Audio Sync Issues with SageTV 6.3

[ptzink]

Hello and thank you for reading this. I am having issues with a recent upgrade of SageTV. I have been running version 6.2.? for several months with no issues. I recently upgraded to version 6.3 and now I am having major audio sync issues (1.5+ seconds behind video) with live and recorded television programs. My first upgrade was from 6.2.? to 6.3.5. This is when I first experienced the audio sync issues. Then I upgraded from 6.3.5 to 6.3.10 in hopes that this would resolve the issue, but it did not. This appears to be an encoding problem rather than a decoding problem because all of the shows I recorded prior to the upgrade still play fine with no audio sync issues. Although I like the improvements in version 6.3, at this point I would be happy to downgrade to version 6.2. However, I can not find an old version to download (all links to old versions seem to be broken or direct you to a 6.3 download page). I also tried uninstalling version 6.3.10 and reinstalling it, but that did not resolve the problem. I also tried multiple combinations of mpeg audio and video decoders including all Sage decoders, but that did not work either. I have a Pinnacle PCTV 800i PCI HD tuner card.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[ltitran]

PTZink

If you can not find a copy - let me know I have a backup of 6.2.6

LT

[ptzink]

Thanks LT. I am going to see if anyone has any advise to resolve the issue. But if I haven't figured it out within a few days, I will let you know.
Thanks again...

[ptzink]

Bump...
I would like to think that I am not the only one having this problem. I have not heard back from the official support team either.

[FrankM]

I've also had sync problems. Changed the decoders to nvidia audio/video and the problem went away. No problems with cyberlink decoders as well. For some reason on my system the sage audio decoder stutters terribly and is unusable.

[gplasky]

Seeing this was one of the reviews for your card:

Conclusion

Pinnacle's PCTV HD 800i package is enticingly inexpensive, averaging around $79 retail and a bit less if you look around. With Pinnacle's brand recognition, attractive packaging, and an attractive price, a lot of people would be encouraged to buy this product. We say however that you should wait until Pinnacle gets the issues with this product sorted out. Lord knows we've waited more than long enough ourselves.

We started this review in November of last year believe it or not, but decided to forgo a review to give Pinnacle and it's parent company Avid, time to rectify the issues with this cards software and drivers. We were given reasonable assurances that a new driver and suite would be made available after CES. Since we work in this business and are painfully aware of just how much of a general distraction prepping for CES is, we cut them some slack and waited patiently.

As it stands now however, though we were given a beta driver set to play with last week, the latest available application suite made available to us is the same 4.94b beta suite Pinnacle released in October of last year. Despite assurances that we would recieve an alpha build of TV Center Pro 4.95, none was forthcoming.

It is 6 months in to this products official launch, and 3 months since the last beta application suite was made available to the public. We feel we have given Pinnacle more than enough time to rectify the issues with this device and decided this week we simply had to "go" with the review, and let the cards fall where they may. Where have they fallen? Clearly, at the feet of Pinnacle's development team. It is long past time to get a Vista Certified product that supports ClearQAM actually doing both things in a proper manner.

Pinnacle, we're sorry, but we recommend you go back to the drawing board on this one.

I would make sure you have the latest audio driver installed for your sound card. I don't see your card listed in any of the supported tuner lists for Sage so I guess consider yourself lucky it worked at all. There is an option in Detailed Settings that you can set to delay audio for a certain amount of time. This may be a workaround until support determines what can be done for your card. It's can be up to 3 days before you get a response from support.

Gerry

[nyplayer]

After 6.210 there are sync issues if you use the software encoder. If you are not using a HD extender I suggest you keep using 6.210 in the server. The 6.310 Clients will connect.

Sage Support advised me that they are working on A new software encoder. on 2/01. They said it might take a month or so obviously it's taking longer.

Make sure you file a bug report if you are having this problem.

[ptzink]

Thanks for all of your replies everyone. I will have to try a couple of your suggestions when I get home this evening. I realize that my card is not "supported" by SageTV, but it worked great with the older version of the software. It looks like it might be back to 6.2 (thanks LT!) if this doesn't work.

