XBMC able to play DVRMS

[Auldar]

Just thought I'd share this in case it wasn't widely known. I've known about it for a little while but didn't want to post until I'd had a chance to test it myself - I just tested it, and it works great with SD recordings (I'm even using it over wireless without an issue). I'm sure it would be fine with HD recordings too if the Xbox (non-360) had a faster CPU. Those of you who got the 1466Mhz Celeron upgrade could probably cope with HD - I was never game to send my Xbox to Asia for the upgrade :P


John Donaghy has managed to implement DVRMS support in mplayer, which he's working to get implemented in the mplayer source. You can download his current version via this thread:

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/forum...p?t=34&page=28

You can then install it in your XBMC app directory (remembering to backup your mplayer.dll file first).

Incidentally (and a little off topic for this forum, but related all the same), John has been working with a guy called "jelwood" (or vice versa) from the DVRMSToolbox forums, who's using his changes to get mencoder to natively encode DVRMS files to divx/xvid/wmv/h264. ie no need to go to MPEG first. I did post about this on Arkay's Crunchie thread a few weeks back, and it looks like Arkay's pretty keen on the new mencoder binary.

You can read about this here:

http://babgvant.com/forums/20/1941/ShowThread.aspx

Great work going on there, and I'm using the latest version (8) to great effect.

[Innie808]

Thanks for the Heads up on this Auldar,

I just figured i'd wait until an XBMC release with DVRMS support, and since it has taken so long, completely forgotten about it. I tried the Beta Mplayer.dll and it 's a hell of an improvement. Still some audio sync issues but definately DVRMS is now watchable on XBMC.

And Yes, the XBOX V1 handles SD recorded TV without a hitch.

[seemac]

I have just installed XBMC using the latest build. I wanted to use the XBOX to watch recorded TV off the Media Center in another room. When I attempt to play a DVR-MS recorded TV file through XBMC, it plays at double speed. Picture is nice and clear, but unwatchable because it is too fast.

Have searched all over the net and not found anyone having a similar problem. I'm not overly familiar with the XBOX setup having just set it all up. What is Mplayer.dll. Is this something extra on XBMC?

Any ideas on what my problem would be?

[Auldar]

Thanks for the Heads up on this Auldar,

I just figured i'd wait until an XBMC release with DVRMS support, and since it has taken so long, completely forgotten about it. I tried the Beta Mplayer.dll and it 's a hell of an improvement. Still some audio sync issues but definately DVRMS is now watchable on XBMC.

And Yes, the XBOX V1 handles SD recorded TV without a hitch.

Yep, I experienced about a 0.2s audio offset, so I just used XBMCs audio properties to delay the audio by 0.2s.

This latest version is using a more recent official branch for his changes, so he did expect a few regressions. I'm sure he'll nail the audio sync again once people report it.

[Auldar]

I have just installed XBMC using the latest build. I wanted to use the XBOX to watch recorded TV off the Media Center in another room. When I attempt to play a DVR-MS recorded TV file through XBMC, it plays at double speed. Picture is nice and clear, but unwatchable because it is too fast.

Have searched all over the net and not found anyone having a similar problem. I'm not overly familiar with the XBOX setup having just set it all up. What is Mplayer.dll. Is this something extra on XBMC?

Any ideas on what my problem would be?

XBMC uses Mplayer.dll as its primary media player (excluding DVDs I think).

Go to the link I provided above, then click on the megaupload link from John (enter the code and wait 45s until you can download it), and download his latest version of mplayer.dll.

You then ftp to your xbox, and nagivate to the directory you installed XBMC. I believe you want the "system/players/mplayer" directory within the xbmc directory.

You should see a copy of mplayer.dll in there - rename it to mplayer.dll.orig, then ftp the version you downloaded from megaupload into that directory.

You should now have a working DVRMS player with XBMC

[juzdownunder]

FYI, if anyone (else) is wondering how to get XBMC to see your .dvr-ms files, you need to add the extension type to the xboxmediacenter.xml in your XBMC install directory on the xbox.

The other choice is to rename your dvr-ms files to .avi, that will also work.

I've just tested the new mplayer.dll on my xbox, and dvr-ms files are playing. I don't have any audio delay issues, but on some files there seems to be a bit of stop/start jerkiness on playback. Will have a bit more of a play around and report back.

[Auldar]

FYI, if anyone (else) is wondering how to get XBMC to see your .dvr-ms files, you need to add the extension type to the xboxmediacenter.xml in your XBMC install directory on the xbox.

The other choice is to rename your dvr-ms files to .avi, that will also work.

I've just tested the new mplayer.dll on my xbox, and dvr-ms files are playing. I don't have any audio delay issues, but on some files there seems to be a bit of stop/start jerkiness on playback. Will have a bit more of a play around and report back.

Are you using an old version of XBMC? I didn't have to add the extention.. I'm using a version from late January this year.

I've yet to see any jerky playback - the worst I'm seeing is some deinterlacing artifacts on one of my recordings..

[juzdownunder]

Yes, i've had XBMC on my xbox for a couple of years now at least, so no doubt it'd be pretty old.

[Stephen_N]

Have they fixed the major limitation in XBMC that meant it didn't cope with interlaced MPEG2 replay properly? I've stopped using XBMC since summer of last year, but last time I used it, the limitation of mplayer meant that it de-interlaced 50i and 60i interlaced MPEG2 to 25 or 30fps rather than 50 or 60fps. This was fine for films - sourced from 25 fps originals, but for anything shot on video at 50i - like sport, news or entertainment, half the movement information was effectively chucked away, giving everything a film-like flicker, and no fluid motion.

Pity - as in almost every other respect XBMC was pretty good.

[seemac]

Have updated mplayer.exe and now get smooth playback at normal speed of dvrms files recorded on my Media Center PC. Even plays back HD recordings. Problem is now, the audio is out of synch by anything upto 1/2 second. I'm not sure if I'm imagining it, but the amount it is out of synch by seems to vary between recordings.

It's watchable but annoying.

[Auldar]

Have updated mplayer.exe and now get smooth playback at normal speed of dvrms files recorded on my Media Center PC. Even plays back HD recordings. Problem is now, the audio is out of synch by anything upto 1/2 second. I'm not sure if I'm imagining it, but the amount it is out of synch by seems to vary between recordings.

It's watchable but annoying.

In the audio options in XBMC, when you're playing a file, you can change the audio delay (either forwards or backwards).

You hit menu, then up I believe (it's diagonally up and left, but I can't remember if you push up or left to get to that menu item), and select the audio properties. You'll then see an audio delay slider, where you can modify the a/v sync. I've found -0.2s about right for my recordings.

[Wraak]

I wonder how this is going. I installed XBMC on one of my xp mce machines but playing dvr-ms over the network is impossible. 7HD shows play but they jump back a few frames all the time. It is hard to explain but it is unwatchable. The same happens with Boxee. SBS recorded shows do not play at all.