what is needed for BBC HD?

[Rack]

I know this might sound stupid, but will a DVB-T PCI-Tuner be able to receive HD?

I have a Terratec DVB-T card in my Media PC (P4-3.4GHz - soon to be Conroe), and living not too far from Crystal palace was wondering what I'd need to watch it.

I had a quick look and couldn't find an answer on here, except for references to the Nebula stuff. Surely other cards are out there?

[MarkSS]

I posted a guide on an earlier thread, there are other methods but this seems to work for most people that have tried it.

I pm'd a moderator to have this made in to a sticky but it hasn't been yet.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...2&postcount=21

Update: Stable playback seems to work well with the Nvidia 84.31 drivers, upgrading to the 90 series beta causes out of sync audio and video buffer overflows (visible in the DVBSource filter config panel).

[lisag]

I have got it working with a Terratec 2400i and with an Avermedia A800 USB2, by using MarkSS's guide found on this forum:

I had a play around to try and work out the simplest way for everyone to get this working. It worked for me, YMMV.

Spec: 4200x2, 6600GT, 1gb, Amoi 1080P LCD

1) Buy, download and install CoreAVC from http://coreavc.corecodec.org
2) Buy, wait for email, download DVBViewer GE
3) Unzip to a directory of your choosing, run the batch file in /Filters
4) Start DVBViewer, goto ChannelList, Scan, ensure Terrestrial is selected and enter 554000 in both freq boxes and scan, found should report 1, save
6) Still on channel list, select channels, highlight BBC HD1 and click edit
7) Ensure Bandwidth is 8, VideoType H.264, click update
8) Open Channel/Favourites, select BBCHD1 in the previous channel list window and drag across to favourites, save
9) Settings/General, untick 'use only 1 CPU' if you have dual, ensure 'Enable H.264' is enabled
10) Settings/Directshow, Set preferred decoder for MPEG 2, CoreAVC for H.264, AC3 to AC3Filter, Renderer to Unchanged, Apply, Ok
11) Important: Close the application. This ensures the settings will stick, if you don't do this and the application crashes you'll have to reset everything.
12) Restart DVBViewer, be prepared for some crashes (kill from task manager if it freezes). Keep trying as eventually it should work.
13) Channels/BBC HD1, audio and video should start
14) Once playing go to View/Filters/CoreAVC and select 'Skip all deblocking' and 'DirectShow Interlacing'. Again close down to ensure settings skip.

On average I seem to have to restart twice before the application runs without crashing. Channel changes also cause crashes on occasions and from the windows crash report the problem appears to be CoreAVC, not DVB Viewer.

Repeat scan procedure with 522000 to get ITV, C4 and Five HD trials.

Good luck!

EDIT: He beat me to it!

[Rack]

Thanks guys.
Yeah, I found this: Wanted: Idiots guide to DVB-T, HD, DVBviewer, CoreAVC, BDA drivers etc,etc...
just after posting.

In your post there:
1) Buy, download and install CoreAVC from http://coreavc.corecodec.org
2) Buy, wait for email, download DVBViewer

I have to buy 2 peices of software? wow, on top of the tuner and WinMCE, I'm not sure it's all worth it. If only I didn't feel I had to do it for my new HDTV.

[lisag]

You don't need Windows MCE, just normal windows will work.
If you haven't got a tuner card already you may want to look at the Nebula as I understand that you can use that with their own software.
DVBViewer + CoreAVC only come to £20, so worth it for the experience.
However, you do need a fairly powerful pc to run it, and I just read somewhere that they may change the transmissions to a format that we will not be able to decode, so it may all be fruitless!

[arfster]

BBC HD is moving to DVB-S2 at some point, which means you'll need another DVB decoder card.

It's still well worth getting the card though, cos with a motorised dish you can get 100s of channels from all over Europe. You can then get cheap Premiership football from foreign channels, at about £10/month. No need to support the SKy monopoly ripoff.

[gazzer82]

But doesn't that only apply to sattelite broadcasts, hence the dvb-s part?

I believe these guys are talking about the trial terrestrial broadcasts.

Cheers

Gareth

A free set of alternatives to try are dc-dvbsource and the free version of Zoom player with the trial version of PowerDVD 7;

http://forum.dsp-worx.de/index.php?a...=20&t=272&st=0

You can then throw CoreAVC into the mix if you want to.

