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channel flakeout
http://forums.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21766		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  borgednow [ Sun Oct 03, 2010 2:58 pm ]
Post subject:  channel flakeout
For some unknown reason, my R5.5 install of km suddenly won't record wbbm (digital channel 2 but not HD). It worked fine last week until the 29th or 30th.

I've got an HD Homerun. I just did a rescan on channels, and it found the channel ok. I set it to record the channel. It *seems* to work but when I view it, it's just a black screen and it takes anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes to escape out of it.

All other channels I record seem fine though.

I suspect something got changed on the cable provider side of things. (Comcast in suburbs of Chicago).

Any ideas of what to try?
Author:  tjc [ Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:44 pm ]
Post subject: 
Let me guess, it's your local CBS station (I cheated and used Google to verify that ;-)) and you're using XvMC for playback?

If so, there is a know problem with XvMC and something CBS/Comcast do in the MPEG2 stream. I haven't checked for new developments recently but the answer has been pretty much "turn off XvMC for playing back CBS programs". Supposedly VDPAU works OK if your cards supports it, or else you can try using different decoders to see if any of those help.

This thread has some starting points... http://knoppmyth.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20768
Author:  borgednow [ Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
tjc wrote:
Let me guess, it's your local CBS station (I cheated and used Google to verify that ;-)) and you're using XvMC for playback?


Yeah it's CBS, but I've no idea if it's XvMC. Probably, if that's the default playback program.

tjc wrote:
If so, there is a know problem with XvMC and something CBS/Comcast do in the MPEG2 stream. I haven't checked for new developments recently but the answer has been pretty much "turn off XvMC for playing back CBS programs". Supposedly VDPAU works OK if your cards supports it, or else you can try using different decoders to see if any of those help.

This thread has some starting points... http://knoppmyth.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20768


Thank you. It did look like it was recording. In fact, I could watch the HD stuff but just not any cbs recordings, HD or regular digital.

Edit:

just tried it. It was on CPU+. It wasn't using XvMC. I set it to Normal instead, and I was able to play the HD stuff on CBS that I hadn't earlier. I could watch it live, but not the recorded.

But the regular non-HD digital CBS I can't watch either live, nor with this change. I'll play around with other settings in there.

Thanks

Edit:
looked again and I'd somehow missed that CPU+ has XvMC. Setting it to Normal or one of the other options allows me to play the HD CBS channel recordings.

Unfortunately I still have no idea why I can't even watch the digital non-HD cbs channel live. I suspect CBS and Comcast has changed the compression somehow, and even the live viewer can't handle it.

On a positive note, messing with the settings (such as default channel) and # of channels to display, in the program guide, has somehow fixed the problem I'd been having in scrolling the screen. Before, it was taking 5, 15, or even 30 seconds to accept a key before moving. Now the program guide is working beautifully.

I think it's because I set it the default channel to one that doesn't exist. So it's not constantly trying to get a lock.
Author:  tjc [ Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:58 pm ]
Post subject: 
Cool, sounds like you're making progress. I wish there was better solution, as it's really annoying to be constantly switching the playback profile for CBS/non-CBS. If you find out anything more about this please post a follow up.
Author:  borgednow [ Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:06 pm ]
Post subject: 
tjc wrote:
Cool, sounds like you're making progress. I wish there was better solution, as it's really annoying to be constantly switching the playback profile for CBS/non-CBS. If you find out anything more about this please post a follow up.


So far I've not had to change it around.
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