Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[bellbuoy]

I have been using HD Homerun DVR software for my television viewing and recording because, up until recently, James River did not have Closed Captioning.  Now JR's Closed captioning is better than anywhere else I have seen.  Unfortunately, the recordings made with JR are mostly unwatchable due to severe pixelation.  I have been using HD Homerun DVR for exactly one year and the recordings are rock solid, as they also are with PLEX.  Prior to that I was using Windows Media Center with no problems.  The severe pixelation occurs in JR (and NextPVR).  I am using the .ts format.  I tried the .jtv earlier and it made no difference.  I really like JR and would like to migrate all my media into it. 

Win 10 Version 1803, OS build 17134.523
Media Center 24.0.75 (64 bit)
HD Homerun Quattro, Version 20180817

I have included the log file and TV filter info for your reading enjoyment.  If you need anything else, I will happily supply it.
Thank you for your efforts,
Steve



KSCATEGORY_BDA_NETWORK_TUNER filters

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-0
    @device:sw:{71985F48-1CA1-11D3-9CC8-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-0
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-1
    @device:sw:{71985F48-1CA1-11D3-9CC8-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-1
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-2
    @device:sw:{71985F48-1CA1-11D3-9CC8-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-2
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-3
    @device:sw:{71985F48-1CA1-11D3-9CC8-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-3
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'


KSCATEGORY_BDA_RECEIVER_COMPONENT filters

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-0
    @device:sw:{FD0A5AF4-B41D-11D2-9C95-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-0
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-1
    @device:sw:{FD0A5AF4-B41D-11D2-9C95-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-1
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-2
    @device:sw:{FD0A5AF4-B41D-11D2-9C95-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-2
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'

    Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-3
    @device:sw:{FD0A5AF4-B41D-11D2-9C95-00C04F7971E0}\Silicondust HDHomeRun Tuner 10750BE4-3
        Input Pin 'Input0'
        Output Pin 'Output1'


AM_KSCATEGORY_CAPTURE filters

    Realtek HD Audio Mic input
    @device:pnp:\\?\hdaudio#func_01&ven_10ec&dev_0899&subsys_10280859&rev_1000#4&10af9f6d&0&0001#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\rtmicinwave
        Output Pin 'Recording Control'
        Input Pin 'Input1'

    Realtek HD Audio Stereo input
    @device:pnp:\\?\hdaudio#func_01&ven_10ec&dev_0899&subsys_10280859&rev_1000#4&10af9f6d&0&0001#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\rtstereomixwave
        Output Pin 'Recording Control'
        Input Pin 'Input1'


KSCATEGORY_ENCODER filters


KSCATEGORY_MULTIPLEXER filters


AM_KSCATEGORY_CROSSBAR filters


AM_KSCATEGORY_TVTUNER filters


AM_KSCATEGORY_TVAUDIO filters


AM_KSCATEGORY_VBICODEC filters


MPEG2 Multiplexer filters

[JimH]

If you have picture problems, then something isn't set right.  Try Red October Standard.  If you use Red October HQ, don't make any changes directly to madVR. 

[bellbuoy]

None of those terms rang a bell with me, so I looked them up in a WIKKI.  After finding the settings residing in Options- Video- General video settings, it appeared that I had not been there before and the settings were unchanged with Video mode being Red October standard.

 I have a new Dell XPS computer with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti , running through a six core Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz. 

Should I change the video to Red October HD?

[JimH]

Try toggling the option to use hardware encoding.

[Yaobing]

Does this happen only with recorded shows?  Does it behave the same if you play a different type of video?  How about playing a TV channel live (without recording it first)?

[bellbuoy]

I recently began using JR to watch DVDs with no picture issues.  I never watch live TV due to commercials.  I tried just now, and there was no pixelation.  That brings up another difference between the JR recordings and the Plex and HD Homerun.  JR recordings are stored on the computers D drive, a new 1 Tb Seagate Barracuda that I installed to be a TV storage drive.  The Plex and HD Homerun recordings go to a WD My Cloud NAS as per Silicon Dust's recommendation.  This obviously suggests changing the JR recordings to go there also, which I will do and report back (unless you, like Windows Media Center, do not like storage in a NAS) 

[bellbuoy]

I just changed it to the NAS and the artifacts are still there. 
 
What I have been doing to diagnose various issues in several applications is to record something, then, if it does not look good in it's native application, I play the file in VLC, which will play anything.  What I have discovered is that HD Homerun DVR records and plays back beautifully, but you have to put up with the crappy program and only half of the Closed Captions show up.  Plex records beautifully, but plays back jerkily.  Closed captions work fine.  A Plex recording played back through VLC is perfect and retains it's closed captions.  Plex support is non existent.
 JR does so many things well that I really want it to work.  Recordings made in JR and sent to either the D drive or the NAS are jerky and pixelated when played back in either JR or VLC. 

