Novelty of Recording TV is Long Gone...Now Fix It

[Major_A]

I bought this product over a year ago and have had varying problems. I am now tired of dealing with them and want the software to work as intended. The crashing needs to be fixed ASAP. I am restarting my HTPC or SageTV two to three times a day. Sometimes the program crashes to the desktop other times it just freezes. I have tried various versions of JAVA with no results better than the previous. I can run two instances of SP2004 (one CPU and one RAM), Prime95, and 3DMark06 for 24+ hours without one error. I start up SageTV and within a few hours I'm walking over to the computer to restart the thing.

On top of this SageTV decides to periodically change my system clock for no apparent reason. I can be watching a show and next thing I know it’s somehow decided to jump a few hours forward. This requires minimizing SageTV so I can adjust my clock. This happens a few times a week.

Other times I find myself having to remove a channel from my lineup and re-add it so the TV listings will update itself. These things are more than annoyances they are making me reconsider this “coolness” factor for a functional DVR that will record the right show every time, and stay connected. I find myself while away from home trying to watch the shows I plan on recording because in all honesty I have no idea when I get back if it’s going to be there. While SageTV gets most of the blame I can’t exclude my Hauppauge IR.

Most people including guests and girlfriends have no clue how to fix these issues. While I can fix these issues without a problem most people wouldn’t know how to resolve them or possibly fix them (ala the time issue).

Moving on, here are a few suggestions I would like to see made/adjusted in SageTV.
Suggestions:
1. Add better visualizations for the music player
2. Have an option in the music player to always display the song information
3. Add a reminder option, I don’t need to record everything, sometimes I just need to be reminded to switch the channel
4. Add an option to restart SageTV at a predetermined time
5. Add an option to clear the JAVA cache through SageTV
6. Don’t make it tune the channel every time something “new” starts. I already have that turned off but the seamless viewing experience is lost anyway.

[AngelofDeth]

6. Don’t make it tune the channel every time something “new” starts. I already have that turned off but the seamless viewing experience is lost anyway.


Since SageTV records every show into a separate file, I don't believe this is possible. Switching files will always result in a non-smooth transition when a new show starts even on the same channel.

[bcjenkins]

Major A,

A few questions for you:


Would you please share your system configuration? Include as much detail as possible.
Have you contacted Sage support?
Do you use your machine for anything else?


B

[blade]

I don't think there is anything in particular to fix. Many people are running Sage without issue. Others have problems, but with computers that is always the case. If you can run Prime95 and other stress tests, but can't run Sage then you have a problem somewhere. PVR stresses your hardware in ways other programs don't because the hardware is being used in different ways. So it's possible some of your hardware just can't handle it or you have some software conflicts.

My Sage server has never crashed in almost 2 years and the client only has to be rebooted once every few months. So it's very possible to have a solid running Sage setup.

If you list your hardware and software I'm sure someone can offer some advice.

[Major_A]

Quick summary:
Sempron 2800+ O/C'ed from 1.6Ghz to 2.0Ghz stock voltage
512MB Value RAM - Corsair, Patriot
ECS nForce 250 - original BIOS (isn't a newer one)
6800nu stock
Hauppauge PVR 150 - latest drivers
Chaintech AV710 soundcard
Maxtor ATA133 60GB OS/SageTV drive
Western Digital SATA II 250GB storage drive
Lite-On DVD Burner - latest firmware
Rosewill Value 450W PSU
3X Zalman low speed fans
Zalman 7000 AlCu on CPU
Zalman V700 Cu on GPU
Windows XP Professional 32bit
DirectX 9.0C updated last week
OS all up to date

If you want more detailed information I ran the hardware summary in Everest, it's the .pdf file.

The only time I have problems with the software is when I am watching TV. If it let it sleep and let it run I rarely have a problem.

[hemicuda]

Are you sure President Scroob (Salute!) didn't have a hand in managing that setup?

Sorry, couldn't resist the reference. :thumb:
I *will* resist the urge to quote that scene. I'm sure the board will be happy of that.:D

I sincerely hope you get your problems with STV resolved.

