Hauppauge HD-PVR & Colossus Support (7 Viewers)

[ltpr]

Sasha, I forgot to ask....Do you know what the built-in (default) decoders [video/audio] are for WinTV7?

No, I don't know, but GraphStudioNext can answer that question, assuming that WinTV renders content using DirectShow, and it is possible that it does not.

Sasha... I went to the GraphStudioNet site and downloaded their app/sw, however, they do not documentation on how to use their app so I can then figure out if they could answer the question. Although, this is a low priority for me, just wanted to have the learning.

I did check the C:/Program Files/WinTV7/ directory which was still in my files after I uninstalled (again!) WinTV7. There is a subfolder "Codec/sMPEG-2 PS Mux" which has a total of 3 files [AdavMPAEncoder.dll, ArcMplex.dll as app extensions, and, ArcMplexFilter (an AX File)]. Not sure if this tells us anything (or not!). Thoughts?

I'd strongly suggest uninstalling WinTV, as it really won't help you with MediaPortal, but offers plenty of opportunity to get in the way.
Sasha

I uninstalled WinTV7, yet, when I go into MP I can not get my channels. They do show up, yet, the port from DVI-to-HDMI device shuts off and I can not get to the channels. When I select the cable/channel it freezes. It does not reset when I do a manual start/stop service inside of TV Config, or, when I use Win7 Admin/Services/TV Serv/ restart/stop. It does reset when I restart the PC, and , again when I go into MP it shuts off port again.

If you have any ideas please let me know! Thanks!

Once I troubleshoot this, I can then perform the suggested tests that you outlined as follow:

Basically, I'm asking if your video stream comes up whenever it should. I had a lot of problems when I was trying to capture from HDMI, and one of the biggest culprits was resolution switching, most commonly a consequence of changing between SD and HD channels.

As a first test, using HDMI input, try to get the preview window in ShowBiz to display HD content, and notice how it shows a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Then, change to a SD channel (you can use your remote, if you want) without touching anything in ShowBiz, and see if you get still get video, and if the resolution is accurately changed to 720 x 480 in the ShowBiz window. Go back and forth a few times, and see if everything still works. If everything works fine in this test, then close ShowBiz and move to MediaPortal. Try switching between HD and SD channels using the MP interface. For good measure, occasionally turn TV off and then back on in the TV plugin as well.

Regards,
Luis

 

[sjevtic]

Sasha, I forgot to ask....Do you know what the built-in (default) decoders [video/audio] are for WinTV7?

No, I don't know, but GraphStudioNext can answer that question, assuming that WinTV renders content using DirectShow, and it is possible that it does not.

Sasha... I went to the GraphStudioNet site and downloaded their app/sw, however, they do not documentation on how to use their app so I can then figure out if they could answer the question. Although, this is a low priority for me, just wanted to have the learning.

Using GraphStudioNext for this purpose is pretty easy. Click on "File" -> "Connect to Remote Graph..." In the resulting dialog, find the process you want to connect to. In my case, I connected to MediaPortal, and it was real easy to find since no other processes were using DirectShow at the time. The GraphStudioNext window should then show you all the filters that are in use. When watching TV in MediaPortal, I got this:

I did check the C:/Program Files/WinTV7/ directory which was still in my files after I uninstalled (again!) WinTV7. There is a subfolder "Codec/sMPEG-2 PS Mux" which has a total of 3 files [AdavMPAEncoder.dll, ArcMplex.dll as app extensions, and, ArcMplexFilter (an AX File)]. Not sure if this tells us anything (or not!). Thoughts?

DirectShow filters seem to typically live in .ax files. I'm no expert on the matter though, so don't take my word for it.

I'd strongly suggest uninstalling WinTV, as it really won't help you with MediaPortal, but offers plenty of opportunity to get in the way.
Sasha

I uninstalled WinTV7, yet, when I go into MP I can not get my channels. They do show up, yet, the port from DVI-to-HDMI device shuts off and I can not get to the channels. When I select the cable/channel it freezes. It does not reset when I do a manual start/stop service inside of TV Config, or, when I use Win7 Admin/Services/TV Serv/ restart/stop. It does reset when I restart the PC, and , again when I go into MP it shuts off port again.

If you have any ideas please let me know! Thanks!

I am running out of ideas. It's about the time when you're going to have to dig into the logs and really figure out what's going on. For testing purposes, you might want to try using component input for a while, which is known to work very well with the Colossus, until you get all the other TV-Server issues you're having worked out, as it is generally easier to work on issues one at a time. You will want to focus on the TV-Server log files, tv.log and error.log,, which are typically located in C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\log on your TV-Server machine.

