All posts by John
Below are all of John's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Sorry about the formatting - tried three times to send, fortunately had copied into NotePad. Hope it makes sense..
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Hi John P,
I recorded Britain's Secret Homes a few minutes ago ITV1 from Win7 Media Centre.
VLC codec info reports 7 streams!
Streams 0, 1 and 6 are the same:
Video; Mpeg 1/2 Video (mpgv)
Stream 2:
Subtitle; DVB Subtitles (dvbs)
Stream3:
Audio; MPEG Audio layer 1/2/3 (mpga)
English; Stereo; sr 48000; br 192
Stream 4:
Video; Mpeg 1/2 Video (mpgv)
704x576; fr 25; Planar 4:2:0 YUV
Stream 5:
As stream 3 but mono
No video ID is given. It may be interesting to see which four you saw.
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For comparison, in respect of the program on Faberge Eggs shown on BBC1 last night, VLC Codec Info shows 4 streams:
Stream0:
Subtitle; DVB Subtitles (dvbs) English
Stream 1:
Video; MPEG-1/2 Video (mpgv);
720x576; fr 25; Planar 4:2:0 YUV
Stream2:
Audio; MPEG Audio layer 1/2/3 (mpga);
English; Stereo; sr 48000; br 256
Stream3:
Audio as stream 2 but mono.
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I forgot the important bit..
In VLC Video Tracks show 4 tracks for Britain's Secret Homes (ITV tonight) but only 1 track for Faberge Eggs, BBC1 last evening.
I think that matches your findings (but then I wandered off looking at codecs..:-).
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Similar streams, different numbers. Wouldn't surprise me if MS mix 'em up for the fun of it :-)
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I wouldn't be at all surprised if the WMC/Waltham PSB2 problem isn't simpler (or sillier) than the path we're treading.
As I mentioned before, I found if I switched quickly between BBC2 and ITV1 then the latter would often kick in. Initially this was after just a few switches. Latterly I gave up beyond about 20.
Then I found that if I shut down WMC with ITV1 selected and showing a black screen, quite often the channel was available when I started WMC again. (That's how I managed to record 'Britain's Secret Homes' at about 9pm this evening.
It is as if WMC ITV1 needs a kick to get going..
These tricks don't seem to work on Ch5.
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Hi John,
VLC controls in Windows are very similar, but at the moment I can't make your suggestion work.
I'll try later.. thanks
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Hi Thomas,
You've been lurking, hoping for a solution :-)
No such luck I'm afraid. I took the matter up with ITV, pointing them to this forum and the number of people complaining. After completing some requested detail I received a response today. The interesting bit reads:
Quote
The mast operator is reporting no issues with the signal from Waltham and I can confirm that we have received no similar complaints from viewers.
As you suspect, this does appear to be a specific issue with your own equipment and I can only suggest that you contact your service supplier to see if they have a solution. Please be assured, however, that I have passed your details to our Infrastructure team and if they have any information for you I will be in touch again.
End quote..
For 'issue with your equipment' read Windows Media Centre and for 'service supplier', (given the information I gave them) they can only mean Microsoft... From Stef's email above (4 July) 'Please await until Microsoft release new update for this issue.'
Or everyone could email ITV on viewerservices@itv.com
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jb38,
Thank-you for your comments. There really is so much to learn about broadcasting.
I am not in a position to realign our aerial to Belmont, unfortunately. I had considered asking an extended family member to realign it to Sutton Coldfield, but after I mentioned it in passing they all disappeared.
I take what you say about negative offset frequencies. If that is the case, I believe it has always been the case (recent past anyway). PSB2 on Waltham was unaffected by the 4G retune issue as far as I am aware. It was PSB1 mux that was moved, necessitating the retune on 29 May last.
Here no unusual reception difficulties were noticed until 16 June when ITV failed. Subsequently I noted that Channel5, E4, More 4 and such (but not Channel4 or Channel4+1) showed only black screens.
It appears that ITV1, ITV+1 and Channel5 are back here this evening. How long for? Let's hope...
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Friday 28 June 2013 5:35PM
Hi All,
Small change here - but first to summarize the position (here - can't speak for anywhere
else):
Problem is with Waltham mux PSB2:
(On or Off is the normal situation when using WMC - sowing picture or not. More4 I haven't
figured yet!)
ITV1 3 Off
Channel4 4 On
Channel5 5 Off
ITV2 6 Off
Channel4+1 13 On
More4 14 On/Off
E4 28 Off
ITV1+1 33 Off
This is mollified by having duplicate channels on different muxes as follows:
Ch5+1 44 On
ITV2+1 27 On
E4+1 29 On
So my problem is really limited to ITV1 - what idiot puts the duplicate channel on the same
mux?
Last weekend I happened to be on PC World's site and found they had a Hauppauge WinTV Aero
stick reduced from £59.99 to £19.99. I bought one - it arrived this morning.
I plugged it into my laptop (it was intended for a netbook but that machine has no CD drive)
plugged in a lead from the same splitter/amplifier as the other machines, loaded the Hauppauge
drivers, set up WMC and went for lunch while broadcasts were scanned.
As you might guess the first channel I looked at was ITV1. It works! It is by the side of me
as I write and it is still working!
I checked my main machine. ITV still black screen. I switched Hauppauge's Diversity mode on
(this has the effect of combining the two tuners to bring in a weak signal). After several
reboots and rescanning WMC I found no change. I applied the drivers for the stick received
this morning to the main machine's tuners. No change, still black screen.
But then I found that if I switched from BBC2 to ITV1 quickly and a number of times
(frustration building up :-)) I pulled in ITV1.
This is ridiculous! I do not believe it, so I have just left this box and done it again. Kick
up WMC select ITV1 - black screen. Select BBC2 let it steady then select ITV1 - this time ITV1
came in first try..
Suggestions welcome...