TV tuner questions (1 Viewer)

[stlouis1]

I have a Hauppauge HVR2250 which i'm using in analog mode to get my channels

I'm running MP1.30 as a server and XBMC as a client on the same machine.

it's an AMD Athlon 5050e, 4gb ram, and an Nvidia GT210

Right now i'm having some issues with TV playback. It's not stuttering at all, but I am seeing a lot of lines in the picture when I watch Live TV and it's showing up in my recordings as well. I don't have this issue with Windows Media center though, but I do see it when I preview a channel from the TV Server settings

the hauppause site says this card has "Dual built-in hardware MPEG-2 encoders for recording analog cable" but i'm wondering if someone here knows otherwise? I have been browsing the forum here and come across a few threads that indicate this might be a codec, encoder, decoder issue and i'm wondering if someone may be able to point me in a direction to get this resolved?

I'd also like to clarify my understanding on how things work....for me to be able to watch TV though MP, it is using an encoder or decoder to display the TV?

I tried to install the latest LAV codec and enable CUVID, but it's showing that it's not availalbe, not sure if this is relevant here

also, if I do require a software encoder, i have a Radeon 4250 I can swap in so I can use the AMD encoder mentioned on the wiki which I understand has been shown to give good results

 

[kiwijunglist]

the hauppause site says this card has "Dual built-in hardware MPEG-2 encoders for recording analog cable" but i'm wondering if someone here knows otherwise?

Yes it will use the analog hardware encoder on the tuner to turn the analog tv signal into MPEG2.

I'd also like to clarify my understanding on how things work....for me to be able to watch TV though MP, it is using an encoder or decoder to display the TV?

If you are only recording then the analog signal is encoded by the hvr2250's hardware analog encoder into mpeg2. The MPEG2 stream is then written straight to the HDD.

If you are watching Analog TV/Video then we have
Analog TV/Analog Input -> HVR2200 MPEG2 Encoder -> ... -> MPEG2 Decoder (eg. LAV codec) -> Display

also, if I do require a software encoder, i have a Radeon 4250 I can swap in so I can use the AMD encoder mentioned on the wiki which I understand has been shown to give good results

I think you mean to say decoder here?

Software decoding is done via the CPU
Hardware decoding/Hardware acceleration (CUDA/DXVA/etc) is done the GPU (eg. GT210 / HD4250)

Swapping your video card, wouldn't make any difference if you were using software decoding.

Decoding MPEG-2 is pretty easy, don't need a fast CPU or GPU to do this.

 

[hello_joe]

Hello stlouis1

Right now i'm having some issues with TV playback. It's not stuttering at all, but I am seeing a lot of lines in the picture when I watch Live TV and it's showing up in my recordings as well. I don't have this issue with Windows Media center though, but I do see it when I preview a channel from the TV Server settings

Have you configured the tuner with the correct frame rate and aspect ratio:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...guration/02_TV_Servers/7_Scan_Analog#Settings

I suspect from the fact that you're using an HVR-2250 that you should be using the "NTSC" options - 29.97 fps, 720x480. Make sure you restart the TV service (manual control section) after changing those settings.

the hauppause site says this card has "Dual built-in hardware MPEG-2 encoders for recording analog cable" but i'm wondering if someone here knows otherwise? I have been browsing the forum here and come across a few threads that indicate this might be a codec, encoder, decoder issue and i'm wondering if someone may be able to point me in a direction to get this resolved?

The 22x0 series does indeed have dual hardware encoders.

I'd also like to clarify my understanding on how things work....for me to be able to watch TV though MP, it is using an encoder or decoder to display the TV?

Both.
Analog signals have to be encoded into digital format so that a PC can manipulate them. In particular, this enables MP to support timeshifting and recording. That is the function of the hardware encoders.
When you play a recording or you start timeshifting, decoders ("codecs") are used to decompress/decode the video and audio.

I tried to install the latest LAV codec and enable CUVID, but it's showing that it's not availalbe, not sure if this is relevant here

Probably not relevant.
The encoders on the 2250 produce MPEG 2 video and audio. Your CPU will have no problem decoding MPEG 2, so no need for hardware accelerated video decoding (CUVID).

also, if I do require a software encoder, i have a Radeon 4250 I can swap in so I can use the AMD encoder mentioned on the wiki which I understand has been shown to give good results

You don't need (and wouldn't even be able to use) software encoders.

I suspect the problem is that the picture you're seeing is not being deinterlaced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlaced_video

Could you post a screenshot?

 

[kiwijunglist]

Right now i'm having some issues with TV playback. It's not stuttering at all, but I am seeing a lot of lines in the picture when I watch Live TV and it's showing up in my recordings as well. I don't have this issue with Windows Media center though, but I do see it when I preview a channel from the TV Server settings

Fill out your system specs

Watch a channel in MP client
Press SHIFT+1
Wait 2 minutes
Take a screenshot showing these lines you are having as well as showing the on screen data
attach screenshot to this thread along with MP Logs ; http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/3_Forums/2_Log_Files

 

[stlouis1]

ok, so software encoder is a non issue then for me, that clarifies that for me.

I'm still at work, for another hour or so, I had to forward a port to RDP into the box. I found a logs folder, not the watchdog tool as described in the link you gave me. I zipped up the logs in that folder though so hopefully everything you need is there. I also added my dxdiag info if it helps

I can't really get a screenshot remotely since my internet connection doesn't have the highest upload speed, so that will have to wait another hour or so

BUT, the lines I'm seeing, are fairly similar to what was posted in this image
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/attachments/1-jpg.125123/

in this thread
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/tv-server-max-capacity-software-encoder.117734/

It's quite pronounced when there's a lot of motion on screen, otherwise not terrible, but enough that it's not worth recording as I won't get the greatest quality. Otherwise there's no stuttering or anything like that

it's also a new installation of windows, i think 3-4 days old. fully updated, the only software installed is Security Essentials, the hauppauge driver, hauppage IR software, mediaportal server, xbmc, and LAV codec[DOUBLEPOST=1365589998][/DOUBLEPOST]@Joe, deinterlacing was a thought I had after looking at the other aforementioned thread. but i'm not sure where to set that?

attaching a screencap of my tuner settings, I did not have the video decover set though, i just changed it to NTSC M which i hope is correct. I'm in canada so I know it's going to be NTSC something and after googling, ntsc m seemed the logical choice

 

[kiwijunglist]

The image with the lines is showing interlacing artifacts.

Your problem relates to the video not being deinterlaced, or the video not being flagged as interlaced video so no attemps at deinterlacing are occuring.

 

[stlouis1]

ok, just did some searching, and found the settings i needed to fix the interlacing. its working now, though the picture quality is a little fuzzy in spots, maybe i just have high expectations. I am using analog signal after all since I refuse to have a cable receiver attached to a computer that has a tv tuner, just seems dumb to have two boxes for the same thing.

now I understand why I was seeing the lines in the preview from the tv server settings too. either way, im satisfied, just need to configure my remote now, sigh

thanks for the help, much appreciated