Print

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

[madbrain]

I just upgraded to MC28. One of my HTPCs has a WinTV-quadHD tuner. I have been using the free NextPVR with it. The performance with that software has been very mixed, in particular because regressions get introduced, and there is no way to revert to old builds. The installer is online-only.

I have tried Plex Media Server also, and it does a wonderful job, except for one thing - it doesn't handle power management at all. It only functions if the machine stays up 24/7. It will not wake up the computer for recording events, unlike NextPVR. This wastes hundreds of dollars of electricity a year, since my HTPC is rather high powered.

Before I switch it over from NextPVR to MC, I'd like to know if JRiver MC wake up the computer for recording events. I have done many searches, but not seen anything to the effect that it does or doesn't. Is this a feature, or not ? And if not, is it planned ?

[JimH]

Before I switch it over from NextPVR to MC, I'd like to know if JRiver MC wake up the computer for recording events. I have done many searches, but not seen anything to the effect that it does or doesn't. Is this a feature, or not ? And if not, is it planned ?

Yes.  It has done so for years.  It also wakes up the machine to get new schedule information.

It would be easy to try.

[madbrain]

Yes.  It has done so for years.  It also wakes up the machine to get new schedule information.

It would be easy to try.

Thank you ! I will give it a shot. I just need to disable NextPVR temporarily while I do.

[JimH]

Thank you ! I will give it a shot. I just need to disable NextPVR temporarily while I do.

You might not have to disable anything.

[madbrain]

You might not have to disable anything.

Well, they might step on each other's toes if they are both accessing the tuner device at the same time when recording.
The WinTV-QuadHD. I have has 4 tuners, but exposes 2 devices. I don't really ever do more than 2 concurrent recordings. In theory, I could assign one device to NextPVR and the other device to JRiver MC. I'm not sure if the device naming naming is obvious enough to do that. I'm not in front of the HTPC right now.

[JimH]

Each program locks the tuner it uses.  MC will use the next tuner available.

[madbrain]

Each program locks the tuner it uses.  MC will use the next tuner available.

Thank you ! I should be fine, hopefully, then, as long as neither program uses more than 2 tuners at at time.

[Yaobing]

Each program locks the tuner it uses.  MC will use the next tuner available.

Actually we are not able to lock any tuner.  For certain tuners (HDHomeRun Prime, for CableCARD) we are able to detect whether the tuner is being used by other apps, and thus can avoid conflicts.  I don't know if other apps can do the same.  I also have the impression that HDHomeRun tuners can internally manage that, using available tuners for different apps.  Devices made by other manufacturers may not be as flexible.

[madbrain]

Actually we are not able to lock any tuner.  For certain tuners (HDHomeRun Prime, for CableCARD) we are able to detect whether the tuner is being used by other apps, and thus can avoid conflicts.  I don't know if other apps can do the same.  I also have the impression that HDHomeRun tuners can internally manage that, using available tuners for different apps.  Devices made by other manufacturers may not be as flexible.

Thanks. So, for now, I let NextPVR continue to do the recording and own the tuner devices. NextPVR has no issue with recording. The problems I have with it are all playback related, specifically lip-sync issues, and performance problems. Things used to work fine, but there have been many regressions recently, and it's not possible to reinstall older versions due to the online-only installer.

So, I setup MC to auto-import the video folder that NextPVR records to. I can play the programs fine, and the rendering is much better with Red October HQ. MC switches to the proper video mode on the projector, which is better. I tried JRVR also. It is good, but there is some video stuttering, so I'm sticking with MadVR for the time being. I'm sure JRVR will improve.

The one playback issue I have run into with MC28 with playback is with closed captions. I simply cannot get closed captions to turn on automatically when I start the playback of a TS file from the video library. I always have to use my wireless keyboard/mouse, right-click to get the menu, get to the subtitle context menu, and enable "Closed captions 1".
This is not possible to do from my IR remote, unfortunately. I don't want to pull out the wireless keyboard/trackball just to watch TV. I want to use Theater view with the remote.

I have checked the settings menu. "Closed caption" is enabled under Television / Display.
Under Video / Subtitles and language, I also have subtitles set to "Always show subtitles" and Default subtitle language to "English". I have tried various combinations of settings, turning closed captions off, or turning subtitles off, figuring they might conflict with each other. But nothing I have tried works. Whenever I play a .TS file from my local video library, I am forced to enabled closed captions manually. Is there a workaround or fix for this ?

One workaround would be a hotkey combination. The ancient iMon remote software in my HTPC lets me assign key combinations to IR signals. This would let me add an entry on the remote screen to turn subtitles/captions or off. It would still be a manual step, but at least I wouldn't have to use the keyboard/mouse to do it. Unfortunately, I didn't see any hotkey combination listed for caption/subtitles at https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Keyboard_Hot-keys.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[JimH]

What is the full version of MC that you installed?

Use the arrow keys to get the OSD (On Screen Display).  See the wiki for more.

[madbrain]

What is the full version of MC that you installed?

28.0.80, 64-bit .