Sasha

 

[ltpr]

Basically, I'm asking if your video stream comes up whenever it should. I had a lot of problems when I was trying to capture from HDMI, and one of the biggest culprits was resolution switching, most commonly a consequence of changing between SD and HD channels.

• As a first test, using HDMI input, try to get the preview window in ShowBiz to display HD content, and notice how it shows a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
• Then, change to a SD channel (you can use your remote, if you want) without touching anything in ShowBiz, and see if you get still get video, and if the resolution is accurately changed to 720 x 480 in the ShowBiz window.
• Go back and forth a few times, and see if everything still works. If everything works fine in this test, then close ShowBiz and move to MediaPortal.
• Try switching between HD and SD channels using the MP interface.
• For good measure, occasionally turn TV off and then back on in the TV plugin as well.

Sasha, though I have not been able to troubleshoot my problem with MP not getting the video/sound from Colossus, and, shutting down the HDMI port.....I went ahead and tested ShowBiz per your suggestions above. Here is what I found out:

• I did have my htpc/TV set to a resolution of 1920x1080
• When I first went into ShowBiz my cable STB was already set for and HD channel and it showed the resolution as being 1280x720, with audio at Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 channel.
• I proceeded to switch to an SD channel and it did not change the resolution, it still showed it as 1280x720, yet, the audio did change to AAC 2 channel.
• I switched back-and-forth many times and still the same result. Then, it ShowBiz froze and I had to restart it, yet, found same results.
• I switched the DVI-to-HDMI device on/off, as well as, restarted my htpc. Found same results! A couple of times when I first went into ShowBiz and the channel was set to SD, ShowBiz would flash very quickly 720x480, yet, would then go displaying 1280x720.
• The various available setting within ShowBiz Capture are set as follows (within Device and Format Settings): NTSC_M (there are many other selections for this), 172060 lines, brightness 125, 12 MB encoding rate, H264 encoding = 480i/576i (4:3) - 480p/576p (16:9) set to Auto, video encoding 12000000, HW acceleration ON.
• During one of the tests, Win7 gave me an error indicating "Display Driver Stopped Responding" and flashed the htpc/TV on/off.

OK, so that is my extent of testing with ShowBiz. As I mentioned can not test on MP until I debug the issue of MP not getting access to the video/audio of Colossus.
Questions:

• Why does ShowBiz get access to video/audio, yet, not MP?
• Why does ShowBiz show all (SD & HD) at 1280x720?
• Are their settings which I need to change to get the correct resolution with ShowBiz?
• What can I do with MP to ensure I get the Colossus feed?

That's it for now! Thanks for all your help and have a GREAT weekend!
Regards,
Luis

 

[sjevtic]

Basically, I'm asking if your video stream comes up whenever it should. I had a lot of problems when I was trying to capture from HDMI, and one of the biggest culprits was resolution switching, most commonly a consequence of changing between SD and HD channels.

• As a first test, using HDMI input, try to get the preview window in ShowBiz to display HD content, and notice how it shows a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
• Then, change to a SD channel (you can use your remote, if you want) without touching anything in ShowBiz, and see if you get still get video, and if the resolution is accurately changed to 720 x 480 in the ShowBiz window.
• Go back and forth a few times, and see if everything still works. If everything works fine in this test, then close ShowBiz and move to MediaPortal.
• Try switching between HD and SD channels using the MP interface.
• For good measure, occasionally turn TV off and then back on in the TV plugin as well.

Sasha, though I have not been able to troubleshoot my problem with MP not getting the video/sound from Colossus, and, shutting down the HDMI port.....I went ahead and tested ShowBiz per your suggestions above. Here is what I found out:

• I did have my htpc/TV set to a resolution of 1920x1080
• When I first went into ShowBiz my cable STB was already set for and HD channel and it showed the resolution as being 1280x720, with audio at Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 channel.
• I proceeded to switch to an SD channel and it did not change the resolution, it still showed it as 1280x720, yet, the audio did change to AAC 2 channel.
• I switched back-and-forth many times and still the same result. Then, it ShowBiz froze and I had to restart it, yet, found same results.
• I switched the DVI-to-HDMI device on/off, as well as, restarted my htpc. Found same results! A couple of times when I first went into ShowBiz and the channel was set to SD, ShowBiz would flash very quickly 720x480, yet, would then go displaying 1280x720.
• The various available setting within ShowBiz Capture are set as follows (within Device and Format Settings): NTSC_M (there are many other selections for this), 172060 lines, brightness 125, 12 MB encoding rate, H264 encoding = 480i/576i (4:3) - 480p/576p (16:9) set to Auto, video encoding 12000000, HW acceleration ON.
• During one of the tests, Win7 gave me an error indicating "Display Driver Stopped Responding" and flashed the htpc/TV on/off.

