dxva, H.264 PowerDvd 8 codec and mediaportal - its all gone wrong (1 Viewer)

[spiderwheels]

MediaPortal Version: 1.02
MediaPortal Skin: Streamed MP
Windows Version: XP SP3
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 2 250
HDD: WD Green 1TB
Memory: 4GB
Motherboard: gigabyte
Video Card: ATI HD4200
Video Card Driver: 9.10
1. TV Card: Compro S350 DVB-S
1. TV Card Type: PCI
h.264 Video Codec: Cyberlink powerdvd 8
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Freesat

This might be a bit vague but my High definition channels have all gone horribly wrong. Suddenly they won't play. I use cyberlink powerdvd codecs. They've worked fine for a few weeks.

Now when I try to play either of the HD channels (BBC HD or ITV HD), mediaportal hangs and the process must be killed. I have run it in debug/log mode but I couldn't see anything obvious.

When I switch off DXVA in the powerdvd codec options then it works - but of course I get high CPU usage.

I have some H.264 MKV files and these play fine through mediaportal with the powerdvd codecs and DXVA enabled. I can't understand why the TV has suddenly failed.

I've uninstalled and re-installed powerdvd and the ATI drivers. I'm lost..

As a last resort I wouldn't mind too much reinstalling the entire system but I would need to be able to restore the TV channel database and TV guide setup as its a pain to setup again.

Has anyone experienced this issue or can offer any advice?

 

[winterescape]

Well I can’t offer any help with finding your problem but I do recommend you install and run Backupsettings. This back up tool lets you wipe your HD, reinstall the OS, reload MP and then restore your settings.

MEDIAPORTAL - free media center - BackupSettings

 

[spiderwheels]

Thank you for the link to backup settings. If I don't manage to fix it I will probably do a fresh install next weekend.

If I use BackupSettings can I install mediaportal 1.1 (I have 1.02 at the moment) and 'import' my settings into it or are they incompatible?

 

[winterescape]

Thank you for the link to backup settings. If I don't manage to fix it I will probably do a fresh install next weekend.

If I use BackupSettings can I install mediaportal 1.1 (I have 1.02 at the moment) and 'import' my settings into it or are they incompatible?

I have not personally done that but from reading the description it sounds like you can...

 

[kiwijunglist]

another good idea, is when you have your system perfect make a ghost image of your system drive.
i recommend "hiren's boot cd" it's a fantastic free tool does everything on 1x boot cd.

 

[spiderwheels]

another good idea, is when you have your system perfect make a ghost image of your system drive.
i recommend "hiren's boot cd" it's a fantastic free tool does everything on 1x boot cd.

Its not free.. its warez!

However, thanks to your suggestion I bought some genuine image software and reinstalled my system in stages so I now have images of the original broken state, the bare (patched) OS, bare mediaportal and mediaportal + h264 codecs.

I also took the opportunity to upgrade from 1.02 to 1.1Beta. Unforunately backupsettings failed to copy my channels so it looks like I will still have to go through the step of combining all the channels across my receivers and grouping them again.