[fastsilicon]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Seeing this was one of the reviews for your card:

I would make sure you have the latest audio driver installed for your sound card. I don't see your card listed in any of the supported tuner lists for Sage so I guess consider yourself lucky it worked at all. There is an option in Detailed Settings that you can set to delay audio for a certain amount of time. This may be a workaround until support determines what can be done for your card. It's can be up to 3 days before you get a response from support.

Gerry

I'm the guy that wrote the review you quoted above. I still have this card, and am trying to get it to work with SageTV 6.3 on a personal htpc I have in my downstairs den, since this card is basically a train wreck with any other software I've thrown at it so far. :P Wish me luck :P

[gplasky]

Good luck. Any word back from support?

Gerry

[ptzink]

I switched my audio and video decoder in v. 6.3.10 and that seems to have done the trick. Once I get back home, I will post what my exact settings are, but I think I am using the Cyberlink video decoder and the AC3? audio decoder. This seems to have resolved my issue. More later...

[Razillian]

I'm experiencing the same audio sync problems you described with my Avermedia recorder. The nVidia and HDHomerun both are fine, but recordings with the avermedia slowly get more and more out of syn between audio and video as a recorded show progresses. This is new for me with 6.3.XX.

Switching over to the nVidia purevideo decoder for audio (from AC3) did not fix the problem in my case.

[ptzink]

Raz, thanks for the input. I wanted to give everyone an update on my situation. Since my original post, I have cobbled together an HTPC using the same tuner card (Sage used to be on my desktop hooked up to my TV). Despite the usual bumps you hit when setting up a new machine, everything was running fairly smoothly. That was until last Thursday, when my wife and I were watching the Idol results show that we had recorded on Wednesday. The audio started off fine and in sync. A few minutes into the show, I would say the audio was .25 seconds behind the video and by the end it was almost 1 second off. I installed and selected the nVidia PureVideo video and audio decoders per some of the user comments and played the show back again. It still had audio issues (but the picture looked great!). The interesting part is that we recorded Ellen (yes, my wife rules the remote in my house!) the same day with no playback issues. In my experience, this has not been a very repeatable problem and I have not been able to find the correlation between recordings that have issues and those that don't. So far, I would say 85% of our recordings playback fine and 15% have audio sync issues. One thing is for sure, on my machine, the nVidia PureVideo decoders perform better than any others. For the most part, video and audio are great now.
Cheers.

[Razillian]

I got a response back from support on my ticket stating the software encoder problem in 6.3 that nyplayer mentioned. So far the only show I have had problems with is Reaper, but it is also one of the few shows that records via the Avermedia card. Not sure if I am going to wait for the fix or down grade to 6.2 yet.

I had switched my audio decoder over to the nVidia (set it as default via merits in windows). I have always been using the nVidia for video, but switched to AC3 for audio when Sage upgraded their install package to include newer AC3 filters. I use SPDIF output straight to my receiver from the Sage box and the only thing I don't like with the nVidia audio is I have to have the receiver volume up 15 levels higher than with the AC3.

[johnnyfive]

I have just gone to 6.2.10 and my audio syncing issues are gone. I hope Sage know of the problem.

[ptzink]

Any news on this issue? Will there be a SageTV update soon? I am still having this issue and it appears others are as well...

[AtariJeff]

I was about to ditch my setup of 3 cube PC's with 3 Nova-S cards until I came across this thread. If I use a DVB app on the 3 encoder boxes the recorded audio and video are fine. If I use the video capture function of the cards the audio is fine at first then gradually goes out of synch by almost 1-2 seconds at the end of a show. If you stop and restart as it's recording the audio snaps back in synch. Now that I think of it, I ran this setup in the past with no issues. Can't remember which version of Sage though. Since the Nova-S isn't "officially" supported I assumed it was probably a crap shoot if it worked at all.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by ptzink

Any news on this issue? Will there be a SageTV update soon? I am still having this issue and it appears others are as well...

The latest Beta appears to have corrected this problem got an email from Sage to try it. I did and all appears to work great no sync issues.

[ptzink]

Cool, I would like to give it a shot. Where can I download the beta?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by ptzink

Cool, I would like to give it a shot. Where can I download the beta?

Look in the beta forum you'll see the sticky announcement!