Cannot get solid live play

[vicelore]

Hey guys.

New to the forums but im a long time XBMC user and have been using NPVR since it came to xbmc.

But iv always had a problem with stability on it.

I don't record or time lapse or anything fancy all i use is basic live play.

I have two main problems

Problem 1 - I cannot find all channels whilst scanning ( Cannot find any SBS channels )

Problem 2 - Choppy play ( comes to a complete freeze sometimes ) This only happens on a few channels I think.

Ive messed around trying every decoder and codec i can find and loads of combinations but never seem to get it working correctly.

PS I do all me testing just using the NPVR client ( not in XBMC )

I was thinking maybe my card is rubbish but its not old and my machine is fairly well speced.

Its a i5-2500 @3.3, 8 gig Ram, WinFast PxDVR3200, Win 7 x64.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Vice.

[sub]

Problem 1 - I cannot find all channels whilst scanning ( Cannot find any SBS channels )

This is probably just because the frequency lists for your city are out of date, and no longer correct for the broadcasts you receive. A few users in Australia have had the same problem. The easy fix is just do an 'Australia/All Regions' scan, rather than selecting your near by transmitter.

Problem 2 - Choppy play ( comes to a complete freeze sometimes ) This only happens on a few channels I think.

If it were me, I'd try doing a recording on one of the problem channels, try playing it in NextPVR to see if it's smooth, then try playing the same file directly in XBMC (ie, not via a PVR addon) to see if it's smooth or choppy. I suspect it'll be choppy, indicating a XBMC playback issue, rather than anything directly to do with NextPVR. NextPVR just delivers the original broadcast stream to XBMC, and it's up to XBMC to play it.

Ive messed around trying every decoder and codec i can find and loads of combinations but never seem to get it working correctly.

Decoders will only have an impact on playback in NextPVR, and make no difference to live tv or playback of recordings in XBMC.

[vicelore]

Ok mate ill try the scan again, Tho i think i have allready a few times..

I think we can take XBMC out of the equation with regard to the problem as it happens when running in NextPVR.

I have been doing all my config and testing straight from the NPVR client with XBMC closed.

I was going to try get the live tv working correctly in NPVR. Then look at XBMC.

But i was under the impression that XBMC used all the settings setup in the NPVR backend ?

[vicelore]

Update..

The rescan worked a treat using the "all regions" option. I now have all the desired chanels !!!! thanks allot...

[sub]

Ok mate ill try the scan again, Tho i think i have allready a few times..

I think we can take XBMC out of the equation with regard to the problem as it happens when running in NextPVR.

I have been doing all my config and testing straight from the NPVR client with XBMC closed.

I'd try to determine if it's a capture or a playback issue. ie, do a recording in NextPVR, then play the file in another player like VLC. If it plays fine, then capture is fine and it's a playback issue in NextPVR (and unlikely to effect XBMC when you try it there, since it's playback is entirely separate).

I was going to try get the live tv working correctly in NPVR. Then look at XBMC.

Yep, that's usually a good plan. When viewing in XBMC though, NextPVR only does the capture side of things, and playback is done by XBMC. ie, not the capture+playback that NextPVR has to do when you view Live TV in NextPVR. So, if you're having capture issues, then this will also flow through to XBMC. If you having playback issues, then XBMC is unlikely to have those same issues.

But i was under the impression that XBMC used all the settings setup in the NPVR backend ?

Decoders are only used for playback in NextPVR, so no used when XBMC is doing the playback.

[vicelore]

Yup I totally get what your saying there.

Ill record something and play it thru VLC and see how it looks. And report back.

I really appreciate this mate. The MRS will be so happy when i fix it hahaa.

[vicelore]

Ok so just tested and when played back thru a third party player its still very bad.

SO its got to be the recording side.

Where to now ?

Looking forward to getting this sorted now.

Thanks again.

[johnsonx42]

that almost surely indicates that it's a signal strength/quality issue. All NPVR does is take the transport stream it gets from the tuner and writes it to the disk, so if you get bad playback (and have verified it's not a playback problem) then it means the data being received is bad.

[sub]

Yep, as johnsonx42 says, it sounds like a reception issue. The capture part is pretty simple, and pretty much just saves the stream of data delivered from the tuner.

[vicelore]

So it's a card or areal problem ? I take it chucking the PC on another point may clear that up ? Are you guys in the know familiar with my card ? Not a known problem with it ? Could it be a driver issue ? Comparability issue ?

Thanks again guys