Wrong skip jumps when watching TV (1 Viewer)

[tatus]

TV-Server Version: 1.0.0 final, dedicated server (MSI Hermes 845GL barebone, Celeron 1.7GHz, 768MB RAM, MCE2005)
MediaPortal Version: 1.0.0 final
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3
Windows Version: MCE 2005, latest updates
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 3500+
HDD: Samsung 320GB
Memory: 1024MB
Motherboard: Asus M2N-X (nVIDIA nForce 520 MCP)
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 6200
Video Card Driver: 9.1.3.1
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver: 5.12.4.1196
1. TV Card: Technisat Skystar2 PCI (on TV server)
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S
1. TV Card Driver: 4.5.0.0 (Technisat DVB-PC TV Star PCI (BDA))
2. TV Card: Technisat Skystar2 PCI (on TV server)
2. TV Card Type: DVB-S
2. TV Card Driver: 4.5.0.0 (Technisat DVB-PC TV Star PCI (BDA))
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: PowerDVD 7
MPEG2 Audio Codec: PowerDVD 7
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 19.2
HTPC Case: Antec Overture-II
Cooling:
Power Supply: Amacrox Calmer Fanless 300W
Remote: MS MCE Remote
TV:
TV - HTPC Connection:

Hi there,

I am using MP with a dedicated TV server and multiple clients over a 100Mbps LAN. This setup has a strange behavior when watching TV that was not present with my previous single-seat installation. My problem occurs when watching timeshifted TV with lets say 20 minutes lag (maybe more), and pressing "skip +15 seconds" on my remote. Instead of skipping said 15 secs, MP sometimes jumps to the end of the timeshift buffer. When I then try to navigate back to my previous position, pressing "skip -" has no effect at all, the position stays at the end! I have to repeat "skip -" several times until it eventually starts working correctly. At this point I can skip forward and backwards... until the next commercial where the story repeats.

Has anybody experienced this situation as well? As mentioned, it only happens with a dedicated TV server. Is it maybe a timing problem (127.0.0.1 ist much more responsive than a real network...)?

By the way, how does MP TVE3 react when the timeshift buffer gets to its limit, i.e. when I press pause when watching live TV and then leave MP for more than 30 minutes or so?

Regards
Frank

 

[Major_Mess]

I have similar issues with transport streams in Australia. These issues may be related to the the new handling of TS by MP. This is a pretty major change that was not present in the release candidates, so this is the first real test version. Hopefully the issues will get resolved soon.
I am guessing that the new method for TS does not handle stream errors very well, and hence the problems.

 

[tourettes]

I have similar issues with transport streams in Australia. These issues may be related to the the new handling of TS by MP. This is a pretty major change that was not present in the release candidates, so this is the first real test version.

TS handling change (TSFileSource was replaced with TsReader) did happen already over a year ago. So its nothing new.

 

[tatus]

The interesting thing is that it only happens here with my dedicated TV server setup. The past single seat installation did not show it. I will add some logs when I have time as it is not so easy to reproduce. I just tried to start TV, pause, wait for some minutes, and then skip +/-. Everything is ok. It only happens when watching TV for a longer time. So I am still investigating how exactly to reproduce it. That was for my question if somebody already knows the problem.

Regards
Frank

 

[Major_Mess]

Thanks again tourettes. So it is only that the install rips TSFilesource off your machine if it is there that is new then. I guess that is part of all the file checking stuff that was added. That along with the extra TS probs is what lead me to believe that it had only just happened.

 

[tourettes]

Thanks again tourettes. So it is only that the install rips TSFilesource off your machine if it is there that is new then. I guess that is part of all the file checking stuff that was added. That along with the extra TS probs is what lead me to believe that it had only just happened.

MP installer should unregister the TSFIleSource.ax filter only in MediaPortal's own folder.

 

[tourettes]

Thanks again tourettes. So it is only that the install rips TSFilesource off your machine if it is there that is new then. I guess that is part of all the file checking stuff that was added. That along with the extra TS probs is what lead me to believe that it had only just happened.

