H.264 woes

webminster

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#21

Post by webminster » Sat Feb 04, 2017 5:38 am

So still can't get past the issues with premiums with my WMC7 with GTX750... have HBO, Cinemax, SHowtime, Starz/Encore. Most of the time they're playable and acceptable, but occasionally on a dark screen (like credits) you can see odd horizontal pixel lines. But sometimes, the whole picture starts to badly disintegrate into blocky messes. Seems to almost relate to content, since problem moves from one premium to another, and eariler or later on same channel it'll be OK.

can't find anything wrong with wiring or signal, Comcast been out and claims signal is fine. Tried a variety of video driver versions. Tivo Bolt running beside it doesn't see the same issues. I just don't like the Bolt as much... Not sure what else I can try next.
-Alan

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#22

Post by genaldar » Sat Feb 04, 2017 2:42 pm

sgbroimp wrote:Here in Clinton,CT Comcast also announced a move to MPEG-4 as of 11-10. Since then I have sound only on HBO and other premiums. When I run the debug on HBO-HD, instead of seeing MPEG-4 or H.264 (which is what I now see for ESPN), I get "unspecified" for the video codec. What kind of card is going to decode unspecified codec? Seems like they may have goofed up somewhere.
I believe it's because it's copy protected. Before I added in a video card everything that was worked fine, except copy protected channels. I can't be certain that all of my channels switched to H.264 as I haven't checked, but all of my recordings are now smaller. Quite a bit smaller.

artm

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#23

Post by artm » Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:21 pm

Here in Boston they're all H.264. I bet yours are as well. Certainly the smaller recording size is evidence of that.

It may be that older video cards are better at handling this mess. I've read inother forums where people are trying odler models with success. Fortunately, I had older ones around and they seem to work - with the occasional glitch.

Of course, Comcast's own, old Motorola box ( I mean old) is perfect without issues. I wonder what video card it uses...
-Art --
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The Mac

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#24

Post by The Mac » Mon Feb 13, 2017 12:19 am

Its been a few days.

Im having this issue with black video, sound only as well on certain stations.

Comcast, Boston.

Has anyone found a solution?

artm

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#25

Post by artm » Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:33 pm

What's your setup? Are you using Intel graphics? If so, change your video card. I'm running AMD 5450 and the only glitch is skipping quickly, WMC freezes; could be driver issue.

I also tried Nvidia Quadro FX580 without issues and a Zotac Nvidia GT610 in my test rig.

You can visit these links for more info:

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... &start=300
https://communities.intel.com/thread/10 ... 0&tstart=0
-Art --
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#26

Post by The Mac » Wed Feb 15, 2017 4:29 am

Yeah, I'm using Haswell iris graphics. I've ordered an amd RX460 out of desperation.

It's not just display though, recordings are also black with audio only. Its not a playback issue on recorded tv as Thumbnails are also black wich means the stream itself it the problem.

411info shows undefined codec on both live and recorded tv.

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joecrow

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#27

Post by joecrow » Wed Feb 15, 2017 8:04 am

Not sure how relavent this is to this post but there has been a long ongoing battle of words to try and get AMD to admit and correct a problem with h264 playback on RX 4xx GPUs. The latest drivers do have a fix for this that is reported to work by users.
See here http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-article ... Notes.aspx

tomuo

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#28

Post by tomuo » Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:27 am

Los Angeles FIOS with Ceton Infinitv here - some channels started to change to H.264 over the last few months. programs like Hawaii 5 O coming up audio only. No Thumbnails (ehvid.exe hangs, needs to be killed to start again, hangs whenever it touchs that file again).
MCE Buddy is also unable to read the files - it produces an mp4 file with no video at all.

AMD A8 APU here, so it's not an Intel driver / playback thing.

411 shows unspecified codec.

As in other posts, once you start to play back a bad file, I need to go straight to a regular mpeg channel or reboot in order for other recordings to play back correctly.

My work around is to install an ATSC to a roof antenna for the local channels which seem to be the most affected. There is still a Disney channel that I can only record in SD now...

kansanian

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#29

Post by kansanian » Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:06 pm

I've got a j1900 Intel board with the only slot taken by a hauppauge atsc tuner. Could go with USB tuner, but not sure what x1 low profile GPU I could shove into the thing.

