Choosing video card for Comcast DRM/H.264 issue

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artm

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#41

Post by artm » Sun Aug 20, 2017 11:47 am

I'm still hanging on with comcast. The issues I have are minimal. I also benefit from their streaming service at my vacation home on the Cape - free! It's certainly not glitch-free, as Flash often crashes, but hey I get free TV down there.

In the end, I'm waiting for FIOS to come to my part of Boston at which time I will gladly punt Comcast for the last time! I've been watching it in Providence for years and the picture quality difference is obvious, despite Comcast's official position that 720/60 is just as good. Pathetic!

Right now my Comcast Internet is 6Mbps upstream - pathetic!. With FIOS I'll have at least 25 for the same money or less. That will let me run a VPN to the Cape house and stream free TV there. Excellent!
-Art --
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Dell 980 SFF, i5, Nvidia GT710
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Crash2009

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#42

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:21 am

I will say one thing has improved the situation, I subscribed to the HD service for an additional $10 a month. The picture quality is better. Not as much or no stuttering or pixelation during the movie. The only problem I have right now is right at the end of the movie almost immediately after the credits start, the credit start stuttering then WMC restarts itself.

It's got to be something in the Stream.

I'm going to call the technical department and ask them what happens when the credits come on that just may be,part of the h.264 problem. I suspect the drm flags pop up right about that time, to authorize the next movie.

nikleb

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#43

Post by nikleb » Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:01 pm

My apologies for bringing back this thread. I decided to keep my HTPC for another year and finally got tired of the skip issue.
I have a HSI Radeon 6570 with the issue. Latest driver (support stopped a long time ago, so driver is is old).
Can anyone confirm a card/driver with no issue? e.g. a nvidia 710?

artm

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#44

Post by artm » Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:18 pm

I can't provide you with a definite resolution but...

If you look above at my posts you'll see that I have had better luck with Nvidia than AMD. I still have the skip issue btu that's not a problem I care to resolve. I still have the issue of switching from a high number (HD) channel to a low number (SD) protected one: audio comes in but no video, sometimes. I need to switch to a closeby SD channel then back to the "bad" one and it comes in. Not a problem really except if I record something and I'm not there to resolve the problem: program records with no video!

With that said, I have another test system, Dell Optiplex with Intel 4600 chipset, that works just fine at this - granted only through VGA. Smooth ff/rw, no skipping, no issue with switching HD to SD as above.

I haven't installed another video card in this system as it's only for testing. I would definitely recommend that a newbie NOT get a SFF type system where you are limited in video card choice. Just get a small tower where a full size card can be installed and forget the pretty little dedicated media player crap dream!
-Art --
Win7 Ultimate x64 (NO UPDATES!), EPG123 v1.1.19, Schedules Direct, HDHomerun Prime,
Dell 980 SFF, i5, Nvidia GT710
Dell 780 SFF, i5, HD4000

nikleb

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#45

Post by nikleb » Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:20 am

I was going to try a GeForce Gt 730. But I wonder if the issue is really the graphics card gien that both the 710 and AMD 6570 have the skip issue

artm

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#46

Post by artm » Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:02 am

I have a Comcast older HD cable box - at least 10 years old. Now I'm sure that has a very old and basic video card in it but it works 100%. When I first had the issue, during transition, I suspected that Comcast may have changed the video format and updated the box to recognize the format "better" than the standard video cards we use in our setups. That would be cheating but not beyond their means!

As I noted above, a Dell 3020 with Intel 4600 works fine except it doesn't have HDMI. Perhaps it's worth your while to find a 4600 system with HDMI to try out. You can add a different video card later if the issue resurfaces.

Is there a thread with good video cards that don't have this issue?
-Art --
Win7 Ultimate x64 (NO UPDATES!), EPG123 v1.1.19, Schedules Direct, HDHomerun Prime,
Dell 980 SFF, i5, Nvidia GT710
Dell 780 SFF, i5, HD4000

Ken H

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#47

Post by Ken H » Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:28 am

nikleb wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:20 am I was going to try a GeForce Gt 730.
I use a GT 730 in a Dell Optiplex 740, Phenom II X4, 3.3ghz, 8GB Ram. It has a number of issues with what Comcast did after making the change to their video signal.
But I wonder if the issue is really the graphics card gien that both the 710 and AMD 6570 have the skip issue
From all I know and have read, which is quite a bit, and it's not known for sure, I don't think the graphics card alone is the issue.

artm

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#48

Post by artm » Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:32 am

Do you have any issues running through VGA?
-Art --
Win7 Ultimate x64 (NO UPDATES!), EPG123 v1.1.19, Schedules Direct, HDHomerun Prime,
Dell 980 SFF, i5, Nvidia GT710
Dell 780 SFF, i5, HD4000

Ken H

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#49

Post by Ken H » Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:37 am

artm wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:32 am Do you have any issues running through VGA?
Have not tried.

artm

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#50

Post by artm » Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:50 am

Try VGA and see. If it doesn't work, then you can be reasonably confident that there is an issue beyond the video card; the format.

As I said, I don't mind the issues so much. If I were to fix this I'd have to look into a DP to HDMI active adapter. That's another can of worms I don't care to explore!
-Art --
Win7 Ultimate x64 (NO UPDATES!), EPG123 v1.1.19, Schedules Direct, HDHomerun Prime,
Dell 980 SFF, i5, Nvidia GT710
Dell 780 SFF, i5, HD4000

nikleb

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#51

Post by nikleb » Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:39 pm

Seems like that the graphic card alone isn't the issue. At least I did not find any post saying "after changing to xx" it worked.
Also, strange that the XBox as an extender is unaffected.
Ken H wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:28 am
nikleb wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:20 am I was going to try a GeForce Gt 730.
I use a GT 730 in a Dell Optiplex 740, Phenom II X4, 3.3ghz, 8GB Ram. It has a number of issues with what Comcast did after making the change to their video signal.
But I wonder if the issue is really the graphics card gien that both the 710 and AMD 6570 have the skip issue
From all I know and have read, which is quite a bit, and it's not known for sure, I don't think the graphics card alone is the issue.

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