MP installer should unregister the TSFIleSource.ax filter only in MediaPortal's own folder.

In some other thread you wrote:

I have the same problem. I am using the inbuilt TV Engine and have set timeshifting to always be active and it has made TV OK. Have u tried activating the timeshifting button on the TV screen?

If you are really using the inbuild (old TVE2) then the TsFileSource.ax nor TsReader.ax haven't ever been used! Also the TVE2 code hasn't been touched in one year+.

 

[Major_Mess]

I am talking about three unique PC's

#1 - Clean XP SP3 WMP11 with all the fixes. This is our HTPC in the lounge room used for TV viewing. TV Viewing is 99% OK when with timeshiffting enabled. The 1% problem is usually changing to our channel Nine SD(HD on same freq is OK) and results in a blank screen - selecting another channel and then back again usually brings the channel up. Live TV viewing without timeshiffting results in the audio appearing to start OK, then breaking up and disappearing within a few seconds. The video continues to play but may stutter. Logs were posted with my bug report.

#2 - Server 2003 running the TV Engine. All TV Server functions seem OK. But until I get the time to build another Win XP box to test it out, I realise that I can not submit logs etc.
This machine contains 6 DVB Tuners and runs WebScheduler which has run on it without a single fault for over a year - two of the tuners were added 2 months ago. It runs a PC telephone system and Misterhouse for home automation. It is also a secondary dns server and can be a backup mail server.

#3 - My main Desktop - Had TSFilesource ripped out during the RC4 uninstall/V1.0 Install. Forced to update. Directshow became broken. I have this playing TS again which is enough and there is no need to stuff with it anymore as it is being replaced. Though it would be good to have known what went on for future reference.

MP installer should unregister the TSFIleSource.ax filter only in MediaPortal's own folder.

This refers to PC#3.

Why is the install having anything to do with TSFilesource at all, especially if it has been used for many versions? (The fact that it happened also implied to me that it had been used recently). What else exactly, was done in relation to this apart from unregistering the filter itself?

Wouldn't unregistering it by name have removed Bear/Nate's version that I had installed. This happened between uninstalling RC4 and installing version 1. There was no other version registered by MP on this machine as far as I know. This did not happen with RC2. With RC2 installed everything coexisted. After the move to version 1 TSFilesource was no longer present. That is when all my dramas started with directshow. I now have TSFilesource working again but it has to be an automatic graph for some reason.

The only reason for installing MP was to connect to PC#2 to try out the v1 TVServer. RC2 was unuseable and it was not until RC4 that I tried again. I have just mirrored another PC so I will try the MP install with TV client there.

If you are really using the inbuild (old TVE2) then the TsFileSource.ax nor TsReader.ax haven't ever been used! Also the TVE2 code hasn't been touched in one year+.

This refers to PC#1

That sounds correct, RC2 definately didn't have it registered, as I remember checking for it before installing the Aussie version. I thought it strange as I thought it may have still have been used but must have been some sort of private version manually called by MP. I did have a concern it may interfere but hoped the original version might have cleaned up the sync issues. I am not sure about 0203, but I don't think so, as the RC2 was installed on the same OS install(unless 0203 removed it when I uninstalled). I then rebuilt this machine using XP SP3 and installed RC2, which ran for several months. I then had RC4 on this clean OS install for a month before uninstalling and installing version 1.

A couple of hours ago I tried the Cyberlink codec on this machine and found it had basically the same result watching live TV as the AC3Filter does. That is Audio plays for a couple of seconds then disappears and the video continues OK.

RC2 always had av sync issues with our Channel Seven HD. Most other channels were OK but could occasionally drift. Sometimes broadcaster edit points would make a difference - one time there was a show on our government station where they were cutting to a reporter live somewhere on the road. The studio clips would be out of sync then when it went to the reporter it would be in sync - this did not occur on a webscheduler recording made of teh program. It seemed better than 0203. RC4 had the same issues but much more often. Commercial breaks would also do the same sort of thing, and vice versa.