[stevech]

Quick summary:
Sempron 2800+ O/C'ed from 1.6Ghz to 2.0Ghz stock voltage
512MB Value RAM - Corsair, Patriot
ECS nForce 250 - original BIOS (isn't a newer one)
6800nu stock
Hauppauge PVR 150 - latest drivers
Chaintech AV710 soundcard
Maxtor ATA133 60GB OS/SageTV drive
Western Digital SATA II 250GB storage drive
Lite-On DVD Burner - latest firmware
Rosewill Value 450W PSU
3X Zalman low speed fans
Zalman 7000 AlCu on CPU
Zalman V700 Cu on GPU
Windows XP Professional 32bit
DirectX 9.0C updated last week
OS all up to date

If you want more detailed information I ran the hardware summary in Everest, it's the .pdf file.

The only time I have problems with the software is when I am watching TV. If it let it sleep and let it run I rarely have a problem.

Having tried to run Sage on an ECS motherboard with an AMD 64 CPU, I can advise you to not do so. IMO, most ECS are just too poorly designed.

I must also comment that to make matters worse, you say you are seriously overclocking the system.

I'd get rid of ECS and not overclock as you say you are doing - common sense. Get to stability then tweak.

Even so, my ECS based Sage System (sole purpose) was stable for quite a few months. Then it went to heck and I no longer use it. Itr would lock up hard with frozen video - no response to anything other than hard reboot. Wouldn't even ping.

[GKusnick]

You haven't said what version of SageTV you're running. There have been a lot of bugs fixes in the past year so if you're not on the latest version (5.0.4) you might want to give it a try.

Also be aware that this is a user-to-user forum. Vent all you want, but if you're looking for an official response, you should submit a support request (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30).

On top of this SageTV decides to periodically change my system clock for no apparent reason. I can be watching a show and next thing I know it’s somehow decided to jump a few hours forward. This requires minimizing SageTV so I can adjust my clock. This happens a few times a week.
There's an option under Detailed Setup > General for synching the clock with the server. Have you tried turning that off? Also, have you checked your Windows time zone setting to make it's correct? It's possible that whoever is adjusting your clock (whether it's Windows or SageTV) is confused about what time zone you're in.

[Major_A]

Yes I built my HTPC, along with countless other computers. I would venture to say that setting up a HTPC or SageTV is not for a novice user.
Having tried to run Sage on an ECS motherboard with an AMD 64 CPU, I can advise you to not do so. IMO, most ECS are just too poorly designed.

I must also comment that to make matters worse, you say you are seriously overclocking the system.

I'd get rid of ECS and not overclock as you say you are doing - common sense. Get to stability then tweak.

Even so, my ECS based Sage System (sole purpose) was stable for quite a few months. Then it went to heck and I no longer use it. Itr would lock up hard with frozen video - no response to anything other than hard reboot. Wouldn't even ping.
ECS isn't be best no doubt, but I have run into the crashing with no O/C and the O/C it has. This isn't a hardcore O/C, I've had the chip up to 315Mhz before, so 250 is a walk in the park. I am about to slap my old Abit AV8 and current A64 3500+ in my HTPC once I pick up a A64 X2 3800+. I bought the ECS and Sempron from Fry's for $70, so I figure why dump more money into it when I set out to get a cheap upgrade at the time.
You haven't said what version of SageTV you're running. There have been a lot of bugs fixes in the past year so if you're not on the latest version (5.0.4) you might want to give it a try.

Also be aware that this is a user-to-user forum. Vent all you want, but if you're looking for an official response, you should submit a support request (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30).


There's an option under Detailed Setup > General for synching the clock with the server. Have you tried turning that off? Also, have you checked your Windows time zone setting to make it's correct? It's possible that whoever is adjusting your clock (whether it's Windows or SageTV) is confused about what time zone you're in.
Sorry about that, yeah I'm running 5.0.4 with the JRE 1.6 beta. So far the beta JRE is the most stable. Thanks for the tip about the sync with system clock, I'll change it and see what happens. I figured this was a u2u forum but I had to vent after I hard locked earlier when I went to play a recorded movie. Hence, why I registered in January but have kept my mouth shut until now.

[AngelofDeth]

If you are only worried about recorded(and live) SDTV content, you might want to look into a MediaMVP. You probably already know about it, just thought I would mention it. Also, the recommended Java version (as far as I know) is the one that ships with SageTV, which is 1.4.something...

