G400 PVR Software?

[DaddyGeek]

I read SOMEWHERE in these messages that someone had AVI_IO working with a G400. It works, but I need to manually set channels and can't create stations. The author said this is due to the way the tuner works in the G400.

Since I am running Win2K I am using the latest drivers from adis (thanks for the WONDERFUL work) but wish to setup some sort of PVR so scheduling is important.

Suggestions?

(I prefer free/opensource but may consider buying something that isn't TOO expensive)

[junkmalle]

Matrox's PC-VCR app works pretty well for unattended recording.

[DaddyGeek]

Except I am running Win2K which means the scheduler in PC-VCR doesn't work. :-(

The interface looks very good though...

Just hoping that Adis would be able to get that part running, too... ;-)

[landrover]

Doesn't AVI_IO have a built-in timer function?

If you want to move to a real PVR environment with things like timeshifting, you won't find anything for the Marvel (or other VfW based capture cards). You'll have to get a WDM based tuner/capture card.

[gt40]

unfortunatly this only works with Linux:http://www.mythtv.org/

[DaddyGeek]

AVI_IO has a timer, but it can't change channels for me. I have to set it. Just like the days with a TV Convertor attached to the VCR to get channels above 13 (yes, I remember that).

The MYTHTV is a nice option, but my Linux server is too overloaded to be dedicated to it, this machine is my main work box and I unfortunately need native Windows (VMWare and such not good enough).

Thanks for the advices...

[gasp]

I use VirtualDVR http://www.virtualdvr.org/html/english.html which uses virtual dub and i made a script that can change chanels.

[DaddyGeek]

Would you mind sharing your script(s)?

No sense re-inventing the wheel... :-)

[gasp]

The script is attached, you just open it in ViitualDVR but first you must have virtualdub well configured and video source must be set to tv tuner (not composite or S-video).

btw I use VirtualDVR v2.01 which is freeware.

[tsnake]

very awsome combination, but I have one problem... why is it that even though I have the compression method set up just fine and if I use it to capture on my own, I get no dropped frames at all, but when I launch from VDVR, it's dropping frames like mad?

I even set up the script to set the compression upon launch and it doesn't make a difference. Just very odd.

Also, for some reason, it's not using the custom filenames I enter into the dialog for the file names in VDub.. still uses the date default.

hmmm... getting there...
C-

[junkmalle]

Gasp, What settings work well for VirtualDub and the Matrox RR/Marvel series? I've tried all kinds of settings and still drop tons of frames when capturing at 704x480, 30fps, YUY2, HUFFYUV. CPU usage is minimal (around 10% on my 3.2 GHz P4), I capture to a dedicated 120 GB drive in Ultra DMA mode 5.

Matrox's PC-VCR can capture with no dropped frames (no HUFFYUV compression though) for hours at a time -- but it's field order is screwy making the files pretty useless. AVI_IO consistently drops 2 frames a minute but allows the use of HUFFYUV's "swap field" option which fixes the field order problems.

[bprothero]

Using VDub, I've found that I can capture to YUY2 with no (or very few) dropped frames; but using Huffyuv, it drops tons of frames. It also crashes sometimes (so does AVI-IO) using the Huffyuv codec.

I really like the PC-VCR app. It has a scalable video window, which is great for watching TV while recording, and has a nice looking GUI. It also drops no frames and the PVR functionality is nice (set channel, time, etc) for unattended capture.

The biggest problem I have with the PC-VCR under WinXP is that the hardware M-JPEG capture is flaky and often ends up not capturing video after a few minutes or it becomes unusably corrupted. There is no way to use other codecs like Huffyuv within the application.

Surprisingly, capturing to YUY2 seems to work fine with no dropped frames at 704x480; but the files are so large (~1gb/min) that it must start a new file every couple minutes. This process is not seamless and results in several noticable lost frames between each clip. The A/V sync also is lost at the first join and gets worse with each additional join in VDub.

The inability to swap fields is not a big deal to me -- although it would be nice if it were fixed -- because I then edit the files in VDub and apply the swap fields filter before frame-serving to TMPGEnc to encode to MPEG1/2. However, I can see how this would be a major issue if you just wanted to output to VHS or are using the PC-VCR for time-shifting only (and don't process the captured video).

If a future build of PC-VCR were to fix the A/V sync between clips and increase the filesize limit when using NTFS, or add seamless file splitting like AVI-IO, then it would be a very nice PVR application.

Adis, do you have access to the PC-VCR source files or are you just hacking the EXEs/DLLs with each new version? If you do, I wouldn't mind taking a look at the code.

[junkmalle]

bprothero,

Thanks for the detailed response.

I'm using a G450 eTV with a newer version of the PC-VCR app that can capture to MPEG (software compression). VT 2.10a I think it is. I don't have major problems with sync or lost frames with 720x480 MPEG but I've found that the program only captures one field. It interpolates the second field from the first. So I end up losing detail. And VirtualDub won't read the files. Ulead Media Stuio Pro 6 has no problems with them.

By the way, I've also discovered that the TV out of the G450 (via dualhead) only outputs a single field. It displays the same field twice!

I get lots of dropped frames in VirtualDub, even without compression. I can't find any combination of settings to fix it.

I'm about to give up on the G450's video capture. My VCR died recently so I need something to record with! I'm thinking of something like the Hauppauge PVR devices. I hear their USB2 device can capture full 720x480 30fps without dropping any frames while you're playing 3D games! Not that I'd be playing 3D games on the G450! And samples frame grabs I've seen look as good as the G450's. The problem is that they only handle MPEG video on their TV out (being a hardware MPEG device).

In any case, thanks for your reply!

[DirtFarmer]

The Best G400PVR soloution is to forget about the tv-capture portion of the G400 and use it's decent TVO quality and get a Hauppauge PVR serios card and some PVR software. Software wise you can take your pick. SageTV, BeyondTV, MythTV (Linux only but it rocks). You can get GREAT recordings at <3GB/hr using vbr, with a built in Guide and plenty of support. You only need a higher end P3 and you can easily archive recordings to optical media without to much fuss. I think its great what adis has done with the G400 drivers but there are some pretty mature PVR options available from other manufacturers.

[gasp]

I'm using Pic video codec, tried Hufyuv but got too many drop frames (7 per minute). With pic video I get normaly get 1 drop frame/min. I never botherd with Hufyuv couse I don't have much HD space. Matrox Mjpeg never worked for me in WinXP it was bugy even in Win98 (bad luck I guess).

tsnake: With VDVR 2.01 I drop 10 frames at the biginig couse VDub minimizes, but after that it works normaly. I don't care much about filenames, I never tried to change it.