Stu-Stu- Stuttering, but only some channels and only live

[lsandini]

TV-Server Version: MediaPortal 1.0 RC2 (rev19657)
MediaPortal Version: MediaPortal 1.0 RC2 (rev19657)
MediaPortal Skin: Foofaraw
Windows Version: Vista Ultimate SP1
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600, passive cooling
HDD: WD Scorpio 2.5" SATA
Memory: DDR2, 2x1GB
Motherboard: Intel DP35DP
Video Card: Radeon HD2600XT, passive cooling
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 8.7, AVIVO
Sound Card: Intel® High Definition Audio (Intel® HD Audio)
Sound Card AC3: optical out to Harman & Kardon AVR-235 amp
Sound Card Driver: 5762_5713_v68
1. TV Card: Floppy DTV DVB-C
1. TV Card Type: DVB-C
1. TV Card Driver: 4.4.5N
2. TV Card: Floppy DTV DVB-C
2. TV Card Type: DVB-C
2. TV Card Driver: 4.4.5N
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink powerDVD 7
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec: Cyberlink powerDVD 7
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Zalman HD160 Plus
Cooling: Noctual 8cm fans x2, Scythe Ninja mini passive on CPU
Power Supply: Antec Phantom 500W
Remote: Microsoft MCE
TV: Philips 32" PF5320
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI

Hello,

Well it's apparently my turn to suffer from stutters. Nothing has changed in my box for months, I have been quite happy with MP1 RC2 (no SVN applied). Plenty of space both on the OS drive and on the dedicated timeshiftbuffer and recordings hosting drives.

The channel bundles on the cable here have changed, and with this has come a major problem. In 4 of my about 80 SD channels, the live TV is a slideshow of about 1 frame in 3 seconds, with no sound. If I start recording those channels, the resulting file works perfectly in MP and in VLC. But watching it live just doesn't work.

I gathered the logs (here attached) and found troubling evidence of audio errors.

I swapped the MVA codec for ffdshow, and I was able to watch one of the probematic channels correcly, but without sound... On the other 3 problematic channels, the slideshow was about 2 images/sec, without sound. Again, recording those channels produces a very normal recording.

All the other channels (SD and HD work) as they should. I can also watch those problematic 4 channels completely normally with my DVB-C set-top box. I rescanned all channels, I get a very strong signal in both tuners, no problem there.

Interestingly, we have DVB-C radio here as well, and I have never been able to hear a sound from those channels.

I am puzzled, any suggestion ?

Thanks, Lorenzo

[lsandini]

After much skull-scratching, I tried about all the codecs I could find and the solution was not too difficult.

I had to change the AUDIO codec from MPA to MS MPEG-1/DD and all is fine now.

I never had to do this before, and since I moved to RC3, I had to do this again to get non-stuttering image and normal sound on Discovery channels and TCM.

Hope this helps anyone ...

Lorenzo

[Bassmo]

Thx Isandini, you saved my day! Since RC3 i was not able to get my Pay-TV channels (Premiere) on without stuttering. I was using Nvidia PureVideo codec before i moved from RC2 to the new release. All SD channels worked fine except Pay-TV. I tried all installed video codecs without success. Then your post comes up and after searching your codec for XP i found attached GPL MPEG-1/2 DirectShow Decoder Filter. And what should i say: all stuttering is gone!

again.

BG Bassmo

[RobNorthcott]

A bit of feedback:

I've been using that codec posted above by Bassmo for a week or so, and it does seem very stable, but it gives terrible picture quality on my system compared with PureVideo or ffdshow. PureVideo stutters occasionally and sometimes suffers from picture freeze, and ffdshow crashes to the desktop every few minutes.

So I'm still looking for a best of both worlds...

Rob