1.4.3 crashes editing HD-DVR TS file

[JohnnyB]

I recently updated the windows driver for my Hauppague 1212 HD-PVR and ever since then have been getting crashing problems w/ Smart Cutter. I had been using version 1.3.8 on my Win-Vista SP2 PC (AMD 4400+ dual core, 2GB ram) without any issues when cutting out commercials on TS files generated by my HD-PVR (captured via my Win 7 laptop, AMD P340 dual core, 3GB ram, the source video is from a Motorola FIOS HD STB). After installing an updated driver for the HD-PVR (version 1.6.29277), it sees to generate TS files that have timecode (or repeated frame) issues and causes Smart Cutter to crash, giving the following error message:

Assertion failed!

Program: ...
File: facApi/fac/Preroll.c
Line: 55

Expression: 0

For information on how your program can cause an assertion failure, see the Visual C++ documentation on asserts

(Press Retry to debug the application - JIP must be enabled)
<Abort> <Retry> <Ignore>

Clicking on any of the selections cause Smart Cutter to crash.

This most often happens when attempting to select a frame at which to make a cut near a commercial break.

I downloaded version 1.4.3 and seem to get the same issues on my PC. However, I was able to successfully use version 1.4.1 on my laptop to edit out the commercials without crashing, however the commercial cuts are not clean (seems the original source file has several frames that are repeated every so often, and I can see this when watching the resulting file on my Western Digital HDTV player). I have a feeling that the repeated frames has something to do with the crashing issue, as I never seen periodic frame repeats prior to capturing w/ the new HD-PVR driver. Also, the fact I was able to edit the file on my laptop this one time without crashing doesn't mean that this process is flawless, it has crashed on occasion (not sure if the error is the same as above from my PC).

Hauppague's support page (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/s ... hdpvr.html) indicates several updates were made with this new driver to fix A/V sync issues. This may explain what appears to be repeated frames in the video stream (the previous driver seemed to produce files that had periodic gaps in the audio stream - these were barely noticible so it never bothered me - the audio stream generated by the new driver seems to have cured the audio gaps, but now it seems to have video frames repeated). I'm planning on reverting back to the original driver to see if that fixes my problems, but I thought I'd post this here in case this is revealing some other issues w/ Smart Cutter. The new HD-PVR driver has some useability upgrades that are attractive and I'd prefer to use it over the original driver. If I can find a support page on Hauppague's site, I'll post a similar message there showing that there may be issues w/ their new driver.

Overall, I love Smart Cutter, and I appreciate the frequent updates which shows me you guys are continously updating your product. Keep up the good work.

[JohnnyB]

UPDATE: I reverted my HD-PVR driver back to the original and the problem seems to have cured itself. Smooth scrolling to the desired cut frame is restored.

Some additional info: When watching the .TS video created by the updated HD-PVR driver on my WD HDTV media player, there appears to be a jump (or a handful of repeated frames) about every 4 seconds. When watching the same file on the PC w/ Win Media Player it seems smooth. Audio in both cases seems smooth, no audiable gaps.

So in summary, it appears that the new Hauppague HD-PVR driver creates .TS files that causes crashes w/ Smart Cutter and has jumps in the playback on the WD HDTV player. Win Media Player seems unaffected by this. From what I can tell attempting to edit those files w/ Smart Cutter, is that frames are either periodically repeated, or the time coding is funky such that frames appear to be repeated. Smart Cutter seems to have problems navigating frames near these repeated frames and crashes.

[ronealwa]

I am getting this same crashing experience while attempting to edit out commercials on a TS file produced from HD-PVR.

I just recently purchased HD-PVR, so I don't have the old driver file to revert back to. What are my alternatives to fix this issue?

Is there a location where I can retrieve an old HD-PVR driver file?

[JohnnyB]

You might try contacting Hauppauge and let them know of your problems. That may add some pressure for them to fix their driver. Or at least they could provide you w/ the older driver. To re-install my older driver, I used Hauppauge's utility to scrub everthing off my installation, then re-installed w/ my original CD-ROM (I've owned mine just over a year now).

Hauppauge's support page (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/s ... hdpvr.html) contains a link to version 1.5 of its driver. Although it does say for Mac or Linux users (I think because the newest driver does NOT work w/ Mac or Linux), it might also work on Windows (???). Might be worth a try.