OK, so that is my extent of testing with ShowBiz. As I mentioned can not test on MP until I debug the issue of MP not getting access to the video/audio of Colossus.

Whoa. That doesn't sound so good. I really think it's time to take a step back from HDMI capture and use component, even if just for a bit for testing purposes. I had all kinds of severe, and seemingly inexplicable problems when using HDMI capture.

Why does ShowBiz get access to video/audio, yet, not MP?

You absolutely need to look at tv.log to make sure that TV-Server is using the inputs you expect. I use component video and TOSLink audio, so when I tune to a channel, I see something like this:

2012-04-14 11:19:04.483146 [(39)]: card: user: monster:1:-1 tune tv:202 CNNHD Freq:0 Channel:202 Country:United States Tuner:Cable Video:YRYBYInput1 Audio:SPDIFInput2

Why does ShowBiz show all (SD & HD) at 1280x720?

You probably have your STB set to always output at 1280 x 720. Please check its settings. If that feature is active, it scales the video whenever the original source isn't 1280 x 720. When capturing, that's undesirable for a couple of reasons. First, when you record SD content, you're still recording it at 1280 x 720, which makes your recording files larger than they need to be. Second, most STBs that aren't dedicated video processors don't have the best scalers.

Are their settings which I need to change to get the correct resolution with ShowBiz?

The ShowBiz preview window pretty much just shows you the resolution of the signal it is receiving. See above.

What can I do with MP to ensure I get the Colossus feed?

Again, take a look at your TV-Server tv.log and error.log files. Obviously, checking that TV-Server is using the correct video and audio inputs is of crucial importance, but there might also be some very illuminating error messages in there.

Sasha

 

[ltpr]

Sasha - thanks so much for the inputs, it's certainly appreciated! I will look into the items you mentioned above. By the way, GraphStudioNext was very easy to use. Thanks for the lea on it!

Please keep in mind that I have only been involved with htpc's and MP for less then a couple of months, thus, I am still coming up the learning curve and asking many questions. I really do appreciate all your responses and support! And, sorry if I have been asking too many questions.

 

[ltpr]

You probably have your STB set to always output at 1280 x 720. Please check its settings. If that feature is active, it scales the video whenever the original source isn't 1280 x 720. When capturing, that's undesirable for a couple of reasons. First, when you record SD content, you're still recording it at 1280 x 720, which makes your recording files larger than they need to be. Second, most STBs that aren't dedicated video processors don't have the best scalers.

Sasha -- some progress to report..... I did reset the STB setting to 1920x1080 by using the TV directly. Then I reconnected the STB to the DVI-to-HDMI to the Colossus bd, and, now ShowBiz does show the signal at 1920x1080. I reran the test you suggested and the only issue I see is that for SD channels ShowBiz will flash 720x480 very quickly, yet, go back into the 1920x1080 mode. For some reason it does not stay at low res/SD!

I will now attack the MP issue.

Thanks for the guidance!

 

[sjevtic]

Sasha - thanks so much for the inputs, it's certainly appreciated! I will look into the items you mentioned above. By the way, GraphStudioNext was very easy to use. Thanks for the lea on it!

I'm glad you like it. GraphStudioNext is really useful, especially when you want to verify that your codec settings in MediaPortal are having the intended effects or are trying to understand what some other program is doing, especially when it is using automatic (i.e. DirectShow merit-based) filter selection.

Please keep in mind that I have only been involved with htpc's and MP for less then a couple of months, thus, I am still coming up the learning curve and asking many questions. I really do appreciate all your responses and support! And, sorry if I have been asking too many questions.

I'm pretty new to this too. I just got into the HTPC world back in January, and MP was the first media center app I tried. As you pointed out, the learning curve is pretty steep. I've made a lot of mistakes along the way, not the least of which was trying to put a stack of three HD-PVRs in a tiny cabinet on a USB hub. I also made a train wreck out of my TV-Server database, so don't feel bad. I'm not much ahead of you--you just haven't heard about all my mishaps.

