Problems With R5000 using 6.5.2

[peternm22]

I've sent a bug report to Sage about this, but I was curious to see if others are having the same problem. Here's the text from my e-mail:

Windows XP Home SP3
AMD 3000+
1GB RAM
HD Extender (using the latest firmware)
Two tuners, a Hauppauge PVR250, and an R5000 Starchoice Receiver.

I have been using SageTV 6.4.8, and this bug did not occur. I upgraded to the beta 6.5.1, and I started seeing this issue. I upgraded to 6.5.2 when it was released, and the bug is still there. I reverted back to 6.4.8, and everything works again (yay!).

This bug only concerns the R5000 recordings (which are transport streams), all recordings from the PVR250 are fine. It does not occur on all R5000 recordings, but probably at least half (both SD & HD).

Bug: At some point during a recording (or live tv), when I attempt to seek/skip, the timebar on the OSD will revert back to "0" and stop incrementing time - however the video/audio goes to the correct position and continues playing. If I try to seek again when the time is at "0", then the seeking starts from the beginning of the recording - essential restarting the entire recording. After a few seconds, it may show the correct time again and start incrementing again, and if I hit "Play" a few times this might also help to get it to show the correct time again. This does not happen at the same time in all recordings, some will start having trouble seeking right away, others could take half an hour or more. If I completely close the file and restart it, the problem starts up at the same time as it did before (in the same recording). For instance, I've saved a troublesome Survivor recording (referenced in the log file), and the file starts to have problems around 12 minutes in every time I play it.

This happens regardless of what STV I am using. I normally run SageMC, I switched to the default STV and the issue was exactly the same (the log file uses the default STV).

I reverted back to 6.4.8, and tried to play the very same Survivor recording and there was no problem at all. I checked the log file under 6.5.2 and it appears this line could be the problem: "Seeking again to try to get a better position..."

If I run the recordings through VideoRedo, correcting the time codes (GOP & PTS, I think), and convert the file to a transport stream, they play fine in Sage 6.5.2. The R5000 is pulling data feeds directly off the satellite and I believe this can cause issues with the time codes. In 6.4.8, Sage seemed to handle any issues fine, not the case with the new beta versions.

I have the R5000 set to strip padding from recordings, I know this can cause issues with the timecodes. I changed to uncompressed R5000 recordings, and the seek issue persists - so stripping the padding isn't causing the problem. So I switched back to stripping the padding. Sage appears to be getting tripped up with the time code somewhere.

I attempted to see if this issue was in the regular Windows SageTV Client as well (and not just the HD Extender), but the only file I saved for testing was the Survivor HD one. My system isn't powerful enough to play it (hence the extender), so I couldn't tell if this is an issue in the SageTV Windows Client as well.

I've attached the log file as well.

Has anyone else had this problem with the new beta versions?

Thanks.

[Fluffdaddy]

I'm seeing the same thing. Will send a bug report sometime today

[Ron]

I've noticed the same thing, too. I'll file a report as well.

[HawgGuy]

Me too.

I noticed it mostly when going into another room and using a second extender to watch the same program currently being watched in the first room. I would watch live TV and fast forward to catch up (usually a football game). Both systems would then develop playback anomalies and fast forward would zip back to the start of the stream.

-bob

[HawgGuy]

It's definitely an extender problem here.

I downgraded from 6.5.2 to 6.4.8 and it happened again just now with a football game (standard def - MPEG2).

Killed the extender and switched to the computer and FF-RW works fine.

[peternm22]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

It's definitely an extender problem here.

That's interesting. I haven't had any issues since switching back to 6.4.8.

Was the extender working properly prior to upgrading to 6.5.x? Maybe when you downgraded to 6.4.8 there was some stuff left over from the new beta (just guessing here).

When I was upgrading/downgrading trying to figure out the problem, I ended up with two SageTV entries in my Add/Remove programs. I did a complete uninstall on both, and then reinstalled 6.4.8 (saving all config files first). Do you have more than one entry for Sage in your add/remove programs?

[peternm22]

Looks like this is fixed in 6.5.3.

Extender Updates
1. Fixed bug where timeline would reset on some files with the HD extender partway through

Thanks SageTV!