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Dvbviewer Locks Up The Computer


vipersan

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Hi friends ..

I wonder if anyone has a simple answer to this problem

Initially I was using a twinhan 1022a pci card ....but have since upgraded to a TT s2-3200 card..

The problem occurrs with both cards ...

I can run up DVBViewer and it will run for a short time ...

both cards will display pictures and sound perfectly ...but suddenly the whole system will lock up (usually after a minute or so) ...requiring a power down and reboot to to restart..

Im using a mini itx epia sp1300 mainboard with 512 ram and widows mce o/s

I dont suspect a card driver issue as different bda drivers are installed depending on which card I use...

By way of a test I also installed progdvb which runs smoothly and without locking up with either card ...

Also the software provided by DVBshop (mediacentre) also runs without problems when using the s2-3200 ...

Has anyone had this kind of problem with similar hardware and windows mce ?

Id love to see DVBViewer pro running but so far its a no-go

 

Also should add ...the pc sometimes locks up whilst just channel scanning from a fresh install of DVBViewer

rgds 2 all

Edited by vipersan
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Initially I was using a twinhan 1022a pci card ....but have since upgraded to a TT s2-3200 card..

 

 

i own a epia board myself, why have you bought a S2 device?!?!

 

this little board hasn't got enough power to display hd content.

 

to compare: an athlon xp 1700+ needs 0.2 seconds to compile a little program, my epia board 0.6 for the same work!!!

 

hopefully you've got a better computer and this is only temporary the device's home :)

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As requested :- more info

attached generated support zip

 

epia sp 1300 board spec :-

Processor 1.3GHz VIA C3 Processor with cooling fan

Chipset VIA CN400 North Bridge

VIA VT8237 South Bridge

System Memory 1 DDR266/333/400 DIMM socket

Up to 1GB memory size

Compatible RAM available here

VGA Integrated VIA UniChromeâ„¢ Pro AGP graphics with MPEG-2 decoder & MPEG-4 accelerator

Expansion Slots 1 PCI

Onboard IDE 2 X UltraDMA 133/100 Connector

Onboard Serial ATA 2 SATA Connectors

Onboard LAN VIA VT6103 10/100 Base-T Ethernet PHY

Onboard Audio VIA VT1617A 6 channel AC'97 codec

Onboard TV Out VIA VT1623M TV Encoder

Onboard 1394 VIA VT6307S IEEE 1394 Firewire

Back Panel I/O 1 PS2 mouse port

1 PS2 keyboard port

1 RJ-45 LAN port

1 Serial port

2 USB 2.0 ports

1 VGA port

1 PCA port (SPDIF or TV out)

1 S-video port

3 Audio jacks: line-out, line-in and mic-in (Smart 5.1 Support)

Onboard I/O Connectors 3 USB connector for 6additional USB 2.0 ports

1 1394 connector for 1 1394 port

1 Serial port connector for a second com port

1 VIP connector

1 Front-panel audio connector (Mic-in and Line-out)

1 CD audio-in connector

1 FIR connector

1 CIR connector (Switchable for KB/MS)

1 LPT port connector

1 Wake-on-LAN connector

2 Fan connectors: CPU/Sys FAN

1 I2C connector

1 LVDS/TTL module connector

1 +12V power connector

ATX power connector

BIOS Award BIOS

4/8Mbit flash memory

System Monitoring & Management CPU voltage monitoring

Wake-on-LAN, Keyboard Power-on, Timer Power-on

System power management

AC power failure recover

support.zip

Edited by vipersan
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i own a epia board myself, why have you bought a S2 device?!?!

 

this little board hasn't got enough power to display hd content.

 

to compare: an athlon xp 1700+ needs 0.2 seconds to compile a little program, my epia board 0.6 for the same work!!!

 

hopefully you've got a better computer and this is only temporary the device's home :)

 

Hi Morph ..

Yes indeed ..Im one of those peeps who didn't read the boards spec before ordering it ..

I assumed wrongly that the card had hardware support for h264 mpeg4 content ...

Of course ..I now realise the decoding is done in software..

I also assumed there was actually hd mpeg2 content to be had by sat ...

My little epia 1300 could handle this particularly if the mpeg 2 built in acceleration was activated ..

..which isn't supported uder windoze...however IS I believe with a Linux o/s

I am also led to believe there is at least partial hardware support on board the s1300 for mp4 ...but again windoze has seen fit to ignore this...

