2.5.5 Black screen during Live TV (Analog)

[johnsonx42]

FWIW, analog livetv still works fine here, so it's not a problem affecting all analog. (also on my desktop client, which does run dual monitors)

[whyukon]

FWIW, analog livetv still works fine here, so it's not a problem affecting all analog. (also on my desktop client, which does run dual monitors)

Johnsonx42: what MPEG2 video decoder are you using?

[johnsonx42]

Win 7 Microsoft DTV-DVD on the htpc, ATI Mpeg-2 on the desktop client (which was a surprise to me... I guess it's just the last thing I happened to test).

[whyukon]

Win 7 Microsoft DTV-DVD on the htpc, ATI Mpeg-2 on the desktop client (which was a surprise to me... I guess it's just the last thing I happened to test).

Maybe it's not relevant, but I'm on Vista 32-bit, Dell Vostro 1320 notebook with Intel graphics. I'm back to wondering if there's an issue with the graphics driver. I just updated to a newer driver, but no change... still black screen on Live TV.
Anyone have any other ideas on what the issue could be?

[mvallevand]

I am not having problems with analog SD recordings or live tv with Vista 32 and the Intel IGP and I've tested many decoders. When you playback. I do see that the fake OSD popups up

2012-08-05 19:44:00.245 [DEBUG][1] Using fake OSD

and that in the past happened for content that NextPVR thought was encrypted, but there would be other log entries for that.

Perhaps right click the screen, select the audio track options, and then post your logs. Maybe the metadata will show something else.

Martin

[whyukon]

I have discovered something that might provide someone with a clue as to what's going on. With my Dell Angel USB Analog device, my CPU usage under Live TV was normally (before version 2.5.5) fairly low. Now, under Live TV, the CPU usage starts low (remember that the video displays for about 1/2 second), then steadily climbs up to an average of around 65%. This amount of CPU usage was similar to what I used to get with my Hauppauge 950Q. The Dell Angel has MPEG hardware encoding, but the 950Q does not.
This leaves me wondering whether this new version of NPVR may not be correctly handling some specific tuners, and with the Dell Angel, not even making use of its hardware encoding, while in "Live TV" mode.

I kept a backup copy of the previous version of NPVR, and it is still working (at least as far as starting Live TV goes). The old version uses much less CPU. I did copy the Device section for the "Angel USB" device from my old AnalogDevices.xml to the new AnalogDevices.xml. So, does anyone have any idea why NPVR 2.5.5 would use so much CPU in Live TV, as if the tuner required software encoding, while also failing to display the video?

BTW, if I first start recording a programme using the TV guide, and then play it while recording, my CPU usage is much lower, averaging around 20%. So, it seems as if the recording feature is using the hardware encoding, but the Live TV is doing something else. Might this be due to the way that the PIP feature has been implemented? Just a guess.

[roy]

I have the same problem with all my tuners. Live TV goes black after 1 second, still have audio, and if I resize the window, the video appears in lower left corner. This is with EVR. VMR9 FSE works, but no OSD appears.

[whyukon]

roy, that's the same behavior that I'm getting. VMR9 FSE does work, but it's not satisfactory for me, because I normally start NPVR on my second monitor, and with VMR9 FSE, the video then displays on my first monitor in full screen, hiding/covering up everything that I had running on the first screen.

So, there are now at least three of us reporting this problem, reddwarf, roy and myself. What do we have in common that is causing this problem, and what can we do to overcome this? I cannot use this latest NPVR the way it is. Is there anyone else out there with the same problem?

[sub]

I have discovered something that might provide someone with a clue as to what's going on. With my Dell Angel USB Analog device, my CPU usage under Live TV was normally (before version 2.5.5) fairly low. Now, under Live TV, the CPU usage starts low (remember that the video displays for about 1/2 second), then steadily climbs up to an average of around 65%. This amount of CPU usage was similar to what I used to get with my Hauppauge 950Q. The Dell Angel has MPEG hardware encoding, but the 950Q does not.
This leaves me wondering whether this new version of NPVR may not be correctly handling some specific tuners, and with the Dell Angel, not even making use of its hardware encoding, while in "Live TV" mode.

Your logs show it's definitely using the on-board hardware MPEG2 encoding.

If it's not using it, then get other components like the 'MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder' listed in graph, which aren't present in your logs:

2012-08-05 19:43:55.329 [DEBUG][6] Graph filter list:
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - NPVR Writer2
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - NPVR Writer
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - Infinite Pin Tee Filter
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - MainConcept (HCW) MPEG Multiplexer-Plus
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - MPEG-2 Demultiplexer
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - Angel USB Encoder
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - Angel USB MPEG Device
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - Angel USB Crossbar
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - Angel USB TvAudio
2012-08-05 19:43:55.330 [DEBUG][6] - Angel USB TvTuner

[whyukon]

Your logs show it's definitely using the on-board hardware MPEG2 encoding.

If it's not using it, then get other components like the 'MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder' listed in graph, which aren't present in your logs:

Thanks, sub, for the explanation. This still leaves me wondering what's going on. Why would my CPU usage be so high, especially if the HW encoding is working properly? What could be the problem, and where would I look for answers (answers to why my video goes blank, why that is happening to some but by no means all other analog users, and why my CPU usage is so much higher than it was with the previous NPVR version)? From what you have said, nothing much shows up on the logs, so how would I go about finding the source of the problem? Is there other debugging or logging that I should try?