Capture Card Extras help needed

[lamb0985]

I recently purchased a basic USB 3.0 capture card and was wondering if there are any tips on setup the extras xml setup (a template would be a great starting point to try different ffmpeg variables that work with my setup). I have tried various ffmpeg commands and can get the video and audio to play in a *.mp4 format (albeit audio is just static at the moment). I also have created the extras-*.xml file so I can see my device in nextpvr running the latest server. I am basically just trying to figure out how to be able to capture my cable box hdmi output into nextpvr, and can go from there to figuring out ir blaster setups if I can get this working.
I currently also have an HD PVR 2 that is working fine, but the channel changing is taking 10 to 15 seconds, so I'm hoping that the capture card (being a more recent device) will allow for quicker channel changing.
I'm also still struggling to figure out why the cable box audio is just static noise, but I'm thinking it has to do with the sample rates not matching up. If more specifics are needed, please ask and I'll try to provide more information or further clarification.

[mvallevand]

Did you read through this https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=61774 and get it working with ffplay.

Remember as I told you off line do not use mp4 format. Also don't try to use h/w decoding until software decoding is working.

Martin

[lamb0985]

Did you read through this https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=61774 and get it working with ffplay.

Remember as I told you off line do not use mp4 format.  Also don't try to use  h/w decoding until software decoding is working.

Martin

[mvallevand]

I'd start by check the transcoding speed to make sure ffmpeg can transcode mmjpeg to h264 at better the 1x speed. ffplay doesn't need to trancode.

Test you batch file like this (removing -v panic if you have it)

extra.bat parameter | ffplay -i pipe:

Martin

[lamb0985]

I'd start by check the transcoding speed to make sure ffmpeg can transcode mmjpeg to h264 at better the  1x speed.  ffplay doesn't need to trancode.

Test you batch file like this (removing -v panic if you have it)

extra.bat parameter | ffplay -i pipe:

Martin

Attachment of what I'm trying so far, hopefully this helps.

https://i.imgur.com/m3tdvDp.png

[mvallevand]

Not even close. I was asking for you to do the test from the command line. Also your batch file doesn't output anything either you should put the - at that end to stream to stdout.

Martin

[lamb0985]

Not even close.  I was asking for you to do the test from the command line.  Also your batch file doesn't output anything either you should put the - at that end to stream to stdout.

Martin

i managed to get the extras xml to capture my hdmi source, but there is about a 10 second delay. Is there something hardware related that could lower the delay, or is this just the nature of this method of hdmi capture? I am using x264_qsv and aac to encode, this is all running off of an older hp laptop that uses a 5005u Intel processor. 

[mvallevand]

Perhaps add the -re option so ffmpeg knows it is realtime. That does seem slower than my experience, however tuning my STB can also be slow too so if that is in your test it is possible.. As long as it gets consistent 1x speed the PC shouldn't make a different. My cheap grabbers had trouble going for a hour though.

Also make sure you are testing with a direct play client too, the browser test will always be slower. In direct play the time from NextPVR shouldn't be too much different then the batch test to ffplay.

Martin

[lamb0985]

Perhaps add the -re option so ffmpeg knows it is realtime.  That does seem slower than my experience, however tuning my STB can also be slow too so if that is in your test it is possible..  As long as it gets consistent 1x speed the PC shouldn't make a different.  My cheap grabbers had trouble going for a hour though.

Also make sure you are testing with a direct play client too, the browser test will always be slower.  In direct play the time from NextPVR shouldn't be too much different then the batch test to ffplay.

Martin

Perfect, will try what you suggest. Thank you sir!

[lamb0985]

For any who may wonder, this is my extras-capturecard.xml file in my NPVR-Data folder

<extras>
<channel name="Capture Card">
<command>ffmpeg.exe</command>
<args> -f dshow -rtbufsize 100M -video_size 1920x1080 -framerate 60 -i video="USB3.0HD vid eo":audio="Digital Audio Interface (2- USB Digital Audio)" -vcodec h264_qsv -acodec aac -f mpegts - </args>
</channel>
</extras>

I probably am going to just stick with my HD PVR 2 because it works well and the channel change delay is quicker than the HDMI capture card, but I may tinker with the capture card again in the future because I think it has potential to be as good if not better than the 10+ year old HD PVR 2.