Tivo Desktop Plus 2.8 - Conversion Problem

[vinniet]

I have installed the new Tivo Desktop 2.8 and is getting the following error:

tivo desktop conversion problem
could not start the conversion process

Also it seems when I try to play a file downloaded in Media Player, Media Player blows-up. I am running Media Player 11 which is the newest. I assume Media Player is to blamb. I have also tried to set my Media Access Key.

Any ideas? I think I might go back to 2.7 since that did not have any problems.

[NatashaBelmonte]

Thanks for this thread.

[vinniet]

Update: Ok I reinstalled 2.8 and still it blows up Media Player when I try to play a tivo video. I uninstalled it and put 2.7 and all is well.

I think this might be a codec problem with 2.8. Anyone else have this problem?

[ggieseke]

What operating system are you running, and do you have the Desktop Plus upgrade?

[Pitcher23]

I was having the same problem. I have a Windows 7 machine and use Tivo Desktop Plus.

I had uninstalled and used the cleaning tool and reinstalled the program, but no luck. 2.7 was too buggy for my taste, so I went back to 2.6 and now it transfers and converts the files perfectly.

[vinniet]

What operating system are you running, and do you have the Desktop Plus upgrade?

I am running on XP SP3 and yes I have Plus. The problem is with playing back TIVO files, it blows up Media Player.

[ggieseke]

I am running on XP SP3 and yes I have Plus. The problem is with playing back TIVO files, it blows up Media Player.

You could try the codec utililty in the sticky at the top of this forum to see if it's actually using the Plus (MainConcept) codecs. 2.8 doesn't actually register the codecs with Windows so you won't be able to set them as preferred codecs at this time, but it would tell us something.

I'm also looking into some other issues regarding video renderers and rewriting TDCM for 2.8 compatibility. Should have something out soon.

[mfuchs]

I am having similar problems. Some Tivo files play in WMP11 and convert fine, some don't. I am running Desktop Plus 2.8, and my PC is Vista 64-bit.

Here a the mediainfo.exe output for a file that does play in WMP11 and converts okay:

General
Complete name : C:\Users\Michael\Documents\My TiVo Recordings\Great Performances - ''Primo'' (Recorded May 5, 2008, WHYYDT2).TiVo
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1.72 GiB
Duration : 1h 33mn
Overall bit rate : 2 617 Kbps

Video #1
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 1h 33mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Nominal bit rate : 15.0 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 1.448

Here is the same info for a file that won't play in WMP11 and won't convert:

General
Complete name : C:\Users\Michael\Documents\My TiVo Recordings\Great Performances - ''Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration From Madison Square Garden'' (Recorded Aug 15, 2009, WHYYDT).TiVo
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 9.72 GiB
Duration : 45mn 44s
Overall bit rate : 30.4 Mbps

Video #1
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 45mn 44s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Nominal bit rate : 37.7 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : Component
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.607

Any ideas? Thanks in advance....

[mfuchs]

Further to the last message, my Vista is Home Premium. I installed the latest TDCM and asked it to render the files in question.

The latest TDCM renders the .tivo file that runs in WMP11 fine, as well. It shows the MainConcept MPEG Demuxer, the MainConcept Dolby Digital Audio Decoder, the MainConcept MPEG-2 Video Decoder, and the MainConcept ImageScaler.

On the other hand, the second .tivo file that does not run in WMP11 nor convert via Desktop Plus 2.8 also blows up the latest version of TDCM. It once gave the error message, "No combination of filters could be found to render this file." The other times I tried, it simply gave me a Vista dialog box saying the application (TDCM) has "stopped working" with a cancel button to press.

[ggieseke]

I don't have any HD files to test with, but that seems to be the only real difference based on your mediainfo dump. I would think that if 2.8 Plus didn't play any HD files it would be a well known bug by now, so there must be something else at work. Since you have Vista Home Premium you could try using TDCM to force the Microsoft MPEG-2 video codec into the graph, but I don't know if it will help.

If you have a way to post a small test file (about 1 minute) somewhere, send me a Private Message with the URL and I will take a look at it. I would also need your MAK to decrypt it.

[orangeboy]

Further to the last message, my Vista is Home Premium. I installed the latest TDCM and asked it to render the files in question.

The latest TDCM renders the .tivo file that runs in WMP11 fine, as well. It shows the MainConcept MPEG Demuxer, the MainConcept Dolby Digital Audio Decoder, the MainConcept MPEG-2 Video Decoder, and the MainConcept ImageScaler.

On the other hand, the second .tivo file that does not run in WMP11 nor convert via Desktop Plus 2.8 also blows up the latest version of TDCM. It once gave the error message, "No combination of filters could be found to render this file." The other times I tried, it simply gave me a Vista dialog box saying the application (TDCM) has "stopped working" with a cancel button to press.

Try turning on logging using the TiVo Desktop "Log Finder" application. The logs are written to plain text files, so notepad/wordpad can be used to view them.

This of course won't fix anything, but it may give a clue why it's failing.

[mfuchs]

Thanks for the advice and offers. I can't seem to reproduce the behavior with a small HD file I've recorded and transferred.

Using TCDM to set the Microsoft MPEG-2 video codec improves matters a little for the problematic file I posted. It now renders okay in TCDM, but when I play it in TCDM, all I get is a black screen with no sound, but the time indicator does advance properly. In WMP11, I get a green screen with no sound, but correct time advance.

