NextPVR tuner plugin - User testing

[CraziFuzzy]

I probably won't be able to check it again until possibly tomorrow night.

[mvallevand]

I probably won't be able to check it again until possibly tomorrow night.

No problem, I appreciate you taking the time to look at this. I have already changed the next version to work differently based on the response to the version request.

Martin

[mikeh49]

Latest testing results for firewire recording, some good and some bad. First the good:

• TestRecorder produces good quality files that play well (smooth, pause, skip) in NPVR and GBPVR. When running, the connection to SGR and the operation of the NPVR file writer seems solid.
  
• Channel change using firewire and the batch file technique to call channelw.exe works well. I have unloadgraphonswitch set to 1 and delay set to 10 secs in SGR ini file.
  

Here are few problems:

• Channel change while playing has been unreliable - gives a black screen on the new channel. I need to investigate this further in order to provide useful data, however.
  
• I set up a test of 3 back-to-back recordings with channel change this morning from the guide:
• Law and Order on channel 757 started in the middle of the program at about 8:25 and should have ended at 9:00.
  
• Then, Charmed on 792 from 9:00 to 10:00 and then Law and Order again on 757 from 10:00 to 11:00.
  
• Results:
  
• Law and Order recorded until 9:00 but Charmed did not start. When I checked at 9:20 the NPVR recording service was stopped (I can't remember if the channel had changed to 757). I restarted the recording service and it immediately started recording. At 10:00, it did not change the channel, but kept recording. I could not cancel the recording (error report attached, target machine refused connection on 127.0.0.1:8968.. .
  
• I had to reboot to stop the recording.
  

So, there seems to be a problem with back-to-back recordings.

I have a new single recording with a channel change scheduled for noon, so we'll see how that goes. I'll also add some logging to the channel change batch file to see what that might tell us.

NPVR logs and various error messages attached.

Mike

Update: The recording scheduled for noon went off without a hitch. Channel change was logged at 11:59:10. Full 1 hour program and plays OK.

[mikeh49]

Some test results using live TV:

Live TV from the guide (select -> watch) works well if the program is stopped before selecting another program to watch. Under these conditions, the channel changes and the new stream starts properly. Pause, rewind, etc all work.

In Live TV from the main menu, the stream starts properly on some channel (the last channel watched?). A channel up/down while watching causes an exception, error message attached.

Mike

[mvallevand]

Latest testing results for firewire recording, some good and some bad. First the good:

• TestRecorder produces good quality files that play well (smooth, pause, skip) in NPVR and GBPVR. When running, the connection to SGR and the operation of the NPVR file writer seems solid.

Good that is the most important point for me

]Channel change using firewire and the batch file technique to call channelw.exe works well. I have unloadgraphonswitch set to 1 and delay set to 10 secs in SGR ini file.

I expect that SGraphRecorder will work well as it is proven in the SageTV environment.

]Channel change while playing has been unreliable - gives a black screen on the new channel. I need to investigate this further in order to provide useful data, however.

I expected this and have to work with sub to improve it.

Law and Order recorded until 9:00 but Charmed did not start. When I checked at 9:20 the NPVR recording service was stopped (I can't remember if the channel had changed to 757). I restarted the recording service and it immediately started recording. At 10:00, it did not change the channel, but kept recording. I could not cancel the recording (error report attached, target machine refused connection on 127.0.0.1:8968.. .

I had to reboot to stop the recording.

So, there seems to be a problem with back-to-back recordings.

It looks like NRecord crashed on the back to back recording, I haven't tested this myself so I will look tonight

Update: The recording scheduled for noon went off without a hitch. Channel change was logged at 11:59:10. Full 1 hour program and plays OK.

Great, NPVR is a better .ts file player than GBPVR so I expect strong playback.

Martin

[mvallevand]

Some test results using live TV:

Live TV from the guide (select -> watch) works well if the program is stopped before selecting another program to watch. Under these conditions, the channel changes and the new stream starts properly. Pause, rewind, etc all work.

In Live TV from the main menu, the stream starts properly on some channel (the last channel watched?). A channel up/down while watching causes an exception, error message attached.

Thanks, pconstanza mentioned the same thing. I am not sure if it something for sub or for me.

Martin

[CraziFuzzy]

Those problems all seem related to the fact that nPVR doesn't stop/start the recording between shows. This is the key reason sage always did so, and treated each show as it's own recording. They eventually made it so that it didn't have to stop/start on shows without the channel change, but it will always makes sense to stop/start recording when changing from one stream to another (changing channels). The only time you can get away with NOT stopping is if you are doing analog capture, and the source resolution isn't changing.

[mvallevand]

Those problems all seem related to the fact that nPVR doesn't stop/start the recording between shows. This is the key reason sage always did so, and treated each show as it's own recording. They eventually made it so that it didn't have to stop/start on shows without the channel change, but it will always makes sense to stop/start recording when changing from one stream to another (changing channels). The only time you can get away with NOT stopping is if you are doing analog capture, and the source resolution isn't changing.

Close. The problem was related to the TestRecorder not responding properly to a function call which dictates how NPVR sends the stop. I am not sure about STV but NPVR allows multirec which means that multiple streams can be recorded simultaneously if the channels are contained in the same master transport stream. Many DVB, and some QAM and even some ATSC broadcasts are like this. TestRecoder was indicating that it was multirec capable and that the channel that was being requested could be recorded in parallel.

With the new version I am now successfully recording back-to-back shows and channel changing between firewire channels.

Martin

[mikeh49]

Good to hear. Need another tester of the new version?

I was going to suggest that CarpeV had channel changing working pretty well in GraphRecorder with GBPVR and there might be some insight in his code. I could channel surf with my preview graph that demuxed, decoded and rendered. Back to back shows are no problem.

Anyway, glad to hear you figured it out. I don't especially care about channel surfing, but back-to-back is important, of course.

Do we need Sub's upcoming release to get the database update "built-in" so you don't have to poke the channels in?

Thanks, Martin, for the good work on this. This was the NPVR showstopper for me, so I'm glad to see a solution.

BTW, very positive impression by the other PVR user in the household. She likes the look - brighter and easier to read.

[mvallevand]

mikeh49 I will need testing to continue, but it has to be after the next version of NPVR. There is noo more poking of the database, you will be simply select your channels from an your Schedules Direct linue or an XMLTV files.

Martin