Creative VideoBlaster DVCR

[robsmith]

Any support planned for this card? I tried the Sage recorder demo and latest beta, but get errors relating to the DirectShow Filters ...

IS there a way to manually re-register these filters, or view what is installed?

Thanks,

Bob

[Narflex]

Please add the following to your Windows registry as a DWORD:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Frey Technologies\Common\consolewin=1

Then post the error message that appears in the DOS window. The Creative card should work in 1.1.2 or later. It's still in user trials; but it's completely stable on our end.

Thanks,

[robsmith]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. Here is the startup error:


Sun 3/9 20:35:56.904 Failed to find:LAME MPEG Layer III Audio Encoder
Sun 3/9 20:35:56.914 MMC NATIVE FAILURE line 723 hr=0x80070057
Sun 3/9 20:35:56.914 MMC processing error:myfilter

It looks like there may be some vestige components left on the system ...

Bob

[robsmith]

Hello again,

The first message referenced a LAME codec error, so I went out and grabbed the NIMO codec pack and added the LAME Codec.

Upon restart of the Sagerecorder, I now get error:

Sun 3/9 20:48:22.546 BVF NATIVE FAILURE line 328 hr=0x80040200
Sun 3/9 20:48:22.556 BasicVideoFrame processing error:mpeg2audio detailsefault
rendering of audio failed
Sun 3/9 20:48:49.034 BVF NATIVE FAILURE line 328 hr=0x80040200
Sun 3/9 20:48:49.034 BasicVideoFrame processing error:mpeg2audio detailsefault
rendering of audio failed

Thanks for the help.

Bob

[SHS]

robsmith NIMO codec pack is woste thing to install it can cuase more headack.

[robsmith]

Hi,

So, I was fooling with the software more last night after my last post and it looks like it is capturing, but the preview mode does not work (error setting up Audio). The captured file will play back with media player, but there is a blocky noise running through the frames every few seconds (the audio seems ok).

Thanks,

Bob

[Narflex]

robsmith,

Remove the NIMO codec that you installed.

The Creative card requires an MPEG 2 audio compressor to be installed at the present time. The LAME MPEG Layer III Audio Encoder is available as open source under GPL from
http://www.elecard.com/products/layer3encoder.shtml
You need the DirectShow filter. This is the one it was tested with. It also works with the StreamMachine audio compressor; which you'll have if you happen to also own a Provideo card.

Let us know how it goes.

[robsmith]

No errors on startup, but when I try to view live video (preview):

Mon 3/10 20:26:25.935 BVF NATIVE FAILURE line 328 hr=0x80040200
Mon 3/10 20:26:25.935 BasicVideoFrame processing error:mpeg2audio detailsefaul
t rendering of audio failed

[Narflex]

Try downloading and installing the Moonlight Odio Dekoda from Elecard also. I think you may need to use their decoder with their encoder, although any generic MP3 decoder 'should' work.

[ruel]

Jeff, I could never get that DebugMux.reg to merge/import into my registry from that zip file you sent me last Friday.

However, I've installed the Moonlight Odio Dekoda DirectShow filter and Elecard lame_dshow. In SageRecorder I was able to make a recording of a TV show with a very good picture but bad sound -- a bunch of static pops. Good progress. Now, have to get the sound.

I also tried SageTV and went into the EPG and tried to tune in a show on the grid but got a black screen in the TV. But SageTV apparently did record because I found a bunch of video files in the SageTV/Video directory although the sound was still bad with the static pops. So for SageTV, need both the TV picture and the sound.

Mon 3/10 21:45:57.470 BVF NATIVE FAILURE line 286 hr=0xffffffff
Mon 3/10 21:45:57.470 BasicVideoFrame processing error:mpeg2video details:Unable to find named input pin on specified MPEG2 video decoder filter

[ruel]

BTW, I'm programming the remote control for the Creative VB DVCR card for use with SageTV and I'm wondering if there is a way to put in a shift command like so I can alternate the channel up-and-down buttons to become regular up-and-down buttons (and vice versa) and to also alternate the volume increase and decrease buttons to become left-and-right arrow buttons (and vice versa)? Or is there a way that SageTV can sense that depending on where you are in the application?

[Narflex]

Ruel,

What source are you recording from that's giving the audio problems in SageRecorder? Do you have this problems in the Creative application?

For the error, if you use the same audio/video decoder/renderer settings in SageTV as those in SageRecorder; it should work fine. Let me know if that doesn't resolve SageTV's problems.

For the remote control, I'm glad you asked.

There's four Commands in SageTV that are near the end of the list:
ChannelUp/Up
ChannelDown/Down
VolumeUp/Right
VolumeDown/Left

What those buttons do depend on where you are in the application. Ideal for the Creative or Hauppauge remote controls.

[ruel]

Originally posted by Narflex
What source are you recording from that's giving the audio problems in SageRecorder? Do you have this problems in the Creative application?

