Can't Get my Colossus Working... (2 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

F11 doesn't seem to save a screenshot for some reason...

Okay. Can you use the print scrn key to take the screenshot, or take a photo with your phone?

 

[Marvin Miller]

I couldn't get a screen-shot so I changed the screen from my TV to my computer (thinking that would enable F11) and I noticed that the 20 second or so 'jerk' seems to have disappeared. It seems to do on the TV only. Either way, I could not get a screen shot no matter what [DOUBLEPOST=1464413383][/DOUBLEPOST]Aha - Print Screen did it. This is a screenshot that was done right after a jerk [DOUBLEPOST=1464413569][/DOUBLEPOST]Here's another - might be easier to read?[DOUBLEPOST=1464414418][/DOUBLEPOST]I think it would be more accurate to call it a stutter every 20 seconds or so. The whole picture jerks for a split second.

 

[mm1352000]

Right, so 3 things...

1. The screenshot tells me that you're using the Microsoft DTV-DVD video codec and the LAV audio codec. Back in -->this reply<-- I recommended that you use the LAV codecs exclusively, and gave instructions for configuring them. Did you do that? If yes, it hasn't worked so please try again. If not, I recommend you do it now unless you have good reason not to.

2. The screenshot tells me that MP has displayed 2022 frames, dropped 335 frames, and repeated 428 frames. Smooth video would have zero (or almost zero) dropped and/or repeated frames. One reason for this is that the video frame rate is 29.97 fps while your TV/screen refresh rate is 60 Hz. If your TV supports 29.97 fps then you should configure MP to automatically change the TV's refresh rate:

1. Open MediaPortal Configuration.
2. Click "switch to expert mode" in the top right corner. (If it says "switch to standard mode" then you're already in expert mode.)
3. Go to the "Dynamic Refresh Rate" section under "General".
4. Tick "enable dynamic refresh rate control".

3. The red line in the screenshot tells me that the the video frame rate was okay for quite awhile, then dropped down and stayed down. This suggests power saving or thermal throttling may have kicked in, or maybe GPU accelerated video decoding is not active.

Please fix the first two points, then try again. If you still have problems, please provide a fresh screenshot... and also the zip file that I asked for.

 

[Marvin Miller]

Thanks!
OK, I had done the LAV filter config but for some reason perhaps one did not take. That's been fixed as has dynamic refresh rate control. Still, the picture is jerky
As requested, here come the goods!

BTW, it's close to bed-time over here so I'll check back tomorrow. Many thanks for your help!

 

[mm1352000]

Hmmm, interesting.

Please try the following:

1. Open TV Server Config.
2. Expand the "TV Servers" section.
3. Expand the "Workstation" section.
4. Select your Colossus.
5. Go to the "settings" tab.
6. Change video standard to NTSC_M, frame rate to 29.97 fps, and frame size to 720x480 (don't worry - the actual resolution will still be full HD).
7. Go to the "manual control" section and restart the TV service.
8. Open MediaPortal Config.
9. Go to the "codecs and renderer" section.
10. Go to the "TV codecs" tab.
11. Click on the wrench/screwdriver next to the LAV video selection.
12. In the top right "hardware acceleration" section ensure:
    
    1. "DXVA2 (native)" is selected.
    2. "H.264" is ticked under "codecs for HW decoding".
    3. Both "SD" and "HD" are ticked under "resolutions".

If that doesn't help, I try changing screen that you're using for MP to be the primary screen in Windows screen/display settings.

 

[Marvin Miller]

Hmmm...the settings tab (#5) is blanked out. I can't do anything with it.

 

[kilik360]

I remember getting bad result with the colossus when letting all settings to default in ArcSoft Showbiz..

To get proper playback I had to check an option in Showbiz... I don't remember perfectly, it downconvert 60p signal to 30p. I do this since 3 years.

The downside of this is that the TV looks more like movies than videos.

Maybe it's the way you need to go too.

 

[Marvin Miller]

Thanks for the tip - that's not really the way I want to go with it - seems like a step backwards to me given the hardware efforts I've gone through to get a quality signal into the DVR (HDMI with HDCP stripper, 24 MB (?) video settings in ArcServe, new video card etc, etc). I appreciate the tip though

 

[kilik360]

And on your TV receptor, are you in 1080i or 720p ?

I had to choose 720p for fluid playback. I'll take a look to your ending, maybe i'll choose that way if you have success. Honestly I took the easy way with the Component/720p/60p to 30p route.

Good luck !

 

[Marvin Miller]

1080i - I really can't go back to 720 or otherwise reduce the picture quality. It's a STB in 1080 encrypted going HDMI to an HDCP stripper and then straight HDMI to the colossus and straight HDMI from the video card to the TV.

I used to run component but the picture quality was not good enough and there was banding in the picture due to interference with the component cables. I also hated the massive bunch of cables at the back of the computer. HDMI = much cleaner both at the back of the computer and with respect to picture quality.

I didn't realize there were issues with the Colossus and Media Portal. I thought I would have run into this in my research or in the docs but it's OK. I went back to Media Center (once more) and I'm guessing unless the new open source SageTV comes up to speed I'll have to stay with Media Center despite the issues.