Mediaportal getting HD going

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madad

75 posts

Master Geek

#25468 22-Aug-2008 09:46

Sorry, I know this topics probably been done to death, but...

I've added a dual tuner dvb-t card to my server where I'm running tvserver and I'm using my old UHF aerial off my roof to tune some channels. Some work well (TV1,TV2,TV3), but some are terrible (C4) - by terrible, I mean pretty much a green screen - no visible picture at all and broken sound etc.

I tuned it off waiatarua, should I be tuning off the other option as well? Or do I need to install a UHF aerial on my roof? The one I'm using fell off the roof in the last big storm and I'm using DVB-S for other TV so I never reinstalled it.

Cheers for any help anyone can provide.

Quidam

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#158881 22-Aug-2008 10:05

Hi. Can you clarify that what you are doing is using your old UHF arial (which fell off the roof) inside your house?

If TV1;2 and 3 work well, then the problem you are having with C4 is not likely to be realted to codecs, so yes, I think you need to put your Arial back on the roof, and have it aligned for optimal reception.

Also, when you get it put back up, make sure it has two braces locking it onto the roof -so that the next time a storm hits, it doesn't fall off again!

Cheers
b

"There is no way to Peace -Peace is the Way" (A. J. Muste)

madad

75 posts

Master Geek

#158888 22-Aug-2008 10:15

Yeah, will try putting it outside tomorrow at least and see if that helps. I guess at least then I can take that out of the equation.

andrewdixon1000

76 posts

Master Geek

#158996 22-Aug-2008 16:20

I believe the green screen problem may be related to codecs/decoding, many others have had similar problems. Can you give us any more info about your setup? Do you happen to have an ATI video card?

Andy

madad

75 posts

Master Geek

#159003 22-Aug-2008 16:40

Yup sure thing.

Client: Windows Pro XP SP3
CPU: AMD Quad Core Phonem 9600 CPU AM2+ 2.4GHz (Quadcore)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G SB70 AM2+ DDR2 1066 On board RGB / HDMI / DVI output
Hard drive: ide 80gig
Memory: 2gigs 1066 ram

Server: Vista Ultimate

I'm using the dsub output straight off the motherboard to a widescreen 19" lcd. The motherboard claims to have "Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200-based graphics (DX10) " which i figure should be pretty suitable.

Codecs:
ffdshow
coreavc

I'll check versions of the codecs tonight. It plays content from my pinnacle dvb-s card just fine. Just seems to be some of the dvb-t channels it has issues with.

I'll also set up the aerial better so I can take reception out of the picture. The bars that show quality and strength seemed to vary somewhat during tuning..

I also find it a little jerky so am considering moving the tuner card to the client machine and running in single seat. It's really the only machine in my house capable of playing HD anyway.. the first core of the four hardly sniffed when playting it, let alone the other 3!!

Thanks for the help!

andrewdixon1000

76 posts

Master Geek

#159010 22-Aug-2008 16:55

I have a motherboard with the same chipset. I've been trying to get hardware acceleration of Freeview HD working with PowerDVD without any luck (and if you search on geekzone you will see that basically everyone else with that chipset has the same problems). It looks like you are probably using a software H.264 codec rather than using DXVA acceleration though so I would think you would not be seeing these problems (especially with the quad core CPU).

I would suggest that you do a bit more reading in the Freeview forum here on geekzone and see what others have been saying. Good luck!

I've given up on using the onboard HD3200 and have just bought an nVidia card.

Andy

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#159014 22-Aug-2008 17:19

It's probably not a good idea to use DXVA on the HD3200 onboard, no one has really had 100% success with it. Since you have quad core software decoding with say CoreAVC wouldn't be too bad.

madad

75 posts

Master Geek

#159194 23-Aug-2008 20:14

Oh dear, I do seem to have landed in a muddled land then...

Well today I installed the software that came with the tuner card (Powerlink Cinema) and it appears to tune and play all of the dvdt channels pretty well. So what's that all about?

Anyway I bought a new aerial which I'm in the process of setting up so we'll see if that helps. I have a few drop outs in power cinema, but in media portal some channels just make it freeze up - at some points causing the whole machine to freeze. Not cool.

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madad

75 posts

Master Geek

#159485 25-Aug-2008 10:02

So.. an interesting weekend. I got it all working and thanks for eveyone's help. It turned out that I did need to turn off hardware acceleration and then I was able to get all the channels. So now all I need to sort out is getting the aerial onto the roof.

Now I just want lots of HD to watch!!