Channel changing and all that

[Graham]

Whoopee Doo, I'm first !

To continue our exchange re. hangups/delays when channel changing ...

I changed to <StopOnChannelChange>False</StopOnChannelChange> and the problem with changing between muxes reappeared ...

The attached logs show;

Play Radio 1 --- okay
Switch to Radio4 --- prompt response and plays okay (and it was the Shipping Forecast so that was an unplanned treat).
Switch to Virgin --- Now playing logo switches immediately but channel does not play.
Do nothing for 30 seconds then press OK on remote --- Virgin starts playing.

It may be that this is the same timing problem. I guess that it takes longer to switch between muxes than it takes to switch between channels on the same mux.

Let me know if there's anything else I can try.

Good Luck

Graham

[bgowland]

Whoopee Doo, I'm first !

Oi! Get off my spangly new forum - sub only just created it and I was still trying to figure out how it worked. I wanted to post first.

Oooh - I get to delete threads if I want to. HaHaHaHa. :p

OK - megalomaniac mode off...

It may be that this is the same timing problem. I guess that it takes longer to switch between muxes than it takes to switch between channels on the same mux.

Let me know if there's anything else I can try.

I'm not sure it is a timing thing - the logs don't show the same sort of behavior as those with StopOnChannelChange set to true and pvrx2 timing out on playback.

I'll have to think on this. Thanks for testing it.

Cheers,
Brian

[bgowland]

Could you try the binaries in the attached zip with StopOnChannelChange set to false. It'll probably still fail when changing channels to a different MUX but I've changed the logging.

You need to drop all of them into the DVB-T Radio plugin folder but also copy the DvbtrLib files to the plugins\Common folder.

Cheers,
Brian

[Graham]

Could you try the binaries in the attached zip with StopOnChannelChange set to false.

Done. I did the same as before:

Radio 1 okay
Radio 4 okay
Virgin hang and this time it never came back even after waiting for about a minute.

Time for bed said Zebedee

Thanks

[bgowland]

Done. I did the same as before:

Thanks. Something appears to be breaking the stream when you change MUX but I think it's permanent, not just a timing issue. :confused:

BTW - with those binaries, try setting StopOnChannelChange back to true and see if changing channel on the fly works now.

Time for bed said Zebedee

G'night

EDIT: With StopOnChannelChange set to false - try your experiment agin. Radio1 -> Radio4 -> any channel other than Virgin, Premier, Clyde1 or talkSPORT. There's something not right about those channels (all on the same MUX). Try going from R4 to Q or Mojo.

Cheers,
Brian

[Graham]

EDIT: With StopOnChannelChange set to false - try your experiment agin. Radio1 -> Radio4 -> any channel other than Virgin, Premier, Clyde1 or talkSPORT. There's something not right about those channels (all on the same MUX). Try going from R4 to Q or Mojo.

Here's a full set.

With StopOnChannelChange True ...

true-mojo

R1 --- ok
R4 --- 20 sec delay then now playing logo changes, press remote OK and channel starts playing
Mojo --- ditto

true-virgin

R1 --- ok
R4 --- 20 sec delay then now playing logo changes, press remote OK and channel starts playing
Virgin --- ditto

With StopOnChannelChange False ...

false-mojo

R1 --- ok
R4 --- ok
Mojo --- Now playing logo changes immediately then silence, wait 30 secs then press remote OK channel starts playing

false-virgin

R1 --- ok
R4 --- ok
Virgin --- Now playing logo changes immediately then silence, wait 30 secs then press remote OK channel starts playing

Hope this helps.

Good luck

Graham

[bgowland]

Hope this helps.

Nope. Not so much.

true-mojo

R1 --- ok
R4 --- 20 sec delay then now playing logo changes, press remote OK and channel starts playing
Mojo --- ditto

Sorry - I hadn't understood that even changing channel on the same MUX (R1 to R4) was killing the playback when StopOnChannelChange is set to true. It's definitely PVRX2 which is deciding that the 'Song has ended' (fair enough I suppose) but I don't understand why it's doing it to you and not to me.

I've been suspecting the Nova-t USB2 (or the driver version) that you have but on aggregate, the time it takes to submit a new tuning request is no different to my Nova-t PCI card. In both our cases, same MUX retune is instant (< 1ms which is the logging timing) and different MUX is 500-600ms.

I can see a flaw in my StopOnChannelChange logic though. I'll review this and upload a patch. I still don't understand why your setup is behaving consistently different to mine. The joys of developing software for the public arena.

Thanks again for the detailed testing and logging.

Cheers,
Brian

[Graham]

Sorry - I hadn't understood that even changing channel on the same MUX (R1 to R4) was killing the playback when StopOnChannelChange is set to true.

The results that I get have been slightly different with each version that I have tried. Unfortunately, I can't remember which version gave which result.

I have been able to switch back and forth between channels on a single mux with flawless results with some versions. If I recall, this was true of the un-patched version of 1.3 that I downloaded on or about the day that it appeared on the wiki.

I'll repeat my "not so much" helpful tests after taking the USB2 device out of GBPVR so I will be using a Nova-T PCI and you'll be comparing apples with apples. It's not likely to happen before Thursday.

I am just remembering that about umpteen versions ago, GBPVR acquired
<BDASubmitTuningRequestTwiceOnRecord>true</BDASubmitTuningRequestTwiceOnRecord>
and/or
<SecondChanceRecording>true</SecondChanceRecording>
because there were lots of folk getting zero length recordings (and I was one of them). It may be that whatever was shagging the TV recording then is shagging Radio recording now.

Good Luck
Graham

[bgowland]

I'll repeat my "not so much" helpful tests after taking the USB2 device out of GBPVR so I will be using a Nova-T PCI and you'll be comparing apples with apples. It's not likely to happen before Thursday.

Sorry - I hope you didn't take the comment the wrong way. Not that you're not being helpful, just that I'm still as confused as before.

I've definitely found oddities in my StopOnChannelChange code and I've rewritten it totally. I'll delay posting a patch until later today. It's 4:30am and my brain hurts - I'll double check it before posting.

I am just remembering that about umpteen versions ago, GBPVR acquired
<BDASubmitTuningRequestTwiceOnRecord>true</BDASubmitTuningRequestTwiceOnRecord>
and/or
<SecondChanceRecording>true</SecondChanceRecording>

I submit the tuning info twice as a result of some tuners having problems - I don't think it applies in this instance though as logs suggest the first submission is always successful. The SecondChanceRecording option is the equivalent to checking for the mp3 file not growing - I havn't put this in place as the problem seems to be more fundamental, i.e., things get out of sync. and pvrx2 stops attempting to play audio just as the mp3 file is starting to grow. It's a tricky one which I need to sleep on.

Cheers,
Brian

[bgowland]

Hi Graham,

Could you try the attached binaries and let me know if it helps with the StopOnChannelChange problem.

The same drill as usual - the DvbtrLib dll and pdb files need to be in plugins\Common as well as the DVB-T Radio plugin folder.

It's not particularly elegant when changing channel (Now Playing doesn't update immediately - that's on the ToDo list) but it should now be doing a proper 'stop' before starting the new channel.

Cheers,
Brian