Really having a tough time with STV 5.0

[darrenkarp]

Hi All,

I'm having a real tough time getting STV to run smoothly. Let me explain in more detail:

Firstly, I'm based in the UK and am using XMLTV to provide EPG which is working fine.

When trying to configure the video sources I have two PVR cards, a 150 and a 350 (Hauppauge) and I can get audio and video on one of them but only audio on the other.

The PC I am using STV on is XP MCE 2005 edition with the required services disabled (MCE work fine on both PVR cards by the way)

Next is the channel changing problem. I'm using my USB UIRT with a stereo to dual mono splitter and despite reading a post regarding editing the zone files (adding Z1 and Z2 to each of the 2 IR files) only one of my two Sky STB's changes channels. I have the main UIRT hidden away to stop any stray IR signals coming from the front.

Other annoying things are, sometimes when I VNC into the STV box I'll see a live TV picture (or no picture but audio!) on my TV and the main STV menu on my desktop PC (the one I'm using to VNC into it)

I've spent almost two days trying to get this up and running to no avail.

Can anyone lend me a hand and advise what I'm doing wrong?
TIA
Darren

[darrenkarp]

19 views and not one reply!

Come on guys!

[darrenkarp]

Hi All,

Things have gone from bad to worse, does anyone know of a contact number for SageTV?

Cheers
Darren

[darrenkarp]

Hi All,

Excuse the scream of frustration!

I am still having problems getting STV to run properly and from reading a post about the same error I'm getting (sage.playbackexception: error (-4, 0 x80040217) I am under the impression it may have something to do with my video card (although everything is fine under MCE 2005!). I'm running an Nvidia FX5750 connect to my TV and my projector (through a dvi cable). Could this be causing the flickering of the picture and menu's not appearing?

Any help really REALLY appreciated.

Darren

[GKusnick]

Have you submitted a support request? Have you checked the contact info on this page? If they haven't published a phone number there, then I'm guessing they want you to go through those channels first.

[darrenkarp]

Hi,

Yes, I've submitted to support request but you know what it's like with something like this, you want answers straight away!

Cheers for the reply.

Darren

[Opus4]

If you have audio & video problesm from the tuners, check that the drivers are up to date, try recording using the Hauppauge-spplied software, and try playing a recording via something else, such as Windows Media Player, to check whether there is an audio/video problem in the recorded file or only during playback. Perhaps try playing it on another PC too.

Double check that the zone codes are added to the IR file's lines correctly & that the emitters are close to the boxes' receivers. Try switching the emitters between boxes & switching the zone codes to see if there is a problem with one of the emitters.

For the video/menus between the TV & monitor, check how you have the tv set up as a monitor. try using them as 2 separate monitors, instead of having the 2nd one (the TV) cloned or using some sort of theater mode. Usually, something liek theater mode will detect that teh video overlay is being used & then display only that on the 2nd monitor when it is active.

- Andy

[cslatt]

Originally Posted by darrenkarp

When trying to configure the video sources I have two PVR cards, a 150 and a 350 (Hauppauge) and I can get audio and video on one of them but only audio on the other.

Have you confirmed that you get only audio when recording with that tuner or are you basing this on the "Preview" in the video source setup? There are some known issues with that preview window where often you won't get picture there, but the tuner will actually works fine.

I don't have any experience with the other stuff, sorry. An e-mail to SageTV support may be your best option.

[darrenkarp]

If you see my other thread it would appear that perhaps the screen flickering has something to do with my video card (FX5750) although in MCE 2005 there are no problems whatsoever.

I have the latest drivers for everything believe me and have disabled the PVR 350 card in order to test everthing.

My MediaMVP upstairs works a dream so what could this be? As my thread states, on my main PC my video card is connected both to my TV and my projector (via DVI).

Cheers
Darren

[darrenkarp]

Originally Posted by Opus4

For the video/menus between the TV & monitor, check how you have the tv set up as a monitor. try using them as 2 separate monitors, instead of having the 2nd one (the TV) cloned or using some sort of theater mode. Usually, something liek theater mode will detect that teh video overlay is being used & then display only that on the 2nd monitor when it is active.

- Andy

Thanks Andy,

My nvidia card is set up in clone mode with the primary as the TV, projector as secondary (IIRC).

Darren

[nielm]

0x80040217 is a generic DirectX error saying that it cannot connect two 'filters' together - nornally this occurs when the video decoder cannot connect to the video renderer... Many things can cause this: dodgy video drivers, dodgy directX stuff, dodgy video decoder, attempting to display video on the 'secondary' display when the hardware cannot support it, using use of other software (such as UltraVNC) which try to pretend to be a video display... Sometimes it can be worked around by a sage restart, sometimes by a windows restart... Try other video decoders and renderers.

If you are using UltraVNC, uninstall or disable the 'video hook driver' or 'mirror driver' (in the device manager it will show up as a display adapter) - this does not work at all well with video. (note VNC is never good with video: with overlay renderer you will only get menus, but with VMR9 it will try and display the video by vnc (saturating the cpu, network and at 0.5fps!))

