TV Freeze

crazyfool · 2008-10-27, 19:47

TV-Server Version: Latest
MediaPortal Version: RC3
MediaPortal Skin: Aeon Wide
Windows Version: XP MCE 2005 SP3
CPU Type: AMD 4850e
Memory: 2GB Corsair
Motherboard: Abit 780g
Video Card: Onboard HD3200
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 8.10
MPEG2 Video Codec: PowerDVD
MPEG2 Audio Codec: PowerDVD
almost done setting up my htpc bar for not recording out of standby which i am working on and this problem. Basically i have got hardware acceleration working with the latest 8.10 drivers using the powerdvd 8 codecs and it looks great for dvd etc... However tv freezes after about 30 secs and the sound is playing but screen is frozen on the last frame and nothing will respond and i have to hard restart. I looked through the event logs and saw a number of red crosses at around the same time as the freezes so i investigated and solved these issues but this has not stopped the problem. This also happens on recorded tv. I thought this might be to do with h/w acceleration so i thought i could use the powerdvd 8 codecs with h/w acceleration for the dvd's and use the powerdvd 7 codecs which i also have for tv without h/w acceleration. However it seems disabling h/w acceleration in the mpconfig for either codec disables it for the other. So I am hoping someone knows the reason for this freezing which doesn't involve disabling h/w acceleration... any suggestions would be welcome...

RobNorthcott · 2008-10-28, 18:04

Mine does the same thing (but only very occasionally). In fact, it's the most annoying problem left with my system - if I could solve that it'd be completely stable apart from the occasional "tv service not found". I'm using PureVideo codec and an nVidia card, so it seems it's not codec or display driver problems (as yours are different). I recently turned off cool n quiet in the bios because somebody here said that can cause timing issues, but it didn't help me.

I'm starting to think the problem is with signal reception. I'm using DVB-S and haven't checked the dish alignment since I put it up over a year ago. In MP's TsReader and TsWriter logs there are lots of "continuity errors" (I think that's what it calls them), that apparently suggest there are bits missing from the received stream. I do get some stuttering when the log records these errors, but it doesn't often hang anymore (it was way worse with RC2). Apparently the new ts reader deals with bad reception better and just tends to stutter rather than crash, but very occasionally mine will still hang like you described (sound continues, picture freezes, and the only way to get out of it is to reboot).

Although I'm starting to suspect reception problems, when I scan for channels (and also in the MP log when a channel is selected) the signal strength and quality are both at maximum.

I also removed my USB wireless network and hardwired the MP machine to my router using mains powerline adapters because I read here that some USB wireless drivers can be problematic, but that didn't help either (although it was well worth doing because that PC is in a really bad place for wireless reception - I now get reliable WEBEPG updates).

If you find anything, I'd love to know! (and if I find a cure I'll post here).

Rob

crazyfool · 2008-10-28, 18:50

i think its all down to codec... basically i dont think mp like h/w acceleration on tv as if it turn this off it seems to work fine... but for some reason turning off h/w acceleration for powerdvd 7 turns it off for powerdvd8 as well... using the mpv codec works fine and it cant be signal because it has happened to me on recorded tv... but for some reason never in windowed mode

... all i've done is changed codecs and see what happens so far it has been stable but if it goes again then its ffdshow for me as this dont cause problems it would seem... hope this helps

RobNorthcott · 2008-10-28, 22:33

Interesting... why do you think ffdshow will cure the occasional stuttering/hanging problems when other codecs all seem to do it? I've tried both the codecs supplied with MP, one that came with my Hauppauge tuner card and nVidia PureVideo and none of those cure the problem - is ffdshow different?

I wonder if we don't have the same problem after all. Mine will stutter a bit every few minutes (but sometimes it'll be fine for half an hour), and the picture will probably only hang once every couple of weeks. Do you get all the continuity errors in the tsreader/writer logs?

If ffdshow would cure everything I'd gladly pay for it, but I just can't see why it would be so different from all the other codecs (although I don't claim to know much about such things).