Based on some comments here, and Apu's are also prone to problems??? I'd considered an AMD itx board instead of separate GPU. Do any AMD Apu's work with protected h.264??

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#30

Post by The Mac » Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:47 pm

the rx460 i tried does indeed fix the problem however, i cant get the ceton to work in the 2nd x16 slot, and the 460 wont boot in anything other than the primary x16 slot.

Its a double width card, so thats a no go.

i popped in a r5-230, and it works also but there is bad macroblocking on those same stations that were audio only.

ive ordered an nvidia passive cooled gt 730 for $75, well see if it does any better.

artm

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#31

Post by artm » Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:22 pm

-Art --
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The Mac

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#32

Post by The Mac » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:27 pm

ok

this fixed everything:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R5 ... UTF8&psc=1

all stations tune, no macroblocking, no audio only, no black recordings.

Works in every PCIe slot.

artm

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#33

Post by artm » Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:02 pm

0. What driver version are you using?

1. Switch from a DRM channel in the 800's to a DRM channel in the 200's. Tell me the channel numbers as I'm also on Comcast Boston.

2. Switch from DRM to non-DRM, in the same ranges.

3. Do fast skipping forward and back while onlive TV - DRM and non.

4. Do fast forwarding/backward as in #3.

5. Do #3, #4 for recordings.

I'm using the 710 version of this for its low power usage (19W) and great success; only $25 at MicroCenter. I see on Amazon that this card can be used in a 150W power supply but its TDP (total dissipated power) is 40W - too high for me..
-Art --
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webminster

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#34

Post by webminster » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:45 am

Still wish I could figure out my problems with HBO, Showtime etc on my GTX750. If the program is full screen it's generally OK.. but a widescreen movie with black band on top/bottom tends to macroblock horribly. Also get blocking on mostly black screen (e.g., pre or post credits on a program). Have tried a few disparate driver versions and driver settings, but can't get past that. So, some programs are watchable, some not. Some very weird decoding error. Card's been fine on other stuff (non-DRM channels), and used to be fine before the HD protected channels switched to MPEG4.
-Alan

JonB65

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#35

Post by JonB65 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 3:24 pm

The Mac wrote:ok

this fixed everything:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R5 ... UTF8&psc=1

all stations tune, no macroblocking, no audio only, no black recordings.

Works in every PCIe slot.
I switched to this card and am still having the same H.264 issues; black screen with audio. I grabbed the latest NVidia driver and did a clean install when I swapped the card.

Is there something I'm missing?

someperson

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#36

Post by someperson » Wed Apr 05, 2017 9:58 pm

Anyone know a foolproof solution? We're still watching premiums in SD...

someperson

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#37

Post by someperson » Sun May 21, 2017 2:34 am

Bumping this, since it is still an issue. I tried enabling the HD premiums again today and ran into the same problems as before

stuartm

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#38

Post by stuartm » Sun May 21, 2017 3:00 am

Watching Protected H.264 on Intel GPU is not ever going to work. AFAIK non-Intel GPUs seem to mostly work. Are you having a problem with a non-Intel GPU watching protected H.264?

webminster

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#39

Post by webminster » Sun May 21, 2017 3:20 am

"Mostly" seems to be key here. My GTX 750 messes up badly on certain types of premium channel content, as I've mentioned in the other threads. I've finally come to the conclusion that WMC is no longer a really viable option for me in the Comcast post-migration world, too many problems that I don't think there can be a fix for. Certainly none has been found to date...
-Alan

stuartm

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#40

Post by stuartm » Sun May 21, 2017 5:42 am

Well I confess I don't subscribe to any Comcast premium content. There a few channels that show as copy protected but they work fine for me. I only experience the problem when switching from H.264 to some MPEG2 channels. (In my lineup these seem to be the non-HD Encore channels) then I get the black screen/doesn't work thing. I can live with that since I rarely watch those channels and even they seem to work if I exit WMC and restart it. Everything else still works fine so I will stick with WMC.

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