Would log files help?

[Yaobing]

I just changed it to the NAS and the artifacts are still there. 

This seems to rule out my initial suspicion.

Would log files help?

I have not read your log file carefully, only a quick scan.  I doubt it will help much as problems like this can not really be logged.

You can actually try turning logging off and see if there is a difference.

[Yaobing]

You can try switching to recording in JTV format.

[bellbuoy]

I had sent a similar request to Silicon Dust for some assistance and they suggested that I uninstall their app which could be getting in the way even though the DVR is turned off.  I did that yesterday and tried a recording.  It did not help. 

This morning I switched to JTV format and it did not fix it. 

Yesterday I watched an hour of live programming (without recording in the background).  I had not done that in about 25 years.  The picture was perfect.  I moved my Sunday morning recording duties over to Plex.  Plex has had some difficulties recording more than 2 seconds on some recordings.  Sunday morning was no different.  When it did not record Meet the Press and when CBS Sunday morning was queued up next, I decided to watch Sunday Morning live on JR.  Sunday morning was still scheduled to record on Plex, but I have four tuners and I did not change anything.  Sunday morning (live) on JR was fine except for a singular spot that could have been from the network.  The big surprise is that this morning, just before I was to switch to JTV format, I noticed that Sunday Morning was in my TV recordings folder.  I watched it and the recording was exactly like what I had viewed the day before, excellent except for the one spot.  I did not accidentally hit Record instead of watch.  In fact, when I hit watch, it took me to the beginning of the program (instead of starting 10 minutes in, which is where I was) so I stopped the live program then went back and hit Watch again. It started where I left off.  I stopped it again, went to view my tuner status and noticed that TWO tuners were in use, both on the same channel.  This is with nothing showing that it is going on in JR, and a single program being recorded in Plex. 
I realize that this is very confusing.  I have no idea what to do next.
Thank you
Steve

[Yaobing]

This morning I switched to JTV format and it did not fix it. 

That is a mystery.  Playing a JTV recording should be just like delayed live playback in time-shifting mode.

I moved my Sunday morning recording duties over to Plex.  Plex has had some difficulties recording more than 2 seconds on some recordings.  Sunday morning was no different.  When it did not record Meet the Press and when CBS Sunday morning was queued up next, I decided to watch Sunday Morning live on JR.

Having multiple applications accessing TV tuners usually is not a good idea.  They may not coordinate with each other properly although in theory HDHomeRun should not have trouble handling this.

Sunday morning was still scheduled to record on Plex, but I have four tuners and I did not change anything.  Sunday morning (live) on JR was fine except for a singular spot that could have been from the network.  The big surprise is that this morning, just before I was to switch to JTV format, I noticed that Sunday Morning was in my TV recordings folder. 

Did you notice the recording inside MC's TV view or in Windows Explorer?

I watched it and the recording was exactly like what I had viewed the day before, excellent except for the one spot.  I did not accidentally hit Record instead of watch.  In fact, when I hit watch, it took me to the beginning of the program (instead of starting 10 minutes in, which is where I was) so I stopped the live program then went back and hit Watch again. It started where I left off. 

I assume you watched it in MC.  By the way you describe it, you think the recording was made by MC?  If the recording does show up inside MC, what is the file type and file name of this recording?  Is it JTV or TS?

I stopped it again, went to view my tuner status and noticed that TWO tuners were in use, both on the same channel.  This is with nothing showing that it is going on in JR, and a single program being recorded in Plex. 

Did you see the status in HDHomeRun or in MC?

[DeaneG]

Not sure if it makes a difference, but you can try setting your HDHomerun driver to JRiver Media Center mode instead of SiliconDust mode or Default.

[bellbuoy]

Thank you for your replies. 
The BDA compatibility settings in HD Homerun set up are set for J River, not default.

I saw the recording for Sunday morning in MC's TV view in the "Recordings" menu.  I was surprised because I had not recorded it.  I then checked in Explorer and I saw two instances of Sunday morning, one in the file system that Plex employs and another different one from MC.  It is difficult to determine where something originated because it appears that any file with a .ts has a Media Center icon at the front, regardless of what recorded it.  I had not changed over to JTV yet so the file was a .ts.  Since only one thing should have been recording (Sunday morning on Plex) and nothing was showing as recording or watching on MC, I checked the tuner status on myhdhomerun.com.  It showed two tuners working, both on the same channel. 

