Store in MPEG-2 format (1 Viewer)

[wgerber]

Hello. Is there a way to set Media Portal to NOT convert incoming TV streams and just save them directly as MPEG-2 formats? I have two dual tuner cards which both pump out MPEG-2 video (which I believe is typical). One of which is a FusionHDTV7 card from DVICO which can pump out 2 HD TV streams at once in MPEG-2 format. Media Portal works fine when I am recording one stream at a time, but it seems to bog down and start having problems if I have additional streams going.

There could be something else causing my problems, but it just seems like my system is trying to do a whole lot of needless work when it could just be writing the MPEG-2 files directly to disc and not doing any converting at all. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

[AlfredENeuma]

AW: Store in MPEG-2 format

Hi,

I do not think that your problem is the .ts format, as ts and mpeg in fact is the same (just replace the .ts with .mpeg, and you will see that the file is recognized also).

But, to help you with your problem, you should add your "system specification" and your "logs".

Cheers

Alfred

 

[quake2rambo]

AW: Store in MPEG-2 format

Hi.
TS => Transport Stream: Se here ...
There's no converting in process while recording. MP recorods the DVB-Stream "as is". No further actions.
Your problem to record simultanious streams will be an other. But without any information about your system,
there's nobody they can help.

 

[wgerber]

Hello. Thank you for setting me straight on my miss-understanding. This actually makes me rather happy since it means that I messed up some setting or configuration and once that is fixed I should be able to use Media Portal on my system. Which is cool.

And thank you both for your patience with me on Media Portal. I am brand new to it so I probably will be making lots of painful mistakes. But you already figured that one out.

I have updated my system specs with all that I could remember. There are some holes in it though so just ask anything that you feel is important and I will go track it down. I have also gone through the instructions on using the debug mode to create log files and uploaded that as an attachment.

So here is a better description of my problem. I start up media portal and start watching an HD channel and everything is perfect. I then set that channel to record and try watching a second HD channel and suddenly I start getting artifacts and the video is all messed up.

Any help or suggestions are more than welcomed. Even if it is just an RTFM with a pointer to the section I missed. Thank you!

 

[mm1352000]

Hi wgerber

I can't check for the first channel that you viewed because unfortunately the logs were overwritten when you started viewing the second channel, but you've got constant frame dropping when you watch the second channel. I'm wondering if you've set the video standard, frame rate and frame size for the second WinTV tuner? In particular, the reason why I ask that is because when you tune the first channel:

2011-07-05 07:26:30.764381 [(16)]: card: Tune 6 to 72
2011-07-05 07:26:30.765381 [(16)]: card: user: Titanium:6:-1 tune tv:72 Freq:0 Channel:72 Country:United States Tuner:Cable Video:Tuner Audio:Automatic
2011-07-05 07:26:30.770382 [(16)]: analog: Tune:tv:72 Freq:0 Channel:72 Country:United States Tuner:Cable Video:Tuner Audio:Automatic

...and when you tune the second channel...

2011-07-05 07:27:25.266499 [(15)]: card: Tune 7 to 18
2011-07-05 07:27:25.266499 [(15)]: card: user: Titanium:7:-1 tune tv:18 Freq:0 Channel:18 Country:Afghanistan Tuner:Cable Video:Tuner Audio:Automatic
2011-07-05 07:27:25.270499 [(15)]: analog: Tune:tv:18 Freq:0 Channel:18 Country:Afghanistan Tuner:Cable Video:Tuner Audio:Automatic

To rectify that, go to the scanning section for the second tuner and:

1. Set the country to "United States" on the "scanning" tab.
2. Go to the second tab ("settings") and set the video standard to "NTSC_M", frame rate to "29.97 fps (NTSC)", and frame size to "720x480 NTSC... (recommended)".

After doing that, restart TV Server and try your test again.

mm

 

[quake2rambo]

AW: Store in MPEG-2 format

Hi again.
Your WinTV PVR is an "old-style" analog TV-Card. This device can't show any HD-Channel. The other TV-Card can show HD channels but I cannot believe that this card is able to show channels simultaneously.
btw: You should update your graphics card to get a bit more power. Your device is low-end and causes problems with different "gimmics" of MP.

 

[mm1352000]

Re: AW: Store in MPEG-2 format

Your WinTV PVR is an "old-style" analog TV-Card. This device can't show any HD-Channel.

Technically true, but the original source may be HD.

The other TV-Card can show HD channels but I cannot believe that this card is able to show channels simultaneously.

According to the logs there are two tuners on the second card.

 

[wgerber]

True, my system is getting on the older side. Perhaps it is just time for an upgrade. I actually used this system as a MythTV box for quite a while. I just wanted to get it to a Windows box for other reasons. While I had it as a MythTV box (running on Fedora Linux) I was able to record 2 HD TV channels at once with this card. But Windows puts different demands on a system so I might just need to put more horsepower into it.

Thank you all for your advice. I will work on it some more when I get off work tonight and let you know if I can make things any better with what I have or if I just end up buying more hardware.

William