Winfast TV2000 XP Expert (audencoder issue?)

[tvStatic]

Area: Media Portal Program
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.0.0 RC3 (2006-03-18)
MediaPortal Skin: BlueTwo
Windows Version: Windows XP (SP2)
.NET CLR Version: 2.0.50727
DirectX Version: 4.09.00.0904 (9.0c)
Audio Codec: MPEG/AC3/DTS/LPCM Audio Decoder
Video Codec: Mpeg2Dec Filter
CPU Type: AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Memory: 1 GB
Motherboard: GA-7VA (Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.)
TV Card Model: Winfast TV2000 XP Expert (wasn't detected)
TV Card Type: S/W
TV Card Driver: 4.0.107.3204
Video Card Model: Nvidia Geforce FX 5900xt (128 MB)
Video Card Driver: 81.98
Video Card Resolution: 800x600
Video Render Type: -
Audio Card Model: Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller
Audio Card Driver: -
Synopsis:: Basically my TV tuner refuses to work. I have installed the latest Winfast PVR and drivers. During configuration, no channels are found and all I see is a black box. When clicking the Edit button for the tuner, I get two message boxes saying, "Failed to create graph". When actually in MP, if I try to turn the TV on, it says something like "Could not start timeshifting". Below is the error log; this is the output only from configuring.

14/04/2006 12:23:11 PM Filter audencoder not found in definitions file
14/04/2006 12:23:12 PM Filter audencoder not found in definitions file
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM Filter audencoder not found in definitions file
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM Filter audencoder not found in definitions file
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM Exception ystem.ArgumentException: Value does not fall within the expected range.
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.MkParseDisp layName(IBindCtx pbc, String szUserName, UInt32& pchEaten, IMoniker& ppmk)
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.BindToMonik er(String monikerName)
at MediaPortal.TV.Recording.SinkGraphEx.CreateGraph(I nt32 Quality)
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM Exception :Value does not fall within the expected range.
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM site :Void MkParseDisplayName(System.Runtime.InteropServices. ComTypes.IBindCtx, System.String, UInt32 ByRef, System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.IMoniker ByRef)
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM source :mscorlib
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM stacktrace: at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.MkParseDisp layName(IBindCtx pbc, String szUserName, UInt32& pchEaten, IMoniker& ppmk)
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.BindToMonik er(String monikerName)
at MediaPortal.TV.Recording.SinkGraphEx.CreateGraph(I nt32 Quality)
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM Exception ystem.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80004005): Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.BindMoniker (IMoniker pmk, UInt32 grfOpt, Guid& iidResult, Object& ppvResult)
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.BindToMonik er(String monikerName)
at MediaPortal.TV.Recording.SinkGraphEx.CreateGraph(I nt32 Quality)
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM Exception :Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM site :Void BindMoniker(System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComType s.IMoniker, UInt32, System.Guid ByRef, System.Object ByRef)
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM source :mscorlib
14/04/2006 12:23:28 PM stacktrace: at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.BindMoniker (IMoniker pmk, UInt32 grfOpt, Guid& iidResult, Object& ppvResult)
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.BindToMonik er(String monikerName)
at MediaPortal.TV.Recording.SinkGraphEx.CreateGraph(I nt32 Quality)

Here is an excerpt of the actual log file that I thought was relevant.
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM Found WinFast TV2000 XP Expert WDM Crossbar.=@device:pnp:\\?\stream#wf88xbar.cnxt#4&3 1bae2b3&0&0#{a799a801-a46d-11d0-a18c-00a02401dcd4}\global
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM filter capture='WinFast TV2000 XP Expert WDM Video Capture.' check:True
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM filter audcapture='%soundcard%' check:True
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM filter videncoder='LeadTek MPEG Video Encoder' check:False
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM filter audencoder='Leadtek MPEG Audio Encoder' check:False
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM Filter audencoder not found in definitions file
14/04/2006 12:23:26 PM SinkGraphEx: Loading card definitions for card WinFast TV2000 XP Expert failed

It appears that the audio encoder for the card is wrong. Checking my device manager shows that an audio capture device does not exist for the tuner. It uses an internal cable to the sound card line in interface. I might be completely on the wrong track here, but it's more info.

I'm not really sure where to go from here. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Cheers.

[regeszter]

Hi,

pls. use the lates SVN. This bug has been resolved.

[tvStatic]

Many thanks for your reply.

I tried a later CVS - and eventually RC4 - and it fixed my problem, after a fashion. I no longer got the errors and I can now see the TV output.