..again I suspect Linux to the rescue..

A project for another day I think..

That said ...the astra ses HD demo runs _almost_ perfectly smoothly without hardware support under windows so _should_ be totally smooth with hardware support...If it can be activated.

Failing all that ...It will have to be a temporary home util I buid something faster...

..but then Id lose the beauty of the compact little 'under the tv' box I currently have ...as my epia s1300 has been built into a 'Hush' case ....

...small but perfectly formed...lol

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there are many ITX boards out there which can manage a pentium M cpu.

 

I've got a Kontron 886LCD-M/mITX which works perfectly great :) the only problem is the pricing of kontron products. since they are industrial boards, they are expensive compared to a epia board (~250 € for the board plus a pentium M, which is also not the cheapest cpu on the market).

 

i use a pentium M 2.0ghz to run my hauppauge hvr-4000. it depends on the used codec, but in most cases it runs quite smooth with h264 on astra.

 

hope this can help ;)

Edited by morph
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there are many ITX boards out there which can manage a pentium M cpu.

 

I've got a Kontron 886LCD-M/mITX which works perfectly great :) the only problem is the pricing of kontron products. since they are industrial boards, they are expensive compared to a epia board (~250 € for the board plus a pentium M, which is also not the cheapest cpu on the market).

 

i use a pentium M 2.0ghz to run my hauppauge hvr-4000. it depends on the used codec, but in most cases it runs quite smooth with h264 on astra.

 

hope this can help ;)

Thanks for the useful info Morph..

I will certainly look into the Kontron when funds permit ...meantime I would like to get the setup I currently have working properly :P

btw I assume your setup is using the on board graphics controller ...and not something else in the agp slot ? ...as there certainly wouldn't be any room for one in the Hush case ...

also ...what sort of cooler are you using ..and again ...is it low profile ?

 

rgds

Edited by vipersan
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also ...what sort of cooler are you using ..and again ...is it low profile ?

 

of course, the agp slot isn functional, because its in wrong position, even in an atx case, its not conform with the specs.

 

i would also think about other boards.

 

http://geizhals.at/a213810.html

 

this maybe.

 

the real good thing about the kontron board is the possibility of using ANY standard pentium 4 cooler (socket 478) because the board has got a normal retention module. thats the big problem of other pentium M itx boards, the have got special heatsink that dont meet any specs.

 

http://de.kontron.com/index.php?id=226&amp...;productid=1336

 

this would probably a better board, also with a socket 478 RM, better onboard graphics - my board is a little bit old >_< ~ 4 years.

 

the boards are low profile, i installed mine in a morex case. if you use a original intel pentium 4 heatsink (at best the one with copper insert or a full copper heatsink with the same dimensons), you can dismount the fan if your case has got one and there is enough airflow in it.

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the MPEG2 Hardware Decoder of the epia 1300 sp works in windows, using the Cyberlink Decoder. >_<

But I doubt that the MPEG4 Accelerator can handle H.264... I think I read something about DivX and XVid on some VIA HP, someday... it's quite useless as it seems, today... :wacko:

 

But your main Problem is that you are using VIA Products... never do that if you want to put any last on the system.... I had severe lockups with my epia 1300 aswell and other had with other epia boards (and even other VIA Chipsets on normal ATX Boards), there was a german thread somewhere about that issue.... my solution was to degrade the epia system to some kind of router/file server/network server and to buy a "real" HTPC which is now as big as my AV-Reciever and makes quite a good picture.. and it's got enough power to decode H.264.. but it wasn't that cheap, of course.. ;)

I never heard of any other solution for the DVBViewer + VIA EPIA Problem (on "real" Boards you can disable some Bios Setting, that was not possible with the epia Bios, and forcing this setting with some 3rd Party software didn't help either.)

Using the epia as recording device with AV disabled was possible, too... it just always hang up, when I tuned a channel, no matter what decoder/renderer.. even other DVB Software didn't work.

