HD-PVR and java heap

[dead_ferrets]

Hey folks,

I have noticed that my HD-PVR seems to be reliably locking up (requiring power cycle) when my java heap maxes out. My extenders get very laggy when this happens too. Java heap set to 768.

What puzzles me is that when I restart the server and look at my java heap it's only using about 200. As I use the extenders more and more the used java heap number goes up, almost like the memory usage isn't be released when the extenders are powered off.

Any thoughts? Is there a way to 'refresh' the java heap?

[CollinR]

Are you using the default interface, I see that more with user scripts then vanilla SageTV.

[dead_ferrets]

No I'm using SageMC on two HD-200 extenders that are connected to Sage running of my WHS.

[Chriscic]

The "java heap" theory of HD-PVR lock-up causation comes up periodically.

Can you give more detail? Is it sure-fire that HD-PVR lock-up once a certain level is reached? What level is that? The 768 you mention?

How are you monitoring the Java heap? I'm skeptical that this is the cause, but nonetheless I'd like to take a look at this myself but am not sure how to.

Thanks.

[dead_ferrets]

Hey Chris,

It's hard to know if anything is sure fire with HD-PVR lock-ups. Since I'm not sure how to load up the java heap, I can't test it empirically. What I can say is that it's locked up three times now and each time has coincided with maxed out java heaps and dramatic slowing of the UI and video streaming. I keep adding the the java heap and sage just seems to keep eating it up. I'm now up to 1024.

I'm monitoring the java heap through the system information area of sagemc. The last lockup I had set the heap to 768 but for some reason it showed as a max of 799 in the system. The lock-up occured when it hit that max.

[CollinR]

Go back to vanilla sage and see if it is still happening.

[dead_ferrets]

Going back to vanilla sage is a logical troubleshooting step and a totally reasonable suggestion, but to be honest I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.

Also, it seems to me that there are lots of folks running stable HD-PVRs who are using SageMC.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by dead_ferrets

Going back to vanilla sage is a logical troubleshooting step and a totally reasonable suggestion, but to be honest I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.

Also, it seems to me that there are lots of folks running stable HD-PVRs who are using SageMC.

I think the "Going back to vanilla sage" was a suggestion to get you back to square one to troubleshoot your java issue.

Sage runs on the java foundation and if your java is not stable, neither will be your Sage. And therefore your HD PVR under Sage.

Try reinstalling your java version or revert to a more stable java version. (I'm still running java 6u15 which is very stable).

IMO, Your first priority should be to get your java install working properly.

[dead_ferrets]

Thanks. I do appreciate the suggestion and I it makes perfect sense but I'd rather find another way to troubleshoot java stability. Using the default STV is just not an option in my house and I don't have a test environment to use.

I did notice this morning that the java heap was cleaned up overnight, it was at around 600MB before I went to bed and it's now down to around 150MB. I've upped the heap to 1024 so let's see what happens, a lock-up before the heap reaches max or a lock-up that coincides with a max heap...or, miracle of miracles, no maxing out of the heap and no lock-ups!!

Thanks to all for the help and support.

[sic0048]

I cranked up my Java heap amount in the past to see if it would increase some of the menu speeds on my extender. I recently loaded the Java Heap monitor and I use the standard STV. I was surprised to see how little of the jave heap a use. I've never seen it really increase either.

I'm running 1 HD-PVR and 1 HD-100 extender, so clearly I'm not taxing my system. But I certainly don't see Java Heap Creep using the standard STV.

[sportera]

Originally Posted by dead_ferrets

Going back to vanilla sage is a logical troubleshooting step and a totally reasonable suggestion, but to be honest I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.

Also, it seems to me that there are lots of folks running stable HD-PVRs who are using SageMC.

While I've only had 1 lockup (hope this doesn't trigger bad carma with my system) from my (2) - 2 week old HD-PVR's, and that was after I made changes to the device configs in TME, my main problems have been video and audio studder. And the studder is worse when running SageMC. I've had to revert to vanilla SageTV to get to a somewhat liveable operating environment. I miss my SageMC but until I can get my studder problems eliminated while using SageMC, I'm resolved to using vanilla SageTV to keep my growing frustrations under control.

By the way, I'd like to try adjusting Java Heap to see if it helps my system. How do you do it? Is the adjustment a line item in the SageTV properties file?

[dead_ferrets]

I used the Sage Registry settings tool found in the downloads section.

Stop the sage service and change the max java heap from 0 to your desired heap size, e.g., 512, 768, 1024 press save and restart the sage service.