However, the performance is awful. During configuration, it drops frames but otherwise travels at an ok rate, but it lags a good few seconds behind the audio.

In MP itself its even worse. It only shows a frame every 10 seconds or so, and its hard to turn off again as the system becomes quite unresponsive, as if it is hogging resources. BTW, other aspects of the app (vdeo in particular) work without issue.

I've tried various versions of the Winfast drivers and PVR, different combinations of codecs - which either don't improve performance or don't work at all, and changing the timeshifting buffer. I tried to uninstall and install 0.1.3, but it says that it needs an earlier version of .NET (which is odd...). I've also tried the PCI latency program, but my video card is not listed to be able to change it.

I've looked through the logs and can't see anything that is out of place. I can attach it if its necessary, but I doubt there is anything significant there. I guess I'm looking for assistance in diagnosing this problem; I'm unsure if it's an MP issue or something wrong with my system. I cannot believe that my system doesn't have the guts to handle it, I'm pretty sure I've seen similar specs around here who seem to have it working.

Again, I appreciate any assistance given.

[regeszter]

Hi,

My Config is Celeron 3@3.6, 512 DDR, Geforce MX4000 and the problem is same. The TV works but it is terrible bad. I think the SW encoded TV cards is support but the performance is bad in MP.

Pls. try the Nvidia Purevideo codec and check the performancie.

regards
attila

[Taipan]

It only shows a frame every 10 seconds or so, and its hard to turn off again as the system becomes quite unresponsive, as if it is hogging resources.

What is your CPU usage % while trying to watch TV - this might be a clue to the issue - particularly if it is hitting 100%?

[tvStatic]

I've tried the PureVideo decoder, which does give a nice performance boost, but its still slow to respond and is dropping frames continually.

I've monitored the CPU usage (it seems the same for fullscreen/windowed). At the home screen it doesn't deviate much from 0%. At the TV screen with TV turned off, it hovers between 10-20%. When I turn the TV on, it jumps to 100% and stays there. That explains the unresponsiveness and the frame dropping, I just don't know why it jumps like that.

Just to compare, watching TV using the Winfast PVR gives about 20% usage.

My Config is Celeron 3@3.6, 512 DDR, Geforce MX4000 and the problem is same.

Wouldn't your problem be because your video card isn't a DX9 one? You might want to upgrade it...

[regeszter]

I've tried the PureVideo decoder, which does give a nice performance boost, but its still slow to respond and is dropping frames continually.

I've monitored the CPU usage (it seems the same for fullscreen/windowed). At the home screen it doesn't deviate much from 0%. At the TV screen with TV turned off, it hovers between 10-20%. When I turn the TV on, it jumps to 100% and stays there. That explains the unresponsiveness and the frame dropping, I just don't know why it jumps like that.

Just to compare, watching TV using the Winfast PVR gives about 20% usage

I have tested my PC and the result was same.

Wouldn't your problem be because your video card isn't a DX9 one? You might want to upgrade it...

Your card is DX9 and the result is same as my PC so I think the sw TV card handling is bad in MP.

I think the MP with the sw encode card encode the TV signal to mpeg2 with the PVR application to simulate a hw card and decode in MP. That is why so slow the sw TV card in MP.

Am I right :?:

[dman_lfc]

Correct.
I'm working on eleviating this to allow encoders to only come on when timeshifting or recording.
This won't happen until after 0.2.0 release.
But if your CPU can't hack it, like you're seeing today you'll have the same issue when recording / timeshifting.
Hence why we've always tried to convince people to move away from software cards - they do you no favors unless you only want to watch TV & not record / timeshift.

DMAN

[tvStatic]

One of the requirements is a DX9 capable card. I'm guessing that the reason yours is chugging is because the DX9 features are getting pushed onto the CPU instead, resulting in higher CPU usage. The cards are where we differ, so we don't neccessarily have the same problem. I'd give a cheapy DX9 card a go (FX5200 for AU$45). I could be way off here, but that's my suggestion.

I'm thinking that my problem is hardware related. I get stuttering in other TV programs that I've tried (for example, BeyondTV), even though it works fine in Winfast PVR. I'm going to try to remove any unneccessary PCI cards, and I'll remove one of the 512 DIMMs to see if that makes a difference. I'll report any results in the hope it'll help someone else with a similar problem.

[ditronics]

Hi.

Have the same problem here, checked with differents mainborads (i875, i915, i925) and differents processors (P4 3.00 prescott & 3.40 single and dual core) and the issue still happens.

Regards