[Lucas]

Overclocking, no matter how little could cause problems.

I briefly run my 2.8P4 at 3.06 and had SageTV crashes within the hour so I corrected my ways.....

Also, as discussed in other threads JRE 1.5 and 1.6 have problems casuing crashes etc so the recommended version is 1.4.2.11.

[Major_A]

JRE 1.4.2.11 crashes too. That was what I ran for a while after reading around on the crashing issue here on the forums. Like I said my computer is completely stable when torture testing, something a lot more stressful than SageTV running by itself.

Before today I was running my computer back at it's stock speed for a month and still had crashes. I like the added Mhz because I am then able to run FFDShow and resize the image. If I do this at stock speed it is unwatchable.

I'm not trying to dispel your comments but there is a method to my madness.

[GKusnick]

Another thing you might try (if you haven't already) is switching the PVR card to a different PCI slot. Try to get it an IRQ all its own if you can. Some motherboards don't handle IRQ sharing all that well, which can cause lockups during recording -- something your benchmarks will never stress.

Similarly, it's conceivable that MPEG2 decoding puts demands on your video card that the benchmarks don't simulate very well. The card itself may be OK, but if it's not getting enough power that could be an issue. I personally would tend to be skeptical of any PSU that has the word "Value" in its name. If you happen to have a spare PSU lying around (preferably a high-wattage name-brand unit), you might try swapping them to see if that helps.

I'm not trying to shift the blame, but hard lockups that require a reboot sound like a hardware or device driver issue to me. So that's the kind of troubleshooting I'd be doing in your shoes.

[AngelofDeth]

Hard lockups due to software is something i've rarely (if ever) seen in Windows XP...Its always been a hardware issue. Memory seems to be the most likely thing to fail after the HD in my experience... A bad, or underpowered power supply will also cause your computer to act like it has gremlins...

[waltraud]

4. Add an option to restart SageTV at a predetermined time


If you are running SageTV as a Windows service you could create a batch file containing

net stop sagetv
net start sagetv

And add a scheduled task to run it at a specific time

[Major_A]

Hardlocks was a bad choice of words. I have never had a hardlock of Windows, not my HTPC. Basically I will select a video to view and SageTV will lock up. From there I either need to reboot the computer or open up the Task Manager and close SageTV and reopen it. While I agree the PSU is questionable it has so far been rock solid. I have let Everest run in the background for days at a time to monitor temperatures and voltages. Everything was well within specs and I have not noticed a problem, yet.

As far as loading my card differently than a benchmark I can agree again. But the thing is I am just decoding SDTV through a satellite dish, not HDTV. According to PureVideo it is regularly 3Mbps. The card is good, the only reason it made into my HTPC is because I updated to a PCIe board in my main rig and couldn't use the card. I had similar crashes and SageTV lockups when I was using a Geforce FX 5600 before the 6800nu.

I have run my RAM through 24+ hour memtest86 runs to make sure it was not the culprit in the first place. I have had bad RAM issues in the past and I generally know what to look for and rectify them ASAP. I have had bad RAM that will play nice with everything except surfing the Internet, that was a pain in the butt to find the problem.

[Major_A]

If you are running SageTV as a Windows service you could create a batch file containing

net stop sagetv
net start sagetv

And add a scheduled task to run it at a specific time
I am no good at the software level of anything (dropped my JAVA C++ course in college after a week), can you post an example?

[waltraud]

I am no good at the software level of anything (dropped my JAVA C++ course in college after a week), can you post an example?

Just create a text file containing

net stop sagetv
net start sagetv

Save it and change the file extention to .bat

Then create a scheduled task to run the batch file. (Start - Program Files - Accessories - System Tools)

That's it.

BTW I am not at home at the moment so I can't check if the service is called sagetv. I am pretty sure though ;-)

You can double check the name under Services in Windows Computer Management or with 'net start' at the command line. This will list all the running services.

PS: You can check if the batch file works by just running it from the command line. I wouldn't run it by double clicking it because the window will close no matter if it was run successfully or not and you won't be able to check for error messages.

[bcjenkins]

pls post full output of java -version

[samgreco]

I would lay my money on the motherboard.

