# Directv2PC no audio or video



## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

I'm running Directv2PC on a 2.4Ghz Athlon X2, 1 GB mem, Windows XP w/SP3, 160 GB hard drive, Radeon HD 4670 video card with 1GB memory and latest drivers, on a house gigabit network behind a CenturyLink/Qwest DSN modem/router. The computer is connected to a Samsung plasma HDTV via an HDMI cable. I've installed the application 2 times. The second install was done with tech support assistance. The install works fiine. It verified I could use protected content and downloaded the codecs. The application opens fine and will show the programming on my DVR. I can select a show and hit the play button. I then get a black background with the application's status bars and icons showing. The progress bar correctly shows the length of the show but under the progress bar the current progress bubble shows 0:00 and is all the way to the right. No matter how long I let it run, the video never appears. However, I know something is going on with the application because both of my cpu cores heat up by 15+ degrees C. At this point, tech support gave up as the DVR and application download/install are normal. When I ran the advisor, I got a red light on the video card and driver. I believe this is because my card and drivers are much newer than those it lists as being the minimum required.

I'm very frustrated after spending the money to get this work. I have no clue what the problem is. The Windows firewall has Directv2PC listed as an exclusion. My network hardware is working fine. My video card should be more than sufficient as is my computer. Oh, one other thing. If I click on STOP, the application works fine and takes me back to the program information screen. But if I click on FAST FORWARD or REWIND, I immediately get a Windows application error saying that Directv2PC has caused an error and needs to be shut down. Your help is greatly appreciated.


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

I had the same issue with a brand new HD5770, I went to the AMD/ATI site and downloaded the lastest firmware, it corrected the problem.


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

Thanks for the reply. I checked the AMD website for the 4xxx series card running under XP. It didn't show any "firmware" just software drivers and configuration tools. I am running the latest Catalyst suite.


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

Anyone got some time to help me troubleshoot this? Thanks.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

It's been a year or more, but a Radeon on the wife's Dell XPS, I had to try several different versions before I found one that worked (not the latest at the time). The machine is dead now so I can't give you version that worked.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

bmartin1984 said:


> Anyone got some time to help me troubleshoot this? Thanks.





> But if I click on FAST FORWARD or REWIND, I immediately get a Windows application error saying that Directv2PC has caused an error and needs to be shut down.


"Back in the early days", while using Vista, I managed to hose the Windows with other codec installs, which gave me something much like this.
I tried to recover [a working setup] by uninstalling everything, but I'd managed to hose Windows so bad, I had to start with a fresh install of Vista.

You may have something in your XP that isn't playing well with DirecTV2PC. 
How much/many other video apps do you have installed?
some have had to remove other apps to get this to work.


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

I did have one of those codec packs which I uninstalled. I also uninstalled my ANYDVD software which I didn't use anyway. It still won't show any video. The only other video related software I have installed is XVID basic. The rest is just older games. Is there anything in the Catalyst drivers that needs to be tweeked? I doubt it. My TV is only 2 years old so that shouldn't be a problem either. It seems to me it is something in the app that can't display the video stream even though it seems to be working hard to process it.

I noticed that my Samsung Plasma has a source option for "DLNA: Directv2PC Media Server". It seems to point to the HR20. The set up only allowed me to get a XVID VOD registration number. I did that. But any attempt to select movies, photos or music results in "Not supported file format." Yes my TV has the last software update according to the automatic, online update feature. So I don't know what this source is supposed to do or if it was automatically detected by the TV or came as something preinstalled (seems doubtful).


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

Does Cyberlink support this software at all? I'm fed up with Directv and may need to consider alternatives. They say it's too hard to provide tech support on Directv2PC because there are so many different customer PC configurations. But other software companies do this all the time to support their customers along with providing patches, FAQs, etc. as incompatibilities are identified. It's a shame they just punt problems to the user community instead of doing some genuine in house testing. There are a variety of common issues with Directv2PC yet Directv chooses to only concern themselves with ensuring the application is installed correctly. According to their tech support, it's not their area of expertise to ensure the application actually functions. What? That's what they told me. So if they can't lead, then hire someone who can like maybe Cyberlink or a third party. So much for being the number one satellite TV provider with supposedly the highest rated customer support.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

bmartin1984 said:


> Does Cyberlink support this software at all? I'm fed up with Directv and may need to consider alternatives. They say it's too hard to provide tech support on Directv2PC because there are so many different customer PC configurations. But other software companies do this all the time to support their customers along with providing patches, FAQs, etc. as incompatibilities are identified. It's a shame they just punt problems to the user community instead of doing some genuine in house testing. There are a variety of common issues with Directv2PC yet Directv chooses to only concern themselves with ensuring the application is installed correctly. According to their tech support, it's not their area of expertise to ensure the application actually functions. What? That's what they told me. So if they can't lead, then hire someone who can like maybe Cyberlink or a third party. So much for being the number one satellite TV provider with supposedly the highest rated customer support.


I guess you should ask for your money back then. Oh wait this was free, never mind.
Sorry that it doesn't work for you, but as a free app that is a bit long in the tooth these days, "you get what you pay for".