[JohnnyB]

UPDATE: I got a response from Hauppauge, they suggested trying the beta version of their newest driver (1.6.29353) that is available on their website:

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/s ... hdpvr.html

I tried this out and it is much improved over the version 1.6.29277 driver: Smart Cutter no longer crashes when attempting to edit, and smoother scrolling to the desired frame for a cut. I tried this on both SC 1.4.1 on my laptop, and version 1.4.3 on my desktop, same successful results. Although the scrolling within Smart Cutter with the newer driver doesn't seem quite as smooth or fast as with the older HD-PVR driver (the CPU seems to churn more when editing a file from the newer driver), at least it no longer crashes and is stable enough to allow selection of the desired frame.

However, while I was testing this new driver, I also tried various combinations of PC audio mode settings in the TME capture window (for some reason my HD-PVR doesn't capture 5.1 audio even though the capture window indicates the HD-PVR is receiving 5.1 audio..... still a bug on Hauppauge's side I think) and the one combination of the new driver w/ PC audio set to 5.1 audio (even though my laptop only has 2-ch audio AFAK) resulted in a file that had alot of stutter when playing back in my WD-HDTV (regardless if I was playing back a "raw" file that was not touched by Smart Cutter or one that had been edited by Smart Cutter). Interestingly, playing back these files in Win Media Player resulted in smooth video (the audio was out of sync, and had gaps the longer the file played, but this was also the case w/ the original HD-PVR driver-generated files and may be a Win MP issue). This may have been a fluke and plan on making a couple more test runs before sending my results back to Hauppauge.

Bottom line, Hauppauge is in the process of releasing an updated driver, and my beta test of it indicates that the version 1.6.29353 driver appears to have resolved the crashing under Smart Cutter problem. There may remain a stuttering problem when playing files back in the WD-HDTV player, but that has nothing to do w/ SmartCutter.

[JohnnyB]

UPDATE: I did some more testing w/ Hauppauge's HD-PVR beta driver (1.6.29353). My conclusions are:

1) It produces .TS files that no longer causes SmartCutter to crash (1.4.1 on my laptop nor 1.4.3 on my desktop).

2) It still produces .TS files that either repeats frames or has something strange going on in the timecode that makes it difficult, if not impossible to select the exact desired frame to make a cut in SmartCutter. Interestingly, this problem seems more pronounced the further into the file you get.

3) It still produces .TS files that, when played back on the Western Digital HDTV media player, either has a "hiccup" in the video every few seconds, or stutters continuously. The severity of this seems to be related the "PC Audio Mode" selection used when capturing (2-CH or 5.1-CH), and possibly the capture resolution (480p / 720p / 1080i) or bit rate (I have not done enough testing to properly characterize this effect). The audio playback is smooth however. I did not do any more testing with playback via Win Media Player since that is not my primary method of playback. What limited playback I've done w/ Win MP is that video is smooth but the audio begins to breakup the further into the file it gets. The "hiccup" / stutter on playback via WD-HDTV issue exists regardless of whether or not the file has been edited by SmartCutter.

4) It still produces .TS files that, when played back on the WD HDTV media player, does not appear to contain a 5.1-CH audio track regardless of the "PC Audio Mode" selection when capturing, even though the TME capture module says it is detecting a 5.1-CH audio stream from the program source via the SPDIF optical input. The playback always appears to be a 2-CH audio stream. This issue exists regardless of whether or not the file has been edited by SmartCutter. UPDATE: Hauppauge provided a quick reply to this info and recommended a utility (mediainfo) to check the audio stream in the .TS files. It reported that they contained 6-channels of audio, so the problem must exist with the playback end in my WD-HDTV player and is not an issue w/ the HD-PVR capturing 5.1-CH audio.

I'll be providing this information back to Hauppauge in hopes it helps them resolve these remaining issues w/ their HD-PVR driver. In the meantime, I've re-loaded the original HD-PVR driver for future captures.

[seed.helper]

Thank you

i have registered to say thank you to the autor of this post for the information provided.

im having serious sync issues with audio by composite cable recording from a PS1 some gameplay yeah i still have one !

i will try the new beta and see what happens... lets hope that my unit continues to boot normally :/

[JohnnyB]

FYI, version 1.6.29353 is now Hauppauge's officially released latest version of their HD-PVR driver. Last I checked they have no new "beta" version in the works yet. I'm still using the original driver that came on my HD-PVR CD version 2.5 (not sure what driver version that is, but it came w/ my HD-PVR that I purchased in Dec 2010).