New to NextPVR - Colossus Video Quality Issue

[APe]

Hi all. I've been reading a lot on these forums lately as I've been trying to breathe new life into an older HTPC (Core i3-530). I've got NextPVR all setup on Windows 10, and I'm using a Hauppauge Colossus as my capture device. Everything is working great with the exception of my video quality. Unfortunately, my cable box uses HDCP (because the cable company wants me to spend more money to buy one of their PVRs :mad, so when I try to plug the HDMI into my Colossus, the HD video comes through perfectly for about 10 seconds and then I get an error from the cable box that says, "HDCP has been compromised. Please use YPbBr inputs." When I switch to the YPbBr component inputs, the video quality seems to drop down to standard definition.

To clarify a couple of things, previously I ran this HTPC with Windows 8.1 and used Windows Media Center. When I used the YPbBr component inputs for that setup, everything came through in 1080i just fine. But using NextPVR, I can only seem to get a standard definition image. There isn't anything wrong with the image performance—it isn't ghosting or anything—it's just low quality and looks exactly like a standard definition image.

This doesn't appear to be a rendering or decoding problem—I've installed the K-Lite CODEC pack and spent quite a bit of time using and configuring different ones to be sure. When I use the HDMI, I get proper HD video quality for 10 seconds before I receive the HDCP error from my cable box. I also know that the signal coming out of the YPbBr component inputs is HD because that's what I could get when I used Windows Media Center.

Does anyone know how I can correct this issue so that NextPVR will display a 1080i signal using the YPbBr component inputs with a Hauppauge Colossus?

[mvallevand]

Sub's default for the HDPVR family in config.xml is SD when fps can't be determined, which is often the case when tuning a channel I changed my STB to always send out 720p. You can also modify config.xml for the SD setting to bring it up to HD.

Martin

[APe]

Hi Martin. Thanks for the quick reply. I just tried setting my STB to 720p as you suggested. Oddly, the quality looked noticeably different at first but then seemed to revert back to SD again. I looked through the config.xml file and read the Advanced Configuration wiki page, and while I'm reasonably sure I understand what I'm looking at, I'm not certain what to change the values to in order to force it to display in HD. Can you please advise? Also, is it advisable or even possible to specify the FPS for HD? Thanks.

[sub]

When it comes to recordings Colossus/HDPVR/HDPVR2 etc, you always get the resolution and frame rate as the source is providing. As Martin was referring to, you may need to bump up the encoder bitrate in the <ModeSD> setting in config.xml.

That may or may not be the cause of your problem though - some set top boxes only ever output SD over component video. There is nothing NextPVR could do about this.

[mvallevand]

Compress and upload your NRecord logs, they should show the fps that NextPVR is detecting.

Martin

[APe]

Thanks, sub, for the explanation, and for the suggestion, Martin. That did the trick! I set the <ModeSD> bitrate values to the HD values and then the picture quality came through in HD. I'm not subscribed to any SD channels through my STB, so I'm not concerned about large SD recordings.

Just out of curiosity, is it possible that the EPG passes something that dictates whether the HD or SD bitrate is used? I only ask because my STB only recognizes channel number inputs for SD channels. However, if the channel is also broadcast in HD, it automatically switches to that channel. So, when I select channel 185, behind the scenes it's selecting channel 240. I can't manually enter channel 240 via remote (or IR blaster) as it won't accept it. All that to say my EPG displays channel 185 and not 240, so does the EPG somehow pass the information that it's an SD channel to the rendering device?

Thanks again! This ensures everything about this HTPC is better than it's previous incarnation

[sub]

For NextPVR to decide what bitrate to use, it calls a Colossus API for asking the device what the resolution is. Unfortunately this API is really flakey on the Colossus, so it's assuming SD. I'm going to change it to assume 720p if the Colossus doesn't say.

Just out of curiosity, is it possible that the EPG passes something that dictates whether the HD or SD bitrate is used?

If you're using Schedules Direct, the EPG has some info that tell me if the show was originally created in HD. It has no idea if it's going to get HD from your source though.

[APe]

Okay, I understand now, and yes, I'm using Schedules Direct.

Thanks again!!