No longer properly recording shows

[thegodfaza]

Starting this new season of TV shows my SageTV server no longer properly records TV shows. It will either record the show w/ no problems, partially record the show (one is missing the first 14:11 and another is missing the first 23:33) or it may not record the show at all. I have no show conflicts. I am using the latest version of SageTV for Windows Home Server. Also it appears to tune and record fine when I pick arbitrary shows. Also I had to run the SageTV process as an Administrator since when it ran as LocalSystem(the default user for windows services) it would not tune, record, browse / playback media, or much else.

[Fuzzy]

Need some more info... What are your recordings devices? Do you have and System Messages reporting encoder failures for those recordings? Are the problem recordings all from the same encoder? Most cases when the show is missing in the beginning, it's because it tries to record, and sage doesn't see any recording progress coming in, so it resets and tries again. This could point to an encoder failing.

[thegodfaza]

I'm using a hauppauge hvr-1600. It works fine on a different machine using Windows Media Center and when I want to tune a live channel (not DVRd).

I ran another test today picking a random Paid Programming program to record. I received three errors.

  	
Capture Device Failure while Starting Recording

Thu, Jan 14
3:30:02 PM
	

Error Message Details

The capture device input Hauppauge WinTV 418 TS Capture Digital TV Tuner had a failure while trying to start the recording of "Paid Programming" on WJFWDT on physical channel 27-27-1 at Thu 1/14 15:30.

2 Messages. Last Occurrence: Thu, Jan 14 3:31:02 PM

 Halt Detected in Recording

Thu, Jan 14
3:31:02 PM
	

Warning Message Details

The device input "Hauppauge WinTV 418 TS Capture Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "Paid Programming" on WJFWDT on physical channel 27-27-1. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.

Halt Detected in Recording

Thu, Jan 14
3:32:32 PM
	

Error Message Details

The device input "Hauppauge WinTV 418 TS Capture Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "Paid Programming" on WJFWDT on physical channel 27-27-1. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.

Then the program recorded perfectly from 3:32:30 PM - the end of the show. It appears to be a problem with the sage software since the capture card works on another machine and it works fine for impromptu viewing of a TV channel.

EDIT: Also after playing with SageTV for a bit it appears to record just fine if I'm running a SageTV client when the recording starts. I also did a complete reinstall of SageTV before doing the Paid Programming test. I copied over my wiz.biz file after the fresh install. It solved the problem of it not working unless running as admin but obviously didn't fix the recording issue. I'm also running Comskip monitor in the background.

[theguru]

I'm getting these exact mesages with my PVR-1600. Have been since I updated to the newest version of SageTV. They worked fine on the old version.

[thegodfaza]

Originally Posted by theguru

I'm getting these exact mesages with my PVR-1600. Have been since I updated to the newest version of SageTV. They worked fine on the old version.

I've been using 6.6.2 since it came out and only started having the problems recently, though the problem could have manifested earlier since I haven't recorded anything since last season's shows ended. I'm wondering if it could be a driver update for the HVR-1600 at fault.

Also I just had the exact same errors as before while Sage tried to start recording The Mentalist while I was watching another recorded show. The show started recording 1:06 after it should have.

Maybe I will try removing the current HVR-1600 drivers and installing the ones that came with the card... if I can find them.

[thegodfaza]

Well I used the install CD with their uninstall program on the disk (hcwclear.exe in the root of the disk) to fully remove everything Hauppauge. Then I did a reinstall of the disk's drivers (HcwDriverInstall.exe). It appears to be fine now. I will report back if I have any further problems.

Note: I included the file names for reference for others who have the same problem currently or in the future. Also you can PM me for the old drivers if you don't have the install disk. I don't think I can post them as an attachment since they are probably protected with Intellectual Property, Copyright, or both.

[thegodfaza]

Well Numb3rs recorded perfectly today, though Sage decided to record CSI instead of Fringe yesterday even though Fringe is ranked higher in my favorites list than CSI (need to save up for a Hauppauge HVR-2250 or two). Also the quality of the recording appears to be much higher with the old drivers. The new drivers had many more compression artifacts during motion.

[thegodfaza]

Well todays recordings failed so I guess the problem is still there. One show failed completely and didn't record. Another show is missing the first 20:40.

EDIT: I found this thread which suggests rolling back to JRE 1.6.0_15 (I'm running 1.6.0_17). I'll give it a shot and see how the next batch of recordings go.

[gplasky]

I had the same issue before but my favorites were for specific channels. (not any channel) Cable company had moved channels around so I had to redo the favorites.

Gerry

[thegodfaza]

Originally Posted by gplasky

I had the same issue before but my favorites were for specific channels. (not any channel) Cable company had moved channels around so I had to redo the favorites.

Gerry

If that were the case I wouldn't be able to access those channels anymore and it wouldn't record the shows at all. For me, the shows are missing an arbitrarily amount of time at the front of the show, accompanied by the above errors.

Also on another note I fixed a problem where I was getting (-3,0x80070020) errors when trying to tune a channel. The error means that the file Sage is trying to write to has been write-locked. I'm running Windows Home Server Power Pack 3, which in one of the last updates, enabled pushing of shares to Windows Media Center. As soon as the file is created, WMC tried to look at it and index it, causing a write-lock. Disabling Windows Media Center sharing in the WHS console fixed the issue. This also explains why it happens infrequently, since as soon as a client powers up it starts looking at the WMC shares, causing write-locks.

Also all my recordings appear to be fine after the java downgrade. Will post again if any recordings fail this week.

[-=Jeff=-]

Originally Posted by thegodfaza

If that were the case I wouldn't be able to access those channels anymore and it wouldn't record the shows at all. For me, the shows are missing an arbitrarily amount of time at the front of the show, accompanied by the above errors.

Also on another note I fixed a problem where I was getting (-3,0x80070020) errors when trying to tune a channel. The error means that the file Sage is trying to write to has been write-locked. I'm running Windows Home Server Power Pack 3, which in one of the last updates, enabled pushing of shares to Windows Media Center. As soon as the file is created, WMC tried to look at it and index it, causing a write-lock. Disabling Windows Media Center sharing in the WHS console fixed the issue. This also explains why it happens infrequently, since as soon as a client powers up it starts looking at the WMC shares, causing write-locks.

Also all my recordings appear to be fine after the java downgrade. Will post again if any recordings fail this week.

I have the same issue.. started this week.. did the java downgrade help?

Also how do you disable the media center stuff in WHS?

[theguru]

I am also having this exact problem with the 1600. I am running Win7 though and not Windows Home Server. Did the downgrade of Java help?

[-=Jeff=-]

Be sure Windows Media is not in use or set-up for sharing on the PC, that also caused my issues