Skipping/Scrubbing thru My Videos doesn't work anymore?

[snarlyboy]

First of all, big BIG thanks to all the MP developers and designers working on things. Overall I love it! Btw 0.2.1 has some nice skin modification which look nicer and work better than the previous Blue Two version did.

Anyway here are my system details and questions/problems that hopefully some kind person can help me with:

Area: Media Portal Program
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.1.0 (2006-10-21)
MediaPortal Skin: BlueTwo
Windows Version: Windows XP (SP2)
.NET CLR Version: 2.0.50727
DirectX Version: 4.09.00.0904 (9.0c)
Audio Codec: MPA Decoder Filter
Video Codec: MPV Decoder Filter
CPU Type: AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Memory: 1 GB
Motherboard: VT8366-8233
TV Card Model: -
TV Card Type: -
TV Card Driver: Hauppauge PVR150MCE
Video Card Model: Radeon 9550 (256 MB)
Video Card Driver: -
Video Card Resolution: 800x600
Video Render Type: -
Audio Card Model: Vinyl AC'97 Codec Combo Driver (WDM)
Audio Card Driver: -
Synopsis::

Media Pal scrubbing/skipping through My videos sometimes doesn't work sometimes doees. That is, pressing the skip forward or back (right or leftarrow on the MCE remote or MCE keyboard) doesn't seem to skip in increments like it used to when playing back a video in My Videos.

This doesn't seem to be codec dependent as it used to work and sometimes does for some Divx and Xvid files but sometimes doesn't for others, so that made me think it was bit rate encoding issues?? but then it has worked in a particular video at one point and then not worked at another later date in that same video?

I can't get it to be repeatable as to which ones it doesn't work on because videos that do work sometimes don't. This never happened in 0.2.0.3 or earlier but has been happening since 0.2.04 and 0.2.1.0.

Also the volume graphic sometimes doesn't show up or work on those videos where that is a problem. Also, when it doesn't work, in those videos, pressing the fast forward button >> or rewind button to scan at 2x 4x 8x 16x ot 32x works to scrub through those videos, but doesn't seem to do it at the speed it claims to. For example going 2x in a video when it works does seem to scan the audio and video and twice the speed. When attempting that in a video that Doesn't work, the video does go forward in multi-second jumps and stutters, but no way near the double speed that it should when it works properly.

Hope this makes sense. and if this is an issue I missed somewhere I apologize and please provide links to the thread or solution if one exists.

thanks very much!!

[snarlyboy]

hi again...

so no one has experienced the same problem/bug? Can anyone at least confirm this is an issue? Or even better, point me to a solution? Thanks!

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by snarlyboy

so no one has experienced the same problem/bug?

Nope - it works fine here ...

I am using MP ver 0.2.1.0, too.

[snarlyboy]

Thanks Taipan, can you confirm that you are trying this using TV resolution DivX or Xvid video files? That's what craps out intermittently for me...

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by snarlyboy

Thanks Taipan, can you confirm that you are trying this using TV resolution DivX or Xvid video files?

I am playing HD DivX files (1280x720). However, I did notice today when I was doing some testing, that if I had the DivX decoder installed, then the skipping (+15 sec, etc) and fast-forwarding (+2x, etc) was very erratic - in fact, the skipping would not work at all!

I un-installed the DivX decoder so that MP then used the Nero Video Decoder and it now works fine.

I suggest you use Graphedit to check what decoders are used for your DivX files, and then use RadLight Filter Manager to change the filter merits to force alternate decoders to be used (or unistall/unregister the ones you don't want to be used). I found that I had to do a re-boot each time the filter merits were changed for them to have effect.

HTH ....

[snarlyboy]

Originally Posted by Taipan

...
I un-installed the DivX decoder so that MP then used the Nero Video Decoder and it now works fine.

I suggest you use Graphedit to check what decoders are used for your DivX files, and then use RadLight Filter Manager to change the filter merits to force alternate decoders to be used (or unistall/unregister the ones you don't want to be used). I found that I had to do a re-boot each time the filter merits were changed for them to have effect.

HTH ....

Thanks very much Taipan, that was the problem - I'm not sure how Divx got installed or if I had it already and its priority was increased, and I didn't really consciously know that Xvid was the superior GPL'ed codec for those files.

However your suggestions were right on the money and I very much appreciate the time you took to test and let me know your results as it worked for me.

In case anyone else has the same problems I describe above these are the steps I took based on Taipan's suggestions:

* Installed latest XVid codec from http://www.xvid.org

* grabbed Radlight Filter Manager 1.4 from http://www.videohelp.com

* Ran it and followed this tutorial at:
http://thehtpcrecord.com/index.php?o...ask=view&id=39

in order to set the DirectShowFilter for Divx to MERIT_NORMAL and the XVid codec's property to MERIT_PREFERRED

* Rebooted machine and all works beautiful again with Skipping and Scrubbing back and forward.

Hope making it a bit more explicit helps others who might have this problem - it was driving me nuts for weeks - I think a secret update from a Divx manager updated the system to Divx 6.4 and must have automatically changed the prioirties for these DirectShow filters/decoders...

thanks again Taipan!!