Issue with recordings

[Conrad.]

Good evening,

 

I think I've discovered an issue with my installation of DVBViewer which is causing me problems with recordings.

 

The background is that I've been using DVBViewer for over a year as my primary TV watching and media playing application without many issues - certainly no issues caused by limitations or problems with the software. I used to have two tuners, one DVB-C and one DVB-T, the DVB-T tuner was used for recording only and would happily record my daily program which I could then play back as well as allow me to watch other channels while recording. The DVB-T tuner was damaged (it was external) and now I'm down to the just the DVB-C tuner which I use for recording and viewing and I have the limitation that I can only watch the channle that's being recorded - a hardware limitation and not DVBViewers.

 

Since upgrading I've had a few instances where I've queued up a number of recordings to occur on the same day but I've ended up with very small partial recordings or 0 byte files. Giving it some thought I believe that this happened when recordings had been due to take place while I was watching a pre-recorded show or while I was out. When I go out I usually minimize DVBViewer thereby disabling the audio and video.

 

I'm able to replicate the 0 byte file example by doing the following:

 

1) Queueing a recording up to start while watching a pre-recorded show.

The recording icon appears on the status bar and the file is created but it never grows beyond 0 bytes until the channel is tuned, when it starts from the tuning point.

 

2) Disabling A/V on one channel with a recording queued up on another

I can replicate this in two ways which are subtly different but I can see how they could be seen programatically as the same:

 

a.) I tune DVBViewer to BBC1. I then minimize DVBViewer disabling A/V. A recording is set to record BBC2 while DVBViewer is minimized, the file is created but is 0 bytes.

 

b.) I tune to BBC1 and minimize DVBViewer. A recording is scheduled on BBC1 while DVBViewer is minimized, this records. Another recording is scheduled for BBC2, again while DVBViewer is minimized. This program isn't recorded, the file is created but remains at 0 bytes.

 

So it seems that DVBViewer can't re-tune the tuner while A/V is disabled (I'm assuming that A/V is disabled on playback of an external file?).

 

I'm also pretty sure that this is a new issue with the latest version of DVBViewer.

 

I've included my support zip file.

Apologies for rambling on but I figured too much information is more useful than too little.

 

Any thoughts or questions?

 

Thanks

 

Conrad

support.zip

Edited August 25, 2009 by Conrad.

[Lars_MQ]

Encrypted channels? If yes, which CAM are you using?

[Conrad.]

Thanks for your quick response.

No, the channels in question (BBC1, BBC2 and BBCHD) are all clear channels.

[Conrad.]

I've done a bit more testing with this and can now confirm:

1) If recording (whether timeshift is active or not), dropping another file into DVBViewer to play it back results in the recording stopping.

2) If you then stop playback of the file before the timer ends, the recording continues BUT from the point you stopped the file, not from when you started playback of the pre-recorded video.

 

I've also analysed the recorded stream in VideoReDo so I can see it frame by frame and I get the same frame repeated while the pre-recorded file was playing but with heavy artifacting, like the stream is corrupt. Eventually VideoReDo crashes while seeking backwards and forwards within the stream.

 

Is this something that anyone can replicate?

Will it at least be added to a list to be looked at?

 

Thanks

 

Conrad

[Tjod]

Please rename the Plugins folder to Plugins1 and try a recording without plugins.

[Conrad.]

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't actually use any plug-ins but I renamed the folder and the behaviour remained.

 

It appears I have made a mistake on a significant point. The channels that will not record are not clear, they're encrypted. Clear channels work fine. So it actually looks like the encrypted stream isn't being passed to the CAM in the background when another video file is played.

 

I'm using the card add on that came with my technotrend DVB-C card and a valid subscription card (I put it in a box in another room to check).

Without taking the unit of my media PC I don't know the model number, is that important?

[Tjod]

Start the DVBViewer via Start menu > Programs > DVBViewer > Support > DVBViewer Pro (Debug Mode) an start a Timer recording while the DVBViewer runs. And the reproduce the problem.

 

And than post a new support.zip

[Conrad.]

Ok, I'll test this tonight when I'm home (I need to put the card back into my CAM - LogMeIn is good, but it's not that good!).

Any idea what the problem might be?