Bug: Can't play file whilst recording in progress

[phantom]

I've tried the DVD player beta, and it has some nice features. One missing feature however is the ability to open a file that is currently being written. This is essential for live viewing or time-shifting of a currently recording DVB-T (digital TV) file. I use a very simple application to record a DVB-T program to an MPEG file on the hard disk, and would like to be able to view the file whilst recording is still in progress.

I also tried the elecard mpeg player version 2.something a while ago and found it suffered the same limitation.

They both appear to allow opening of files in read-only mode, but even if that option is selected then mpeg player says the file is an unsupported format, and the dvd player says "couldn't open"

Other players (for example Nebula Electronics' DigiTV) can play these files without any trouble. Furthermore, the Elecard playes can play a copy of the file (even whilst recording is in progress) if the file is copied  by windows explorer for example (not a practical solution, but this did demonstrate that it is certainly not a file format or compatibilty issue).

Solving this problem would open up a larger market for this software, for I've found there are very few players like DigiTV that can gracefully deal with such files. You could advertise this as a feature of your player if you can get it to work. The quality of the Elecard decoder appears superior to DigiTV, but is useless to me if it can't open files whilst recording is in progress.

Thanks for considering this issue.

[Alexander Malinovsky]

Yes, in the DVD Player there is no such function.

The  thing is that DVDPlayer uses standard MS File Source which does not  allow to load recording files.  

DVD Player is under the constant improvement from our side; and in future versions we plan to add this feature as well as the others.

In Elecard MPEG Player there is such feature. You should open the Settings window and check the "Open file as s file list" box.

Thank you!

[phantom]

I just tried the latest Elecard MPEG Player 4, which I guess came out after your answer above, but it has the same problem. I tried toggling the setting that looked a little like the one you described, but it did not help. Still cannot open files that are currently being recorded.

Any further ideas?

[Kostya]

Hi phantom,
The filter which will work with recording files is still developed. Further it will be included in our products such as Elecard MPEG Player,  Elecard DVD Player and other.
Watch news on our site.

Best Regard,
Konstantin.

[phantom]

It has been 6 months, but still no news on the play while recording still in  progress feature!

I just tried MPEG player v4.0.3 to see if it would yet play .ts files while they are still being written to, but alas this feature is still not available.

Also, I notice there is no support for .ts files is DVD Player. I'm using the excellent Web Scheduler program to do all my Digital TV recordings, and the output is therefore in transport stream format. I’d like a player that can support DVD’s, .mpg files and .ts files. Looks like Elecard doesn’t support this obvious combination (see also my other recent post on incompatibility of  DVD Player with MPEG player).

Can you please add transport stream support (.ts files) and support for playing files that are still being written to DVD player? Thank you very much.

[Kostya]

Work with a growing file will be included in following version of DVD player 2.1. It will leave ASAP, I shall inform you on it.

Best Regards
Konstantin.

[phantom]

Hello again,

This still doesn't appear to work in version 2.1. Am I doing something wrong or is it still not yet supported? I gather from the number of views on this thread that it is a much desired feature!

Thanks.

[Kostya]

Hi phantom,
You are right supports of growing files in Elecard DVD Player v 2.1 are not present. We will try to include this feature in the following version.
This opportunity is added in Elecard MPEG Player v 4.5 which you can download here: http://www.elecard.com/products/products-pc/consumer/mpeg-player/.

Best Regards,
Konstantin.