Mac Client + WHS Server + HDPVR =

[etrigan63]

jittery HD video on the Mac, but works normally on the server. Is there a way to specify the h.264 codec the Mac client uses? I am running the latest RC's on both client and server.

[sandor]

what video card is in the mac? i am noting issues with regard to 1080p h.264 playback with the intel 950 chipset - it is much more processor dependent (ie if the server is encoding anything, playback suffers, but when the CPU is not in use, playback is fine.

[etrigan63]

Sorry, my bad on the lack of specs.

Mac
Mac Pro (Jan 2008 edition) 2.8GHz 8-core
12GB RAM
Nvidia 8800GT 512MB PCIe 2.0
750GB primary drive
1TB Time Machine drive
30" display (currently testing an HP LP3065)

WHS
Athlon64 X2 2.8GHz
2GB RAM
ATI X1950
HDPVR
ATI 650 Pro encoder
3TB of storage (sata/e-sata)

STB DirecTV H20-600 controlled via USB/Serial

Sage is 6.5.6RC on all platforms.

[sandor]

so hardware isnt a problem.

how do the files play through QuickTime or VLC?

[etrigan63]

So far SD content plays smoothly. This content not captured via Component inputs. When the system is recording, the SageTV service is using about 120MB of RAM and the CPUs barely tick over 2 % utilization. However when I try to access the show while recording the Mac Client hangs and I have to do a Force Quit on it.

VLC shows the upper left quarter of the video with sound. O_o

After the recording is complete, the Mac Client shows a black screen and plays the audio back. I have the server configured to use the Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 h.264 encoder.

UPDATE: On a hunch, I dragged the .ts file to my Mac desktop and then to Toast 9 Titanium and burned a DVD. Worked perfectly in VLC.

FOLLOW UP: Another program was recorded on the same channel afterwards. This .ts file could be opened and played normally by VLC. The show played choppily in the Sage Mac Client. It appears the mplayer is having some issues that causes it to hang. I discovered 4-5 zombie mplayer sessions that I had to kill manually.

[MCE-Refugee]

It seems that there is a problem with all h.264 TV content with the Mac client. I have reported the bug that BBC HD live orrecorded doesn't display video at all & SageTV support have replicated the problem but said that they may not be able to fix it in the current version as that is supposed to be near shipping. It is probably a problem with mplayer or the way that Sage is calling mplayer as the same content plays OK in vlc on the Mac & on a Windows client or on a HD200.

I urge you to report this as an official bug & not just rely on reporting it in this forum. Support do listen & bugs do get fixed. I reported that CTRL-click for right mouse button didn't work on my MacBook Pro & the latest RC just fixed that. http://www.sagetv.com/bugs.html

[sandor]

have you tried to force QT to play back the h.264 instead of mplayer (sageplayer)?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38455

i have had good luck picking and choosing media formats for each player (mplayer handles mkv much better, etc)

make sure you have Perian installed as well ==>

http://www.perian.org/

[etrigan63]

I tried that and the plist I have has no such entries. I will attach a screenshot of my plist.

[sandor]

is it a fresh install of Sage?
i did it on a fresh 6.5.6 upgrade, and i had to add them in, once the format types were automatically placed in there (after playing the files through sage) i copied and pasted the ones i wanted QT to play into the "ForcedMedia" and the ones i wanted mplayer to play into "DisabledMedia"

PlayedMedia will be automatically populated as QT plays more media types through Sage

[etrigan63]

Well, Sage Support contacted me and we worked through it mostly. The problem lay in my H20-600 that was flipping between formats. I locked it down to 720p and the video plays fine now. The only issue now is that the audio is slightly out of sync with the video. If I play the TS file in VLC, the file plays correctly.

[GregT]

I have the same issue. I have my DTV box locked at 720, and video plays smoothly (about 95% of the time), however, audio and video are out of sync (about 99%) of the time.

I had been using the Mac client against a Windows server, and did not have this issue. It was only when I installed the Mac server, that the sync issue started. Figure it has to be something with the encoder setup.

Pre-recorded videos play fine (no sync problems).

1) Did you add the properties mentioned for QT playback to your .plist file? I have yet to see Sage on my Mac use QT for anything, and my plist does not have the properties mentioned, to control formats. Just wondering if it should, and if I have to add them manually?

2) Did support acknowledge any bug in all of this? Is there something officially submitted? Guess I'll submit something, just to be sure.

[etrigan63]

I do believe Sage Support has the audio issue bugged. I have no idea how they plan to fix that. 6.5.8 is a little better as the video starts out in sync and then starts losing sync. It appears to happen with slight stuttering in the video and get progressively gets more out of sync.

Last time I saw something like this it was caused by Creative labs sound cards/drivers however, this is on a Mac client so the sound is the one built into my Mac Pro.

[GregT]

I don't know if anyone else did, but I submitted a bug for it.

The only time I'm having problems is when the content being played on the Mac is using mplayer. I can watch from a PC client with no issue. Even a recorded show, that plays fine to the PC client, loses sync when played on the Mac. A converted show, using QT for playback (on the Mac) is also fine.

I'm not sure if it's a problem with mplayer, or with Sage's interaction with it, but I reported what I'm seeing.

[GregT]

Support responded to me and indicated that they would be addressing this issue in the 6.5.10 beta soon. Was encouraging, even if not specific.

[sandor]

I got a response saying that they found:

"an A/V sync bug in mplayer that might be exaggerated on your system, we should be able to get that fixed."

[etrigan63]

Here's hoping they post the fix soon. This is getting irritating.

[sandor]

yeah, it is.

[etrigan63]

6.5.15 and the video still stutters.