I had a Soyo Dragon in my Sage server and I would get random file corruption, only in Sage. Whenever I had to reboot, Sage would forget that it had a second PVR250. And I could never run another app like XLobby or other frontend without problems,

I switched to an Asus board and haven't had a SINGLE issue since. I haven't needed even a reboot in months.

And remember that the original Soyo tested perfectly. It still works, just not with PVR250s. I did try it later with other PVR software and had similar issues, so it wasn't Sage, but the combination of hardware.

[ToxMox]

FYI all versions of Java after 1.5.0_05 have memory leaks and problems with Sage. Do you only experience Sage crashes when watching shows? If so you may want to try different audio/video decoder combinations or try updating or going to an older version of the PVR-150 drivers.

Other than that it sounds like you've ruled out almost everything hardware wise except for the motherboard and processor themselves.

[bcjenkins]

FYI all versions of Java after 1.5.0_05 have memory leaks and problems with Sage. Do you only experience Sage crashes when watching shows? If so you may want to try different audio/video decoder combinations or try updating or going to an older version of the PVR-150 drivers.

Other than that it sounds like you've ruled out almost everything hardware wise except for the motherboard and processor themselves.
Actually, I am running 1.6 beta build 97 ( I think 96 was okay too) no handles issues.

B

[BobPhoenix]

3. Add a reminder option, I don’t need to record everything, sometimes I just need to be reminded to switch the channelI have a plugin that I wrote for myself that I could clean up and post to do this.

BobP.

[Major_A]

FYI all versions of Java after 1.5.0_05 have memory leaks and problems with Sage. Do you only experience Sage crashes when watching shows? If so you may want to try different audio/video decoder combinations or try updating or going to an older version of the PVR-150 drivers.

Other than that it sounds like you've ruled out almost everything hardware wise except for the motherboard and processor themselves.
Why would the Hauppauge card drivers affect lockups during playback? The show/movie is already recorded but as soon as I select watch now SageTV locks up.
I have a plugin that I wrote for myself that I could clean up and post to do this.

BobP.
That would be much appreciated.
I would lay my money on the motherboard.

I had a Soyo Dragon in my Sage server and I would get random file corruption, only in Sage. Whenever I had to reboot, Sage would forget that it had a second PVR250. And I could never run another app like XLobby or other frontend without problems,

I switched to an Asus board and haven't had a SINGLE issue since. I haven't needed even a reboot in months.

And remember that the original Soyo tested perfectly. It still works, just not with PVR250s. I did try it later with other PVR software and had similar issues, so it wasn't Sage, but the combination of hardware.
I hope that's the case, like I said in a couple weeks I'm picking up a new X2 processor and am going to transfer my A64 3500+ and older AV8 into my HTPC.
pls post full output of java -version
How? Can I do this through the JAVA console in the Control Panel?



Thanks everyone, I honestly did not expect this kind of helpful suggestions/support.

[blade]

Maybe I missed it, but are you running VMR9 or Overlay? Is FSE enabled or disabled and is 3d acceleration turned on? What decoder are you using?

IMO you need to set things up with the simpliest settings and go from there. I'd try Overlay, Sage Decoder, 3d acceleration off, FSE off, no FFDshow. If you can get that stable then start tweaking the settings for better PQ and performance.

Also I wouldn't try to overclock until Sage was stable. I ran Prime95 for hours on my HTPC without a hiccup and 5 minutes into watching a show it crashed. I slowed things down a bit and it's been rock solid ever since.

Do the recordings that freeze Sage play ok in WMP? When you go to watch a show try pressing play instead of ok and see if it still freezes up. This will bypass the popup with watch now. Some people have problems when selecting a show through the popup.

[Major_A]

VMR9
FSE disabled
3D Acceleration on

The latest nVidia PureVideo decoder.
Deinterlace Control - Automatic
Deinterlace Mode - Automatic
Enhanced nView Support - Prefer VMR9

The recordings play fine in WMP, I'll try selecting play instead of using the popup.

[bcjenkins]

Why would the Hauppauge card drivers affect lockups during playback? The show/movie is already recorded but as soon as I select watch now SageTV locks up.

That would be much appreciated.

I hope that's the case, like I said in a couple weeks I'm picking up a new X2 processor and am going to transfer my A64 3500+ and older AV8 into my HTPC.

