During LiveTV menu stays visible

[mglvw]

I just want to say that GB-PVR is a piece of art. It is incredible for a one-man-job. I'm a newby when it comes to GB-PVR, I used my set-up today for the first time to record some stuff.

I have two questions:

It stopped recording too soon, the padding is set at 5 before and 10 after, the show was 1h, but it only recorded 1:01:57.
What did I do wrong?
I have to add I pressed 'record show' in the EPG 3 minutes before the start of the show (so during the 5 minutes padding that would have been in front). Still I expected a total recording time of > 1:10:00 since the start padding was only partly needed but the 10 min end padding still had to be applied. It looks like since the first padding could not be fullfilled completly, the endpadding failed.
Is this observation correct?


I also have a question about liveTV:

What happens is (I use the 0.12 version), that when I start up GB-PVR, all works like a charm.
The first time I start up liveTV all works great. When after this I press the back or menu button, I of course end up in the main menu. After this the liveTV playback does not function correctly anymore. I can hear the sound but the main menu stays visible. The CH+ and CH- change the channel (I notice that since the sound changes). Pressing the Back button stops the liveTV and gives control back to the menu, the next attempt also fails.
During this strange situation I'm able to watch a recording correctly.
I have to restart GB-PVR to resolve this.

What could this be?

Thankz,
Michel

[sub]

mglvw,

I'll have to look into the first one. Seems to have been working OK for me, but I've not played around with the padding too much so I may have missed something.

On the LiveTV problem, I'm not really sure. I assume you're talking about software playback onto your PC monitor? If you have another MPEG2 decoder installed, you could try setting that as the preferred decoder in the Config app. Do you know which decoder is currently being used?

[mglvw]

Sub,

Thanks for the prompt response.

I'll wait until you know more about the padding.

For the liveTV stuff, it indeed comes down to monitor playback (or rather the TV-out of my motherboard). I'm not using the TV-out of the PVR-350 since I also want to use the simpleBrowser.

It is still strange though, since I can view a recording made with GB-PVR when the liveTV fails. This playback should use the same decoder, or am I mistaken?
It is allways like this: the first liveTV attempt is OK. Only every following attempt fails. And when the liveTV attempts fail, I'm still able to watch a recording (sound and image). Then when I go to liveTV again, the same thing happens. The menu stays visible and I here the sound of the liveTV and CH+, CH- changes the sound source.

I use the decoder that is shipped with the PVR-350 (InterVideo CCS......Hauppauge). The only two choices I have is this one and the 'system default', which probably also maps to the Hauppauge one. I also had to use VMR7 since the VMR9 gives a big red cross (I also had to use the regsvr32 workaround you described in another posting btw).

Is it possible to use the number buttons of the remote to change channels during liveTV?


Oh by the way, when does GB-PVR reload the tv guide XML data? So what is the best time to schedule the xmltv grabber to fetch a new guide and overwrite the old one?

Thankz for your effort,
Michel.

[mglvw]

I sent you my log-files a while ago, but didn't hear anything after that. Since I read that a new release was coming, I was hoping it would contain a fix for me as well.

So I was really looking forward to the new 0.13 release hoping GB-PVR for me also would be a suitable PVR solution.
I gave 0.13 a try, but without any luck, my problems are not solved in this release.
I still don't have a clue what the reason is that LiveTV does not work for me, but now it is not a workable set up.

It all looked so promising.

[sub]

Sorry for not getting back to you. I must have forgotten. Its all a blur of different emails and different symptoms.

Sorry to ask for it again, but can you please send me you logs again.

The red cross with VMR usually means either the MPEG2 decoder doesn't support VMR or your Video card drivers dont support VMR.

Have you tried directly selecting the Hauppauge Intervideo MPEG2 decoder? Even though its the only one other than default thats listed, there may be other decoders which I dont show in my list (theatretek etc) that might be being picked up as the default.

Its now possible to use the number buttons to change channels on live tv.

Can you please summarise your problem one more time. What happens when you try to change channels?

[sub]

BTW, what video card do you have?

[mglvw]

I use a dedicated system I plan to use for a PVR, with a PVR-350 and use the TV out of my ASUS Pundit motherboard (SiS chipset) not the PVR-350 TV-out.
It is a clean XP installation, only XP Pro and the drivers for the video-card, audio and for the PVR-350 and of course GB-PVR (+ required SW).
That's it, so I wonder if there are other codecs installed anyhow.

But I already had the Hauppauge decoder selected in the first place, so that shouldn't be it.

It isn't a problem with changing the channels.

What happens is this:
First liveTV attempt after GB-PVR start up works like a charm (picture and sound).
All other attempts (go back to menu and select liveTV again) fail, the sound is audible, but the main menu stays visible, so no picture.
I'm able to watch a recording previously made (playback of this uses the same codec, right?) in this situation, but liveTV still refuses to give picture.
Restarting GB-PVR gives the same behaviour: first liveTV Ok, all following fail.

I also have a problem with the start/end padding of the recordings as already described (it stops too early), but this is of lesser importance right now.

Thanx in advance,
Michel.

[mglvw]

Sub,

Yet another week has passed, and still no answers.

So, I'm sad to say that I give up on GB-PVR, since it is a waste to have a dedicted set-up (PC+PVR350) laying around doing nothing.

I know it is still under heavy development so no garanties and as I read the postings it's a great app for a lot of people but it doesn't work for me at the moment.

I'm going to try my 'luck' with the Linux Community.

Keep up the great work,
Michel.

[sub]

Your comments make it sound like I'm sitting around on my arse doing nothing all week. Believe me I'm trying my best to make a great tool that people want to use, but when you've got a fulltime job, a new baby and are trying to tackle a huge job like this, you cant drop everything to focus on one problem.

I'm sorry it couldn't have worked better for you - good luck with your linux setup.

[mglvw]

Sub,

Please don't get it the wrong way.
I was not aware that my comments sounded negative.

It is obvious that improving GB-PVR and maintaining the forum takes a big toll on your daily life.

I have full admiration for your efforts.
I think it is noble to spend that much time and don't ask for anything in return.
Looking at all the replies you give at the forums I think it is amazing that you even have time left to improve GB-PVR at all.

Like I said I still think GB-PVR is a peace of art, especially for a one-mans-job. It is only a pitty that it didn't work for me and since it is not open-source I have no means to fix it myself.
If the liveTV worked for me, I definitely prefer GB-PVR over e.g. myHTPC or mythtv.

In all my innocence, I thought it was a decent thing to do, to let you know in advance, rather than let you spent time on going through the log-files I sent you a while ago.

So I hope you're not angry, since that was not my intension. I only wanted to withdraw my claim on your limited time.

I also hope you understand it from my point-of-view, for almost a month seeing other more recent problems being solved, makes me feel a bit helpless, and therefore I have to give other possibilities a try.


If some day, you happen to stumble on the solution please let me know.

Once again keep up the good work.

Greetz,
Michel.