Problems with MVP Navigation Controls with DivX Playback

[TuckerTFT]

I am having the following issues with playback controls on my MVP's remote when playing DivX video:

(1) the REW function acts the same as the FF in ALL ways .. i.e., it actually advances the video forward instead of moving backward.
(2) the REPLAY (back 30 seconds) function doesn't do anything at all
(3) the SKIP (forward 60 seconds) function doesn't do anything at all

So ... my big dilemma is that I have no way to rewind or skip back through a DivX video on the MVP.

I am using gbpvr 95.16 and I have the following playback configured:
-- Fully transparent OSD
-- Force minimal OSD for MVP
-- MVP "Use FFmpeg for transcode"
-- "Minimal OSD During Playback"
-- Default forward skip size (seconds) = 60
-- Default back skip size (seconds) = 30

Also, I just noticed that I have the "Manual Skip timebase" set to "Minutes". I'm not sure what this setting is for, but I can't readily test changing it to see if it solves the issue since I have a recording going now and can't restart the recording service.

It should be noted that when I boot the MVP to the Hauppauge server software (the latest non-BETA release) the DivX functionality is flawless, so I would not consider the issues described above a limitation of the hardware.

Any and all help would be appreciated.

NOTE: I have previously applied the "Fix Hauppauge Remote settings (45 button remote)" and restarted the IR executable (although I'm not sure that applies to the MVP).

[LilY0da]

Read the MVP and AVIs thread for the trillion ways you can improve DivX playback

There is a hardware limitation which is that the MVP can't play DivX. It can only play MPEG2. When Hauppauge says on the box 'now plays DivX', it means that the Hauppauge software converts your divX into a MPEG2 file on your PC before sending it to the MVP

GBPVR does the same thing, and there are plenty of ways to test and tune this, most of which you can find in the "MVP and AVIs" thread

So the playback quality of the DivX relies a LOT on your PC's settings, because the PC isn't just serving the video file to the MVP, it's creating it on the fly. If you try to skip and go past what the PC has already transcoded, for exemple, your MVP crashes.

[TuckerTFT]

Thanks for your reply.

I have zero problem with playback quality. What I have a problem with is the navigation controls REW, SKIP and REPLAY.

I do realize that the Hauppauge MVP server software is also doing a conversion to MPEG-2 before streaming the DivX video. All I was saying is that I don't have any problem with navigation controls using their server software (which I definitely do not want to use) ... therefore, I know that the navigational control problem is not a hardware issue.

If you try to skip and go past what the PC has already transcoded, for example, your MVP crashes.

My SKIP control doesn't do anything at all when playing transcoded DixX (same with REPLAY). I've even paused the start of the playback and waited until it completely finished transcoding and tried again ... same result. I should add that these functions used to work (but very hit and miss) in the 94.13 ver of gbpvr (pre FFmpeg conversion) ... however, in that version the FF function didn't allow me to see the video actually advancing and the REW was doing what it is still doing in the current rev .. i.e., the same thing that FF does (ahead, not back).

And, I have not read all "trillion" posts on the MVP ... but, I have read many dozens. I cannot find one that addresses my specific issue, so I am out fishing myself for potential fixes from others who have experienced this problem and have found a workaround or fix ... or possibly analysis from someone like SUB, who has insight into how the navigational controls work with respect to DivX conversion playback.

Thanks again for your reply.

[sub]

The Hauppauge transcoding works quite differently to the transcoding in GB-PVR. Implementing their approach would have take a lot more effort and time to implement, and to be honest with you, I'm just not that interested in .avi playback on the MVP.

Transcoding on GB-PVR effectively works by kicking of a process to convert the file to MPG when playback is first requested, then starting playback the resulting MPG file. Most of the navigation features you refer to are dependent on the file size and the duration of the video in the file, both of which are continually changing for this MPG file (since the file is still growing as the transcode progresses). Generally the navigation just works like crap under this scenario.

If I was watching a half hour show, the conversion is over in about 5 minutes, so naviagtion works fine after this. Times on your machine will depend on your CPU speed.