Rob

crazyfool · 2008-10-28, 23:07

my problem happens constantly but after random amounts of time... i am almost 100% sure it is due to the use of hardware acceleration as on another mp build on the same computer before i reinstalled it worked perfectly with hardware acceleration disabled... the reason i said ffdshow is because is doesn't use hardware acceleration and will provide better image quality then the mpv decoders... plus its free

RobNorthcott · 2008-10-29, 10:24

I didn't realise ffdshow was free - I must have been thinking of something else. Perhaps I'll give that a try then - nothing to lose really, although I suspect I'll get lots of picture tearing without hardware acceleration. I'll try it tonight and see what happens.

Rob

RobNorthcott · 2008-11-02, 20:59

A quick update: I tried ffdshow. The picture quality is very good, no tearing or stuttering, but unfortunately it was very unstable and crashed out completely to the desktop every few minutes. Logs are attached if anybody is interested.

I also tried the codec posted by Bassmo in this thread, which was very stable but gave me a very poor picture quality.

Rob

DarthSlarti · 2008-11-11, 20:52

I also have the same problem. Every now and then the tv picture freeze but the sound continues and I have to to a hard reset. This started when I upgraded my motherboard to the 780G with the onboard HD3200 (same as crazy) and installed RC3. I use the powerdvd 7 codec and it also happens when I watch recorded tv. I found another thread Help! TV Picture freeze but sound continues where it was fixed with a reinstall. I have not tried this yet though.

crazyfool · 2008-11-11, 22:09

i fixed mine by disabling hardware acceleration in the mp config for the powerdvd codec which also fixed a bunch of other issues i was having...

JoePlumber · 2008-11-12, 03:52

H/w acceleration will not work if you decide to use ffdshow (even if you "set interlace flag in output media type") and PowerDVD 7/8 codecs. There shouldn't be any filters between the decoder and renderer. PowerDVD 8 may work with MPEG h/w acceleration under XP, but generally, problems will occur with playback. However, h/w acceleration does work under Vista with PowerDVD 7/8 codecs because of EVR, and as long you don't use any filters.

2008-10-27, 19:47	#1 (permalink)
crazyfool Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 106 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	TV Freeze TV-Server Version: Latest MediaPortal Version: RC3 MediaPortal Skin: Aeon Wide Windows Version: XP MCE 2005 SP3 CPU Type: AMD 4850e Memory: 2GB Corsair Motherboard: Abit 780g Video Card: Onboard HD3200 Video Card Driver: Catalyst 8.10 MPEG2 Video Codec: PowerDVD MPEG2 Audio Codec: PowerDVD almost done setting up my htpc bar for not recording out of standby which i am working on and this problem. Basically i have got hardware acceleration working with the latest 8.10 drivers using the powerdvd 8 codecs and it looks great for dvd etc... However tv freezes after about 30 secs and the sound is playing but screen is frozen on the last frame and nothing will respond and i have to hard restart. I looked through the event logs and saw a number of red crosses at around the same time as the freezes so i investigated and solved these issues but this has not stopped the problem. This also happens on recorded tv. I thought this might be to do with h/w acceleration so i thought i could use the powerdvd 8 codecs with h/w acceleration for the dvd's and use the powerdvd 7 codecs which i also have for tv without h/w acceleration. However it seems disabling h/w acceleration in the mpconfig for either codec disables it for the other. So I am hoping someone knows the reason for this freezing which doesn't involve disabling h/w acceleration... any suggestions would be welcome...

2008-10-28, 22:33	#4 (permalink)
RobNorthcott Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Dartmoor, England Age: 39 Posts: 58 Thanks: 2 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Country: My System	Interesting... why do you think ffdshow will cure the occasional stuttering/hanging problems when other codecs all seem to do it? I've tried both the codecs supplied with MP, one that came with my Hauppauge tuner card and nVidia PureVideo and none of those cure the problem - is ffdshow different? I wonder if we don't have the same problem after all. Mine will stutter a bit every few minutes (but sometimes it'll be fine for half an hour), and the picture will probably only hang once every couple of weeks. Do you get all the continuity errors in the tsreader/writer logs? If ffdshow would cure everything I'd gladly pay for it, but I just can't see why it would be so different from all the other codecs (although I don't claim to know much about such things). Rob Last edited by RobNorthcott; 2008-10-28 at 22:37.