 

Ah, I forgot: some users reportet that their EPIA Systems worked quite good with DVBViewer 3.5 and below... I never tested that on my system, because I already bought my new HTPC, when I stumbeld about that solution.. :bounce:

Edited by Moses
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the MPEG2 Hardware Decoder of the epia 1300 sp works in windows, using the Cyberlink Decoder. >_<

But I doubt that the MPEG4 Accelerator can handle H.264... I think I read something about DivX and XVid on some VIA HP, someday... it's quite useless as it seems, today... :wacko:

 

But your main Problem is that you are using VIA Products... never do that if you want to put any last on the system.... I had severe lockups with my epia 1300 aswell and other had with other epia boards (and even other VIA Chipsets on normal ATX Boards), there was a german thread somewhere about that issue.... my solution was to degrade the epia system to some kind of router/file server/network server and to buy a "real" HTPC which is now as big as my AV-Reciever and makes quite a good picture.. and it's got enough power to decode H.264.. but it wasn't that cheap, of course.. ;)

I never heard of any other solution for the DVBViewer + VIA EPIA Problem (on "real" Boards you can disable some Bios Setting, that was not possible with the epia Bios, and forcing this setting with some 3rd Party software didn't help either.)

Using the epia as recording device with AV disabled was possible, too... it just always hang up, when I tuned a channel, no matter what decoder/renderer.. even other DVB Software didn't work.

 

Ah, I forgot: some users reportet that their EPIA Systems worked quite good with DVBViewer 3.5 and below... I never tested that on my system, because I already bought my new HTPC, when I stumbeld about that solution.. :bounce:

Thanks for you input Moses ...

So I guess what you are saying is ....if I want to use DVBViewer I should basically 'bin' my small format epia system and start again ...even though it cost me a fair bit to build ;)

..as there is no solution to DVBViewer pro with epia boards with via chips..

Thats very upsetting..

Particularly as other dvbs softwares run ok ...such as progdvb and TT's own mediacentre software.

rgds

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I never read about the "DVBViewer-EPIA Problem" (I don't understand german) but I'm very, very curios about it: please Moses, can you lead me to the right thread?

 

@vipersan:

Have you already tried to use, in DVBViewer, *exactly" the same DirectX component used by ProgDVB or TT's mediacentre? (GraphEdit can you reveal the real component involved...)

And what about playing a recorded H.264 file in DVBViewer?

 

>_<

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One thread in english, not very informative, but it contains the "last working version", as far as I know (wasn't 3.5, but 3.2.6):

http://www.DVBViewer.info/forum/index.php?...634&hl=EPIA

 

German thread, maybe the most extensive about this problem, even Lars took a look at it, but had no clue:

http://www.DVBViewer.info/forum/index.php?...576&hl=EPIA

 

http://www.DVBViewer.info/forum/index.php?...700&hl=EPIA

 

Ah, and the Bios option that helped on a ATX Mainboard with VIA Chipset was to disable fast writes... sadly that didn't help on my epia...

Maybe vipersan is on a good path to find the real problem, because I never found a decoder that didn't hang up my system... recording with DVBViewer definitively worked, but decoding MPEG2 killed the system...

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Thanks for your suggestions friends ...

I am not going to give up without a fight ...but I do think that since this obviousy is a major problem that others are aware of with no solution available...

..and that the last 'compatible' version of DVBViewer with epia boards is so far back ...

..then a warning to that effect should be made available to any prospective buyers of dvbviwer pro ...prior to purchase ..

..That way an informed choice could be made..

rgds 2 all

VS

Edited by vipersan
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@Moses:

many tanks, I'll read carefully as soon as I can...

 

@vipersan:

---------------------

MPEG2 Video Decoders:

---------------------

GPL MPEG-1/2 Decoder: 00800001

Elecard MPEG-2 Video Decoder: 00800001

Elecard MPEG2 Video Decoder: 00700000 (File is missing)

CyberLink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7): 00602000

CyberLink DTV Video Decoder: 00600000

 

---------------------

H264 Video Decoders:

---------------------

ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder: FF800001

CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7): 00602000

 

---------------------

MPEG Audio Decoders:

---------------------

Elecard Audio Decoder: 50000000

AC3Filter: 40000000

ffdshow Audio Decoder: 3FFFFFFF

Moonlight Odio Dekoda: 24111981 (File is missing)

MPEG Audio Decoder: 03680001

CyberLink Audio Decoder (PDVD7): 00602000

CyberLink Audio Decoder(TwinHan): 00601000

 

---------------------

AC3 Audio Decoders:

---------------------

Elecard Audio Decoder: 50000000

AC3Filter: 40000000

ffdshow Audio Decoder: 3FFFFFFF

Moonlight Odio Dekoda: 24111981 (File is missing)

CyberLink Audio Decoder (PDVD7): 00602000

CyberLink Audio Decoder(TwinHan): 00601000

...apart the DVBViewer-EPIA problem (so I can't know if resolve something at all), a quick read of your "support.zip" reveal that your PC have various DirectX component file missing: if they where "used" by some app they can cause big problem, and of course a PC hangup...

