Choosing video card for Comcast DRM/H.264 issue

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artm

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#21

Post by artm » Thu Aug 03, 2017 4:52 am

I'm limited in my SFF by size and power rating, that's why I went with the 5450. I'm afraid it's just not powerful enough like your 6700. I know, I know...sounds illogical when my old Intel HD3000 was perfect in three installations.

But, we're talking different codec here and maybe it matters.

I'm OK where I am, Nvidia in two setups. I do still have the 5450 in a regular/non-HT PC. I guess I can give it another try but I'm not about to invest in converting my HT's to this. Not and have Comcast do something else that'll screw things up.

I'm waiting for FIOS to get to my part of Boston and then it's so long Comcast!
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Crash2009

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#22

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:03 am

https://www.techspot.com/review/244-ati-radeon-hd-5450/

Card came out in late 2009, need some time for bugs etc. I would say try a 2010 driver.

Ken H

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#23

Post by Ken H » Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:45 am

Crash2009 wrote:
Ken H wrote:I'm confused.
I am recording something in H264 to test FF RW etc

totally uneffected by anything listed previously in the list.
Then how do you plan on solving the problem others are having by looking into Windows Updates that have not affected your system? I'm still confused.

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#24

Post by Ken H » Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:50 am

artm wrote:1. which older driver then? I'm sure I tried several versions but can't recall right now - it was a traumatic experience that I'd like to forget.

2. I am a firm believer of "no crap". That's why I NEVER do Windows Updates. Are you sayign i can tell Windows to install the driver and it won't install anything else? Wouldn't it then install the latest driver?
I've got one system with an R7 240 running Catalyst and it was 100% perfect until the change to H.264. I already tried running a generic Windows 7 graphics driver and it did not make any difference. Getting rid of Catalyst will have zero effect on the problem you are having.

If anything, once you have a driver that works, simply disable updates and run with the one you know works. And the same thing applies to the entire Windows operating system and it's updates, assuming you only use the PC as a dedicated WMC appliance.

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Crash2009

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#25

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:01 am

Ken H,

Somebody said earlier one of their "old" systems was unaffected. Checked mine, appears I am unaffected (so far) recorded H.264 FF and RW all I want.

I will test extenders on the weekend.

Not much difference between a 5450 and a 6700...just a year or 2. Big difference between my unaffected HTPC and your problematic HTPC.

My suggestion to you, is the same as art. Match your drivers to the age of your hardware.

But there is also the possibility that it has nothing to do with the drivers and its just a Comcast problem. Mine got the H.264 project correct, and yours failed miserably.

How many of you are running new drivers on old hardware?

How many running Catalyst?

I am running a 2010 AMD HD 6700 using 2011 drivers. No Catalyst No Hydrovision. My question to you is Why am I not affected

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#26

Post by artm » Thu Aug 03, 2017 1:33 pm

1. what's your complete setup?

2. I guess my biggest annoyance is switching from HD to SD. I can do this: channel 850 ESPN2 is fine. Switch to 225 RETRO (SD), get black video, sound good. Back and forth does not fix. While in 225, go to 234 INSP, that one's black. Back to 225, still black. Go to 221 DFC, it's now good. Back to 225, it's now good. Back to 850, it's good (of course). Back to 225, black.

Continue: Back to 850, good. Click record now. Back to 225, on a different tuner now, black still.

The typical way to recover from the black is to go up or down a channel or two until I hit a good one, then go back to the original problematic one; that always works. No big deal really. But if I have a recording scheduled sometimes it records black.

Try this on your setup and tell us what happens.
-Art --
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Crash2009

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#27

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:26 pm

Complete setup is listed to the left under my picture click on htpc specs.

I tested switching from HD to SD by using a local channel Fox 2 comes in on Channel 2 SD and channel 1002 HD I can switch back and forth all I want.

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#28

Post by artm » Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:38 pm

I should have been more clear: switch from a H.264 channel to SD. Switching from MPEG to SD works fine for me. Your FOX on HD is probably still MPEG.
-Art --
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Crash2009

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#29

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:41 pm

I have had to go get a new CableCARD three times since 2012.

