TV Walker Lite Live TV VERY Slow

[mobiusnz]

I have just started trying GBPVR - Looks VERY promising so far, in fact when recording I get 1-3% CPU usage where when recording with the software that came with my Device I get 30% (although I haven't experimented much yet!. The problem I have is that live TV is TERRIBLE, I get around 1 frame every 2 seconds, or at best a short burst of frames every 2 seconds.

Any help GREATLY appreciated.

[sub]

The TV Walker devices are gr and have so much potential, but the drivers dont do them the justice they deserve. It's sister device, the Plextor PX-TV402U which is based on the same chipset with slightly different drivers works great. The preview pin works particularly badly. Try disabling the 'Live Preview' mode and things will be slightly better, but still very slow to start (due to driver crossbar routing bug).

I've tried to talk to LifeView about the specific problems but really didnt provide any useful information or promise fix anything. So, unfortunately we'll need to wait to see if new drivers appear for this device to correct some of these issues.

BTW, good to see another NZ user here!

[mobiusnz]

I don't know if this helps you resolve the issue SUB - but in playing with Microsoft AMCAP with Preview on I get EXACTLY the same problem, UNTIL I change Options, Video Preview Pin and set the "Color Space / Compression" to be MP4S. Any of the other 3 settings MPEG1, MPEG2 or DX50 give me the choppy preview. MP4S is perfectly fluid!

Can you/I change this equivalent setting in GBPVR. Otherwise I LOVE your software - I like the interface, I have found a good tool for pulling NZ channel info for XMLTV and getting VERY low CPU utilization.

[hitek146]

Sub, have you tried the Typhoon drivers that I mentioned before? They are much better behaving than the Lifeview versions.... I have actually merged the Lifeview 1.6 drivers with the new Typhoon drivers to give me a very well performing driver set that will still encode in MotionJPEG, as the WIS documentation states....

[sub]

Quote[/b] ]I don't know if this helps you resolve the issue SUB - but in playing with Microsoft AMCAP with Preview on I get EXACTLY the same problem,   UNTIL I change Options, Video Preview Pin and set the "Color Space / Compression"  to be MP4S. Any of the other 3 settings MPEG1, MPEG2 or DX50 give me the choppy preview. MP4S is perfectly fluid!

I plugged in the TV Walker this morning to investigate this, but strangely things seem to working very well - but I havnt changed anything yet. Weird.

The only thing thats really changed in my environment is I now have a good outdoor ariel, with strong reception. I wonder if the TV Walker's multistandard tuner didnt like my previously weak tv signal from rabbit ears antenna.

Channel changes seem fast (near instant) and reliable. I've attached a slightly updated version of NativeUtilities.dll which will query the crossbar routing before trying to set it, and will only set it if its different from how GB-PVR wants it. This means LiveTV now starts quickly - about 3 seconds on my machine. **backup you existing file first, in case you encounter any problems**.

I may have inadvertantly changed something else that helped, but I cant think what.

[mobiusnz]

Quote[/b] (sub @ Feb. 17 2005,12:22)]

Quote[/b] ]I don't know if this helps you resolve the issue SUB - but in playing with Microsoft AMCAP with Preview on I get EXACTLY the same problem,   UNTIL I change Options, Video Preview Pin and set the "Color Space / Compression"  to be MP4S. Any of the other 3 settings MPEG1, MPEG2 or DX50 give me the choppy preview. MP4S is perfectly fluid!

I plugged in the TV Walker this morning to investigate this, but strangely things seem to working very well - but I havnt changed anything yet. Weird.

The only thing thats really changed in my environment is I now have a good outdoor ariel, with strong reception. I wonder if the TV Walker's multistandard tuner didnt like my previously weak tv signal from rabbit ears antenna.

Channel changes seem fast (near instant) and reliable. I've attached a slightly updated version of NativeUtilities.dll which will query the crossbar routing before trying to set it, and will only set it if its different from how GB-PVR wants it. This means LiveTV now starts quickly - about 3 seconds on my machine. **backup you existing file first, in case you encounter any problems**.

I may have inadvertantly changed something else that helped, but I cant think what.

The DLL didn't seem to make any difference. Still can't get preview mode live tv and in timeslip mode its a little unreliable - ie it usually doesn't work at all when I first go in I just eventually get a still picture - then if I change channel it buffers again and I USUALLY get a good smooth picture but the recording service usually crashes within a minute or two. As I said earlier my main purpose for this program is for programmed recording to replace the VCR and this seems to be working EXCEPTIONALLY well but it would be nice to be able to use the one app for live tv watching (In fact the Lifeview app doesn't seem to work at all at present but then I've played with SAGE TV (Wouldn't work for me at all), Showshifter (VERY SLOW to navigate and same slow jerky picture fault).

Is there anyway in GBPVR for me to change the setting I change in AMCAP to get that working properly relating to the Preview Pin compression setting ie Microsoft MPEG4 rather than DIVX or MPEG1/2?

P.S - I'm getting Crisp reception off a rooftop Aerial only purchased 6 months ago as the old one had corroded connections.

Thanks for your assistance.

Matt

[sub]

Quote[/b] ]Is there anyway in GBPVR for me to change the setting I change in AMCAP to get that working properly relating to the Preview Pin compression setting ie Microsoft MPEG4 rather than DIVX or MPEG1/2?

I tried this in AMCAP this morning, but it just made things stutter badly on my machine for the first 10 seconds or so before coming right.

[hitek146]

Quote[/b] (hitek146 @ Feb. 17 2005,03:58)]Sub, have you tried the Typhoon drivers that I mentioned before? They are much better behaving than the Lifeview versions.... I have actually merged the Lifeview 1.6 drivers with the new Typhoon drivers to give me a very well performing driver set that will still encode in MotionJPEG, as the WIS documentation states....

Hello??? You stop talkin' to me, Sub?

[sub]

Sorry, no I was distracted with other things. I havn't tried these drivers. Do I have do anything in particular to try them on the TV Walker hardware?

[mobiusnz]

For me the MP4S option is the only way I get smooth video (Very smooth) in AMCAP so I assume the same would be true if I could for LIVE TV in GBPVR to this aswell.

I tried the Typhoon drivers and couldn't get any TV in anything with a mix of results - generally apps crashing. Tried replacing a few of the driver files in my Lifeview drivers with the newer ones from the Typhoon drivers and likewise couldn't get anything. Went back to the Lifeview latest release and I'm at least back where I started!