No problems with the Creative application -- that works fine all the time.

I've been trying different setting combinations in the audio set up. I went through what I thought were the major combinations between audio input (patch) source and the audio renderer while keeping the audio decoder on the Moonlight Odio Dekoda. I'll probably try the MPEG Audio Decoder next in combination with the other settings. Agh, here we go again. Hopefully there will be some joy after going through some more combinations of the audio settings.

Thanks for the remote control tips.

[Narflex]

The audio patch input has no effect unless you're using a Provideo card, so don't bother messing with that.

I'm going to PM you with something else to try.

[ruel]

Woo Hoo! Picture and Sound on SageTV!

I tried what you suggested and I also set the video and audio to the defaults. The picture was a little off-center like it's missing part of the right side of the picture but it works. There was a sound sync problem after you change the channel but it seems to get into sync afterwards although maybe a little off. The sound is there although there may be an ocassional static pop once in a while.

Then I set the video decoder to Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (apparently from PowerDVD) and the picture was no longer off-center and the sound was in sync. There still seems to be an ocassional static pop, but the picture and sound are much better now. Although the sound still seems to go out of sync if I change the channel a little too much in SageTV and then seems to slowly get back in sync but maybe not quite in sync.

Oh, when I tried watching one of the video files with PowerDVD, the sound was gone and only had static pops -- this is even though there was sound when I was watching it in SageTV. I seem to be getting the same results as far as the no-sound-but-have-static-pops in SageRecorder.

Otherwise, SageTV seems to be working fine for watching TV with the PVR capabilities with the pause, rewind etc. -- so long as you don't change the channel too much if you want to keep the sound in sync (!!!). But I can't do anything with the video files because of the sound.

[Narflex]

Could you email me one of the files that won't play with audio in PowerDVD?

For the sound problems in SageRecorder, is your audio/video decoder/renderer settings the same as SageTV? Since SageTV has no problems, SageRecorder shouldn't with the same settings.

NOTE: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO THE PROVIDEO 256 OR CREATIVE VBDVCR CARDS

Audio/video sync gets off slightly when you change channels because of the gap in the video stream caused by the temporary signal loss. The audio stream doesn't suffer from this because it has its own clock. Sage compensates for this and then applies a correction (along with compensating for clock drift) while it's multiplexing the MPEG2 data. If you're using CBR you should never notice this compensation because it's done very smoothly. VBR introduces a limitation mathematically regarding audio/video sync which makes it impossible to always maintain accurate synchronization, so you may notice temporary A/V sync loss while using VBR encoding.

Something you can try.....
There's a setting called seeker/fast_mux_switch in the Sage.properties file. If you set it to false, then the capture device will be reset on every channel change. This causes channel changing to be slower than normal, but audio/video sync will not temporarily drift on channel changes because the capture card is being reset. Make the change while SageTV is not running if you'd like to try it out.

[ruel]

I'll email you a video file made with SageTV.

The sound doesn't play in PowerDVD -- but when you use the Cyberlink decoder the picture is fine and the sound is there (using the default audio settings) in SageTV. (FYI, I use PowerDVD as my default video player.) The sound does play in Windows Media Player and RealOne Player and Zoomplayer, but the picture is off-center and part of the right side of the screen is cut off. The picture is centered in PowerDVD with the right side of the screen intact. I'm getting the same result for video files made with both SageTV and SageRecorder.

That seeker/fast_mux_switch=false doesn't seem to work or doesn't seem to agree with the Creative VB DVCR card at least on my system since SageTV freezes/crashes when I try to change the channel using that setting.

[robsmith]

Hello,

Adding the elecard LAME codec along with the odio decoder now gives me a preview picture. But ....

If I leave this preview open while recording, the recorded clip audio is out of sync and not playing back at the correct rate (very fast).

With only 6 days left on the temporary key and limited time to spend, I may have to hold off on licensing this product.

I would be intested in providing feedback and doing more testing if the key were to be extended.

Thanks again for all of your help,

bob

[Narflex]

robsmith,

Change the audio sampling rate to 48000 and you should be OK.

If that's not the problem, please email me a clip that plays with fast audio.

Thanks.

[robsmith]

Narflex,

I recorded a couple of test clips last night. If I do not have the preview window open, the recorded clip seems to be fine (sampling rate is set to 48k) ...

If I have the preview window open and try to record at the same time, the audio plays fast and the video is very jumpy on playback. You can also see that the video is not smooth while the recording is taking place.

I can send you the clip if you like.

My system:

Intel PIII - 1Ghz
Memory - 1 Gb
ATA 100 disks

As a side note, whenever playing back a recorded show, there is a small graphic superimposed in the upper right hand corner of the video (generated from the LAME codec, I think). Do you know of any way to get rid of this?

Thanks,

Bob