How? Can I do this through the JAVA console in the Control Panel?



Thanks everyone, I honestly did not expect this kind of helpful suggestions/support.
open cmd prompt, type java -version [enter], click program icon on top left window, select mark, highlight all text, left click, paste to forum.

B

[Major_A]

open cmd prompt, type java -version [enter], click program icon on top left window, select mark, highlight all text, left click, paste to forum.

B
java version "1.6.0-beta2"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-beta2-b86)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-beta2-b86, mixed mode, sharing)

[Humanzee]

I had an ECS board running with Sage for a couple of years, then I bought a new graphics card and it just wouldn't work. For the life of me I couldn't get it to work correctly. Turned out to be chipset drivers. You might give it a look. I moved sage to a different computer anyway as my better machine was under used. The only crashes I get now seem to be related to me tinkering with things that I shouldn't. Otherwise it just works. Good luck.

[Major_A]

Unfortuately for me nVidia hasn't updated the nForce3 drivers since last year and those are the ones I have.

[bcjenkins]

java version "1.6.0-beta2"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-beta2-b86)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-beta2-b86, mixed mode, sharing)

Here's mine:

java version "1.6.0-rc"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-rc-b97)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-rc-b97, mixed mode)

You need to update to the snapshot builds to stop vmr-9 issue creates too many hadnles and locks up sage.

B

[Major_A]

Here's mine:

java version "1.6.0-rc"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-rc-b97)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-rc-b97, mixed mode)

You need to update to the snapshot builds to stop vmr-9 issue creates too many hadnles and locks up sage.

B
Sounds good, you would you be a nice guy and point me in the right direction?

[ToxMox]

I believe this is the snapshot release.
http://download.java.net/jdk6/binaries/

[bcjenkins]

Thanks for doing the link, I was on my way out the door last night when I posted the comparison. Two things though:


Snapshots released weekly, the version I am on will likely disappear today. Don't know what bugs may be reintroduced.
If the file is named .zip, name .jar, run it and replace the 1.6.0 dir in your c:\pro..\java dir


B

[mayamaniac]

This is a tough one to figure out, you'll just have to take all the suggestions posted and keep on narrowing down to the specific problem. If you have the patience for it, I bet the problem will be nailed down eventually. Usually AMD coupled with VIA chipset motherboard spell disaster, but you have an nForce2 chipset, so it should be better. But then again you have a budget brand in ECS, so who knows whether the board is the problem or not. If you are getting a new CPU and mobo soon, then maybe just forget about fixing this thing and hope it works better on the new hardware. If its an option, I would go with intel processor and intel mobo instead of AMD/nForce combo.

As for SageTV, it runs very stable when there are no software/hardware conflicts. Is it stable on all hardware configurations? Of course not, SageTV is a little more picky with the hardware it runs on then other common softwares, so there's always a chance it won't run well on your system.

[scoful]

I have a plugin that I wrote for myself that I could clean up and post to do this.

BobP.

Since everything you watch is recording anyway and Sage pops up a dialog asking if you want to change the channel, isn't that the reminder for most users? I do have multiple tuners, and could see this as a possible benefit, since Sage will just record the show if it has an available tuner without asking. I guess it would be a nice option to use with Favorites, so if you're watching something and a Favorite that is flagged for reminders (or you have flagged a specific show) you can immediately opt to not watch (or record it) when it comes on. However; I hate commercials so badly that I usually won't watch a live show - at least not until it's about 30% through it so I can skip through the commercials.

Can you post what you have so I can take a look?

[BobPhoenix]

Since everything you watch is recording anyway and Sage pops up a dialog asking if you want to change the channel, isn't that the reminder for most users? I do have multiple tuners, and could see this as a possible benefit, since Sage will just record the show if it has an available tuner without asking. I guess it would be a nice option to use with Favorites, so if you're watching something and a Favorite that is flagged for reminders (or you have flagged a specific show) you can immediately opt to not watch (or record it) when it comes on. However; I hate commercials so badly that I usually won't watch a live show - at least not until it's about 30% through it so I can skip through the commercials.

Can you post what you have so I can take a look?Sure - tonight I hope. In it's current format I have to manually complete the import in Studio - I missed a link somewhere - will try to fix that but not the other quirks that I want to eliminate.

