Playback of BBC HD Freesat recordings

[Bobins]

Ok, on my journey to build a new NPVR box to replace my aging (and reliable GBPVR system) I've got a few challenges.

My GBPVR box has dual DVB-S and DVB-T tuners however I lost BBC HD when it went to DVB-S2 format.
I therefore bought a new BlackGold Dual DVB-S/S2 DVB-T tuner for my new NPVR rig.

Having sused out how to scan and select which channels I want, I then sorted getting EPG OTA from the satellite. I checked I could get Live TV from each tuner by enabling one at a time then enabled all the tuners. Great so far.

Setup a few recordings and tested playback fully expecting a few challenges based on original GBPVR experience :-). I was not dissapointed. SD Recordings played back with no problem with the default Microsoft codecs. HD recordings....no joy.

Installed my trusty Cyberlink H264 codec for HD and tried again. Picture now but no audio. Checked the audio stream in Live TV and needed AC3. Installed AC3 Filter...... playback now has picture & sound. Great thinks I.....I'll put NPVR into service....ooops....mistake :-(

Discovered some BBC HD recordings won't playback in NPVR.... I get black screen with no sound....others are fine. After hours of playing arround (and hair removal) installing FDSHOW, LAV and even SAF, I have identified I think I have some sort of codec issue but I'm struggling to work out where.

Playing arround with enabling/disabling tuners I've discovered the following:-

SD recordings from either Freesat or Freeview (terestial) playback fine (picture & sound)
BBC HD recordings recorded from Freeview playback fine (picture & sound)
BBC HD recordings recorded from Freesat just give a blank screen and no sound with non sensible start/end figures on the timeline.

If I try to playback the Freesat BBC HD file from the Media Player lite included with SAF the file plays fine. If I look at the graph it says FDSHOW for video and LAV for audio. Tried that in the NPVR settings instead of Cyberlink for H264.....no different.

I suspect the problem is that the BBC HD Freesat channels record from DVB-S2 and that may not be getting decoded during playback but I can't see what to do codec wise to fix. The fact the files playback on the same machine using a different player and I can watch Live TV makes me think all the elements are there but just not configured right. The source is the ony difference I can see between the BBC HD from Freesat & Freeview.

Any suggestions anyone...... anyone else in the UK able to playback BBC HD Freesat files?

[imilne]

About to run out the door so can't type more, but Freesat uses AC3 for its audio on the HD channels, whereas Freeview uses HE-AAC. The picture is the same on both though: h264 (avc), which the MS decoder should cope with, although I've found the PDVD13 one from SAF to be better.

Iain

[Bobins]

Hi Iain,

I can watch Live TV, SD and HD on all channels with either the DVB-S or DVB-T tuners
I can playback all HD and SD recordings from Freeview. They show two audio streams in Live TV (MPEG1 and AC3)....both work.
I can playback all SD and ITV / CH4 HD recordings from Freesat. ITV & CH4 HD show two audio streams in Live TV both HE-AAC and both work.
Any attempt to playback recordings from BBC HD channels (1,2,3 or 4) results in a blank screen with no audio. All work in Live TV and like ITV / CH4 show two HE-AAC audio streams. The files playback through an external player so are definitely being recorded.

This is definitely a NPVR (config or codec problem) playing back files recorded from a DVB-S2 stream. The working ITV / CH4 HD recordings are from streams which are DVB-S whereas all the BBC streams are DVB-S2.

Regards,

Ray

[Bobins]

Just looked in the logs after playing an ITV HD Freesat recording and then one of the failing BBC HD recordings. Looks to me like NPVR is selecting the wrong decoders for the 2nd file (hence no playback).
Sub.... are you available to comment?

Regards.

[whurlston]

It's not selecting any decoders for the second file:

Code:

2014-02-13 20:43:16.361    [DEBUG][1]    Graph filter list:
2014-02-13 20:43:16.361    [DEBUG][1]     - MPEG-2 Demultiplexer
2014-02-13 20:43:16.361    [DEBUG][1]     - NPVR TS Reader2
2014-02-13 20:43:17.407    [DEBUG][1]    TV Listings: Got event PLAYING_VIDEO R:\Recordings\†Pound Shop Wars‡\†Pound Shop Wars‡_20140213_20002030.ts

Can you post a screenshot of your Decoders settings screen? Also, check the filesize on that file.

[Bobins]

Hi.

File size was 50mb (only recorded about 1 minute of channel).... Noticed the weird numbers in the Get Duration field in the log.

Decoder picture attached. This was after todays install of Unlocked SAF.

[whurlston]

Any chance you can put that file somewhere that I can download it?

[imilne]

You won't ever need the eac3 or plain aac decoders for tv stuff, so you can disable them. The settings on this screen only apply to TV (and recordings) not to any other videos you might have.

Iain

[Bobins]

Whurlston,

Try the file here.

http://www.4shared.com/file/07SPEqrfce/P...20002.html

[sub]

I'd usually offer to download the file and take a look at it here, but unfortunately I'm away from home (for the next week), so don't have the ability to check it out right now.