When is the last time you swapped yours out?

As I understand it the tuner has nothing to do with changing channels. The CableCARD authorizes the change of channels... sounds to me like you're CableCARD is not authorizing the display of video occasionally.

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#30

Post by artm » Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:48 pm

I've never changed my CC. It's not the CC, it's the video card and the signal format. If the CC doesn't authorize a channel, there's no video and no audio, just the informational display.

I had a perfect setup with Intel HD3000 until the switch to H.264. This Intel has had known issues with this format, so I switched to AMD. Still had issues, fewer, with AMD, so switched to Nvidia - per the advice of several people with the same issue. Mych fewer issues with Nvidia setup.

Redo the test I noted and let us know how you do.
-Art --
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#31

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 3:56 pm

Art, thanks for your patience persistence and assistance. I have finally found something that is not right. Not exactly the same symptom as you described but still something is not right.

Duplicate HBO channels both H 264 one channel is 1804 the other is 302..

And then we have duplicate HBO signature one is channel 3:03 the other is channel 1806 both listed as H 264.

Both of these pairs of channels experience a somewhat of a freeze when switching back and forth between the two even though they're both H 264, on one of them the Sound Works and the video seems to jump back and forth between frame one and frame 10 all the frames in the middle are missing so it goes 1 10, 1 10, 1 10, never gets to 11. On the other channel it goes 110 110 for a little while and then it eventually gets itself started and please pretty good for a while but every once in awhile when the movie is playing it'll have a little trouble and start skipping again and then play normally for a while.

Back in the early Echo days, someone discovered that the echo had a hard time switching back and forth from HD to SD, I noticed the same thing. As a workaround which did work pretty good even to this day I went and got guide tool and used it to disable all my SD channels. This forces the CableCARD and tuner if it has anything to do with anything to only have one choice. Later today when I get off work that's just what I'm going to do.

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Crash2009

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#32

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:00 am

I disabled all the SD's 640 X 480, and continued to have problems. Protected h264 would throw the VIDEO FILES not working right at the end of the movie, screensaver would come on, then WMC would need to be closed and restarted.

I thought I would run the advanced logger in Ceton diagnostic, and right after the reboot, everything is perfect. Can't find a way to make it puke. I'm right at the end of the movie this is where I usually freezes. We'll see what happens.

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#33

Post by Ken H » Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:50 am

Crash2009 wrote:I disabled all the SD's 640 X 480, and continued to have problems. Protected h264 would throw the VIDEO FILES not working right at the end of the movie, screensaver would come on, then WMC would need to be closed and restarted.

I thought I would run the advanced logger in Ceton diagnostic, and right after the reboot, everything is perfect. Can't find a way to make it puke. I'm right at the end of the movie this is where I usually freezes. We'll see what happens.
So now we know you have the Comcast created problem. As far as 'everything is perfect', don't worry about trying to bust it, it will break all by itself.

Trust me. There is a mildly random aspect to it breaking again after rebooting, but it won't take long.

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#34

Post by artm » Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:32 pm

Crash2009 wrote:...I'm right at the end of the movie this is where I usually freezes.
I also experienced that recently, on random recordings. At the end of the recording, just stops, doesn't go to option menu to delete, replay, etc. I had to press stop to get to it.

However, I've never had WMC freezing to the point of its restart and never had Win7 freeze.
-Art --
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Crash2009

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#35

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:29 am

artm wrote:
Crash2009 wrote:...I'm right at the end of the movie this is where I usually freezes.
I also experienced that recently, on random recordings. At the end of the recording, just stops, doesn't go to option menu to delete, replay, etc. I had to press stop to get to it.

