PVR-150 and A180: recording and playing at the same time

[elaw]

Here's my setup:
Intel D865PERL mobo (P4 3.0 socket 478 PCI)
1 gig RAM
2 IDE hard drive, OS/programs on one, Sage recordings on the other
Radeon 9550
Avermedia A180
Hauppauge PVR-150MCE
XP Pro fully updated
Sage 6.1.9 not in service mode
Java 1.6.0_01
nVidia Purevideo decoder, AC3Filter (v1.11), Divx, xvid, etc. etc.

The PVR-150 is connected to a Directv receiver via s-video, receiver is tuned via serial. A180 used for ATSC via antenna.

Records fine. Plays fine. Has trouble doing both at the same time

I originally had the PVR-150 in PCI slot 2 and the A180 in slot 3. As above, recorded fine, played fine, was a disaster trying to do both simultaneously. Would often crash unprovoked, and would reliably crash if you watched live TV and tried to switch between channels that used different capture cards.

I reversed the slots the cards were in, now it's better but not perfect. Crashes maybe 1/2 as often, it's hard to tell because I try to avoid doing the things that make it crash.

I don't really blame Sage for this, I suspect it's an interrupt-sharing issue, possibly involving the mobo's onboard sound. Thinking about going to separate client and server.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by elaw

Here's my setup:
Intel D865PERL mobo (P4 3.0 socket 478 PCI)
1 gig RAM
2 IDE hard drive, OS/programs on one, Sage recordings on the other
Radeon 9550
Avermedia A180
Hauppauge PVR-150MCE
XP Pro fully updated
Sage 6.1.9 not in service mode
Java 1.6.0_01
nVidia Purevideo decoder, AC3Filter (v1.11), Divx, xvid, etc. etc.

The PVR-150 is connected to a Directv receiver via s-video, receiver is tuned via serial. A180 used for ATSC via antenna.

Records fine. Plays fine. Has trouble doing both at the same time

I originally had the PVR-150 in PCI slot 2 and the A180 in slot 3. As above, recorded fine, played fine, was a disaster trying to do both simultaneously. Would often crash unprovoked, and would reliably crash if you watched live TV and tried to switch between channels that used different capture cards.

I reversed the slots the cards were in, now it's better but not perfect. Crashes maybe 1/2 as often, it's hard to tell because I try to avoid doing the things that make it crash.

I don't really blame Sage for this, I suspect it's an interrupt-sharing issue, possibly involving the mobo's onboard sound. Thinking about going to separate client and server.

I've got a fairly similar system with a couple differences.

Aopen AX4C Max Mobo
P-IV 3.0ghz HT processor
1 Gig ram (2x512mb)
2x250gb Sata drives (1 has OS/Sage/Programs + recordings in 2 partitions, the other is a single partition holding only recordings)
Radeon 9800 Pro (only 128m ram)
2x Hauppauge PVR-500's running straight analog cable
HDHR dual HDTV running straight cable QAM channels
XP Home fully updated
Sage 1.6.1.4.128 (yeah, I know, I've got to update)
Java 1.6.0_01
Sage Decoder and Dscaler installed
Stock Sage XML with several STVi's (Comskip, TimeJump, .MY files)

Now I use mine strictly as a server/transcoder for my MediaMVP in the bedroom. I've also got a Roku PhotoBridge (aka HD 1000) in the living room, but that simply pulls the recordings over the net directly without Sage's "knowledge" and plays them.

I record A LOT, and haven't had any troubles recording 4 simultaneous analog recordings via the PVR-500's and 2 HD recordings via the HDHR.

I can even play back on the MVP, or Roku at the same time. The only time I have any issues is if I'm trying to play an HD recording on the MVP while ShowAnalyzer is processing commercial breaks. Then the video stutters horribly because there just isn't enough horsepower to transcode while all the other stuff is going on.
I have made it better by tweaking some of the SA settings to limit the # of SA's that can run and how much CPU it can use. However it's still not perfect.

Given what you have there I wonder if the IDE drives are causing a bottleneck, or possibly the amount of Ram, especially if you have a lot of stuff running.

Also, given that you say it can record or play back with no problem, but can't do both would make me think you have an IO bottleneck. You might try putting the analog recordings on the OS drive and the HD recordings on the other drive. That might allow you to play back and record at the same time since it wouldn't be hammering one drive for all IO.