TV Issue with FastForwarding (1 Viewer)

[jradams]

MediaPortal Version: 0.2.0.0
Windows Version: Windows XP Pro
CPU Type: AMD 64 3800 X2
HDD: Seagate 80 gig
Memory: 2gig
Motherboard: ASUS 8SLI Premium
Video Card: BFG6800 GT
1. TV Card: Hauppauge 150
MPEG2 Video Codec: Nvidia Drivers
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Brighthouse
Remote: Harmony
TV: Mitsu 52525
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI

I recently switch from Meedio to Media Portal and I must say its very nice! Ok on to my issue. When watching a recorded tv show I press the fast forward button to skip past the commercials but something strange happens. Lets say the show is 1:00:00 long so I start watching the show and the first commercial happens 5 min into so the time line is at 00:05:00 so I press the fast forward button to skip the commercials and what does it do it jumps back to the begining of the show and starts to fastforward? Why does it jump back? If I'm in the middle of the show it will jump back about 10 or 15 min and then start fastforwarding? Its really annoying because now i have to fast forward through the show that I have already seen and then the commercials? To make things even more crazy by the time I get done fastforwarding and done watching the show the time line now say something like 5:00:00 and its only a 1 hour show!!!! Anyone help me out to a newbie Mediaportal user Thanks!

 

[Marcusb]

First of all, Welcome to the forums.
Now, rest assured that this is not nor,al behaviour, so it should just be a matter of fixing the problem you are experiencing.

It sounds like one of two possibilities.
1) is the recorded stream corrupt? You can tell this by checking thetimeline. Does the end time or total duration not make sense?
If so, then something is up with your recording.
2) this would be the behaviour if you pressed the Down arrow (big jump backwards) then the right arrow (normal jump forwards). I realise you probably aren't doing this, but could there be some weird setup with your remote that is causing this? What remote do you use?

If none of these, then hopefully someone else will come along with ideas.

(You could also check out /Media Portal/log/mediaportal.log to see what is being interpreted here)

 

[jradams]

Thanks!!!

It looks to be number 1 how would I fix this and I'm assuming this would happen when using any pvr application meedio and BTV. I think I tried meedio and I got the same problem so option 1 is sounding more like my problem which then means it the hauppauge card then or drivers?

Here is an example show I recorded LOST on Wed night:
I'm looking at the properties in meedio since I didnt know where to look at them within mediaplayer:

Record time: 894150656
Duration Text: 01:01:00
Duration: 3659.99999998603

Hope this information proves helpfull in solving my problem. I will check the log tonight and post back results.

Thanks again!

 

[jradams]

Has anyone ever expierenced this? Also when I'm dont watching the recording instead of saying 100% watched it will say something like 1050% something way wrong its like the time is off or something?

 

[MrPaulo]

I've seen this (or something very similar) too. And we are not alone. From the half dozen or so people I know of using MP, three of us have this very problem. In fact it is why I've joined the forum (to get some help)... I'm curious that it doesn't appear to be an issue for others?

When watching Live TV (with timeshifting on) then trying to go back or forward, MP gets very confused. It seems to jump to a random place in the file.

When recording a 1 hour program the recorded duration displayed back to me is very much greater 1 hour. I can watch it fine, but if I try to skip forward or back I end up in some random place in the file. If I resume wathcing a recorded file from where I left it, I end up very much earlier in the file. i.e. I watch a 60 minute show for 15 minutes. MP tells me it is 180 minutes long. When I resume it goes to 15/180 through the file which is only really 5 minutes in. So it is nowhere near where I resumed from.

Note that the ratio changes constantly! The longer I leave MP running watching TV, the more out it seems to get (and the longer a 1 hour show becomes). It is as if some fps ratio is wrong somewhere and the timeshift or recorded buffer drifts out of sync...

What I have found though is that after compressing the recorded TV its duration is correct and it plays properly. Hopefully this is a clue to what is happening.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[jradams]

So "compressing" the files fixes the problem? How do you compress them? I tried recording shows in Media player and Meedio and got the same results. I was going to try Beyond TV to see if its an issue. I'm thinking it may by my Hauppauge PVR 150??? The drivers? I dont know what would cause a bad recording? I even tried a clean install of Windows XP and installed meedio and still the same thing happened? So I dont know what the problem is? I havent seen anyone post about this though either?

 

[MrPaulo]

I'm a newbie too, so not too much help I'm afraid. I've tried lots of things and still haven't fixed it. Rebuilt the whole system from scratch (incluind OS), tried 0.2.0.4 instead of 0.2.1.0 and it was still there.

I think the "timeshifting" issue and the recorded duration are possibly the same problem.

The compress option is available when you look at the list of recorded TV programs. I think you can set it up to auto-compress stuff, which I think I'll be doing as this morning MP told me that the Reading vs Blackburn game took 42 hours! It is near impossible to resume watching where you left off. You scroll forward 2 hours and end up a couple of minutes further along... Just like when you are using timeshifting - MP tries to go 30 minutes into the file and only ends up a couple of minutes along.

I have a Hauppauge PVR150 as well, but lots of people are using this card without this issue.

 

[TesterBoy]

Thought I'd revive this thread a bit by saying that (as reported by MrPaulo above) I've got the same problem.

For example, I've got an episode recorded that WMP 10 (and therefore MP) thinks is 150:25:10 long. Using Media Portal to compress it to MPEG2 gave me a 00:34:03 .mpg file, which is closer to the truth. The former file is 2,192,366 KB; the latter is 2,119,808 KB...

 

[infinite.loop]

When watching a recorded tv show I press the fast forward button to skip past the commercials

better than that would be to use the "skip-steps"

i.e. +5 minutes. press 4x -> on your remote/keyboard

 

[TesterBoy]

However, using the skip-steps causes MP to get confused, because the duration in the DVR-MS header doesn't match the actual file size - in my case, the duration is 150:25 hours for a 34-minute file, so I would have to tell MediaPortal skip forward by around 4.4 hours to skip one minute of actual recording. Does this make the problem clearer?

Actually, with 2.2.0 (just upgraded!) it seems to lock up MP completely when I try to skip in a non-compressed recording. YMMV, though...