[mickbarlow]

you need some serious power for this, been trying last couple of days but VERY poor frame rate on both my media pc (sempron 2600) and my overclocked home pc (xp2400-m @ 2500mhz).

so, i take my work pc home with me tonight (amd64 4000+) and see if i can watch the england in glorious ....damn just realised its on crappy ITV....

[Kramer]

OK, I have "stuck" this thread for the time being .

Many other threads about this in the HD forum too. I'll find the links & add them here in due course.

[memmerson]

Originally Posted by mickbarlow

so, i take my work pc home with me tonight (amd64 4000+) and see if i can watch the england in glorious ....damn just realised its on crappy ITV....

ITV are broadcasting in HD too.

[mickbarlow]

you sure about that?

anyway, got powerdvd7 and dvbviewer working on my a64 4000 but BBC HD runs at around 10fps, whereas other mpeg4 channels on hotbird run perfectly smooth 25fps

absolutley gutted. gonna try coreavc pro codec tonight and see if theres an impovement...

[memmerson]

Yep, I watched the match last night on ITV HD.

ITV HD, Ch4 HD, 5 HD can all be found on 522,000khz channel 27.

I am running an Opteron 146 @ 2.8ghz + CoreAVC and this combination handles the HD streams impeccibly.

[mickbarlow]

Originally Posted by memmerson

Yep, I watched the match last night on ITV HD.

ITV HD, Ch4 HD, 5 HD can all be found on 522,000khz channel 27.

I am running an Opteron 146 @ 2.8ghz + CoreAVC and this combination handles the HD streams impeccibly.

ah, terrestrial... satellite only here im afraid...

[memmerson]

Yes, satellite is indeed limited to just BBC1 HD at the moment. Hopefully things will change...

[sofa-spud]

from my (limited) experience

Throughout this I have used either one or both Nebula PCI cards I have here.
I see a strong clean signal from CP on both BBC(554MHz) and ITV(522MHz)

I originally had a Mobile 2500+ with 2*256 DDR400 on a DFI mobo with a 6600TD
Tsreader streaming and Media Player Classic for the plackback using CoreAVC codec

Best I managed was 18-19 frames/sec when the CPU was overclocked from 1.8GHz to 2.2GHz using CoreAVC(Pdvd7 gave 12-13 frames/sec)

Since then I now use an Athlon 4200x2 dual core (not overclocked, CnQ enabled) on an Asus A8N-VM CSM mobo (using the onboard 6150 graphics) with 2*512 DDR400.

Now I get smooth play using TSreader/MPC/CoreAVC, but MPC appears to create temp files which when they reach ~4GB in size stop playback and MPC needs restarting

Now I'm trying DVBViewer V3.5.0 with the coreAVC codec. Last night this gave stuttering playback, but today it seems smooth(didnt change anything, left PC running overnight), although it has just frozen after approx 1hr 40m of the BBC preview prog. Just restarted DVBViewer and it seems smooth on BBC.

I use the 'jasorooneyhack' BDA drivers for the Nebula cards at present

The best setup I found for picture quality and smoothness was using tsreader and MPC, but the 4GB file issue means I only get around 20mins viewing (approx 11.5GB/hr) before it needs restarting which renders it unsuitable for watching footy.
I and others have searched for the answer, but cannot find one. Someone has posted on the MPC forum but has not had any replies as yet.




HTH

John

[memmerson]

Hi John, give DVBViewer GE a try. For me the pro version was very unreliable but GE works like a charm (apart from a bug switching from one HD channel to another).

[sofa-spud]

Originally Posted by memmerson

Hi John, give DVBViewer GE a try. For me the pro version was very unreliable but GE works like a charm (apart from a bug switching from one HD channel to another).

I had tried this before (I loaded 3.5) and found MPC better. I've just tried it again and find it is better than 3.5
3.5 also still seems to have the bug you mention anyway.

Although there is still occasional stutter it is at least watchable.

I'll see what it's like for the Portugal game and post back later.

thanks for the prompt

John

[sofa-spud]

Well,
There has to be something in my setup that remains unstable. After several hours the system reverted to the bad stuttering. This is with both the Pdvd7 & core codecs.

