[WiP] TV upgrade - Combined RTSP, HEVC video and live TV rate-matching improvements (2 Viewers)

[joecrow]

You might just be able to install 1.15.0.746 over the top of 1.15.0.771, but I've never tried it.

As I don't live in Germany, I have no way of testing TV-server with live HEVC transmissions - can anyone else confirm that 1.15.0.771 works (or not) with the German DVB-T2 HEVC channels?

I don't know if this helps but I am using the latest Madvr test version of MP which I understand is based on 1.16pr but no idea what version of the HEVC branch. I do live in Germany and can confirm this version plays HEVC DVBT2 HD TV perfectly (unscrambled channels).

 

[Owlsroost]

Now I have restored a backup of my pc with MediaPortal Version 1.11.0. Afterwards I installed the MP version 1.15.0.746, executed the TVB-T2 Scan and now it works. The HD channels are displayed under TV channels and it works as expected. This confirms to me that DVB-T2/HEVC is not working with version 1.15.0.771

I am happy to find out the root cause, thanks a lot for your hint with the threat for DVB-T2 in Germany and the working version.

As next step I will try to downgrade MediaPortal on my laptop...

There is a later version (1.15.0.774) here - https://1drv.ms/f/s!Aj0xlmcWljmmkCir2vRO89QUwFO5 - which you can try.

I've just checked the code for that branch and the HEVC mods are in there as far as I can tell.

Note mm1352000's comment about re-scanning after an install - that is important.

 

[berlinerbayer]

With your question it came into my mind to delete the HD radio channels, executed again a scan. Afterwards the channels are displayed under TV Channels. This worked for Version 1.15.0.746 and 1.15.0.771. Therefore it was my fault that I expected an automated conversion through version update.

On my pc everything is working fine now, but on my laptop the picture with HD channels get stuck often, greyed and is slowed down. The CPU usage is often by 100 %.
I have installed the LAVFilters-0.68.1. I found another thread: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/hevc-x265-100-cpu-load.130286/page-6
I thought then to install the lentoid HEVC decoder, but I can't access the webpage, therefore can't download it. Could it be that my hardware of the laptop has not enouph capacity?
It's a Intel® Core™ i5-2467M Prozessor 2.0 with clock speed : 1.60 / 2.30 Turbo GHz (64 bit Windows 10)
Graphicadapter: Intel® HD Graphics 3000, storage until 1.696 MB shared 4 GB RAM

 

[Owlsroost]

I thought then to install the lentoid HEVC decoder, but I can't access the webpage,

This is the direct download link http://www.xhevc.com/resource/Strongene_Lentoid_HEVC_Decoder_v2.1.0.2_2015_12_02_r4644.zip

 

[berlinerbayer]

Thanks for the direct download link, the following I have done on my Laptop (Computer and Laptop has in the meantime the same MediaPortal Version 1.15.0.746 to make it easier to compare)

1. registered the 32bit and 64bit filter
   
2. under LAV video settings, untick HEVC under "Formats";
3. checked with GraphStudioNext with any x265 file if Lentoid is the default codec, this is now the case

The following CPU usage and difference between LAV and Lentoid filter I identified, but the issue is not solved:
- LAV filter DVB-T etwa 10%; with DVB-T2 etwa 60%, but after some minutes it goes up over 80%, complete CPU 100%, after some minutes it goes down again to 60%. Afterwards I have the infinite loop between 60% and 100 %
- Lentoid filter DVB-T etwa 10%; with DVB-T2 etwa 30%(half rate in comparison to LAV), but after some minutes it goes up over 80%, complete CPU 100%, after some minutes it goes down again 30 %. Afterwards I have the infinite loop between 30% and 100 %.

It would great if you could help me.

 

[mm1352000]

It would great if you could help me.

I suggest you use Windows task manager to confirm which processes are using the CPU. Perhaps the problem is caused by other software. For example, maybe you have security software scanning the time-shift files.

 

[berlinerbayer]

The processes I checked already several times. The Process MediaPortal.exe is growing up, the percents are from taskmanager and from MedaiPortal task. About this I am wondering, DVB-T is working fine, but it looks like that DVB-T2 is comsuming a lot of CPU.

 

[mm1352000]

About this I am wondering, DVB-T is working fine, but it looks like that DVB-T2 is comsuming a lot of CPU.

I guess you mean h.264/AVC video is fine but h.265/HEVC video is consuming a lot of CPU. This could be normal/expected. Your GPU supports DXVA (hardware accelerated video decoding) for h.264/AVC, but not for h.265/HEVC. IMHO 80% or higher is not out of the question for HD h.265/HEVC decoding without hardware acceleration.

Still, have you checked whether the CPU usage is related to frequency throttling/boosing?

 

[Owlsroost]

Based on my comment here - https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/dvb-t2-hd-germany-channelscan.134461/page-10#post-1191736 - your CPU might be able to handle 1080p50 HEVC decoding in software, if it can run at full speed/high load for long periods of time.

But as mm1352000 suggests, laptops can throttle down CPU clock speeds when things get too hot, which could produce the 30% -> 100% ->30% 'cycling' effect you are seeing (CPU gets too hot, clock rate is reduced until it cools down, then it speeds up again, gets too hot....etc etc). Keep the 'Performance' tab of Win 10 Task Manager open alongside MP (or run something like CPU-Z) and check what is happening to CPU clock speeds. Your CPU is dual-core with hyperthreading at 1.6 GHz, so it will be being pushed hard with decoding HEVC at 1080p50.

 

[Snoopy87]

I found an issue with the new version:

I manually added Internet Radio Streams as Radio Channels. Those channels were not working anymore with your latest version. MediaPortal is "playing" the radio stream but there is no audio anymore. This worked with all previous version without any issues.

By the way: You say it is recommended to make a new scan after updating to the new version.... Maybe I'm too stupid but I always I hate how the scan is working, because:
- Existing channels were not updated. So if a channel move to another transponder, etc. you always have to manually delete this channel in the All Channels list before starting a new scan. This is not user friendly, because you don't know which channels are not working anymore because they have moved, until you try to watch those channels with MediaPortal client.
- Also renamed channel names were not applied after a new scan
- It would be very nice to see which channels are new and which channels are updated after a scan. So please add columns like "Last updated" and "Added" to the All Channels list, so you can sort the list by timestamp to see which channels were new or updated
- The All Channel list is very, very slow... would be nice if this could be optimized to a ListBox with Virtual List Items, a cached channel list, etc. Because typically a ListBox with ca. 1400 items is not freezing an application. Also searching, filtering, sorting is very, very slow in the All Channels list.