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

I understand free but...in order to use their free software which they say works fine many people have had to spend a good deal of money to upgrade their computers or even buy a new computer to be compatible with the software. So, there is a significant cost to the consumer for the pleasure of running this 'free' software. Obviously their compatibility checker at a minimum needs more work to include software as well as hardware compatibility. Then maybe some folks would either have gotten their systems right before installation or not wasted a lot of money to find out it wasn't going to work. That's the boat I'm in. Wasted money on cpu, video card and RAM. Got green compatibility lights but no video. I wish they'd just remove that software from their website if they don't want to support it and save folks from losing money.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

bmartin1984 said:


> I understand free but...in order to use their free software which they say works fine many people have had to spend a good deal of money to upgrade their computers or even buy a new computer to be compatible with the software. So, there is a significant cost to the consumer for the pleasure of running this 'free' software. Obviously their compatibility checker at a minimum needs more work to include software as well as hardware compatibility. Then maybe some folks would either have gotten their systems right before installation or not wasted a lot of money to find out it wasn't going to work. That's the boat I'm in. Wasted money on cpu, video card and RAM. Got green compatibility lights but no video. I wish they'd just remove that software from their website if they don't want to support it and save folks from losing money.


"I think" had you read some of the threads here about it, a video card and maybe a cheap sound card, would have been the only upgrade you would have needed.
I used this on an old Pentium 4 HT [circa '05] and only needed to use a $50 video card upgrade, for the MPEG-4 & HDCP support.
"Yeah" the whole advisor thing could be supported better, but it is what it is and it seems iPads and the like is where all of this is going now days.


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

Ok, no more whining from me. Just looking for ideas about specific types of software or settings that could impact the ability of Directv2PC to display the video stream from the DVR. My XP Pro computer has a Soundblaster Live card in it. I didn't see any setting to turn off the SPDIF port as suggested elsewhere. I could go with the cheapo on board sound if that would make a difference. Basically the PC just has a bunch of older Direct X9 level games like COD 2, Roller Coaster Tycoon, BF 2142, etc. I removed Audicity, music match, AnyDVD, a Codec pack, etc. I keep the registry and hard drive cleaned with CC Cleaner. Any 'gotchas' or 'wtf's' that others have run into would be appreciated.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

bmartin1984 said:


> Ok, no more whining from me. Just looking for ideas about specific types of software or settings that could impact the ability of Directv2PC to display the video stream from the DVR. My XP Pro computer has a Soundblaster Live card in it.* I didn't see any setting to turn off the SPDIF port as suggested elsewhere*. I could go with the cheapo on board sound if that would make a difference. Basically the PC just has a bunch of older Direct X9 level games like COD 2, Roller Coaster Tycoon, BF 2142, etc. I removed Audicity, music match, AnyDVD, a Codec pack, etc. I keep the registry and hard drive cleaned with CC Cleaner. Any 'gotchas' or 'wtf's' that others have run into would be appreciated.


Since you're still using XP, the only option is to disable the Soundblaster card and try the on board sound chip.
Not sure this is going to make this work, but a digital audio output that doesn't support HDCP [dumb as it is] stops playback.


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

Is it necessary to remove the Soundblaster card if I select the Radeon sound device that operates over the HDMI link? I've set my sound device option to the Radeon, which works fine to get sound to my TV, but it doesn't help with the video play back issue. I was actually kind of interested to see that the video card offers sound capabilities but I have no idea how they compare to old onboard or SB Live sound. I know it is better for things like blu-ray and should be compatible with video encryption.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

bmartin1984 said:


> Is it necessary to remove the Soundblaster card if I select the Radeon sound device that operates over the HDMI link? I've set my sound device option to the Radeon, which works fine to get sound to my TV, but it doesn't help with the video play back issue. I was actually kind of interested to see that the video card offers sound capabilities but I have no idea how they compare to old onboard or SB Live sound. I know it is better for things like blu-ray and should be compatible with video encryption.


You shouldn't have to remove it, but use Windows [XP] to disable it. "I think" [been a few years since I had XP] that right click on the speaker icon will get you to where it can be disabled.
Since you're wanting to use the ATI sound, check if it has the latest driver from Realtek, which looks to be: ATI HDMI Audio Device R2.64 2011/9/2
from here: http://www.realtek.com/downloads/do...=3&GetDown=false#High Definition Audio Codecs


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## bmartin1984 (Nov 21, 2011)

I disabled the Soundblaster via Control Panel and ensured the Radeon audio driver was the default sound device. That didn't make a difference. I did notice that Directv2PC would cause an error requiring shutdown when I selected "More Info". It does this also when selecting "Fast Forward" or "Rewind" causing Windows to say the app needs to be shutdown. Having said this, I've installed this app twice. The second time with Directv tech support walking me through it. So I know it installs fine. Heck, it launches and gets to the DVR show list screen smooth and fast. But there is inherently something incompatible with this app and my hw or sw as well as the problem with never showing video or playing audio. At this point, I just don't know what to start dismantling. This is basically a fresh build but I spent a good number of days loading all the games and patches. I've got nothing that would indicate to me that a rebuild is going to get me any farther down the road. Ugh. So close yet so far.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

bmartin1984 said:


> I've got nothing that would indicate to me that a rebuild is going to get me any farther down the road. Ugh. So close yet so far.


when I hosed a version of Vista with added codec, I simply had to start with a fresh Vista install.
I know others with [an old] XP also had to simply start with a new install of XP.
"If you're game", do a fresh install and then focus on DirecTV2PC first.


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