2014-09-28, 17:06
Hi I am using Gotham on a dedicated Windows HTPC system. I am using MediaPortal as my back end.
However I have noticed that there are significant differences in the quality and performance of DVB playback between using XBMC/Kodi (still XBMC as of Gotham I assume) and using MediaPortal natively/on its own.
In particular the image quality and degree of stuttering is much less favourable in XBMC than in MP. In MP for example with the default LAV filters enabled, the image quality in both SD and HD modes is much sharper , much crisper and much clearer than in XBMC. In XBMC there is also intermittent 'stuttering' or 'smearing' of the digital image. This happens particularly in HD mode and occurs on average about once a minute, sufficient to make it annoying and to make HD TV watching a little pointless. (Given that HD is supposed to be all about image quality). In MP with the default LAV decoders enabled there is still some (very) occasional 'smearing', but it is much reduced.
More interestingly however is that when I change the default LAV DVB decoders in MP for the Microsoft DVB decoders, I get faultless performance from these, with no stuttering, smearing or glitches at all. They also seem rock solid.
As a compromise therefore I have disabled Live TV support in XBMC and am using Advanced Launcher to launch an instance of Media Portal, exclusively for TV viewing. There are simply things that XBMC does better (Local Media PlayBack and scripts) and things that MP does better, which at this juncture is TV, TV recording and EPG.
Of course the ideal scenario would be to have the best of both worlds. Great DVB and EPG performance in XBMC and no need for this rough hack to begin with.
So my question is, how likely is this to happen? How likely is it that the deficiencies in DVB playback/EPG in Kodi will be addressed? Also is there anything I can do in the interim? Can I for example tell XBMC to use the native Microsoft DVB decoders (which I think are the same as those in Microsoft Media Centre) and get great performance, without having to launch any third party software? I can't use Microsoft Media Centre, as I have Windows 8.1 pro which was supplied by my school and for whatever reason the licensing forbids me to use MC with this version of Windows. I can however still use the MC DVB decoders it seems.
For the record I am using two Astrometa USB DVB-T2 tuners and a Zoltac EN760+ (basically a steambox, but with Windows on it) as my dedicated HTPC.
However I have noticed that there are significant differences in the quality and performance of DVB playback between using XBMC/Kodi (still XBMC as of Gotham I assume) and using MediaPortal natively/on its own.
In particular the image quality and degree of stuttering is much less favourable in XBMC than in MP. In MP for example with the default LAV filters enabled, the image quality in both SD and HD modes is much sharper , much crisper and much clearer than in XBMC. In XBMC there is also intermittent 'stuttering' or 'smearing' of the digital image. This happens particularly in HD mode and occurs on average about once a minute, sufficient to make it annoying and to make HD TV watching a little pointless. (Given that HD is supposed to be all about image quality). In MP with the default LAV decoders enabled there is still some (very) occasional 'smearing', but it is much reduced.
More interestingly however is that when I change the default LAV DVB decoders in MP for the Microsoft DVB decoders, I get faultless performance from these, with no stuttering, smearing or glitches at all. They also seem rock solid.
As a compromise therefore I have disabled Live TV support in XBMC and am using Advanced Launcher to launch an instance of Media Portal, exclusively for TV viewing. There are simply things that XBMC does better (Local Media PlayBack and scripts) and things that MP does better, which at this juncture is TV, TV recording and EPG.
Of course the ideal scenario would be to have the best of both worlds. Great DVB and EPG performance in XBMC and no need for this rough hack to begin with.
So my question is, how likely is this to happen? How likely is it that the deficiencies in DVB playback/EPG in Kodi will be addressed? Also is there anything I can do in the interim? Can I for example tell XBMC to use the native Microsoft DVB decoders (which I think are the same as those in Microsoft Media Centre) and get great performance, without having to launch any third party software? I can't use Microsoft Media Centre, as I have Windows 8.1 pro which was supplied by my school and for whatever reason the licensing forbids me to use MC with this version of Windows. I can however still use the MC DVB decoders it seems.
For the record I am using two Astrometa USB DVB-T2 tuners and a Zoltac EN760+ (basically a steambox, but with Windows on it) as my dedicated HTPC.