Changing channels as quick as possible - Page 2

Roberto · 2006-09-04, 09:27

Thankyou for your fast response...
I'm using the DVB-T (digital terrestrial) tuner of HVR-1100.
The mediaportal release is 2.0.4 (without SVR update).
Timeshift is off, otherwise time is more for chanel switching.
I'm using the MCE remote, but I don't think it is important for that problem.
S.O WinXP-MCE, pentium 4 3Ghz, 1Gb ram

The problem seem to be amplified after the release 2.x. Of course using other software (cyberlink cinema or software wintv 2000) the problem is not present, the channel switching is immediate.

I've tried to reinstall mediaportal but the problem persists.

Any idea?

Taipan · 2006-09-04, 09:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roberto

I'm using the MCE remote, but I don't think it is important for that problem.

Channel change times for DVB-T do vary a little between different manufacturer's cards, so I can't comment on your particular card.

But, the way you change channels on the MCE remote will affect the times - from my experience, the quickest is to use the mini OSD and the slowest is to use the "Channel Change" button to step through the channels as this invokes the TV OSD, which has a set delay. This OSD delay can be configured in MediaPortal Setup.

Do you still get 6 second delays if you use the miniOSD (in fullscreen TV, press "OK" and the miniOSD will popup. Use the arrow keys to select the new channel and press OK again)?

Roberto · 2006-09-04, 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taipan

Do you still get 6 second delays if you use the miniOSD (in fullscreen TV, press "OK" and the miniOSD will popup. Use the arrow keys to select the new channel and press OK again)?

Ok, I'll try this evening the differences using mini-osd or not.

arkay · 2006-09-05, 04:00

PC channel change times will always be slower than TV's. For one the TV's are hardware only so you get the speed. No drivers to initialise, no codecs to set up etc etc.

There is a way around it but it would be a bit of work to implement. Perhaps something for an addition to the new TV engine at some later point.

You would require 3 tuners.

When liveTV starts you construct 3 graphs (providing all tuners are free). Tuner 1 starts on the default station (last used). Tuner 2 tunes into the station prior in the list, tuner 3 tunes in to the next station in the list. Time shifting could be enabled or not based on user configuration.

From then on any change in channel (via up/down type remote surfing), only requires switching the video to the primary display. You then re-init 1 graph to the channel before/after dependant on which way you moved, that initialisation would happen in the background. Assuming that you are going to watch the station you just flicked to for a perion of a few seconds, the graph initialisation should have completed in the background before you move on to the next station.

This would give you instantaneous surfing (to a point), but be far more resource hungry. It's essentially picture in picture with 3 tuners.

It also wouldn't help if you jumped from 1 station to another farther away in the channel list (i.e. from the guide/miniguide).

In Australia though we only have 5 FTA stations and it's not impossible to envision a 5 tuner rig with all stations permanently tuned and timeshifting.

Cheers,

Arkay.

Roberto · 2006-09-05, 08:08

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Yesterday I have made other tests, and I have discovered that an old version of the Mediaportal RC4 (what I had fortunately saved) didn't give the problems of slowness in the change of channel:

To this point I believe both profit for all those people who have this problem, to know as I have resolved.

1 - when uninstall Mediaportal, not all the files are deleted from the directory where it was installed. This involves that, also again installing the software, the problem persists.

2 - so, manually erase the whole residual files from the directory mediaportal and therefore reinstall it again, in this way the problem is magically disappeared.

Now the change of the channels happens in the interval of 1-2 seconds. There is only a small block of the video and the audio, when the new channel is shown. But it is acceptable.

Probably some plug-in, or a wrong configuration setting, I don't know the reason, introduces that problem, but as frequently happen in software world, a good reset solve the situation...
Roberto -

2006-09-05, 04:00	#14 (permalink)
arkay Portal Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 19 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	PC channel change times will always be slower than TV's. For one the TV's are hardware only so you get the speed. No drivers to initialise, no codecs to set up etc etc. There is a way around it but it would be a bit of work to implement. Perhaps something for an addition to the new TV engine at some later point. You would require 3 tuners. When liveTV starts you construct 3 graphs (providing all tuners are free). Tuner 1 starts on the default station (last used). Tuner 2 tunes into the station prior in the list, tuner 3 tunes in to the next station in the list. Time shifting could be enabled or not based on user configuration. From then on any change in channel (via up/down type remote surfing), only requires switching the video to the primary display. You then re-init 1 graph to the channel before/after dependant on which way you moved, that initialisation would happen in the background. Assuming that you are going to watch the station you just flicked to for a perion of a few seconds, the graph initialisation should have completed in the background before you move on to the next station. This would give you instantaneous surfing (to a point), but be far more resource hungry. It's essentially picture in picture with 3 tuners. It also wouldn't help if you jumped from 1 station to another farther away in the channel list (i.e. from the guide/miniguide). In Australia though we only have 5 FTA stations and it's not impossible to envision a 5 tuner rig with all stations permanently tuned and timeshifting. Cheers, Arkay. Last edited by arkay; 2006-09-05 at 04:07.

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2006-09-04, 09:27	#11 (permalink)
Roberto Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Thankyou for your fast response... I'm using the DVB-T (digital terrestrial) tuner of HVR-1100. The mediaportal release is 2.0.4 (without SVR update). Timeshift is off, otherwise time is more for chanel switching. I'm using the MCE remote, but I don't think it is important for that problem. S.O WinXP-MCE, pentium 4 3Ghz, 1Gb ram The problem seem to be amplified after the release 2.x. Of course using other software (cyberlink cinema or software wintv 2000) the problem is not present, the channel switching is immediate. I've tried to reinstall mediaportal but the problem persists. Any idea?

2006-09-05, 08:08	#15 (permalink)
Roberto Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Thanks to all for the suggestions. Yesterday I have made other tests, and I have discovered that an old version of the Mediaportal RC4 (what I had fortunately saved) didn't give the problems of slowness in the change of channel: To this point I believe both profit for all those people who have this problem, to know as I have resolved. 1 - when uninstall Mediaportal, not all the files are deleted from the directory where it was installed. This involves that, also again installing the software, the problem persists. 2 - so, manually erase the whole residual files from the directory mediaportal and therefore reinstall it again, in this way the problem is magically disappeared. Now the change of the channels happens in the interval of 1-2 seconds. There is only a small block of the video and the audio, when the new channel is shown. But it is acceptable. Probably some plug-in, or a wrong configuration setting, I don't know the reason, introduces that problem, but as frequently happen in software world, a good reset solve the situation... Roberto -