The playback was fine for a while, then it began dropping frames. At the same time DVBviewer dropped to using ~40% CPU cycles. I closed DVBviewer (normally) and restarted, now ever since it has been bad.
Rather than just loosing a frame occasionally, it now appears to jump back a frame then continue...This happens every few seconds

Could anyone who has stable smooth viewing please post what they use to achieve this (what H/W & S/W, and check boxes ticked etc)



John

[mickbarlow]

Originally Posted by sofa-spud

Could anyone who has stable smooth viewing please post what they use to achieve this (what H/W & S/W, and check boxes ticked etc)



John

how about starting a list?

Using the BBC Test Stream (H264 w/mbaff)

XP-M 2400 @ 2.3ghz (multi overclocked)
1gb DDR400 RAM
ATI 9600se (catalyst 6.5)
CoreAVC 1.1 Pro
DVB Viewer 3.5
FPS:16 (all deblocking ON/directx deinterlacing) with terrible lipsync
FPS:21 (all deblocking OFF/directx deinterlacing) with poor lipsync

A64 4000 @ 2.5ghz (fsb overclocked)
2gb DDR400 RAM
ATI 9550 (catalyst 6.5)
CoreAVC 1.1 Pro
DVB Viewer 3.5
FPS:21 (all deblocking ON/directx deinterlacing) with poor lipsync
FPS:25 (all deblocking OFF/directx deinterlacing) PERFECT!

[memmerson]

Opteron 146 @ 2.8ghz
2gb DDR400 RAM
Nvidia 7800GTX w/84.21 drivers
CoreAVC 1.1 Pro (all deblocking off/directx deinterlacing)
DVBViewer GE
Terratec 2400i
49.888fps

Also

Opteron 165
2gb DDR400 RAM
Nvidia 6600GT w/84.21 drivers
CoreAVC 1.1 Pro (all deblocking off/directx deinterlacing)
DVBViewer GE (enabled 2nd core)
Theatertek2 with custom graph
No DVB tuner on this PC but performance has been excellent (no noticable frame loss) with h.264/mbaff .ts files.
@ stock (1.8ghz) 49.581fps
@ 2.4ghz *to follow*

What are you using to determine fps?

[mickbarlow]

FRAPS

free and simple...

[memmerson]

ok good, I have it installed already, will post results later this evening.

[MarkSS]

Having alot of problems with BBC now, primarily audio lagging behind by several seconds. Also seem to be crashing more often which doesn't occur on ITV.

[sofa-spud]

Originally Posted by sofa-spud

Well,
There has to be something in my setup that remains unstable. After several hours the system reverted to the bad stuttering. This is with both the Pdvd7 & core codecs.

This was using DVBViewer GE 2.01.
After chilling out I tried V3.5.01 today and its working...
Left it running to watch the Italy Czech game and it behaved itself(occasional dropped frame as before).

I find the CoreAVC is still causing probs, so I've been using the Pdvd one.

Just quickly tried DVBViewer GE, and its also working again...

I've read elsewhere there is a 'bug' with the Core codec when used with DVBViewer, but no details on it. Does anyone have a description? I wonder if I am seeing a side effect from having coreAVC loaded on the machine?

John

[MikeTV]

Thanks for the sticky!

[memmerson]

I have added fraps results (obtained during tonights match) to my post above.

[mickbarlow]

note: when using directx deinterlacing, fraps seems to report double fps results...

[MarkSS]

Update to the audio sync and crashing issues I was having. This appears to have been caused by upgrading to the latest nvidia beta drivers, reverting to the current 84.31 release resolves it.

Only problem being that the latest beta drivers sorted out the de-interlacing issue I was having with Sky+ SDI capture into SageTV. So for the time being (i.e. while World Cup is on!) Sky channels are rubbish but I get an excellent HD picture.

Will edit my idiots guide to reflect this.

[Poissony]

Originally Posted by memmerson

Hi John, give DVBViewer GE a try. For me the pro version was very unreliable but GE works like a charm (apart from a bug switching from one HD channel to another).

The workaround I use for the switching from one HD channel to another HD channel bug is to go via a SD channel i.e BBCHD1 -> BBC1 -> ITVHD. Stops it crashing for me.