[JimH]

Please report any JRVR problems in the JRVR Testing thread.  Include what you were playing and what   hardware you were using.  Thanks.

[madbrain]

Use the arrow keys to get the OSD (On Screen Display).  See the wiki for more.

Thanks. The OSD works. It takes 4 to 5 presses of the remote to turn on closed captions, though, depending on whether I start with the up or down arrow.

Shouldn't the "closed captions" checkbox in the Television menu be honored ? Or is that only for live television, and not used when playing back recordings ?

It would seem that the settings under Video / Subtitles and language do not apply to closed captions in TS files.
Is this working as designed ?

[madbrain]

Please report any JRVR problems in the JRVR Testing thread.  Include what you were playing and what   hardware you were using.  Thanks.

Will do.

[Yaobing]

Shouldn't the "closed captions" checkbox in the Television menu be honored ? Or is that only for live television, and not used when playing back recordings ?

The option in TV is for live TV playback.  When playing a recording, you are playing a video file.

Once you turn on CC on a particular file, MC will remember that, and the next time you play the same file CC will be on automatically.

[madbrain]

The option in TV is for live TV playback.  When playing a recording, you are playing a video file.

Thank you. So, it sounds like things are working as designed, then.

Once you turn on CC on a particular file, MC will remember that, and the next time you play the same file CC will be on automatically.

I have noticed in my testing that the CC setting sticks around per file. With television recordings, though, one rarely if ever watches the same file twice. Files tend to get deleted after they are watched once, in fact. For example, I have recurring recordings such as daily comedy shows or local news. I always want the closed captions on when watching them. But I have to turn them on manually each time for each new recording. This is not the best user experience. NextPVR, for all its flaws, did allow the closed caption settings to stick around, so I didn't have to turn it back on for each recorded program. Would it be too much to ask JRiver to add an option to MediaCenter to be able to do the same ? This is a usability issue for me.

[Yaobing]

I will take a look at the video file playback subtitle option and see if there is something we could have done better.

Another thing I will look into is to try turning the CC option on on the file that is just recorded in MC.  This will not help with files recorded outside of MC, but will help if recorded in MC.

[madbrain]

I will take a look at the video file playback subtitle option and see if there is something we could have done better.

Thank you very much.

Another thing I will look into is to try turning the CC option on on the file that is just recorded in MC.  This will not help with files recorded outside of MC, but will help if recorded in MC.

I see. One reason I still record with NextPVR right now is inertia. It has worked fine for years for this task.

The other reason is the EPG issue. I pay for SchedulesDirect membership. MediaCenter doesn't directly support SchedulesDirect. Additional software like EPG123 is required, from what I have read. It's a little bit more complicated setup. And SchedulesDirect says their license doesn't allow it to be used with JRiver, whereas they explicitly support NextPVR.

So, I hope you can find a solution that works for all TV recordings, whether files are recorded in MC or not. I would guess that video files are only going to have either captions embedded, or subtitles, but probably not both. If that's true, there should be no ambiguity about which text to use. The harder part is how to present this in the user interface. I'm not a UI/UX designer, and I know better than to try to tell you guys how to implement things I just want to have the ability to turn the CC on automatically.

[Yaobing]

FYI, I made the following change today:

Changed: When playing an ATSC TV recording, the video option "Always show subtitles" in "Subtitles and Language" section will be obeyed and Closed Captioning will be shown (if available) unless the file's PlaybackInfo tag specifically says to turn it off.  This is applicable only when playing videos in using DirectShow filters.

It will be in build 28.0.81 or higher.

[madbrain]

FYI, I made the following change today:

Changed: When playing an ATSC TV recording, the video option "Always show subtitles" in "Subtitles and Language" section will be obeyed and Closed Captioning will be shown (if available) unless the file's PlaybackInfo tag specifically says to turn it off.  This is applicable only when playing videos in using DirectShow filters.

It will be in build 28.0.81 or higher.

Thanks ! Two questions :
1. Are you able to tell apart ATSC recordings made by other programs, and apply this to them too ?
2. How do I know if I'm using DirectShow or not ?

[Yaobing]

Thanks ! Two questions :
1. Are you able to tell apart ATSC recordings made by other programs, and apply this to them too ?

Yes we are.  But in this particular change, it does not matter.  Any ATSC recording will work.

2. How do I know if I'm using DirectShow or not ?

On Windows platform only, DirectShow is the default.  While the video is playing, right-click the video window, you will see a menu item "DirectShow filters."

[madbrain]

Yes we are.  But in this particular change, it does not matter.  Any ATSC recording will work.

On Windows platform only, DirectShow is the default.  While the video is playing, right-click the video window, you will see a menu item "DirectShow filters."

Thank you very much ! I'm looking forward to this update.

[Yaobing]

Build 81 is out, on the MC28 board.

[madbrain]

Build 81 is out, on the MC28 board.

Thank you very much ! It works. Closed captions are on automatically on recorded programs even just the client is running the new build. I haven't updated the server yet as it's on a different machine.

[Yaobing]

Thanks for the feedback.