Video Continuity error - only when fullscreen (1 Viewer)

[mba]

Hi

I am having huge problems with some MPEG-4 DVB-C TV channels (TV3, DR Update on Stofa Aarhus for readers from Denmark). Most of the time there are alot of stuttering and pixelation, but once in a while the problem seems to go away for some time. I have of course investigated the issue as a problem with bad signal. I have tried signal amplifier and changing cables. But I kept wondering why other channels behave nicely, most of them being MPEG-2 channels but also a MPEG-4 HD channel work fine most of the time.

During my investigations I have been using the Tuning Details page alot to see how the signal was behaving, but after a while I noticed that the signal would be poor for a second or two when entering the page and then it would max out on 100% and stay there. I also began to notice that on the small TV image there was no stuttering or pixelations.

I tried this afternoon to run TV at fullscreen for a while ensuring that it stuttered and pixelated, then I entered Tuning Details for a while until I was sure that the image didn't stutter and then I went back to fullscreen just to check that the signal would again start to stutter and pixelate. I also checked that my CPU was up for task that it wasn't just a matter of system resources being used 100% when on fullscreen, as a matter of fact the CPU was about 50-70% when on Tuning Details and 15-30% when on fullscreen.

After my tests I looked through the logs and correlated the mediaportal log with the TS reader log, and just as I expected theres only very few continuity errors when on Tuning Details. Below is a short excerpt from the logs.


Mediaportal log at 17:44:11 I enter Tuning details and at 17:46:49 I return to fullscreen:
2010-09-29 17:44:11.627000 [Debug][MPMain(1)]: Window: TvPlugin.TVTuningDetails init
2010-09-29 17:44:11.716000 [Debug][(22)]: PlaneScene: crop T, B : 0, 0
2010-09-29 17:44:11.720000 [Debug][(22)]: PlaneScene: crop L, R : 0, 0
2010-09-29 17:44:11.721000 [Info.][(22)]: PlaneScene: video WxH : 720x576
2010-09-29 17:44:11.724000 [Debug][(22)]: PlaneScene: video AR : 16:9
2010-09-29 17:44:11.725000 [Info.][(22)]: PlaneScene: screen WxH : 453x234
2010-09-29 17:44:11.726000 [Debug][(22)]: PlaneScene: AR type : Normal
2010-09-29 17:44:11.728000 [Debug][(22)]: PlaneScene: PixelRatio : 1
2010-09-29 17:44:11.730000 [Debug][(22)]: PlaneScene: src : (0,0)-(720,576)
2010-09-29 17:44:11.731000 [Debug][(22)]: PlaneScene: dst : (190,796)-(606,1030)
2010-09-29 17:46:49.871000 [Debug][MPMain(1)]: g_Player: ShowFullScreenWindow


TS reader log The errors is almost gone from 17:44:12 when entering Tuning Details until 17:46:49 when returning to fullscreen:
29-09-2010 17:44:12.291 [bd4]Video Continuity error... 6 ( prev 4 )
29-09-2010 17:44:12.294 [bd4]Video Continuity error... c ( prev a )
29-09-2010 17:44:12.296 [bd4]Video Continuity error... 6 ( prev 3 )
29-09-2010 17:45:23.301 [bd4]Video Continuity error... a ( prev 3 )
29-09-2010 17:45:23.302 [bd4]Audio Continuity error... 2 ( prev 0 )
29-09-2010 17:45:23.329 [bd4]aud:set discontinuity
29-09-2010 17:46:25.753 [c84]Vid/Ref : 143.805, Late P-frame(05), Compensated = 143.430 ( -0.145 A/V buffers=00/51), Clk : 143.575333, State 2
29-09-2010 17:46:25.755 [c84]Vid/Ref : 143.725, Late B-frame(03), Compensated = 143.350 ( -0.225 A/V buffers=00/50), Clk : 143.575333, State 2
29-09-2010 17:46:25.772 [c84]Vid/Ref : 143.765, Late B-frame(04), Compensated = 143.390 ( -0.201 A/V buffers=00/49), Clk : 143.591324, State 2
29-09-2010 17:46:25.774 [c84]Vid/Ref : 143.925, Late P-frame(08), Compensated = 143.550 ( -0.041 A/V buffers=00/48), Clk : 143.591324, State 2
29-09-2010 17:46:25.776 [c84]Vid/Ref : 143.845, Late B-frame(06), Compensated = 143.470 ( -0.121 A/V buffers=00/47), Clk : 143.591324, State 2
29-09-2010 17:46:25.789 [c84]Vid/Ref : 143.885, Late B-frame(07), Compensated = 143.510 ( -0.096 A/V buffers=00/46), Clk : 143.606323, State 2
29-09-2010 17:46:25.792 [c84]Vid/Ref : 143.965, Late B-frame(09), Compensated = 143.590 ( -0.016 A/V buffers=00/44), Clk : 143.606323, State 2
29-09-2010 17:46:25.806 [c84]Vid/Ref : 144.005, Late B-frame(10), Compensated = 143.630 ( 0.010 A/V buffers=00/43), Clk : 143.619659, State 2
29-09-2010 17:47:02.606 [bd4]Video Continuity error... 3 ( prev 1 )

Best regards
Martin

 

[gonzo21]

hi mba, I'm afraid I can confirm your issue ... seeing the "video continuity errors" and the "Late B-Frames" as well ... as I use DVB-S/DVB-S2 it's not related to the video card or sth.

And we're both facing the same issue and hope for the fix made by miroslav22 to the streamingserver.dll ... hopefully this works! Will test it this evening ...

 

[gonzo21]

unfortunately the dll did not help ... :-(

 

[bluebear]

Seems I might have the same problem with video continuity errors. Picture degrades slowly with pixiling and eventually freeze. Not on all channels though and not only HD, SD aswell.

 

[gonzo21]

hm, so we are not alone ... I have seen it in HD channels and only some special SD channels (german - prosieben, sat1, kabel1). Especially weird is, that, if I have those issues, I am in most of that times able to fix this issue with stopping and starting live tv 2-4 times.

I can definitively say, that it is absolutely NOT related to signal quality or strength. They are always in good conditions:
- When tuning in a HD channel, I get 59% signal level and about 77-79% signal quality.
- When tuning in any other SD channel I get 59-63% signal level and 99% signal quality.

I appended my error logs here (as I did before in another thread https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...325/fix-streaming-discontinuity-errors-87172/ ). Perhaps one of the dev guys can have a look at it or give me some hints?! I cannot reproduce it daily, but nearly daily, so I'm also able and willing to play around a little ...