 

Moreover, some version of the Elecard decoder suite "substitute" a MS DirectX component (I don't remember if it was the "MPEG-2 Demultiplexer" or the "MPEG-2 Splitter" or both...), that isn't reported in the support.zip: also this file(s), if missing and "used" can cause big problems...

 

So you would have (but if only you deeply know what and how to do!) to clean you Windows registry... or simply reinstall the whole Elecard decoder suite...

 

Ah, another important tip: whenever you change something about the DirectX (included updating video card driver) is strongly advised to RE-install the last MS DirectX End-User Runtime (nowaday is the v. 9.18.944, released 10/04/2007)...

 

>_<

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@Moses:

many tanks, I'll read carefully as soon as I can...

 

@vipersan:

 

...apart the DVBViewer-EPIA problem (so I can't know if resolve something at all), a quick read of your "support.zip" reveal that your PC have various DirectX component file missing: if they where "used" by some app they can cause big problem, and of course a PC hangup...

 

Moreover, some version of the Elecard decoder suite "substitute" a MS DirectX component (I don't remember if it was the "MPEG-2 Demultiplexer" or the "MPEG-2 Splitter" or both...), that isn't reported in the support.zip: also this file(s), if missing and "used" can cause big problems...

 

So you would have (but if only you deeply know what and how to do!) to clean you Windows registry... or simply reinstall the whole Elecard decoder suite...

 

Ah, another important tip: whenever you change something about the DirectX (included updating video card driver) is strongly advised to RE-install the last MS DirectX End-User Runtime (nowaday is the v. 9.18.944, released 10/04/2007)...

 

>_<

Hi Gioxy ...

regarding the missing moonlight and elcard filters ...I believe these are usually installed and employed by progdvb ....and since this app is running ok I doubt they are responsible for the crashes..

..that coupled with the fact that the pc will hang without actually showing a picture ...ie ..during a channel scan with DVBViewer ...I suspect its more likely an incompatibility with something already installed ...rather than something missing...

Anyway ...over the weekend I intend to 'roll back ' mce to a date before any dvbs cards were installed ..thus effectively cleaning the registry ....and then installing again just but DVBViewer pro with the s2-3200 card ...

Hopefully this will eliminate any conflicts with other graphs/filters and codecs installed by other softwares..

I'll post the result here if I have any success ..

rgds

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Hi all ..

I couldn't be more frustrated if I tried ...

I tried rolling back mce to a very early point in its installation - pre dvbs card install..

..but no improvement when the bda drivers were put back and DVBViewer was installed ..

incidentally ..I didn't reinstall the TT software ...JUST the bda drivers ....mce still hangs (more frequentlt after a channel change or when attempting to close down DVBViewer.

 

Spent a full weekend messing around with various settings and drivers but without improvement

 

In abject frustration I installed a clean hard drive and this time with XP rather than MCE..

rebuilt the O/S and installed again ..the TT supplied bda drivers (no TT software) and DVBViewer..

Sadly ..ALL the same problems as with MCE ..

The system still hangs...

I strongly suspect there IS a major issue with the VIA chipset and/or its drivers ....and compatibility issues with the bda drivers for ANY dvbs card ...

Or maybe a pci latency issue ...but the epia bios doesn't provide any way to change this..

There is some occasional 'stuttering' with TechoTrends provided 'mediacentre' software but it NEVER hangs the computer ...maybe this is due to the way its constructed (ie aound .NET framework) ....but sadly DVBViewer ALWAYS hangs ...eventually..

I can only conclude that there is currently no solution to this problem ...and until either the bda driver is re-designed to accomodate this via chipset ....or VIA get their finger out and start supporting their products properly ....a warning should be issued to anyone purchasing DVBViewer or in fact any software using bda drivers with the epia sp1300 motherboard ...and possible any other epia variations..that ther are compatibility issues..

Me ...Im begining to wish I'd never built the bl00dy thing ...and wasted money on 2x dvbs cards & software ....

All this just to get it all into a box under the TV ...

My next venture will most likely be a DM8000 dreambox ....It'll be prebuilt /HD compatible and running a Linux O/S ...

Just got to fill the Piggy bank again before it launches B)

rgds

Edited by vipersan
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