You probably have your STB set to always output at 1280 x 720. Please check its settings. If that feature is active, it scales the video whenever the original source isn't 1280 x 720. When capturing, that's undesirable for a couple of reasons. First, when you record SD content, you're still recording it at 1280 x 720, which makes your recording files larger than they need to be. Second, most STBs that aren't dedicated video processors don't have the best scalers.

Sasha -- some progress to report..... I did reset the STB setting to 1920x1080 by using the TV directly. Then I reconnected the STB to the DVI-to-HDMI to the Colossus bd, and, now ShowBiz does show the signal at 1920x1080. I reran the test you suggested and the only issue I see is that for SD channels ShowBiz will flash 720x480 very quickly, yet, go back into the 1920x1080 mode. For some reason it does not stay at low res/SD!

I will now attack the MP issue.

Thanks for the guidance!

It sounds like you're just forcing your STB to scale to 1920 x 1080 now. Dig through the menus on your STB--I bet you'll find something. On my DirecTV box, there are a handful of options that I have to set, in addition to acknowledging that I can support each of the different resolutions that I want to output. I can grab a screenshot if you'd like, but since it doesn't sound like you use DirecTV, I doubt it will be of much use to you.

Also note that while your Colossus can support 1080i, it cannot support 1080p, so make sure your STB doesn't try to send that.

Sasha

 

[ltpr]

Sasha -- The set top box (Motorola VIP1200) give me 4 choices of which I pick 1080i, which I can tell on screen the res. And, when I go to an SD channel it shrinks the size of the picture on my TV (note: this is just using my set top box and TV on their own, NO htpc). It seeme that when I pick 1080i, the box upscales the SD channels. Then when I pick 720x480 I get 4:3 ratio and the SD channel is shown on TV as full screen, yet, the HD is shrunk somewhat. Now when I leave the set top box at 720x480, then, obviously ShowBiz picks up 720x480. No matter if I switch from SD to HD channels it remains at 720x480 since that is what the VIP1200 is putting out. I downloaded the VIP1200 manuals yet there is no option for it to do a continuous swap based on definition.

 

[sjevtic]

Sasha -- The set top box (Motorola VIP1200) give me 4 choices of which I pick 1080i, which I can tell on screen the res. And, when I go to an SD channel it shrinks the size of the picture on my TV (note: this is just using my set top box and TV on their own, NO htpc). It seeme that when I pick 1080i, the box upscales the SD channels. Then when I pick 720x480 I get 4:3 ratio and the SD channel is shown on TV as full screen, yet, the HD is shrunk somewhat. Now when I leave the set top box at 720x480, then, obviously ShowBiz picks up 720x480. No matter if I switch from SD to HD channels it remains at 720x480 since that is what the VIP1200 is putting out. I downloaded the VIP1200 manuals yet there is no option for it to do a continuous swap based on definition.

Luis,

As for the various sizes of images you're seeing on your TV under these conditions, there are probably some settings in your TV that scale content as well under various different conditions. Check the menus and/or manual for your TV.

Do you have a link to the VIP1200 manual? A quick search turned up spec sheets and installation manuals, but nothing resembling a useful user manual providing details about various settings. I would be pretty surprised if the VIP1200 didn't have a native format output mode, as most videophiles insist on using a dedicated video processor for content scaling and sneer at the thought of their cable/satellite STB insisting on doing it for them, as their implementations are usually inferior.

Sasha

 

[ltpr]

As for the various sizes of images you're seeing on your TV under these conditions, there are probably some settings in your TV that scale content as well under various different conditions. Check the menus and/or manual for your TV.

Do you have a link to the VIP1200 manual? A quick search turned up spec sheets and installation manuals, but nothing resembling a useful user manual providing details about various settings. I would be pretty surprised if the VIP1200 didn't have a native format output mode, as most videophiles insist on using a dedicated video processor for content scaling and sneer at the thought of their cable/satellite STB insisting on doing it for them, as their implementations are usually inferior.

Sasha

Here are the links of the VIP1200...

http://www.quadro.net/pdfs/settopbox_userguide.pdf (this User Guide is the best option explaining the menu options)
http://www.motorola.com/Video-Solut...r-Premise-Equipment/IP-Set-Tops/VIP1200_US-EN
http://www.motorola.com/web/Business/Products/TV Video Distribution/Set-tops/IP Set-tops/VIP1200/_Documents/Static Files/534977-001-english-c.pdf

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=motorola+vip1200+manual+pdf&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8