Timeshifting with RC2 and RC4 did not help the sync issues.

A lot of the symptons are similar to that seen when playing TS using HDTVPump and Haali as a source. HDTVPump would play all broadcasters except for our channel Seven HD. When attempting to play Seven HD, which only has AC3 using HDTVPump it is recognised as MPEG audio - It would play for a up to 10 seconds and then the player would crash. I get the feeling they are trying to stuff up the ability to use general DVB PVRs as much as possible. They also have the rights to Tivo(launched in the past six months) here and I wouldn't put it past them to tweak the transmission slightly in a hope to be able to say for example, "only Seven tivo will record it all". I think Haali handled Seven HD OK but had many more issues with the other channels.

When using the TV client on PC#3 connecting to PC#2, with AC3 filter, all channels work fine until I select Seven or SevenHD, the audio would then disappear and will not return when changing to one of the other broadcasters. (Last night when I thought, hooray!, I must not have tried Seven much). Restarting MP gets it working again until Seven is selected. Connecting to the graph with graphedt shows no connection for audio. All of the preloaded codecs are there greyed out including AC3Filter.

I just thought, maybe this could actually be the server not recording it correctly to the buffer? I will give it another go, then manually browse to the actual buffer ts files and see what is actually contained. After seeing your reply re ffdshow I gave that a go and it was much worse than the AC3Filter and made the video choppy. Though you did did mention live TV and using the server is actually timeshiffting a file, but I guess you meant both? Changing back to Cyberlink which was OK, is now not, and every channel change takes me to the beginning of the buffer. Forwarding to teh end gets me to the newly selected channel sometimes. Really sounding like two issues now, in both the server and client?? (Previously, the change from AC3Filter problems to Cyberlink being OK, I repeated several times with a reboot to confirm it was the case). Anyway, I can try to confirm this with another PC as mentioned.

Would you like me to video tape the issues and put them on you tube? PC#1 in particular, as it is a clean install etc.

EDIT

TV Server/Client are now OK with Cyberlink Audio again, same prob with AC3Filter after having selected Seven. Two of the tuners are on a USB dongle, which I had removed and reinstalled and MP Server had grabbed them again. Web Scheduler was using one of them at the time I had the issues trying to get audio back with Cyberlink. Bit weird tho as neither of them were actually used by MP at the time according to the Manual section on the server - first card should have been the only one enabled, and I took note of it working as I tested from the client.

To clarify, when using AC3Filter the audio works when Seven(the suspect broadcast) SD or HD is selected, it is the following channel changes that have no audio, until MP is restarted. So, it does not look like any server issue. Like I said, this is no big deal and I need to check this with a different client.

Edit: Further clarification. I was mistaken. Mostly when selecting Seven there is no audio, and then no further audio when changing channels. Very occasionally the audio is present on one of the Seven channels, and then the audio disappears as mentioned in the edit above.

 

[tatus]

I could now reproduce the situation while watching TV with my family. The log has some older information that is not relevant, because I did not know when it would happen again. The last actions were:
- pause for some minutes
- press 'skip +15 seconds' -> TV jumped to end of buffer instead
- pause again for a few minutes
- press 'skip +15 seconds' -> TV again jumped to end of buffer instead
- shut down MP client (server kept on running) and collected the attached logs.

Touarettes I hope the logs will tell you something. I was wondering whether the problem could be related to
- lagging more than 30 minutes behind (what would happen with the timeshift buffer then?)
- file wrap-around in timeshift buffer

As mentioned before, the situation never appears when watching TV for a short time only.

Regards
Frank

 

[tatus]

just looked quickly over the logs. Is it possible that EPG grabbing had started while TV was paused, and that this is causing the problem? That would explain why it only happens when watching TV for an extended period of time. TV server is configured for idle EPG grapping every 240 mins (everything left as defaults here).

Regards
Frank