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2008-10-28, 18:04	#2 (permalink)
RobNorthcott Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Dartmoor, England Age: 39 Posts: 58 Thanks: 2 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Country: My System	Mine does the same thing (but only very occasionally). In fact, it's the most annoying problem left with my system - if I could solve that it'd be completely stable apart from the occasional "tv service not found". I'm using PureVideo codec and an nVidia card, so it seems it's not codec or display driver problems (as yours are different). I recently turned off cool n quiet in the bios because somebody here said that can cause timing issues, but it didn't help me. I'm starting to think the problem is with signal reception. I'm using DVB-S and haven't checked the dish alignment since I put it up over a year ago. In MP's TsReader and TsWriter logs there are lots of "continuity errors" (I think that's what it calls them), that apparently suggest there are bits missing from the received stream. I do get some stuttering when the log records these errors, but it doesn't often hang anymore (it was way worse with RC2). Apparently the new ts reader deals with bad reception better and just tends to stutter rather than crash, but very occasionally mine will still hang like you described (sound continues, picture freezes, and the only way to get out of it is to reboot). Although I'm starting to suspect reception problems, when I scan for channels (and also in the MP log when a channel is selected) the signal strength and quality are both at maximum. I also removed my USB wireless network and hardwired the MP machine to my router using mains powerline adapters because I read here that some USB wireless drivers can be problematic, but that didn't help either (although it was well worth doing because that PC is in a really bad place for wireless reception - I now get reliable WEBEPG updates). If you find anything, I'd love to know! (and if I find a cure I'll post here). Rob

2008-10-28, 18:50	#3 (permalink)
crazyfool Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 106 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	i think its all down to codec... basically i dont think mp like h/w acceleration on tv as if it turn this off it seems to work fine... but for some reason turning off h/w acceleration for powerdvd 7 turns it off for powerdvd8 as well... using the mpv codec works fine and it cant be signal because it has happened to me on recorded tv... but for some reason never in windowed mode ... all i've done is changed codecs and see what happens so far it has been stable but if it goes again then its ffdshow for me as this dont cause problems it would seem... hope this helps

2008-10-28, 23:07	#5 (permalink)
crazyfool Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 106 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	my problem happens constantly but after random amounts of time... i am almost 100% sure it is due to the use of hardware acceleration as on another mp build on the same computer before i reinstalled it worked perfectly with hardware acceleration disabled... the reason i said ffdshow is because is doesn't use hardware acceleration and will provide better image quality then the mpv decoders... plus its free

2008-10-29, 10:24	#6 (permalink)
RobNorthcott Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Dartmoor, England Age: 39 Posts: 58 Thanks: 2 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Country: My System	I didn't realise ffdshow was free - I must have been thinking of something else. Perhaps I'll give that a try then - nothing to lose really, although I suspect I'll get lots of picture tearing without hardware acceleration. I'll try it tonight and see what happens. Rob

2008-11-11, 20:52	#8 (permalink)
DarthSlarti Portal User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I also have the same problem. Every now and then the tv picture freeze but the sound continues and I have to to a hard reset. This started when I upgraded my motherboard to the 780G with the onboard HD3200 (same as crazy) and installed RC3. I use the powerdvd 7 codec and it also happens when I watch recorded tv. I found another thread Help! TV Picture freeze but sound continues where it was fixed with a reinstall. I have not tried this yet though.

2008-11-11, 22:09	#9 (permalink)
crazyfool Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 106 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	i fixed mine by disabling hardware acceleration in the mp config for the powerdvd codec which also fixed a bunch of other issues i was having...

2008-11-12, 03:52	#10 (permalink)
JoePlumber Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 93 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Country: My System	H/w acceleration will not work if you decide to use ffdshow (even if you "set interlace flag in output media type") and PowerDVD 7/8 codecs. There shouldn't be any filters between the decoder and renderer. PowerDVD 8 may work with MPEG h/w acceleration under XP, but generally, problems will occur with playback. However, h/w acceleration does work under Vista with PowerDVD 7/8 codecs because of EVR, and as long you don't use any filters.