As far as how it operates. I programmed it to work as close as possible to how "Reminders" work on my Moto-6412 cable box. This does not replace favorites and is only useful for LiveTV - that's why I never posted it. Didn't think many people would want it. They might like it when just starting out with SageTV but once you start selecting favorites and using IR it is less useful. I really only use it on premium channels where you don't get commercials and usually not real often. Anyway what it does is display a transparent menu similar to a program Guide single show entry for all shows selected for this plugin that are currently airing or will be airing within the next few minutes (time before show is configurable). If you have used NIELM's dynamic menus then this is similar to the Guide entry displayed at the bottom of the screens in the dynamic menus. This menu will appear shortly before the show is to start but is also possible to bring up by pressing select while watching a video. Then you can scroll through all of the ones in the list and select any of them. This kind of makes it like previous channel except you can go to more than just two channels.

BobP.

Edit: In order to finish it up I had to do more than I thought. It should be quite functional and some/most? of the quirks have been eliminated.

[BobPhoenix]

Since everything you watch is recording anyway and Sage pops up a dialog asking if you want to change the channel, isn't that the reminder for most users? I do have multiple tuners, and could see this as a possible benefit, since Sage will just record the show if it has an available tuner without asking. I guess it would be a nice option to use with Favorites, so if you're watching something and a Favorite that is flagged for reminders (or you have flagged a specific show) you can immediately opt to not watch (or record it) when it comes on. However; I hate commercials so badly that I usually won't watch a live show - at least not until it's about 30% through it so I can skip through the commercials.

Can you post what you have so I can take a look?The Reminders plugin has been uploaded here (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=113). Maybe later I will start a support thread but for now you can PM me with question or start a thread of your own.

BobP.

[dbfresh23]

Hmmm, well look at that. At first I figured that this seemd like a pretty useless plugin, but now after seeing the pics I have a better idea of what it's doing and it's actually a pretty cool idea. I'll grab it and give it a shot too.:thumb:

[BobPhoenix]

Hmmm, well look at that. At first I figured that this seemd like a pretty useless plugin, but now after seeing the pics I have a better idea of what it's doing and it's actually a pretty cool idea. I'll grab it and give it a shot too.:thumb:Just uploaded a fix:bang: so if you got it before this post download again please. Also I thought it would probably be fairly useless to most people that's why I haven't uploaded it until now. Hope you like it.

[Jason]

Unfortuately for me nVidia hasn't updated the nForce3 drivers since last year and those are the ones I have.

Try these... I have had great service from them...

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/meis-nware-release-0606-beta-3-x86-x64-nforce-udp-rmx-vt66487.html

:-)

-Jason

[naln]

Have you tried changing the decoders for video playback? Sounds like sage freezes up trying to playback a file- so I would start looking there. Also, is the system stable if sage just keeps recording and nothing is watched on the server - or if wmp or someother media player is used to watch those files?

-naln.

[Major_A]

Try these... I have had great service from them...

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/meis-nware-release-0606-beta-3-x86-x64-nforce-udp-rmx-vt66487.html

:-)

-Jason
Thanks, I'll give them a shot.
Have you tried changing the decoders for video playback? Sounds like sage freezes up trying to playback a file- so I would start looking there. Also, is the system stable if sage just keeps recording and nothing is watched on the server - or if wmp or someother media player is used to watch those files?

-naln.
I have changed them in the past. There was no success. Right now I'm using nVidia Post Processing Decoder. If SageTV sits there idle or sleeping it has never shut down on me that way. I don't know about WMP as the PC is used exclusively for my HTPC.

[ToxMox]

Right now I'm using nVidia Post Processing Decoder.With your video card you should probably be using the nvidia video decoder and not the post processor one. That may be why you needed to overclock. Your video card I believe will do that same thing in hardware that the post processor does in software with your CPU.

[Major_A]

With your video card you should probably be using the nvidia video decoder and not the post processor one. That may be why you needed to overclock. Your video card I believe will do that same thing in hardware that the post processor does in software with your CPU.
Thanks I'll give it a shot.

[naln]

If you experience crashes only when trying to playback a file within sagetv- then it seems decoder related to me.
I have experienced some stuttering, freezing up etc while trying to use some decoders- but only within sage. Watching the same media via another media player should tell you more about your problem.