Since then I have changed over to .jtv.  Watching live is great, as it was with .ts.  I just recorded a .jtv program (with nothing else going on in any other programs), again, it was unwatchable.  I use the term unwatchable to differentiate between some occasional blockiness or artifacts, as opposed to wholesale garbage in the frame.  As an aside, even though my computer is less than a year old, last night I downloaded some newer Nvidia graphics drivers.  The picture looks great, but the recording problems persist.

[JimH]

A small request.  We changed from JRiver to JRiver several years ago because it works better with searches.

[Yaobing]

I saw the recording for Sunday morning in MC's TV view in the "Recordings" menu.  I was surprised because I had not recorded it.  I then checked in Explorer and I saw two instances of Sunday morning, one in the file system that Plex employs and another different one from MC.  It is difficult to determine where something originated because it appears that any file with a .ts has a Media Center icon at the front, regardless of what recorded it.  I had not changed over to JTV yet so the file was a .ts.  Since only one thing should have been recording (Sunday morning on Plex) and nothing was showing as recording or watching on MC, I checked the tuner status on myhdhomerun.com.  It showed two tuners working, both on the same channel. 

The reason I asked this was that MC could have saved your time-shifting session and treated it as a recording.  In this case the filename would be "XXXXX saved time-shifting.jtv" (it is in JTV format, not TS).

Or MC could have imported into MC recordings made by other application, if you have Auto Import set in MC to watch a folder.

Since then I have changed over to .jtv.  Watching live is great, as it was with .ts.  I just recorded a .jtv program (with nothing else going on in any other programs), again, it was unwatchable. 

This is really strange.  As I said before, watching live in time-shifting mode is live recording in JTV format and at the same time watching it.  There is no possible explanation why the recording is bad while watching live is good, unless, you are not using time-shifting when watching live.  Do you have "Start digital devices (including CableCARD devices)  in time-shifting mode" set to "Yes, all channels"?

[bellbuoy]

When I say that I am watching 'live" that means as it is coming in from the antenna.  No pausing.  Even when watching live, I notice that the timer at the top (just above the slider) is two seconds slower than the number relative to it  (0:45 / 0:47). 
Yes, I checked and saw that "Start digital devices (including CableCARD devices)  in time-shifting mode" IS set to "Yes, all channels".  I suspect that means that just because I have not paused, I am actually in time shift mode?

The program that recorded well but that I had not hit the Record button for, was CBS Sunday morning.  It is in .ts format.  (see attached)   The files at the bottom are the ones from JRiver, the folder highlited in blue is from Plex, as are all the others in the folders.  That is the only JR recorded program that worked well.

I do have Auto Import set to watch other folders, but the only one with video in it is the HD Homerun folder.  These videos are in Shared Video, which is not being watched, not the HD Homerun folder.  Even so, the videos watched in Auto Import do not show up in the TV - Recordings page, they are only accessed from Video (under Images)

I am not sure I understood Jim H's post.  Is there  word missing?

Thank you again, Steve

[Yaobing]

Yes, you were using time-shifting mode.  This rules out another possible explanation and deepens the mystery.

In your second screenshot there are two .ts files.  They are recordings made by MC.  The one with "Date Modified" 2/10/2019 7:38 AM has JRiver sidecar file with it.  Then there is another one with filename ending with "(1).ts" which does not seem to have the sidecar file.  Are you sure you did not schedule MC to record the program?  MC would not record unless you scheduled it, or hit Record button while playing.

Regarding Jim's request, he was referring to "J River" in your post, which should be "JRiver".  But I think you were merely quoting SiliconDust.  In HDHomeRun Setup tool, they are still using "J River Media Center".

[bellbuoy]

The reason for two files is that when I initially tried to watch the program in MC (while the same program was recording in Plex) It appeared that I was taken to the beginning when I was actually starting about 5 or 10 minutes in.  After a bit I stopped watching by clicking on the "stop" square in the control panel that appears at the top of the screen.  That took me back to the favorite channels.  I scratched my head a bit then tried hitting "watch" again.  Hence, two files with the same name.  In my experience, that is the reason for the (1) at the end, it is the 1st copy of the same filename.  I am absolutely certain that I did not accidentally hit "record".  Also, all the time I was doing this there never was a red "record" indicator between the channel and the title in the program line in favorite channels.  Of course I have tried to replicate this, and of course, it will not do it.
I still have HD Homerun DVR uninstalled.  I have figured out how to turn off Plex (in the system tray)  I will try more recordings with absolutely no possibility of another recorder conflict and report back. 
Thank you,
Steve

[Yaobing]

OK.  Report back when you see the issue again.  In the mean time turn on logging so you can forward it to me when needed (but you should restart MC every day or two to keep the log files from growing too big).