Problems decoding freeview

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brucealdridge

16 posts

Geek

Topic # 24644 29-Jul-2008 21:40

just got a new pc for htpc,

being lazy and not using a GFX card, just using cpu decoding ...
Everything seems to look okay,
I've tried both coreavc & powerdvd codecs, no difference ....

i get lots of skipping (its unwatchable ... full frames for a few seconds ... then drops out for 10+s) ... i think frames are being dropped but not sure, as same results in live tv and recorded (no matter where i record / play (tried gbpvr /mediaportal))

I don't think its the signal as audio plays fine and it reports 60-80% signal quality ... Its not CPU as that sits well under 60%

The one thing i think it may be is my capture card, i'm running a Leadtek DTV1000+ (imported from AU)

I don't really want to have to shell out for a nova500 if i don't have to.

anyone got any hints?

-bruce

eXDee

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Reply # 152565 29-Jul-2008 22:14

Specs might help.
You should really use a gfx card, otherwise the interface of whatever program you use will likely be laggy.
8500GT are $60-80ish i think, well worth the investment.

brucealdridge

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 152566 29-Jul-2008 22:25

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.7 GHz
Asus M3N78-EMH HDMI Motherboard
2gb Ram

running vista 32bit

when you say lag ... do you mean sync issues or lag as in delay (eg 5s behind "live") ... in that case i'm not too worried, i just want to watch olympics in HD, i can upgrade later if it bugs me too much.

Main thing is I dont' want to spend money unneccessarily.

I am tempted to replace the capture card, just to get the dual tuners.

-bruce

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eXDee

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Reply # 152574 29-Jul-2008 22:57

I suggest trying gfx acceleration anyway, your onboard is HD3200 which supports it (kind of well).

I cant think of much else tbh sorry, someone else might have ideas?

brucealdridge

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 152578 29-Jul-2008 23:31

by hd3200 i assume you mean Nvidia GeForce 8200 .... but yes, onboard gfx , but no real h.264 support

thanks for your suggestions

eXDee

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Reply # 152583 30-Jul-2008 00:14

Oh i must have been looking at the wrong model.
In that case you should be able to hybrid SLI with an 8400GS which should work fine.

Though this might not be causing your problem.

brucealdridge

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 152622 30-Jul-2008 09:58

just an update incase anyone else is having my problem .....

my brother suggested i try the freeview samples...
For some reason the 1 and 2 samples aren't working .... i'll try them again later,
but tv3 worked perfectly .... had about 70-80% usage for the first few seconds .... dropped rapidly .... from 20-30s onwards was only getting 10-20% usage.

so its something to do with the capture...
1. signal (although unlikely due to nice audo and a pretty good picture (when it wasn't stuttering))
2. irq conflict
3. capture card ...

will try checking the first 2 today, if no luck, then off to get a new capture card.

brucealdridge

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 153578 2-Aug-2008 14:01

got a new capture card (HVR-2200) ... its a little better than before ... but tv is still unwatchable ....
even analogue tv is unwatchable (skipping / dropped frames)

i assumed it could be a problem with the mobo ... so i put a PCI firewire card in there, and that worked perfect.
Its losing the data somewhere ... but not sure where!! :(

anyone got any hints?

eXDee

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Reply # 153675 2-Aug-2008 20:58

If even analogue is unwatchable then its a signal issue. I still suggest you get a full h264 compatible graphics card, i'm going to using the AMD 5200 with an 8500GT, still waiting on replacement motherboard though.

brucealdridge

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 153691 2-Aug-2008 21:22

i got it working ...
hooray.

i think i know what i did, but not entirely sure.
Taking it of evr and putting it on vmr9 seemed to fix the issue.
I tried putting it back on evr and no luck, so this seems to be my issue. (not entirely sure though)

now i have two new problems ..... the cpu usage gets away on me sometimes ... i think i will need to purchase a proper GFX card .. i'm thinking a 8500 .... and the signal, it doesn't like channel 2 where it is (rabbit ears) so might have to invest in a proper aerial.

thanks for your help exdee.

-bruce