Bad crackle/static on channel 3 only

[alleghator]

I don't know what's causing this, but I haven't noticed it before this recent TV season started. Comcast channel 3 (CBS out of Philly) is very crackly/static-y and irritating when recorded. When watching live tv, it's fine, so I don't see this as a tuner problem.

Anyone else noticing problems like this? Any troubleshooting suggestions?

Help!

--Heidi

[Conejo]

When you say, "When watching live tv, it's fine", are you watching it through SageTV LIVE or watching on another TV connected direct to cable?

SageTV will first encode and record the show to the hard drive then SageTV plays that recorded file, so it's the same as playing a pre-recorded show.

This 'could' be an encoder issue, where the "very crackly/static-y and irritating" issue are actually digital artifacts from encoder errors.

I guess you'd have to tell us a little about your setup in order to help.

[alleghator]

Right ... sorry.

It's fine when I watch live TV through Sage. I'd have to redo cables to watch through Comcast direct to the TV and as the cables run through a wall, I'm hoping I don't have to try that.

Using a Hauppauge Win-TV 500 tuner. Comcast cable (not digital) comes right from the wall into the tuner card. Haven't any problems like this before a few weeks ago.

When I watch a recording on CBS, say -- CSI -- it's crackly-sounding, white lines sometimes slide up and down the image, the audio just sounds staticky and and picture occasionally blacks out altogether for a second. If I flip over through Sage to watch CBS live, the image and audio are both fine.

I haven't tested this with watching CSI crackly through the recording while CSI is still on to watch the same exact show live to see if it's OK. But random live CBS checks throughout the day are all clear. While, every recording of a CBS show is messed up. Every other recording and live channel are clear as a bell.

What else, if anything, would you need to know about my setup?

--Heidi

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by alleghator

Using a Hauppauge Win-TV 500 tuner. Comcast cable (not digital) comes right from the wall into the tuner card.

When I watch a recording on CBS, say -- CSI -- it's crackly-sounding, white lines sometimes slide up and down the image, the audio just sounds staticky and and picture occasionally blacks out altogether for a second. If I flip over through Sage to watch CBS live, the image and audio are both fine.

What else, if anything, would you need to know about my setup?

Can you reproduce this issue 'exactly' when you 'rewind' and replay that section of the recording? (Is it recorded like this or different things happen each time the same segment is played back)

Also, are you watching on computer display or how are you connected to a TV?

EDIT: Right now this sounds very strange, as I said the LIVE TV is recorded first so should play the same.

[alleghator]

I'm not sure if it's the same each time. I'll double-check. The computer is connected to a Sony TV.

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by alleghator

I'm not sure if it's the same each time. I'll double-check. The computer is connected to a Sony TV.

Connected by... Composite, Component, VGA, DVI/HDMI?
Also, what time of Video Card?