If you are using dual displays, make sure the display used for Sage is primary, and make sure any options for displaying full screen overlay (Theatre mode in NVidia terminology) is disabled...

As for the capture problems: if it is the -150 that is having problems, check your sage properties and confirm the following two :
mmc/country_code=44 (I am guessing you are in the UK)
mmc/video_format_code=8 (PAL)
or delete the 2 lines (when Sage is shut down) and let it re-prompt you in restart...

Can't help with the UIRT problems

(edit: too slow!)

[darrenkarp]

many thanks for taking the time to reply.


I'm not sure what your mean by Theatre Mode. As I've said before in MCE 2005 there are NO playback problems whatsoever. I have tried every conceiveable rendering choice, (not that I really know what I'm doing) and the screen flickers when showing live tv and / or does not display menu's, etc. My mediamvp however is fine.

[darrenkarp]

Originally Posted by nielm

0x80040217 is a generic DirectX error saying that it cannot connect two 'filters' together - nornally this occurs when the video decoder cannot connect to the video renderer... Many things can cause this: dodgy video drivers, dodgy directX stuff, dodgy video decoder, attempting to display video on the 'secondary' display when the hardware cannot support it, using use of other software (such as UltraVNC) which try to pretend to be a video display... Sometimes it can be worked around by a sage restart, sometimes by a windows restart... Try other video decoders and renderers.


(edit: too slow!)

Don't get this error in MCE 2005 ever....is this an STV thing?

[darrenkarp]

Originally Posted by nielm

As for the capture problems: if it is the -150 that is having problems, check your sage properties and confirm the following two :
mmc/country_code=44 (I am guessing you are in the UK)
mmc/video_format_code=8 (PAL)
or delete the 2 lines (when Sage is shut down) and let it re-prompt you in restart...

Can't help with the UIRT problems

(edit: too slow!)

Where would I find these settings or should I not fiddle?

[jptaz]

Are using VMR9 with SageTV?

I know many users here insist that it works perfectly for them, but I have never had any luck. I use Overlay. Everytime I have tried VMR9 it has frozen my PC or Worse caused a Blue Screen of Death.

Also as far as the USB UIRT goes. I have 3 zones and it works perfectly. Are you sure that the splitter you have is a stereo splitter...i.e. it should take the left channel and send it to one output and then take the right channel and send it to the other output? Many splitters only send the left channel to both sides. Also are you sure the emitter works...try swapping the two and make sure the one channel still works.

John

[darrenkarp]

Hi John,

VMR9 of course. MCE has no issue with it so as far as I'm concerned nor should STV.

Cheers
Darren

[jptaz]

I agree that SageTV SHOULD work with VMR9, but just to rule that out as the cause why not disable it and use overlay for a while and if the stability is better then you can provide SageTV with a more specific problem to try and track down. As of right now the App Freezing when changing channnels make be tough to figure out.

Personally I do not see much difference between VMR9 and Overlay in terms of quality, but to each there own.

Also I found clone mode unreliable with SageTV, others have not had issues, but what I ended up doing is toggling which display was active via my remote and girder since I am only ever watching on the TV or the projector and not both at the same time. I also had to set up a seperate instance of SageTV to do this since the Screen dimmensions and over scan are different on my TV and projector. As I stated before it has been stable using overlay and doing this.

John

[darrenkarp]

John,

Switched from VMR to Overlay, started live tv, got playbackexception.....great!! NOT!

[darrenkarp]

Originally Posted by jds23

Actually, they are 2 competely different beasts altogether.

I have read through this thread, and I am pretty sure that your setup is quite doable with Sage, might I make a suggestion. There have been several users that have given suggestions on how to narrow things down, would it be possible for you to give the results of these suggestions as accurately as you can describe them? I am quite sure everyone can help you narrow down your problems much easier if we all knew where you stood on testing.

I am quite familiar with MCE, and have used it solid for over 3 years. I assure you that what makes sense, and is relevant with MCE, is not the case with Sage.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. Describing ever nuance of issues I have would take up far too much of everyones time. Suffice it to say that I am currently watching TV using MCE again!

No user of any level should have to go through what I have had to go through and I class myself as technical to a point. 3 days so far.....

The occasional hang, etc. I can live with, but not when it's more often. I have the nvidia decoder in use (from MCE) and DECCHECK confirms that this is in fact the preferred decoder. All MCE services are disabled when using STV. Sometimes Live TV is fine but as I said when changing channels not only can it take a long time (5 to 8 seconds) but can hang. i.e. unreliable.

MCE's setup is so smooth its like a breath of fresh air.

Don't get me wrong, I WANT STV to work !!!

Darren

[wrwaugh]

When changing to Overlay, it is wise to disable 3D mode. Try it and see if it makes it play in stv.