[MrD]

Hardlocks was a bad choice of words. I have never had a hardlock of Windows, not my HTPC. Basically I will select a video to view and SageTV will lock up. From there I either need to reboot the computer or open up the Task Manager and close SageTV and reopen it. While I agree the PSU is questionable it has so far been rock solid. I have let Everest run in the background for days at a time to monitor temperatures and voltages. Everything was well within specs and I have not noticed a problem, yet.

As far as loading my card differently than a benchmark I can agree again. But the thing is I am just decoding SDTV through a satellite dish, not HDTV. According to PureVideo it is regularly 3Mbps. The card is good, the only reason it made into my HTPC is because I updated to a PCIe board in my main rig and couldn't use the card. I had similar crashes and SageTV lockups when I was using a Geforce FX 5600 before the 6800nu.

I have run my RAM through 24+ hour memtest86 runs to make sure it was not the culprit in the first place. I have had bad RAM issues in the past and I generally know what to look for and rectify them ASAP. I have had bad RAM that will play nice with everything except surfing the Internet, that was a pain in the butt to find the problem.

My vote is on PCI bus contention coupled with the low budget mainboard. Try moving around the pvr card and the sound card. Try to put the PVR in a PCI slot that does not share a *physical* IRQ line with any other slot.

However, with the mainboard you have this may not be possible.

-MrD

[naln]

Will IRQ assignments and other PCI slot conflicts not cause issues with the recording itself rather than playback?

I would assume that since the recording works perfectly fine- the IRQ assignments may not be involved- and if at all- they should cause problems with watching "Live TV" or while recording - not after that IMHO. I am no means an expert on this- just throwing out ideas based on my experience that may help!

-naln

[Major_A]

Will IRQ assignments and other PCI slot conflicts not cause issues with the recording itself rather than playback?

I would assume that since the recording works perfectly fine- the IRQ assignments may not be involved- and if at all- they should cause problems with watching "Live TV" or while recording - not after that IMHO. I am no means an expert on this- just throwing out ideas based on my experience that may help!

-naln
I switched the decoder to nVidia Decoder and updated JAVA and haven't had a crash yet. I did have SageTV "think" for about 5 minutes last night but it eventually fixed itself.

I haven't heard about IRQ issues since Win 98/ME. If I recall correctly those were mostly on VIA chipsets.

[naln]

I haven't heard about IRQ issues since Win 98/ME. If I recall correctly those were mostly on VIA chipsets.

I have had to remove an Xcard from my server due to conflicts with a SATA raid controller in WinXP Pro. Both worked very well without the other installed :(. May not have been IRQ- but manual IRQ setting, swapping PCI slots etc did not do the trick- frustration ran high- and I just went back to using TVout from a Matrox G450 instead.

[ToxMox]

I switched the decoder to nVidia Decoder and updated JAVA and haven't had a crash yet. I did have SageTV "think" for about 5 minutes last night but it eventually fixed itself.

I haven't heard about IRQ issues since Win 98/ME. If I recall correctly those were mostly on VIA chipsets.When you say updated JAVA what do you mean? What version are you running now? Also can you list EXACTLY what your Video/Audio detailed setup is configured as.
Mine is as follows:

VMR9
NVIDIA Video Decoder
Default
Default
Disabled
Default Directsound
NVIDIA Audio Decoder

[Major_A]

When you say updated JAVA what do you mean? What version are you running now? Also can you list EXACTLY what your Video/Audio detailed setup is configured as.
Mine is as follows:

VMR9
NVIDIA Video Decoder
Default
Default
Disabled
Default Directsound
NVIDIA Audio Decoder
I'm running the JAVA version linked to earlier in this thread, snapshot version.
VMR9
nVidia Video Decoder
Default
Default
Disabled
Envy24 Family Audio (WDM)
nVidia Audio Decoder

[ToxMox]

You may want to change from Envy24 to Default Directsound. I had DVD related issues until I switched to Default Directsound. This may have no impact at all with you though.

[Major_A]

I set it to the Envy24 WDM so Dolby Digital would work correctly. Seemed that the others would only produce Pro Logic.