The 2.8 Plus transcode log shows the following (with surrounding stuff and timestamp, etc., details omitted):

Start...
Transcoder started...
Initialize parameters of transcoder
Transcoding destination: file
Try to build graph
setup source
setup ()
TranscoderHost process has been terminated: 3221225477
Trying to interupt...
!!!###TranscoderHost.exe exit code is 3221225477
Stop...

[ggieseke]

That's just weird, because it shouldn't have to transcode (or convert) at all. If you download the trial version of VideoReDo you may be able to edit out the first minute of the show to create a file small enough to upload and reproduce the problem.

If it's only one file that's giving you problems it may be a corrupt file, but if you get the problem with multiple files there's a pattern...

[mfuchs]

FWIW, error 3221225477 looks to me like it might be some kind of protection fault / access violation (hex of 3221225477 is 0xC0000005).

Is it possible that the sheer size of the file is causing the problem? That somehow it's overflowing either an internal buffer somewhere, or that the size value is bigger than some internal variable can hold?

I'm only having issues with two files: one is 8.60 GB, the other is 9.71 GB. All others are fine, even an HD file that is 5.80 GB in size.

[mfuchs]

The transcode log stuff is because I also tried to ask 2.8 Plus to convert the file for an MPEG-4 device, just to see if that would work.

[ggieseke]

I guess it's possible that a buffer somewhere is overloading, but if it's not breaking down at files over exactly 2GB or 4GB it shouldn't be a typical "lazy" programming problem like using a 32-bit signed integer instead of a 64-bit unsigned integer for the file size. That error code in Microsoft terms boils down to STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION, which doesn't tell us much other than that it's probably trying to access memory that it doesn't own. In my experience that only happens when something is flawed at a very basic level and the memory used to buffer your variables is being overwritten.

I don't really have any further suggestions other than to call TiVo customer support and make sure that they know about the problem. There are a few obvious flaws in 2.8 so far, but I love the new folder support. If they can fix the bugs quickly I think it could be the best version of Desktop yet.

[mfuchs]

Well, both large files blow up the trial version of VideoRedo, too! Other files come up fine, but these two cause the same message box, "VideoRedo.exe has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

Is it possible they are both corrupt? I have been assuming that if the files were corrupt, 2.8 Plus would not show them as okay, nor would mediainfo.

[The transfer process from the Tivo to the PC for these files was interrupted numerous times, because of spontaneous reboots on the Tivo HD, caused I believe by a bad Expander. I was trying to salvage recorded programs before removing the bad Expander and replacing it with a new one. I haven't yet tried to transfer the files back to the Tivo HD, because (a) I haven't installed the new Expander yet, to give the bare Tivo HD time to run on its own and confirm that the problem was the old Expander, and (b) it takes soooo loooong to move these files over my wireless network.]

[ggieseke]

Given the possible expander issues, I would start leaning toward corrupt files at this point. I guess the only way to be sure is to get the TiVo working properly again, record some new BIG files, and see what happens. 2.8 is really new, but previous versions had no problem with files over 20GB.

MediaInfo (and most programs) only look at the first few dozen bytes to determine what format the file is in. That has caused problems in previous versions of Desktop when the cable company inserted local commercials in a different format than the rest of the stream.

Let us know how it goes, and I hope the new expander fixes the problem. If it's not under warranty I would consider upgrading the internal drive to 1TB instead of buying a new expander. It's probably much cheaper and would give you fewer possible failure points.

[mfuchs]

Well, thanks for all the attention and advice. I spoke to Tivo and they were at a loss to help -- I suggested I upload a file to them to give to the Desktop software developers, but no dice.

I'm down to retransferring the files back to the expander-less Tivo and seeing if they play there. If they do, then the files are presumably all right. If they don't, then corruption was clearly the problem. (Of course, that would still leave questions. Did the interrupted transfers to the PC cause the corruptions? If so, something's wrong with Desktop. Were the files corrupt on the Tivo because of the bad expander? Would running some of the kickstart codes have helped? I tried 54, and tests on the expander wouldn't start. I never tried 57 or 58. Oh, well.)

I will let you know how my transfer back to Tivo works out. Thanks again!

[mfuchs]

Well, one hour of the three-hour program has transferred to the Tivo. I got impatient and had a look-see.

The good news (for my watching pleasure) is that the file seems to be transferring back fine, is being understood by the Tivo, and starts to play with no problem, at the least the five minutes I tried.

The bad news (for my problem-solving pleasure, and PC- or iPod-watching pleasure) is that this suggests the file was not corrupted, and the problem lies elsewhere in the Desktop Plus / codec morass on my PC....

Argggh.

[mfuchs]

I am now able to report that at least one file in question is corrupt.

I successfully transferred the 3-hour file back to my Tivo. It played fine for an hour and 33 minutes, then the video start pixilating, the audio went out, and the closed caption reverted to earlier in the show. At that point, the show became unplayable -- there was no way to skip ahead and make it watchable again.

It's still not clear whether the corruption was introduced by the bad expander, or whether it was introduced by a failure of the Desktop Plus transfer protocol during the multiple interruptions in the original transfer to my PC.

I guess I'll never know. But thanks again to all for your help. This community is invaluable. You guys are great.