My HTPC is an Acer Aspire X1200-U1520A (specs). The computer is connected to a Samsung (don't have the model number handy at the moment) 37" HDTV (720P native). Two tuners are installed. The first is an ATI 650 Combo PCIe and the other is an AverMedia M780. Operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium. My cable provider is Comcast (Baltimore - Essex, Maryland).
I've been using WMC for some time. WMC has always just worked on my system. No performance issues, artifacts, or anomalies in video or audio.
I'd like to get the same results with NextPVR, but so far I haven't been able to get there. I've installed SAF6 (unlocked). Tried all the Renderer options (but primarily EVR). I've tried all the the MPEG2 Video Decoders (but primarily Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder and PDVD13).
So the problems I'm seeing in NextPVR that I don't ever see with WMC are some artifacts or freezing/stuttering seen in live TV (HD/SD). It's especially noticeable when watching the news and they display their graphics in the background (to the side of the reporters head) our full screen (like say a traffic or weather report graphic). You can see the lines in the graphic (for example a road) flicker momentarily here and there. It happens every few seconds to many seconds apart. I don't know if it's an interlacing problem, some kind of sync problem, frame rate or what. You can also see it happen in regular video - say watching a persons head/face as they speak or watching a train move on the screen. The motion just seems to stutter ever so briefly for a second here and there. Rapidly panning video also seems to be an issue.
So what special sauce is WMC using that NextPVR isn't? There's got to be something different about how the two pieces of software go about their business because they produce different results. I've noted DirectShow vs. Media Foundation, but I'm not a software engineer/programmer so the significance in this application probably escapes me.
I'll also note that I have another desktop the I'm serving live TV to with NPVR Server to NPVR client (hardwired CAT5/Ethernet from Netgear router). I installed a NVidia GeForce 8500 GT in that computer a few years back (it's not using it's integrated). I don't recall off my head the rest of the computer specs (but note that it's a few years older then the Acer I mentioned above). It's connected to a Viewsonic 17" monitor. Anyway, served live TV plays beautifully on this desktop. I'm assuming that it's sent as MPEG2 to the client and is decoded on the client computer via the GeForce 8500 GT (DXVA hardware acceleration). Essentially, my assumption is that NextPVR is doing basically the same thing on both machines except the source is different for the MPEG2 (tuner card vs. Ethernet stream). So why is NPVR working so well on the other desktop vs. my HTPC connected to my HDTV?
I've been using WMC for some time. WMC has always just worked on my system. No performance issues, artifacts, or anomalies in video or audio.
I'd like to get the same results with NextPVR, but so far I haven't been able to get there. I've installed SAF6 (unlocked). Tried all the Renderer options (but primarily EVR). I've tried all the the MPEG2 Video Decoders (but primarily Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder and PDVD13).
So the problems I'm seeing in NextPVR that I don't ever see with WMC are some artifacts or freezing/stuttering seen in live TV (HD/SD). It's especially noticeable when watching the news and they display their graphics in the background (to the side of the reporters head) our full screen (like say a traffic or weather report graphic). You can see the lines in the graphic (for example a road) flicker momentarily here and there. It happens every few seconds to many seconds apart. I don't know if it's an interlacing problem, some kind of sync problem, frame rate or what. You can also see it happen in regular video - say watching a persons head/face as they speak or watching a train move on the screen. The motion just seems to stutter ever so briefly for a second here and there. Rapidly panning video also seems to be an issue.
So what special sauce is WMC using that NextPVR isn't? There's got to be something different about how the two pieces of software go about their business because they produce different results. I've noted DirectShow vs. Media Foundation, but I'm not a software engineer/programmer so the significance in this application probably escapes me.
I'll also note that I have another desktop the I'm serving live TV to with NPVR Server to NPVR client (hardwired CAT5/Ethernet from Netgear router). I installed a NVidia GeForce 8500 GT in that computer a few years back (it's not using it's integrated). I don't recall off my head the rest of the computer specs (but note that it's a few years older then the Acer I mentioned above). It's connected to a Viewsonic 17" monitor. Anyway, served live TV plays beautifully on this desktop. I'm assuming that it's sent as MPEG2 to the client and is decoded on the client computer via the GeForce 8500 GT (DXVA hardware acceleration). Essentially, my assumption is that NextPVR is doing basically the same thing on both machines except the source is different for the MPEG2 (tuner card vs. Ethernet stream). So why is NPVR working so well on the other desktop vs. my HTPC connected to my HDTV?
