H.264 Freeview Pic Jitter - Grunty PC (1 Viewer)

[geoffw]

I have a WinTV-HVR-2200, and i believe that this unit is responsible for annoying variations in frame rate when watching Freeview - has anyone experienced this or have a solution?

Picture quality drops during the same (busy) scene in Freeview NZ HD demo channel (helicopter flying over mountains and ferns), as well as other random scenes, some of which aren't that busy, like latest NZ Noel Lemming Advert, although not predictably insofar as i can tell in the NL ad.

Here are my findings, and why I think the WinTV-HVR-2200 is responsible;

1. H.264 1080i .mkv files play perfectly, so GPU / CPU / Bus probably OK
2. Mediaportal is set to EVR Hardware decoding, and CPU using 10-15% during playback of 1080i, so CPU probably OK.3. Timeshirfting moved to USB 2.0 USB disk which according to Vista copy dialogue can write at 15MBps, so probably not disk
4. Vista Resource Manager shows everything running at minimum capacity, so probably not MB, Mem, CPU, Disk etc
5. When i watch aforementioned scene via RF directly into TV (Freeview Tuner Build-in) pic is as smooth as, so either related to MediaPortal or TV Card, and as MP plays h.264 .mkv perfectly on complex scenes, so probably TV Card5. When i record aforementioned scene, jitter repeats predictably in same spot on playback, and CPU not doing much lifting. so i think it is probably TV Card.

I have checked AV and index settings to make sure PC not doing housekeeping while watching TV, and seems OK...and of course its the same scene that causes jitter in frame rate, so not related to PC running services from time to time - although i think this might be affecting random jitter issues.

I have latest updates, drivers, software.

WinTV-HVR-2200 / DG45ID / E8400 / 4GB / Vista U /

Cheers

Geoff

 

[metalla_nz]

What codec are you using to decode the h.264?

In MP config >television there is a provision to chose the h.264 decoder.

Ive used most of them.

Currently using the Cyberlink one from PowerDVD 8.

Try that if you havent already. And it supports hardware decoding as well. So if you GPU can decode the video stream that will alow it to do so.

 

[clanmackenzi]

I occasionally get a stutter that is rectified by hitting pause for a few seconds and then play (basically giving the timeshift a little buffer) - not sure why but seems to work for me.

Also since RC3 I have had to use VMR9 rather than EVR

 

[MrPaulo]

I found the same for TV3 1080i when I was using the coreAVC codec. It was most annoying for sports viewing (esp. cricket or motorsport), or where there was a scrolling message acros the screen (like TV3 weather highs). When I changed to the Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 codec it was much better. So I'd agree with the recommendation to try a different h.264 codec.