Is NextPVR's HDPVR support locked to VBR recording?

[three6zerocool]

As per thread subject, is the HDPVR recording profile always VBR?

Reason I am asking, is that I was trying to test if my colossus2 card could record in CBR mode.
I changed the 1080i profile in the config.xml to CBR,  rebooted, and then tried recording something.

According to Mediainfo, the resultant recording profile is variable bitrate.

Basically am messing around with my Fire TV Cube 3rd gen again, and when viewing 1080i recorded content from MyskyHDi STB, am seeing  micro-stutter in both live TV and the recording in Kodi.
Have mentioned this before, and it was determined this is not a NextPVR issue as such, but I never resolved it, and instead have been using my Nvidia Shield, which has no such issue with Kodi as client.

I might be mistaken, but in the old days when I had the original Colossus1 card, I thought I was able to record 1080i CBR at 20mbit.
When my original card gave up the ghost, I obtained a Colossus 2 card, which is supposed to be able to record 1080p at 14mbit.

Mediainfo says bitrate is 14.2 mbit, but states variable bitrate.

My question, is mediainfo lying, and the recording is really CBR,  or is the setting change to CBR in NextPVR's config actually not doing anything.

Why am I even contemplating trying to change to CBR?. Well more for testing, to see if it makes any difference to the micro-stuttering I see when watching content from STB.
I see the micro-stuttering in scenes with fast movement, especially when watching the WWE Wrestling shows.

I have tried changing my STB's output to 720p, but it still does the microstutter, and sometimes even worse that the 1080i content.
So, am now wondering if it is something occurring during recording, so thought about whether the VBR could be freaking out at certain scenes, as the microstutter seems to occur just at moments of fast movement, or sudden lighting changes, and similar stuff like that.

NextPVR's default profile for HDPVR seems to be between 9mbit and 13500mbut VBR.

(grin)  I know this is something unique to my setup with STB, but it drives me freaking banana's, and I see the microstutter/freezing for an instant.

Thought I would see if I could fix the issue, before I wham out my fire tv cube with a 50 pound lump hammer!
heh heh.

[mvallevand]

A bad recording is a bad recording, a good recording is a good recording. Since you seem to continue to consider NextPVR for this ongoing trouble on FireTV even when the Shield works on the same stream I guess you need to post the logs so we can see what NextPVR is doing.

I would use HDPVR Capture tweak its setting and see how those recordings work on your FireTV to see if there is a combination that works.

Martin

[three6zerocool]

Thanks, that's a very good idea actually!.

I can then see what Mediainfo says about the recorded file.

I think I got mixed up regarding recording CBR with NextPVR.
My original setup I was using MediaPortal, and definitely remember being able to choose CBR at 20mbit. (or whatever)

I just noticed the profiles in the config and thought I could just change the 1080i one to be CBR, but it doesn't seem to work that way.

I believe the recordings are good recordings, but the fire TV Cube 3 devices have some inherent firmware problem that causes Kodi issues when playing back.
Kodi developer says they can try and improve Fire Cube playback, but they can not fix what they describe as 'bad firmware'.
I updated one of my Cube's to the latest firmware, and it made no difference.

Yes, other clients (including UI Droid) do not have the playback issues, but bottom line, I like Kodi, and it's integration with both NextPVR and Jellyfin for movies and TV Shows suits me admirably.
I could run all separate apps, but it seems unnecessary to 'have to' do so.

Only thing I really notice about the Shield vs Fire TV Cube 3rd gen, is that Shield runs 64bit app, where Fire Cube 3rg gen is 32bit.
Whether that should make any difference in the grand scheme of things, I do not know.

The Fire TV Cube 3rd gen seems to have better quality video output (to these eyes), but just does not match the Shields overall stability.

But your idea/suggestion is an excellent one, so will check it out and see if messing with the video capture settings indeed makes any difference.

[mvallevand]

It won't be 32 bit vs 64 bit the logs should show the profile being selected which is why I thought they would be useful for sub. For me I'd if the Kodi developers say it is firmware I'd believe them they as now how to read the Kodi logs assuming you provided them. They know the AFTV pretty well.

Martin