"Live TV" Black screen

[cyrano]

New Setup worked fine for a few hours with the channels showing up. (hadn't yet tried to acquire guide data). Later when hitting "Live TV" the warning popped up that I didn't have a temp folder on C drive for "KODI live tv buffer". So I created one on C drive, then hit Live tv and got the black screen with no audio. Then I put one on my desktop titled "KODI live tv buffer" and set the target for it. The result is the same. I know the channels are there and a right click tells me which channel is selected. BTW: UI mode is set for PVR, not TV Viewer.

Thanks in advance...

[johnsonx42]

Code:

2015-08-10 18:44:03.467    [DEBUG][1]    Graph filter list:
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - EVR Renderer
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - NPVR PES Collector (Teletext)
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - NPVR PES Collector (DVBSubs)
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - MPEG1 Audio Renderer
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - AAC Audio Renderer
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - MONOGRAM AAC Decoder
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - MPEG-2 Demultiplexer
2015-08-10 18:44:03.468    [DEBUG][1]     - NPVR TS Reader2

no mpeg-2 video decoder in the graph list. see "NextPVR Tech Support" sticky post at top of forum, section "Audio and Video Decoders", there's a link to "SAF" decoder package. LAV decoders are also recommended often.

[cyrano]

Thanks so much!! It works! Since LAV was already available, I selected it for all video and audio options which were previously disabled. (I'll chase down your recommended "SAF" decoder package sometime also.) Now to figure out why the buffering takes so long in changing channels. I moved the buffer folder back to C drive and it helped a little.

[johnsonx42]

Now to figure out why the buffering takes so long in changing channels. I moved the buffer folder back to C drive and it helped a little.

how long is "so long"? it's not the buffering; when watching live nextpvr uses shared memory to deliver the live stream simultaneously to the buffer file and the playback graph.
channel change time is affected by how long it takes your tuner to tune to, lock on, and start delivering data from a new frequency, and then by how long it takes the video decoder to begin delivering decoded frames from the new data stream to the video renderer. you will find some decoders are better than others at this.

you can isolate the decoder time by looking at a channel change between two channels on the same physical frequency, so the tuning time will be zero.

[cyrano]

how long is "so long"? ...
... you can isolate the decoder time by looking at a channel change between two channels on the same physical frequency, so the tuning time will be zero.

Thanks again! Audio immediately begins on the newly selected channel very briefly, cuts out while the wait time begins to complete the channel change. Sometimes it just hangs requiring a restart - which loads either the original channel or the newly selected channel. The latest two successful channel changes took from 28 seconds to just over a minute. I downloaded and installed the "SAF" decoder package you suggested, was warned that the LAV package would be removed, said "ok", and restarted the computer. Then when re-opening "NextPVR", the decoder options available were still selected to "LAV" and "live TV" still worked. No options to select "SAF".

I don't know how to access the physical frequency on channels. Have noticed sometimes it takes less time (half a minute) to change adjacent channel numbers than those farther away (over a minute, sometimes up to three minutes).

Comparatively, channel changes using "HD Homerun View" (I'm using cable card with Silicon Dust HD Homerun Prime) are almost instantaneous (a couple of seconds, opens with brief pizelation), however obviously no options are available yet for recording capabilities. I did very recently do a hardware update. Windows Media Center also changes channels very quickly.

I'm a somewhat panicked, older than dirt, soon-to-be-refugee from Windows Media Center with its one-remote capabilities. My research indicates NextPVR currently seems so far to be the alternative frontrunner in the TV programming/recording department.

Thanks so much for your help!

[sub]

A typical channel change in NextPVR would be 1-4 seconds, depending on various factors. If you're getting slower times than this, then something is definitely going wrong. Posting your logs showing some of these slow channel changes will hopefully help us spot the reason.

[johnsonx42]

channel changes that long are almost surely due to the decoder barfing on the change in the stream and then taking a long time to get going again. I think I ran into this myself the last time I tried LAV... for me the only decoder that's ever really worked well for both live tv and recordings is the Microsoft DTV-DVD Decoder, but that's not an option for MPEG-2 after Windows 7 (Microsoft hobbled the decoder so that it won't decode MPEG-2 for non-Microsoft programs).

I think if you PM hoborg to unlock your SAF package you'll get a better decoder.

(as sub said though, posting logs is good too, so we can see if you're getting a long delay in an unexpected place)

[mvallevand]

I find in North America one way to speed changes on North American broadcasts is to change the default to AC3. I use the registry PreferAC3 setting but I think there is another way

A typical channel change in NextPVR would be 1-4 seconds, depending on various factors.

Maybe on the backend, on a client I would double that range.

Martin

[cyrano]

... I think if you PM hoborg to unlock your SAF package you'll get a better decoder.

(as sub said though, posting logs is good too, so we can see if you're getting a long delay in an unexpected place)

Thanks all! Pretty sure I'm getting in way over my head.


from: http://codecpack.co/download/SAF-Codec-Pack.html ...To obtain the unlocked version of SAF, users can send a private message to the SAF developer. http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/members/hoborg.77164/

So hoping to get an unlocked version I joined MediaPortal hoping to find the means to send a PM to Hoborg which I'm guessing is the app used to send the message but I can't find it.

Thanks Martin on the AC3 suggestion. Unfortunately I haven't a clue where/how to change it.

Since what settings are currently in place actually work I'm guessing I should proceed from here and try to get help on the glacially slow channel changes.

As suggested, I'm sending you my current log files. Also attaching a jpg which shows what decoder options are currently available in all of my video/audio settings. Any changes needed would be appreciated.
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Thanks again!!

[mvallevand]

I thought you might try a forum search for the registry http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post397096 or the next one for 64 bit. so I wouldn't have to. Not everyone has luck with it I have no reason why.

Martin