suddenly, playback client quits if trying to play HDPVR recordings?!?

[ryanroat]

Worked fine last night; this morning, not so much.

This is the software client on the server machine. It plays OTA recordings just fine, but totally quits with no warning or error message if I try to play a recording made via the HDPVR.

Those same recordings play on both the 200 extender, and with alternate playback software on the server machine.

I don't recall making any changes to the machine last night; in fact I was watching an HDPVR recording right up to the time I turned off the TV. The system has been working well, and never had any problem with playback of these recordings before.

Any ideas where I should begin trying to figure out what happened and how to fix it?

[phelme]

Has any of your software been updated without your knowledge, an automated update maybe?

I had a similar problem with the ArcSoft codecs. I had to roll back from the most recent version because it would cause the client on one of my PC's to quit in the same way as yours. I'm guessing it's some problem with the ATI video drivers on that box.

[ryanroat]

I'm really stymied here. How would I roll back an update? How do I even check what codec is being used by the different software.

I'm really frustrated with the whole Sage system now. It's taken me weeks if not months to get everything working together, although it was never reliable enough to entirely replace my previous setup. I finally had a week or two of almost everything working consistantly, then this HDPVR issue.

I really want my Sage setup to work, but I can't commit to a system that needs constant supervision. I shouldn't have to constantly update, uninstall, reinstall, roll back, etc.

I'm going to try to uninstall the ArcSoft Total Media package and see what happens, but really I don't know where else to look, as I have no idea what caused the HDPVR failure.

BTW, the server can still record via the HDPVR, and my extender can still play the recordings.

[ryanroat]

I got playback working by removing ArcSoft Total Media Extreme, VLC player, Cole2k media codec pack and WinTV scheduler.

I think the ArcSoft Total Media was probably the main culprit as I had already tried removing the cole2k pack last night.

I'm still frustrated with and, to be honest, wary of the setup. My confidence that it'll work reliably, especially unattended, is very low right now.

[phelme]

Originally Posted by ryanroat

I got playback working by removing ArcSoft Total Media Extreme, VLC player, Cole2k media codec pack and WinTV scheduler.

I think the ArcSoft Total Media was probably the main culprit as I had already tried removing the cole2k pack last night.

I'm still frustrated with and, to be honest, wary of the setup. My confidence that it'll work reliably, especially unattended, is very low right now.

Sorry to hear about your problems, believe me, we've all been there.

It is too bad there aren't more "recipes", for lack of a better term, available for how to set up a system. It often takes searching through the forum here to find similar configurations to one's own to figure out the right codecs, drivers and such. Also, enabling the debugging log on the client side can help pinpoint what is failing (set the "debug_logging=TRUE" property in the SageClient.properties file, when the client is not running)

So if you took out ArcSoft, which decoders are you currently using to make it work?

I'm not keen on people saying this to me, but have you considered getting one of Sage's stand alone HD200's?

[ryanroat]

Originally Posted by phelme

Sorry to hear about your problems, believe me, we've all been there.

It is too bad there aren't more "recipes", for lack of a better term, available for how to set up a system. It often takes searching through the forum here to find similar configurations to one's own to figure out the right codecs, drivers and such. Also, enabling the debugging log on the client side can help pinpoint what is failing (set the "debug_logging=TRUE" property in the SageClient.properties file, when the client is not running)

So if you took out ArcSoft, which decoders are you currently using to make it work?

I'm not keen on people saying this to me, but have you considered getting one of Sage's stand alone HD200's?

Which decoder? I don't know. I have PowerDVD Ultra on the unit, too.

As for the extender, we have one. Which never had an issue with the playback of the recordings.