4.0.4 Leaving Off Video-Metadata on HDHomeRun Prime Recordings

[ChaosMageX]

I upgraded from version 3.6.6 just a few hours ago, and I'm already noticing a problem with the video files recorded from my SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime. They are still playable in both the Kodi client and in video playing software, but they're missing their meta-data, the stuff you see in the details section of the file's properties. This lack of meta-data causes the Windows file explorer to severely lag whenever viewing a folder containing these videos that lack their meta-data.

As a simple example, this is an episode of King of the Hill that I recorded yesterday with version 3.6.6:



And this is an episode of King of the Hill that I recorded just tonight with version 4.0.4:



Notice how the video meta-data is missing in the file properties, which causes the Windows file explorer to lag whenever I attempt to view the contents of the folder containing the video file.

This doesn't happen with recordings I make on the over-the-air HDHomeRun Connect tuners, just the ones made with the cable HDHomeRun Prime tuner.

[sub]

That stuff has never been populated by NextPVR.

NextPVR just records the content to the .ts file, and it's the shell that is populating any attributes like this (probably in coordination whatever default components are used on your machine to play .ts files - like LAV etc).

[ChaosMageX]

After doing some research, which lead me to this discussion thread, I found out that the TS files no longer have an "index" inside of them, so the Windows shell (I think shmedia.dll) is digging into each TS file to try to build this "index" from scratch and that's causing the really long lag when I view the folder containing the TS files.

If NextPVR isn't responsible for writing this "index" to the TS file, then perhaps it is the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime tuner itself that's the problem, as I also updated its firmware on the same day, just before updating NextPVR.

[sub]

If NextPVR isn't responsible for writing this "index" to the TS file, then perhaps it is the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime tuner itself that's the problem, as I also updated its firmware on the same day, just before updating NextPVR.

No, SiliconDust don't write the file - they just send data. I'm guessing if you've noticed something change, then it's likely something changed about your default .ts playback components on your machine.

There is no index in a .ts file. You get an index in a .mp4 or .avi, but not a .ts file. Players look at the first and last timestamp in a file to determine its duration (or calculate it based on the bitrate and file size), or video packets to determine it's resolution etc. The information shown on the Details tab (of the properties of a video file) isn't directly from something read from within a media file, or any index. These are additional shell properties on the file, which ultimately it derives by looking at the media file.

[ChaosMageX]

After rolling back my installation of NextPVR from 4.0.4 back to 3.6.6 and doing some more testing, I have found that it is indeed the newest version of NextPVR that is screwing up the cable recordings, not the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime tuner.

It doesn't matter whether the BDA compatibility is set to Default or MediaPortal, NextPVR still messes up cable recordings this way regardless. I know this because I originally had it set to Default and it messed OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes! and We Bare Bears, so I set it to MediaPortal and it still messed up King of the Hill and all the other cable recordings that followed that night.

However, right after I rolled the version back and effectively downgraded NextPVR, the cable recordings started to have their meta-data again, so it's definitely NextPVR 4.0.4 that messed up those recordings. What's really weird is that NextPVR 4.0.4 doesn't mess up over-the-air recordings from the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Connect tuners, just the cable recordings from the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime tuner.

In regards to the TS playback components, unless they are changed by the installation of NextPVR itself, they weren't affected and therefore they probably weren't part of the problem.

If Windows does get the meta-data from the file itself, then there must be something about the file that's preventing the Windows shell from properly deriving that data. Unfortunately, when I loaded the problem files into TS Doctor, it couldn't find anything wrong with them. I could try uploading one for you to personally examine to see if you could find the issue.

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Can you see a problem with the file? ie, does it play in NextPVR? Does it play in other players?

The properties you've highlighted in the first post are nothing to do with NextPVR or the HDHomeRun etc. This is just purely Windows and the default playback components for that file type. Honestly, this hasn't changed in any way. I can imagine if the file was broken, and the default windows components weren't able to play it, then it might not be able to collect this info. It doesn't sound like you've said that is the case though - it sounds like it's playing fine for you.