HD-PVR Extreme Blockiness

[ShortySeanbo]

I just got my system up and running and am trying to get the hdpvr working.

System:
Q9450
4Gigs RAM
GF 9800GT -> HDMI out @ 1080p
Toshiba 46XF550U
Comcast Cable 1080i via Component
WINXP SP3 32-bit
Just downloaded the sage trial.

The video from the HDPVR both through Arcsoft TME and Sage is extremely blocky to the point of not being watchable. This is also true for playback of a recording. I'm sure this is a decoder/encoder issue, but I have no idea how to go about fixing it.

Much thanks.

[ShortySeanbo]

I have selected the ArcSoft decoder as videoframe/h264_video_decoder_filter and am using Overlay.

I find it baffling that the video looks all blocky and distorted in TME as most people report that it works in that if nowhere else...

I'm running the 169.02 forceware drivers b/c of incompatibilities with my mb (P5Q-EM) but they should still work...

I attempted to play the recording on another machine but couldn't get it to play. As the clip is 46mb, I'm not sure how to post it.

[ShortySeanbo]

I found a machine with enough oomph to get it to play and confirmed that even the recording has this strange blockiness. It looks like it really over-compressed.

I made another recording that did not exhibit these symptoms, but watching through TME and Sage certainly do.

I posted the two videos here, hopefully you can access them:
1st: http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~s..._1_18_14_33.TS
2nd: http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~s...0_2_18_25_5.TS

[Apap]

I just checked out your 1st file and it looks like a bitrate problem.
What recording quality did you define for your HD-PVR?

[ShortySeanbo]

7.6Mbps. Note that those files were recorded outside of sage (in TME).

I seem to have (somehow) solved that problem as the other clips play fine on my much more underpowered laptop (2.4Ghz Dual, Quadro 140m vs 2.6Ghz Quad, 9800gt).

Now I have to figure out what is wrong with playback on the Sage machine. It is not a stuttering problem, the video moves along just fine and the audio doesn't glitch. However, anytime there is movement it becomes very blocky and the blocks blur and follow the movement.

At this point I may install the exact codecs that I have on the laptop and try playing it in Media Player Classic like I am on the laptop.

Edited to add: The recorded files play PERFECTLY FINE in WMP10 on the Sage machine!

This is very strange now. It won't play correctly in TME or in Sage but will in WMP....

[SHS]

I just check out both of your clips and it looks fine here and there was no strange blockiness in the recording it self.
My guest is a codec problem

[ShortySeanbo]

Thanks for checking.

It is most certainly a codec problem as the clips play fine in WMP10 and on other machines, but not in TME or Sage.

What I would really like to do is force Sage to use what everything else is using but I'm not sure how to find out what that is to put in the Sage.properties file.

Edited: typo.

[SHS]

It under C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\
Fine Sage.properties open it with notepad or drap and drop in to notepad
Look for the line videoframe/h264_video_decoder_filter=
what codec is listed there?.
Mine saying ArcSoft Video Decoder

[ShortySeanbo]

Originally Posted by SHS

It under C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\
Fine Sage.properties open it with notepad or drap and drop in to notepad
Look for the line videoframe/h264_video_decoder_filter=
what codec is listed there?.
Mine saying ArcSoft Video Decoder

Yeah, mine is set to Arcsoft Video Decoder. This may be the problem though, as it also is not playing correctly in TME.

What I meant was that I would like to set it to what every_thing_ else is using. As in WMP10 on the same machine and Media Player Classic on my laptop.

[SHS]

check and see what codec that WMP10 and Media Player Classic is using

[ShortySeanbo]

Originally Posted by SHS

check and see what codec that WMP10 and Media Player Classic is using

What is the correct way to go about this?

All I can see is that MPC is using "ffdshow video decoder" on my laptop, but I don't know how to check WMP on the Sage machine.

[SHS]

In WMP that eazy start one of thoses video rigth on name of that in rigth go to propties

[ShortySeanbo]

Originally Posted by SHS

In WMP that eazy start one of thoses video rigth on name of that in rigth go to propties

WMP10 is using CoreAVC Decoder.

I tried setting that in the Sage.properties file and when I try to watch the clips I get an endless stream of -4,0x80040217 errors :-(

[SHS]

Well I don't know what to tell you ShortySeanbo sorry to hear that it giving you a bad time.
By way there just one other thing you may want try to see if it make any diff
remove 2GB Memory from your system and drop your Virtual Memory to more like 1536 / 3072

[ShortySeanbo]

Thanks for all your help. It seems that multiple restarts affect things. I was eventually able to get CoreAVC to work, but it was stuttery like others have reported (which still amazes me with the amount of horsepower I have in this box shown by the fact that it plays fine in WMP).

I changed it back to ArcSoft and now I am getting -5, errors but they are actually complaining about an AUDIO problem. I'll keep fiddling with the decoders, but it seems i have to restart a couple times whenever I change something.

I think part of the problem is that I had Total Media Theater (latest version) installed to play Blu-Ray movies before I installed the ArcSoft software off of the CD that came with the HDPVR.

[Polypro]

Check your properties and see if these settings are the same:

videoframe/aac_audio_decoder_filter=ArcSoft Audio Decoder

videoframe/h264_video_decoder_filter=ArcSoft Video Decoder

always_use_dshow_player=true

mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false


Check that DShow is selected in the options as well. You could also run DirectShow Filter Manager and set the merit of the Arcsoft video decoder to 0xfffffffffffff (highest). I don't have an HDPVR yet, but these settings let me play all the test clips perfectly.

P

[ShortySeanbo]

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it :-)

Based on your settings I have successfully restored the weird blocky flickering playback. *facepalm*

I'll keep trying various configurations.

[Polypro]

Whoops, sorry...works here. (You shut the client down when changing the props file, right?) I've only ever had TMT installed, for BR play back...no HDPVR software.

P

[ShortySeanbo]

I think I found the audio problem I was having.

Sage likes to pick the "ArcSoft Audio Decoder HD" through the GUI and that doesn't seem to play nice.

So now I have

"ArcSoft Video Decoder" -- Blocky, flickering, blurring

"CoreAVC" -- Stuttery playback even though CPU usage is sitting at 20% (though it seems to be very multithreaded!)

[ShortySeanbo]

More details:

"ArcSoft Video Decoder" -- Blocky, flickering, blurring
"CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD8.0)" -- Blocky, flickering, blurring
"CoreAVC Video Decoder" -- Stuttering, CPU usage: 20%
"ffdShow Video Decoder" -- Stuttering, CPU usage 8%

I guess my real question is why Sage stutters while playing H.264 material when the CPU usage is only 8%. WMP10 and MPC do not stutter while playing these files so why does Sage?