So close, so excited, but i fail and need help...decoders

[Treads64]

Hello Gents and Gals!

Short background: Ran gbpvr for years. Loved it! Machine died last December. I built a new machine this April to replace it. Made the switch to NextPVR.

Specs: ASUS board P8B75-M/CSM connected to a Samsung TV via hdmi. Reusing 2 tuner cards from old machine (PVR500's). One tuner on one of the cards for whatever reason is toast. I have it disabled in windows and the other three show up nicely after doing the Hauppage wintv load thing. I did this following another section of the forum.

After following directions on the forum I have installed SAF, patched the program to re-enable DT for WIN7 (I am running win7ultimatex64).

I run into problems with decoders. I cannot get live TV to display correctly. It is always choppy, or i only have sound, or the picture is 1/2 of the screen smooshed (technical term).

I have attached my logs in hopes you guys/gals can give me some guidance as to what to to next. I have tried a lot of different combos for the renderer and decoders. I have restarted the program after each change and still no dice.

I did restart the computer upon applying patches and installing decoders.

I gotta be close! Help! Thanks in advance!

[Graham]

Try Video Renderer = EVR ... Audio Renderer = Default ... MPEG2 Video = LAV ... MPEG1 Audio = LAV ... AC3 Audio = LAV Does that collection make any difference?

[Treads64]

No dice Graham. Black screen, no sound.

New logs attached.

My full settings loadout is:
Video Renderer: EVR
Audio Renderer: Default
Music Rederer: Directsound: SAMSUNG (Intel® Display Audio
MPEG@ Video: LAV Video Decoder
H.264 Video: LAV Video Decoder
MPEG1 Audio: LAV Audio Decoder
All the rest the same except: HE-ACC Audio: disabled
The box at the bottom is checked "only use....."

[johnsonx42]

if you're only doing analog video, then just use the Microsoft DTV-DVD decoders for MPEG2 video and MPEG1 Audio. leave the others disabled.

[Treads64]

I have some stuff stored on a network drive in various formats. If i do what you say Johnson, will it prevent the other things from playing? I will try what you wrote and see if the tv displays live tv.

[Treads64]

Well, I can choose the Microsoft DTV-DVD as you said for MPEG2 video but for MPEG1 Audio my options are disabled, ffdshow, or LAV.

Using either and I still get no picture or sound.

[Zeb]

Hi Treads64, I'm guessing your intended source is output from a box since the only channels you ever seem to tune to are 3 and 4. If so, what kind of video cable are you using to connect the box to your cards? If you're using composite video, try S-video. If your channels are all analog cable channels, then you probably don't need a box and could connect the cable directly to your cards using a splitter (or do they still have encrypted analog channels in your area?). If some or all of the channels are digital, that might be a problem since your tuners are NTSC, unless of course your source is a converter box for analog TVs.

[Treads64]

Zeb, Thank you and everyone trying to help me. My intention is to be able to watch channels 3-66. I only care about the analog channels. I have the cable from the wall split and running into the cards. The splitter I have is powered and increases the signal. I used this when I ran gbpvr and it has worked for years. I have been playing with different combinations of the decoders all afternoon. At one point I had the tv showing video and playing sound. The picture was clear but its ratios were all wonky. The picture covered only the left side of the screen. I know my cards are old, I just can't seem to get the right combination to allow them to work as they did with gbpvr for years. I really don't want to have to switch back to gbpvr.....I really like Next pvr. I had this same problem a few years ago and ended up going back to gbpvr. Do I not have the right decoders installed? I just don't know what to try.

[johnsonx42]

not sure what to tell you. there's no reason I can think of that the microsoft dtv-dvd decoders shouldn't work for video & audio from an analog card. I can watch analog channels here with just those two decoders selected.

I guess you could try unlocked SAF; just PM hoborg and ask nice. that's what I use on my windows 8 test client, since the microsoft decoders are crippled.

also, have you tried playing back a recording using VLC, just to make sure that you are getting valid recording files?

[Zeb]

I'm sure johnsonx42 is right: the only decoders you need to worry about are MPEG2 video and MPEG1 audio as far as analog TV is concerned. You might try experimenting with different video renderers if nothing else seems to help. Your Samsung TV probably has various settings for standard-definition video aspect (called View Mode on my Sharp TV). NPVR has similar settings. Using mouse, right-click and pick a setting under Aspect Ratio. Using keyboard, press F7 to toggle through the same four settings. I suppose it's possible that your TV might prefer different graphics card settings.