imperfect playback win7 HD Homerun NPVR

[msea2011]

Hello, I recently installed NPVR on my win7 system using silicondust HD Homerun single tuner. The quality is fairly good, but has imperfections, in terms of blips/very short freezes or delays in the audio for sure, less noticeably on the video (?)

Here are my system specs>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
win7 / i3 3.0Ghz / 4 GB RAM / Win7 HP
intel integrated graphics: is this a problem ?
NPVR settings> video renderer-EVR, audio renderer- default/directsound speakers,
codecs>microsoft DTV-DVD for everything except AC3 audio:AC3Filter
180W power

HOWEVER, I will say that if I use the quickTV application offered from SiliconDust, I can watch HD live streams with NONE of the imperfections noticed from within N-PVR -- it's a quick,small application from the manufacturer

I have thought about upgrading my video to a standalone card, although I am concerned about power (180W) in this slim line desktop unit (lenovo H320)

Thanks for input!
_M

[Reddwarf]

You should try some other video decoders that supports DXVA, perhaps the Cyberlink. Try downloading CCCP or K-lite codec pack.

[msea2011]

Thanks Reddwarf-- I downloaded standard K-lite codec pack -- do you have any recommendations for what options to select for

1) MPEG2 video (ffdshow,lav,p2g)
2) H264 video (ffdshow dxva, ffdshow, lav,
3) MPEG1 audio (ffdshow,mpeg, lav,p2g,ac3filter
4) AC3 audio (ffdshow,acfilter,lav,p2g
5),6),7) e-ac3,aac,he-aac are disabled

??
Based on the stated specs of my system, do you believe I should be able to use NPVR without any blips/imperfections for HD streaming?
Do you have any sense of what are the minimum specs for hd streaming? do you think using systems with integrated video is a bad idea for overall system strain / etc?
thanks!
M

[Reddwarf]

I have never got good results with ffdshow, some people claim they have. I'd recommend Cyberlink decoders (they can be found in HDPack and SDPack from dvbsupport.net). Your specs looks good, however I don't know about the integrated graphics, but with a Asus/ATI HD3450 or better it should run smooth.

[mvallevand]

Based on my reading I think you should be fine with the i3 internal graphics, except at 24fps because of a bug in the Sandy Bridge hardware. In fact for North American QAM and ATSC you should be ok with the Microsoft MPEG2 DTV-DVD decoder and AC3Filter, ffdshow or LAV for AC3. Is your problem with both LiveTV and Recordings? Do your Recordings play ok in Windows Meda Player or MPC-HD (which is installed with K-Lite) If it is only LiveTV I highly recommend this in the Renderers section of config.xml

<ForcedLiveTVClock>AC3 Audio Renderer</ForcedLiveTVClock>

I use ffdshow with no problem but you need to enable and mpeg2 decoder which k-lite leave blank. Hit the .. button in NPVR and in the MPEG2 format section pick a decoder. I use libavcodec

Martin