[TokyoShoe]

Installation of TIVO Desktop 2.5 on both of my home computers has hosed my AVI playback times. Now when playing an AVI file on these machines, instead of playing taking 1 hour for an hour long file.. it takes about a minute and a half for an hourlong file. The video and audio playback and normal speed, but the progress bar is flying by and 10 to 15 times the normal speed! This means it hits the end of the bar after only playing maybe 1 to 5% of the start of the video... then it just stops like it reached the end of this file.

I basically cannot watch any downloaded TV episodes of say.. Doctor Who, or anything else AVI, anymore. If I want to watch them I have to keep clicking the progress bar on where I can "guess it should be"... in order to keep pulling it back to proper location. Unfortunately this requires a large amount of guess work and the resulting playback quality is very skippy and stutter.

Can anyone think of a way to resolve this?

 

[Dan203]

Get a copy of GraphEdit and see what filters are being used when you "Render" a TiVo file. There could be a bad filter in the chain that is throwing off the DirectShow clock. If you find the filter causing the problem then you can use a DirectShow filter manager program to lower it's merit, or uninstall it, so that another filter is used instead.

Dan

 

[TokyoShoe]

Get a copy of GraphEdit and see what filters are being used when you "Render" a TiVo file. There could be a bad filter in the chain that is throwing off the DirectShow clock. If you find the filter causing the problem then you can use a DirectShow filter manager program to lower it's merit, or uninstall it, so that another filter is used instead.

Dan

I figured out what the problem is, and confirmed it's TivoDesktop. While the server is running, it drops the seconds from anything. So any AVI file I have that is less than a minute won't play at all. If it's 17 minutes long, Media Player thinks it's only 17 seconds long.. and plays the first 17 seconds. If it's 1 hour long, Media Player thinks it is 1 minute long.

Installation of TiVoDesktop basically moves the numbers in play length of any AVI video to the right one field set.

I have verified this over and over. Uninstall TD2.5 and everything plays fine, install it and it's broken again. Uninstall it AGAIN, works fine. Reinstall it again... broken. It's definitely TivoDesktop 2.5

 

[Dan203]

That is very strange because DirectShow, the technology used to play all video files in Windows Media Player, uses a clock which is based on your sound cards hardware clock. So there really is no reason this should be happening. The only thing I can figure is one of the MainConcept filters that's installed along with TiVo Desktop Plus is interjecting and causing some sort issue with the video files time stamp.

You really should try GraphEdit. Render an AVI file with it once before TiVo Desktop is installed and see which filters it uses. Then again after TiVo Desktop is installed. Then one by one try replacing the filters being used with the ones used before TD was installed, starting with the demuxer filter. When you find the filter that's the problem you can then use a filter manager program to lower it's merit, or just uninstall it, and everything should go back to normal.

Dan

 

[TokyoShoe]

That is very strange because DirectShow, the technology used to play all video files in Windows Media Player, uses a clock which is based on your sound cards hardware clock. So there really is no reason this should be happening. The only thing I can figure is one of the MainConcept filters that's installed along with TiVo Desktop Plus is interjecting and causing some sort issue with the video files time stamp.

You really should try GraphEdit. Render an AVI file with it once before TiVo Desktop is installed and see which filters it uses. Then again after TiVo Desktop is installed. Then one by one try replacing the filters being used with the ones used before TD was installed, starting with the demuxer filter. When you find the filter that's the problem you can then use a filter manager program to lower it's merit, or just uninstall it, and everything should go back to normal.

Dan

DirectShow isn't used within Windows Media Player. I believe that is a seperate set of Applications that you have to install.

Regarding GraphEdit, I'm not sure I see the reasoning. I have specifically figured out what is causing it, that being the Tivo Beacon Server. If that service is present in my system (doesn't even have to be running) while I attempt playback.. all time value fields in the play length get moved one set to the right.

Uninstall TivoDesktop 2.5 and it stops happening. Seems fairly definitive. Plus, since I have a Series 3 TiVo, TD 2.5 is fairly useless for me.

 

[gonzotek]

DirectShow isn't used within Windows Media Player. I believe that is a seperate set of Applications that you have to install.

Regarding GraphEdit, I'm not sure I see the reasoning. I have specifically figured out what is causing it, that being the Tivo Beacon Server. If that service is present in my system (doesn't even have to be running) while I attempt playback.. all time value fields in the play length get moved one set to the right.

Uninstall TivoDesktop 2.5 and it stops happening. Seems fairly definitive. Plus, since I have a Series 3 TiVo, TD 2.5 is fairly useless for me.

DirectShow is the underlying technology for Windows Media Player, the parts of TiVo Desktop related to video, and GraphEdit. They're all closely related.

The TiVo Beacon Server doesn't touch the files on your drive, nor should it interact with video playback of non-TiVo files. What the beacon does is broadcast any services your pc might be hosting to your local network. So if you have TiVo Desktop installed, as well as some other third party TiVo software product, such as J. Rivers' Media Center, they can all co-exist happily and, by notifying the beacon, it can in turn notify the TiVo that they are available.

I am not saying that SOMETHING in TD 2.5 isn't still the root of the problem, but it isn't the beacon. As Dan was saying, it would help us to understand your situation better, if you could render the file in GraphEdit before and after TD is installed, noting any differences. Somehow your video codecs are changing, and what specifically is happening will be revealed by this process. Once we know what was right before installing TD, and what is different after, we can possibly help you to fix it, and at the very least, we'll have learned that a certain set of circumstances will result in the same error for someone else and may be able to help them avoid the same hassle.

 

[TokyoShoe]

DirectShow is the underlying technology for Windows Media Player, the parts of TiVo Desktop related to video, and GraphEdit. They're all closely related.

The TiVo Beacon Server doesn't touch the files on your drive, nor should it interact with video playback of non-TiVo files. What the beacon does is broadcast any services your pc might be hosting to your local network. So if you have TiVo Desktop installed, as well as some other third party TiVo software product, such as J. Rivers' Media Center, they can all co-exist happily and, by notifying the beacon, it can in turn notify the TiVo that they are available.

I am not saying that SOMETHING in TD 2.5 isn't still the root of the problem, but it isn't the beacon. As Dan was saying, it would help us to understand your situation better, if you could render the file in GraphEdit before and after TD is installed, noting any differences. Somehow your video codecs are changing, and what specifically is happening will be revealed by this process. Once we know what was right before installing TD, and what is different after, we can possibly help you to fix it, and at the very least, we'll have learned that a certain set of circumstances will result in the same error for someone else and may be able to help them avoid the same hassle.

Understandable that it 'shouldn't be interfering'.. but it definitely is. TivoDesktop is the only app I can change the state of (i.e. install or uninstall it) that directly affects AVI file playback length. I've doublechecked this on 2 computers now, afflicted by the same issue. Solution is the same on both.