However, I've never had WMC freezing to the point of its restart and never had Win7 freeze.
Well, I'm not sure what to call it....near the end of a drm movie, it seems that the cable card goes to get authorization for the next movie, and the video (the picture) the movie stutters. It just flashes back and forth from say frame 5000 and frame 5025. Sometimes it will get over it, sometimes it will crash the display driver, other times WMC will stop and error out with the video files error. Close and restart WMC gets it back to normal. Win7 never freezes but sometimes I boot it just to clear the cobwebs.

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#36

Post by Ken H » Sat Aug 19, 2017 5:41 pm

Ken H wrote:
artm wrote:Ken H: Yes, I'm aware of the other thread. What's the status of Comcast's testing the HDHR? When did they undertake this?
The status is I'm waiting to hear back from them. They told me they were going to do it about 10 days ago, and I haven't heard anything since. It will take time for everything to happen that needs to happen at their end and it may be another few weeks or a month before they get back to me. Who knows?
Comcast confirmed with me although delayed they now have an HDHomeRun and are beginning to test. As soon as they have results they will let me know and I'll post here.

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#37

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 5:38 am

I would like to have my local Comcast rep stay tuned to the testing. Could you tell me how he could contact the office that's doing the testing on the home run?

All I have been able to figure out and this is after WMC reset redo the tuner drivers DCA play Ready pretty much of full rebuild of WMC. I have only been testing with HBO. All my SD have been disabled. I have subscribed to the extra charge HD. There is a SD HBO mixed up in with the Hd's. I can only find 1 channel that is broadcast in HD. NBC is the only source with native 1920 by 1080. Everything else is 1280 by 720. All my equipment here was upgraded in 2012 to be 1920 x 1080, so there wouldn't be any conversions going on. Source 1920 by 1080 video card same thing all the monitors too.

I am canceling my service until they figure this out.

In my case when I'm watching are protected movie just before the credits come on something changes in the Stream then it starts to stutter then it craps out with display driver error and WMC has to be exited and restarted.

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#38

Post by Ken H » Sun Aug 20, 2017 6:54 am

Crash2009 wrote:I would like to have my local Comcast rep stay tuned to the testing. Could you tell me how he could contact the office that's doing the testing on the home run?
The contact is at DSLReports.com, in the Comcast Direct forum.
I have only been testing with HBO. All my SD have been disabled. I have subscribed to the extra charge HD. There is a SD HBO mixed up in with the Hd's. I can only find 1 channel that is broadcast in HD. NBC is the only source with native 1920 by 1080. Everything else is 1280 by 720. All my equipment here was upgraded in 2012 to be 1920 x 1080, so there wouldn't be any conversions going on. Source 1920 by 1080 video card same thing all the monitors too.
First, over-the-air HDTV and cable/satellite HDTV can be 1280x720p, in addition to 1920x1080i. For example ABC and FOX are 720p, as is ESPN, Fox Sports Detroit, Disney, A&E, Big Ten Network, History Channel, etc. Native 1080i stations include CNN, CBS Sports Network, AMC, BBC America, CSPAN, Discovery, HBO, Showtime, etc.

The reason NBC is still in 1080i on Comcast is that a contract exists between our local NBC affiliate WDIV-DT and Comcast. The other local 1080i stations, WWJ-DT CBS and WKBD-DT The CW, have the same agreement and are also still in 1080i on Comcast's system.
I am canceling my service until they figure this out.
To be candid, I'm not sure if it will get resolved to my satisfaction, because even if their version of MPEG4 video works properly with WMC, the HD image quality has been reduced and this is very, very unlikely to change.

You may want to look into other options. If WOW cable is available in your area and has the HD channels you want, consider them; you can still use a CableCARD and WMC and they have very good HD image quality the last time I was aware.

DirecTV is the only national provider that has the same HD picture quality that Comcast had previous to the MPEG4 change. Dish, AT&T U-verse, and Charter are not in the same HD image quality league.

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Crash2009

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#39

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 7:33 am

In the constitution, we have the right to peacefull protest. I think it's time to file share 40 terabytes each from 9000 members. Mirror driver will broadcast the protected.

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Crash2009

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#40

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:03 am

There is no video card that will solve this problem it's a source problem.

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