Cannot watch show being recorded, GBPRV locks up.

[Daxx]

If I have a show being recorded and I open up the GBPRV menu, go to pending, then select the show that is currently being recorded, the screen goes blank. Task manager says that GBPRV is not responding. I can close the program, but the taskbar app keeps running and continues to record the show (that's a good thing). I can watch completed recordings while a show is being recorded, but just not the currently in-progress recording.

Why is this happening? Supposedly you can do this, but it's not working.

Thanks,
Daxx

[sub]

Reproduce the problem, then zip and attach your gbpvr.exe.-native.log and I'll take a look.

[strategus]

I've been having the same problem -- when you try playing something while it's in the process of being recorded, GBPVR freezes with a black screen.

I found a clumsy workaround, though. If you go to "Video Library" and browse to the .mpg being created, you can sometimes get it started this way -- though, you might have to help it get going by doing a little "skip forward."

I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL, and Task Manager says it's not responding.

Here's my log from a minute ago:

08:33:32.156 INFO Log started
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(ShowClosedCaptions)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(UseFFDSHOW)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(EnableTeleText)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(HorizontalZoom)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE Horizontal Zoom: 1.050000
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(VerticalZoom)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE Vertical Zoom: 1.000000
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(HorizontalOffset)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE Horizontal Offset: 0
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(VerticalOffset)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE Vertical Offset: 0
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(LiveTVPrePlayDelay)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(OSDTransparency)
08:33:32.156 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio0)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio1)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio2)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio3)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio4)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio5)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio6)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio7)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(AspectRatio8)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE getSetting(TeletextRect)
08:33:32.171 VERBOSE MinimumFilePlaySize=200000
08:33:32.593 VERBOSE DirectShowPlayerVMR9() initialising...
08:33:32.593 VERBOSE getSetting(OSDTransparency)
08:34:14.250 INFO DirectShowPlayerBase::playVideoFile(D:\Our Video\Dragon Tales\Dragon Tales_20051219_08300900.mpg)
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE File already in use - probably still recording
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE waited: 0 (1135010054 - 1135010054) filesize: 12343232
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE Creating new graph
08:34:14.250 VERBOSE getSetting(PreferredAudioRenderer)
08:34:14.953 VERBOSE getSetting(PreferredAudioDecoder)
08:34:14.953 VERBOSE getSetting(PreferredDecoder)
08:34:15.000 VERBOSE FindFilterByName failed to locate filter: default
08:34:15.046 VERBOSE Using GB-PVR Parser
08:34:15.109 VERBOSE Rendering graph
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE getSetting(ListGraphFilters)
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - Default DirectSound Device
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - Video Renderer 0005
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - Video Renderer
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - MPEG Audio Decoder
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - Overlay Mixer2
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - CyberLink Video/SP Decoder
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - GB-PVR Parser
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE - SOURCE
08:34:16.125 VERBOSE getSetting(SaveGraphFiles)
08:34:16.203 INFO DirectShowPlayerBase::playFile() done
08:34:16.218 VERBOSE DirectShowPlayerBase:etPlaybackRate(1.000000)
08:34:16.218 VERBOSE Restoring audio

[sub]

I'm not sure if its the cause of your problem, but one observation from looking at you logs - you're trying to use the Cyberlink decoder with VMR9. The Cyberlink decoder is not compatible with VMR unless you add some Cyberlink registry settings. I can tell you setup doesnt have these required registry setting. Alternatively, switch to using Overlay instead of VMR.

[strategus]

Damn, you sure know your stuff.

First, I tried switching to "Overlay Manager," but that didn't work. Still got the freezing.

So, I completely uninstalled my Cyberlink software suite (PowerDVD, PowerProducer, etc.). Rebooted. And I was suddenly able to watch while recording.

The downside is that I have been using PowerProducer to burn homeproduced DVDs lately. Can you either point me to somewhere I can learn how to make GBPVR co-exist peacefully with Cyberlink or suggest an alternative?

I tried reinstalling JUST PowerProducer (not PowerDVD), and the problem returned...

Thanks,
S.

[sub]

I've never used that software, so I dont know if it was the video decoder or something else it installed which was causing the problem. If it was the video decoder vmr thing, then if you google for 'Cyberlink EnableVMR9' you should find the registry settings to enable VMR compatibility in the decoder.

[Daxx]

Thanks for the info, Sub. My decoder was Cyberlink from PowerDVD 5.

I switched to the InterVideo decoder for playback and all works perfectly now. Using the "Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility" to force the perferred decoder to InterVideo did NOT work with GB-PVR set to use system default. I had to specifically select the InterVideo decoder in GB-PVR under playback options.

I am curious though, what is the general preference for TV playback decoders out there among PVR builders? InterVideo, Cyberlink, some other???

Thanks,
Daxx

[stefan]

I use the intervide one. It's "good enough", but I would be willing to change. I used the cyberlink a while. To me it seems to have a bit better image quality (especially with horizontal panning), but I never did get it to work with sound decoding, so I had to use Intervideo for sound. Using two different ones gave me sound sync issues. Besides, the cyberlink used almost all of my processing power =)

[Daxx]

Yeah, the intervideo decoder seems to be the most "bug free" for me using GB-PVR, but I did like the Cyberlink video. I tried to find the registry updates to get Cyberlink to run, but none I tried worked. Maybe that only works with PowerDVD 6? Luckily, I found a newer version of WinDVD that came bundled with my ASUS motherboard and the InterVideo decoder it installed (ivivideo.ax ver 5.3.5.28) seems to be working great with GB-PVR and says it's compatible with WMP10 and stuff.

Thanks,
Daxx

[strategus]

I tried switching to the InterVideo playback, and it worked -- PowerProducer and GBPVR now live together happily ever after. Thanks!

I'm not noticing a huge difference in video quality, though. What should I be looking for?

S.