Interesting Note about HD-PVR

[sdsean]

So I have never had "lock ups" people talk about with my HD-PVR.

What I have had though, are issues where it simply doesn't come on to record. Cycling SageTV and the power on the HD-PVR resolves this problem.

I have also seen an issue where, while watching liveTV with the HD-PVR, every once in a while it will just stop recording for a few seconds, and then re-cycle itself and continuing, leaving a gap of anywhere from 3-15 seconds.

I have done just about everything people have tried here, covering the IR, turning it sideways, 1 res output from the STB, and I even have it sitting on a laptop cooler. But these problems, while intermittent, still remain. . .

But here's the interesting part. . . .

I have never had an issue where while recording something and not watching it live. . .

Just the other night I recorded The Dark Knight on HBO. 2.5 hours of recording from the HBO Pacific Digital feed. No weird pauses or anything.

Same thing when I recorded the Lakers game. . .

As long as I'm not watching the channel being recorded. . . recordings always (so far seem to be fine). . .

Any ideas why this might be? Is it just conincidental?

[vikingisson]

If what you describe isn't just anecdotal then my guess is Windows' less than perfect multitasking. You know how at least in the old days you would never multitask when trying to burn a CD lest you'd trash it? USB/IDE etc can keep up with the job, Windows can't always do it. A simple file copy isn't a problem as the bits eventually make it but time sensitive functions such as this might be.

[stanger89]

I have noticed that on my server HD PVR recordings are sensitive to CPU usage. I actually think it's USB. USB is rather CPU "intensive", it seems that high host CPU usage can cause issues with the USB transmission.

[sdsean]

Well, I've been considering buying a new pc for a while now. I only run a single core machine for sage (although its a 3.73 HT Extreme so its pretty stout). If it is usb, i suppose it could be bottle necked by either the limit on single core or the IO controller + windows.

I just thought it was interesting, especially since my problems are similar, but not quite the same as what others have.

Also note that I run almost nothing else on this machine. I mean I play games on it . . but usually not while watching/recording (although I'd like too).

Although all of this is speculation so far, but I'm curious what kind of hardware most folks are running that are also having these issues.

[B-Figgy]

I have the exact same problem on my system and I had put up with it since being an early adopter on a C1 now C2 and a newer D2 unit. Do me a favor and disconnect your passthrough cables.

[sdsean]

I have no passthrough cables connected on my HDPVR, and am only use analog RCA for audio from a DirecTV STB H21 (serial tuned)

Why do you ask btw?

[B-Figgy]

Like you I tried all of those tricks mentioned on this forum including unchecking the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" option on the USB hub the PVR was plugged into but none of it worked until I disconnected my video and audio passthrough cables. I have no explanation for why that could possibly work but it's been trouble free for a few months now.

I feel your pain though. Not being able to watch a recorded show because your HD PVR is recording something else kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a Sage box.

[tedson]

It might not be the HDPVR but what I would consider a bug in the way sagetv works. If you cross a show boundry in the guide while watching a live show, sage will stop recording the current show, cycle everything down and back up again, and start recording the "new" show in the guide. The net result is while watching the live show everything stops for a few seconds then starts up again. You won't see this when recording movies, or tv shows because they fit in their time blocks, but if you are watching a live show that runs over its time block (basketball is the worst) you will hit it almost every game, and its driving me nuts.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by tedson

It might not be the HDPVR but what I would consider a bug in the way sagetv works. If you cross a show boundry in the guide while watching a live show, sage will stop recording the current show, cycle everything down and back up again, and start recording the "new" show in the guide. The net result is while watching the live show everything stops for a few seconds then starts up again. You won't see this when recording movies, or tv shows because they fit in their time blocks, but if you are watching a live show that runs over its time block (basketball is the worst) you will hit it almost every game, and its driving me nuts.

Its not a bug but a philosophy in the way sage works. Sage does not record to a circular buffer but rather records everything (including "live tv" to a seperate file). See http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/sear...archid=3332244

RE... live shows, check out the Sage Recording Extender... or manually record the show and set a end padding of like 30min.. The sage recording extender does that automatically for you