Good news is I haven't had a crash in 3 days. Bad news is I am about ready to take a sledgehammer to my box. In some type of cruel joke I can no longer get a program guide. This all started early this morning while I was watching a movie, Cry Wolf to be exact. I recorded the movie because I didn't know if I would still be up to watch it. As it turns out my insomniatic brain kept me awake and I watched the movie. I paused the movie a few times to get a snack, use the restroom, etc... At the end of the movie there was a small piece of dialogue I didn't quite hear so I hit the quick rewind button, big mistake. The movie starts completely over and will not let me fast forward. I've had this happen before in the past and usually a restart of SageTV would take care of it. Well this time all Sage wanted to do was keep restarting this recording over and over. The recording seemed to be stuck in some kind of loop. Eventually I put Sage into sleep and watched the recorded MPG on my main machine. So I watched the part I couldn't hear, turns out I heard it correctly the first time, finished the movie and deleted it. Seems my PVR decided to chop into the recording a bit, 30MB to be exact. I have also noticed that this has caused problems with correct playback in the past with Sage. So I am done with this movie and wake Sage to see if there was anything I wanted to record while I was sleeping.

Herein lies the problem:
The program guide had No Data for every channel. I figured no big deal, deleted a channel from my lineup and added it again, no go. I deleted my video source, after reading that "fix" here on the forums, again no go. At this point it was way past my bedtime so I went to sleep. I just tried to repair Sage to see if that would work, nope. I uninstalled Sage and reinstalled to see if that would help, nada. On the positive side, before I did the repair install of Sage when I did that aforementioned fixes the Next EPG Update field would show 0. After the repair install it is showing 24 hours later. I am at the point where I think I need to run a clean install of Sage, i.e. delete everything Sage related.

If I do this can you tell me where to locate my Favorite show listings so I can just plug it back into the fresh install. While my Favorite list isn't very extensive, maybe 20-25 shows, it is setup very specific.

If you know of a better solution I am willing to try it. I have also tried the “Try removing all the properties from the properties file that have the string 'server_update_id' in them (do it while SageTV is not running). That should resolve the issue.” fix without success.

Pics, worth a thousand words, or so I hear:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/ssb2121/Data1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/ssb2121/Data2.jpg

[Polypro]

The one time I had "No Data", I removed my capture cards from Sage, re-booted, and then added them back in. Went through the zip code and cable company setup, and had the guide back. You probably read that thread though ;) Wiz.bin is the main file to back up, but wait for a definitive answer from someone else on exactly where Fav's are kept.

P

[Major_A]

The one time I had "No Data", I removed my capture cards from Sage, re-booted, and then added them back in. Went through the zip code and cable company setup, and had the guide back. You probably read that thread though ;) Wiz.bin is the main file to back up, but wait for a definitive answer from someone else on exactly where Fav's are kept.

P
Well I didn't physically remove the card, I just deleted from within SageTV. From there I had to re-enter the zip and setup my video source again.

[ToxMox]

Perhaps you are having some sort of firewall issue.

I also wonder what would happen if for the heck of it you tried a different zip code/region and completely different lineup just to see if you get listings there.

[Major_A]

Perhaps you are having some sort of firewall issue.

I also wonder what would happen if for the heck of it you tried a different zip code/region and completely different lineup just to see if you get listings there.
Hasn't been a problem like this in the past. I just read through the manual and opened the ZAP port on my router. Still no success. I am currently writing down my favs and am going to nuke SageTV. I will hopefully delete every file assciated with the program, hidden ones included, and any registry entries. If this doesn't work I'll try Snapstream again. If I remember correctly it was very media center limited, even more so than Sage, but I'm running out of patience.

[blade]

The wiz.bin file stores your favorites and viewing history. How long after seeing no data did you wait before making changes to your system? Sometimes after reboots or changes to the lineup it takes awhile before the guide, recording shedule, etc... repopulates.

[Major_A]

The wiz.bin file stores your favorites and viewing history. How long after seeing no data did you wait before making changes to your system? Sometimes after reboots or changes to the lineup it takes awhile before the guide, recording shedule, etc... repopulates.
Been this way since that movie screwed up on me, 11 hours-ish. Thanks for the wiz.bin info.

*UPDATE*
After a fresh install the guide works again. Here we go again. Oh and thank you very much for the wiz.bin info, made my life a lot easier.