Probelms with DVB-T Recordings

[amittzor]

i'm using a dvb-t dongle on windows 7 in israel, and i have a few problems:

1)the major problem - in almost every recording, every few minutes, it suddenly jumps a few minutes forward, and i have to rewind it.

i'm using ts mux. when i choose dvr-ms i can't multi record...

2)we have 5 channels broadcasted on the same frequency. the program allows me to record all 5 of them at the same time, but if i'm recording one and want to view another channel live, i can't. how can i fix it?

3)EPG - right now we have EPG for only 2 channels, and it's 2 hours late. until they'll fix it - how can i manually solve it? i tried importing an xmltv file, but when i do that, it just adds the channels on the xmltv as different channels, and for the real 5 channels that i get, i don't have EPG.

Thanks in advance,
Amit

[Graham]

The skipping when using .TS is a known problem. The only fix that I know of is the one that you have already found ... DVR-MS (and no multi-record).

The quickest and easiest way to change the EPG source is probably to delete the capture source, close and restart config and then re-add the capture source with the new EPG source (xmltv?). Have you tried mc2xml to create an xmltv file?

I can't help with the Live TV problem ... I use DVR-MS because of the skipping problem with .TS.

[amittzor]

it's a known probelem in gb-pvr or in all the softwares using ts-mux? i don't want to cancel it, because multi record is super important for me.

does sub knows about this problem? and if he does, can't he solve it?

i'm using the dvb-t for only a few days, and so far it happend in only about 50% of the recordings. it's driving me crazy. by the way - so far, when i start watching a show while it's still being recorded, i don't have the skipping problem. the weird thing is that when i go back to the point before the skipping, sometimes it skips again to a completely different time, and sometimes it doesn't skip at all.

about the epg problem - i solved it. i'm using a great software called MegaEPG. i opened the channel database file of this program and changed the name of the channels so they'll be the as in the dvb-t broadcast, and now it's ok.

[sub]

1)the major problem - in almost every recording, every few minutes, it suddenly jumps a few minutes forward, and i have to rewind it.

i'm using ts mux. when i choose dvr-ms i can't multi record...

Israel uses H.264 from memory, so you're always using TS Mux regardless of what you pick.

The "all of a sudden skipping forward" is really signal problems at your end. It happens when there was a break in the signal. ie, the GBPVR TS Reader filter is delivering data at the average bitrate, but then encounters is a gap in the recording and continues to deliver data at the same rate (but it appears to jump forward because thats the next data). The next release is a little more graceful about how this behaves, but it wont fix any signal dropouts you're encounterng (which are the root cause of this).

2)we have 5 channels broadcasted on the same frequency. the program allows me to record all 5 of them at the same time, but if i'm recording one and want to view another channel live, i can't. how can i fix it?

Sorry it cant do that. Multi-record only works for recording, not live tv. For live tv it needs its own tuner, not being used for something else.

3)EPG - right now we have EPG for only 2 channels, and it's 2 hours late. until they'll fix it - how can i manually solve it? i tried importing an xmltv file, but when i do that, it just adds the channels on the xmltv as different channels, and for the real 5 channels that i get, i don't have EPG.

As suggested above - delete and recreate any capture sources if you intend to change the EPG source.

[amittzor]

thanks for the answer, sub!

yes, it's h.264 in here.

i have a few more questions:

1. the broadcast here is still in testing, so it's reasonable that there are signal problems, but how come it doesn't happen in set top boxes?

2. why when i go back to the point before the skip, sometimes it doesn't skip again? (and sometimes skips to another time).

3. when you talk about signal problems - do you mean that there is a probelm in the original broadcast, or that there's a bad reception in my place?

4. when will you release the next version?

[sub]

1. the broadcast here is still in testing, so it's reasonable that there are signal problems, but how come it doesn't happen in set top boxes?

Its more likely a case of the tuner in your capture device not being as good as the tuner in your set top box, and just dropping out from time to time.

If they're currently only testing the service, then its possible they're running at reduced signal, like they have in a UK from time to time. If thats the case, then hopefully the problem will right itself when the signal is full power.

2. why when i go back to the point before the skip, sometimes it doesn't skip again? (and sometimes skips to another time).

That doesnt tally with previous reports I've had.

3. when will you release the next version?

Its probably about a month away.

[amittzor]

thanks again.

one more thing i didn't understand - maybe the dvb-t usb dongle is not as good as the set top box i have (it's reasonable. in the STB i get about 90% reception, and in the computer about 80%). my question is if i'll do something to improve my reception, like connecting to a better antenna, will it solve my problem (or at least improve it?)

oh, and one more thing - do you know of any software that can edit the .ts files? i need to cut recordings at the begining and the end, and i can't find a decent software to do it.

[Reddwarf]

The Smart Cutter from FameRing is a really quick program for just cutting.

[amittzor]

looks nice, but crashing after loading a file (win7)

[Reddwarf]

looks nice, but crashing after loading a file (win7)

Mmmmm, it does not explicit say that it runs under W7, just W2000, XP and Vista, but it is strange thou that it does crash. Did you download the portable version or the install version? And I seem to remember that there was something about .Net-framework and SmartCutter. I'v been using it on XP for a while now, and it performs excellent.