[FFmpeg-devel] [BUG] PCR, PTS drift for mpegts streams. Black screen on set-top box.

[Alexandre Ferrieux]

Baptiste Coudurier wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On 6/3/2009 8:17 AM, Olof Astrand wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have been trying to get ffmpeg to stream a screen capture (x11grab)
>> to a set top box. Unfortunately ffmpeg has not been so successful so 
>> far. It seems like mpegtsenc.c does not set or calculate PCR
>> correctly.
>>
>> I have not gone into the details yet but would really like some help
>> or pointers  if someone is working on this problem, or know anything
>> about it.
>>
>> When I set ts->cur_pcr to the current pts for the audio stream like
>> this:
>>
>> +                if (pts != AV_NOPTS_VALUE) {
>>
>> +                 ts->cur_pcr = pts-90000;
>>
>> +               }
>>
>> Then at I get an image for a while, otherwise the image on the set
>> top box is black.
>>
> 
> PCR is related to DTS, and yes this is a known problem. It should work
> better in CBR mode, ie with rc_max_rate set and respected.

Baptiste, can you please give the explicit command-line switches and 
values to use for the CBR mode ?

Also, an IP box is not likely to expect the stuffing used to reach the 
constant bitrate, so it might not fully work, right ?

> A fully working buffering model for the TS muxer is needed, patch very
> welcome.

The problem is that the real experts here are you, Mans, Michael... what 
can we do to help you give this a higher priority ? Do you need further 
characterizations of the problem, or is every aspect of it well known ?

FWIW, here in my company, this very problem makes us dependent on vlc 
for TS muxing, which induces extra latency and instability (vlc has bugs 
too, though fewer in the TS muxer :-P ). So it is THE dark spot about 
ffmpeg which is absolutely perfect otherwise.

-Alex