-2 Decoder, preferably a free one?

You can google for CCCP and install it (Combined Community Codec Package), it should provide better results, but much depends on the video card and its support for DXVA.

[rkircher]

You don't mention what video card you have. Probably the quickest and cheapest fix would be find an ATI HD series videocard, even an used one as long as it's the HD series and run ATI's Avivo codec and let the GPU do most of the computing instead of your CPU. It should knock down your CPU usage 15-25 percentage points, it's kind of halfway between a software ddecoder and a full hardware decoder. Even coupled with the options in the ATI driver that are traditionally CPU hogs like noise reduction and color enhancement it uses less than any other codec I have and looks better than the Microsoft WTV or PowerDVD 7 codecs for HDTV. It also comes with the Avivo Converter which can convert about any format to another and faster than any other converter I've used. (Including the one nVidia has the audacity to charge you extra for) You also get an H.264 codec and the converter will convert to and from that format. You can probably find something $40 if you shop around for instance Tiger Direct has an HD2400 AGP for 35 bucks. You aren't going to run any high end games on it but it's a DX10 card and made for HDTV and works with the Avivo codec and converter. Cripes the codec and converter alone are worth that much

My video card is NVIDIA GeForce 6200 with a S-Video output connector to match my TV input. This card also uses a PCI slot to match the Sony Vaio Model PCV-RS520 motherboard that does not have PCI Express or later. I do have an AGP connector available tho. I could not find the Tiger Direct HD2400 AGPcard that you mentioned. Given my hardware, do you think the video card suggested will work?

I tried the CCCP (Combined Community Codec Package) decoders and the best video and audio combination of those still leaves me running at 75 - 87% CPU Usage. I can run Live TV for about a half hour now, but after that it just quits. If I reboot and try again I notice that there is about 1GB less space on my hard drive and still can only run for a half-hour. I don't understand what is actually getting overloaded and why. It does seem I need faster hardware components or do I need to start over with a faster computer?

My 3GHz Pentium 4 is twice as fast as the 1.4GHz minimum NPVR requirement. I've have 1.5 GB 400MHz FSB DDR RAM that is 3X the minimum NPVR requirement. I sure would like to keep my Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600 TV tuner card that is PCI slot also. I obviously need to receive HD TV because it is broadcast (I'm using an antenna for reception), but don't need high resolution output for S-Video on my TV set. Given my current hardware and low resolution viewing requirement, what is the best way to utilize NPVR and can I get there with a new video card using the hardware I have now? Also, would appreciate a little more help finding a video card with the Avivo codec suggested.

[sub]

The Nvidia 6200 is quite old now. I think this card has been around since 2004. I remember reading posts from people saying that this card doesnt have the memory bandwidth required to handle 1080i / 720p HD content. The consensus at the time was that a nvidia 6600GT was required.

If you google "nvidia 6200 1080i bandwidth" you'll find lots of pages discussing this.

[johnsonx42]

if you have an AGP slot, there are some good options available: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...ageSize=20

Ignoring the first two cards (9250 and HD2400), there are 3650's and 4650's to choose from in AGP flavor. May as well ignore the 4350, since you can get a 4650 for the same $.

[rkircher]

Thanks, I have the 4650 video card on order. Meanwhile, I have lost my EPG program information for the main network channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, etc. The entry shown in the guide is: "(no show details)". I spot checked the channel mapping, and clicked on the <Update EPG> button and it does not add any show details. I also ran my batch file that should update XMLTV.XML file with no change. The only thing I have done is clowned my small hard drive to a larger one using Norton Ghost. Everything seems to work and I think the clown was a complete success. Is it possible that the EPG data sources are unreliable at times or how can I trouble-shoot this problem?

[rkircher]

Thanks, I have the 4650 video card on order. Meanwhile, I have lost my EPG program information for the main network channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, etc. The entry shown in the guide is: "(no show details)". I spot checked the channel mapping, and clicked on the <Update EPG> button and it does not add any show details. I also ran my batch file that should update XMLTV.XML file with no change. The only thing I have done is clowned my small hard drive to a larger one using Norton Ghost. Everything seems to work and I think the clown was a complete success. Is it possible that the EPG data sources are unreliable at times or how can I trouble-shoot this problem?

I think I have found a temporary solution to the problem of not getting automatic TV Guide updates and having mostly "(no show detail)" entries in the guide. It seems that NPVR was not finding the updated XMLTV.XML file. After I copied the XMLTV.XML file from it's original location into the All Users\Application Data\NPVR directory, my TV Guide updated by clicking on the <Update EPG> button in Settings -> Channels. I don't know how to tell NPVR where to look for the XMLTV.XML file. If it searches for it, it may be finding an old copy first and not continue to look for the updated version. The only fix I can think of is to put a Windows Shortcut that points to the XMLTV.XML that is updated in its original location. Can anybody give me a better fix or can figure out what's going on? Alternately, is there a forum message that describes how the update process works and where files should be located to work properly?

[johnsonx42]

it doesn't search for it. It expects it to be in the same place it was when you first linked it to your channels.

[rkircher]

it doesn't search for it. It expects it to be in the same place it was when you first linked it to your channels.

NPVR must have saved the expected xmltv.xml location somewhere, but I guess you mean I can't change that location or look up where it is. I guess my problem is that I forgot where that location is in all the (my) confusion of trying different things to get it working in the first place. How can I set or reset the location where NPVR expects to find xmltv.xml? Do I have to repeat the whole NPVR installation procedure?

By the way, there is an NPVR status message that says it is searching for xmltv.xml. That is why I thought it was searching for it. There is never another result message that says it did, or did not find it. The only result is lack of program information in the TV Guide.