HD PVR Issue, Video Card, or Sage Issue?

[MorfiusX]

I have SageTV for WHS 6.5.9, SageTV Client 6.5.9, and a HD PVR w/ 1.0.53 drivers. When I view Live TV, it will play for 2-5 seconds then the image will freeze and audio will stop. This also happens during scheduled recordings. If I go into the settings on the client and restart the media player, it will play/record for 2-5 seconds, and then stop again.

I just installed an ATI 4550 on the client machine to handle the HD video. This issue seams to have started since I installed the video card. The client is sending audio and video via HDMI. The client is also using the Power DVD codecs.

I have cleaned and reinstalled the HD PVR drivers on the server to no avail.

Any suggestiongs?

[Chriscic]

Guessing ATI driver issue. Do you have the latest installed (not the one that came on the CD)?

[MorfiusX]

I have the latest drivers installed. I have now reinstalled the Sage Client. I deleted all folders/registry entries, which reverted to the stock .xml.

The saved recordings are playing properly, but live tv is still showing the problem.

[MorfiusX]

I think it is deffinitly a driver issue. When left alone, the Sage server continues to record properly and I can view the recorded .ts files with VLC. When I try to watch either a recorded show or a live show on the client, it hangs as mentioned. Is there a better driver to use or a specific version that is known to work?

[MorfiusX]

If was strictly a driver issue, why would the files play in VLC or PowerDVD and not Sage?

[SWKerr]

Do you still have the issue if you pause it for a few seconds after starting?

[MorfiusX]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Do you still have the issue if you pause it for a few seconds after starting?

Yes. If I completely stop the recording (pressing stop twice on the remote) I can restart the recording for a few seconds.

[MorfiusX]

Could it be an issue with my STB at 1080i? I tried to play one of my older 720p recordings and it played just fine.

[MorfiusX]

I am about to give up on Sage. I have wiped the drive and installed Vista (32bit) just to see if EVR would be any better. This is a 100% clean install. No matter what I try, Sage will not use DXVA(2) or any type of hardware acceleration. The lock up issue is the CPU becoming 100% utilized and it taking some time to catch up. I have made every single change suggested in the forums. The files play perfectly through PowerDVD (standalone) app. I have configured registry settings for SageTVClient for the PDVD codecs. I have set always_use_dshow_player=true. I'm about to through Sage out of the window. I've spend way more money on the HTPC that just buying a HD200 just so I could use SageMC+Netflix.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[HelenWeathers]

All I can tell you for sure is that Sage runs fine on my Vista 32 client install, so I would suspect your hardware. (I do find that 6.5.11 renders better in my case and have it on my server and client but the 6.5.9 worked) My install was a clean install of 6.5.9 w no edits to the properties files and my old wiz.bin on my XP server then I upgraded to the 6.5.11 beta just a few days ago. I use the 1.0.53 HD-PVR drivers too.

You should post a detailed description of your hardware: mdb, cpu, memory, network, etc. It's hard for people to help if they don't know your system details.

[MorfiusX]

Server:
- Intel Q6600
- 4GB DDRII @ 800MHz
- 1TB Western Digital Black Edition and 500GB Western Digital
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Windows Home Server
- SageTV for WHS 6.5.9
- Hauppauge HD PVR w/ 1.0.5.3 drivers

HTPC:
- Shuttle XPC SG33G5M
- Intel E8500
- 2GB DDRII @ 800Mhz
- Western Digital 80GB SATA
- ATI 4550
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Windows Vista Business 32bit
- SageTV Client 6.5.9

Misc:
- Fully Gigabit Network via HP Procurve switches
- DishTV input into HD PVR
- HDMI connection from HTPC to TV

Hope this helps!

[HelenWeathers]

I'm going to talk client here as I have never used WHS.

Your HTCP client certainly should handle the playback. I'm running an Intel E4700 cpu so you're ahead of me there. Memory is the same. Mbd I'm not familiar with. I'm running Vista Home Premium on this Client. I too use GigaBit network all hardwired.

The difference I would look at is the ATi card. I can't be of any help there as mine is nVidia and has it's own issues.

I also use Arcsoft (TMT) rather that Cyberlink (PDVD). I have done no registry changes, the only setting I made was to the properties file for H264 to use Arcsoft. Having said that, others here are using Cyberlink

Search thru the forums for info on your specific video card as I've seen others discuss it and it's drivers here and some even rolling back to earlier drivers (on this card I believe). If you search for Cyberlink or "Power DVD" you should find the client properties settings to use PDVD for H264.

Hopefully some using the ATi 4550 will see this thread and help out.

Really wish I could help more.

[MorfiusX]

Progress!

I removed all of PDVD. I then install Arcsoft TMT. I can now watch my recorded 1080i shows. There is a little tearing, so I will probably need to do some tweaking. But, at lease we are moving forward here!

[HelenWeathers]

If you need to know any of my settings in SageTV Client software or in the Sage Client properties, feel free to PM or ask here. I'll be happy to answer.

You should also turn on debug logging and contact Sage support before throwing in the towell. They have helped me a number of times.

[MorfiusX]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

You should also turn on debug logging and contact Sage support before throwing in the towell. They have helped me a number of times.

I was frustrated and the wife was griping about not having the main TV for several days while I have been working on this.

[phelme]

Originally Posted by MorfiusX

Progress!

I removed all of PDVD. I then install Arcsoft TMT. I can now watch my recorded 1080i shows. There is a little tearing, so I will probably need to do some tweaking. But, at lease we are moving forward here!

Which TME do you have, the retail or the OEM version that came with the HD-PVR? I think they are the same, except for BD HD. I have the HD-PVR OEM and it worked fine, until this week I did the update that came out late last year. Now with the ArcSoft Video Decoder I occasionally get slight tearing on scene changes on my ATI X1650XT (looks like a growing black triangle at the corners). If I use a combo of ArcSoft Audio Deocder HD for audio and CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD8) for video, it all seems to be happy. I record everything in 720P (from DirecTV) just to make it easier for playback.

Anyone using CyberLink 9?

[MorfiusX]

I eventually set SageTV to use TMT for everything. I also set video related settings to their maximum (EVR/DXVA/Hardware Accel). Video quality is great now. I don't notice any tearing.

Though, sometime when playing a DVD, the picture is very pixelated. This seams to be a bug with Arcsoft when using ATI drivers. My workaround is to open the Arcsoft player, disable hardware acceleration, then re-enable it.

[ghostlobster]

For standard DVDs, I've found that the Micorsoft MPEG decoders work best for me. I did not like the quality with the TMT decoders for some reason. Also, I had pretty good luck using ATI's Avivo decoders with my HD 2600XT, but went back to the MS decoders due to a few weird DVD menu issues with Avivo.

[jeff33702]

I'm new to Sage (actually, just researching) but I've had a MS Media Center and various setups for years.

I don't know if this applies to your setup, but I recently learned that the latest 9.1 ATI drivers are broken and will not do hardware decoding (DXVA). I downgraded my driver to enable GPU decoding.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by jeff33702

I'm new to Sage (actually, just researching) but I've had a MS Media Center and various setups for years.

I don't know if this applies to your setup, but I recently learned that the latest 9.1 ATI drivers are broken and will not do hardware decoding (DXVA). I downgraded my driver to enable GPU decoding.

The latest ATI drivers are 9.3. They do DXVA just fine.

Gerry