Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR

[mistergq]

Update to new drivers. Tonight, my STV taped Fact or Faked. This show is one of the biggest offenders with the delay in audio as there are a lot of commercial breaks as well as I don't think they are shooting this is the best hd possible.

Overall, the delay was much better comparative to the preupdate, but by the last segment, there was a noticeable delay. Hauppauge needs to keep working on this.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

I haven't made in changes from the default SageTV configuration. Do you have a recommendation?

Haven't had a chance to test it out, just noticed the trend a couple hours ago. I'm going to start with 5 seconds and do more testing...

[The Truth]

Looks like the problem was not fixed. if i leave my server on i still loose audio on recordings after the server is on without a restart for 24 hours.

the audio will work for a few seconds then there will be no audio for a few seconds, then audio, no audio.... etc.

[sleonard]

I was experiencing choppy, stuttering recordings but never had any sync issues. Now, perfect recordings since installing the new Colossus driver almost a week ago; Except at the very beginning there is sometimes some audio cutting in and out for a few seconds. I do still restart the server at 5am every day.

S

[mistergq]

For what it is worth, I would not turn off the automatic restarts. This happens in the middle of the night when I am snoring away. I have been restarting for almost 2 years, if not over 2 years, and this has cured many problems and have never had problems as a result of the restart (i.e., sagetv did not start). I don't know if it is the hauppauge driver, STV, or combination thereof that creates the memory leak, but there is a memory and java leak that needs a restart to prevent problems in recordings.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by mistergq

For what it is worth, I would not turn off the automatic restarts. This happens in the middle of the night when I am snoring away. I have been restarting for almost 2 years, if not over 2 years, and this has cured many problems and have never had problems as a result of the restart (i.e., sagetv did not start). I don't know if it is the hauppauge driver, STV, or combination thereof that creates the memory leak, but there is a memory and java leak that needs a restart to prevent problems in recordings.

Not always true. I don't restart nightly until the collusus and I never had leaks or issues. I also haven't restarted nighlty since installing the latest drivers last friday and all has been well.

[uberpixel]

Originally Posted by texneus

Looks like there are at least four of us with SPDIF audio sync issues:

Myself
Spacecadet
BMH
Metzz71

I'm also having the audio sync issue with SPDIF on Comcast using the latest Colossus drivers. The recording starts in sync and progressively gets worse.

To make matters worse, if I switch to stereo sound, I get annoying high pitched noise in the background (not enough for my wife to notice, but I hear it).

-uberpixel

[sleonard]

I also never restarted nightly until the Colossus and never had any memory issues. I was planning on ending the nightly restart until last night when I looked at the java heap numbers at 15 hours and found them at 6XX/778/778. I pressed delete twice and re-entered System Info and found it had dropped to 2XX/778/778. I know the first number is the current usage and it wasn't critical but at some point yesterday it maxed out (778/778). I'll probably increase it to 1024 and see how that works.

S

[Rico66]

I don't see any difference since installing the new drivers. I never had out of sync problems, but I still see:
- Occasional no audio (crossbar filter does not use spdif input correctly); happens rarely and the next channel change typically fixes the problem
- Occasional heavy stuttering (requiring a Sage service restart)
- Recording using non HD formats, especially 480p causes heavy stuttering almost all the time (this seems to have gotten worse with the new driver)
- PC becomes slow and sluggish after a number of Colossues recordings (channel changes); this does not repro consistently and requires a Sage service restart to fix

I've seen these issues basically since the beginning (of Colossus), and nothing has changed with the individual driver releases.

[The Truth]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Not always true. I don't restart nightly until the collusus and I never had leaks or issues. I also haven't restarted nighlty since installing the latest drivers last friday and all has been well.

I also havent had to restart until the Colossus. it looks like the new drivers made the Cards a little smoother, but i still have many issues, including;
-Occasional blue screen, a blue screen will be recorded and I can hear the audio fine
-if server not restarted the Audio will be fine for a few second and then it will be lost for a few then come back, then go.. for the whole recording. - (I have a feeling that this may be related to Comskip?)
-Ocassional recording of 1080i HD shows at 480p.

There might be some other rare issues too. The blue screen thing is new with the New drivers. So I guess they created more problems than they fixed.

[sleonard]

I also never had to have a nightly reboot until the colossus. After the new driver I made it almost a week before the stuttering returned last night and forced a premature reboot. All week I have noticed occasional skips in recordings of about a second and one blue screen recording where the audio was fine. The blue screen was live tv and stopping/restarting fixed it.

S

[mistergq]

I guess I don't understand the resistance to the nightly restarts. I have had memory leaks since HD PVR was installed in conjunction with a PVR150. Started the nightly restarts, my problems went away. I accept it and move on.

[bits]

Originally Posted by mistergq

I guess I don't understand the resistance to the nightly restarts. I have had memory leaks since HD PVR was installed in conjunction with a PVR150. Started the nightly restarts, my problems went away. I accept it and move on.

I did not do daily restarts until the Colosuss but now that I am doing it I am finding that in general things are faster and I like knowing that my java heap is reset. Even if the issues with Colosuss/Sage are fixed I plan on continuing the daily restart.

[jptheripper]

Originally Posted by mistergq

I guess I don't understand the resistance to the nightly restarts. I have had memory leaks since HD PVR was installed in conjunction with a PVR150. Started the nightly restarts, my problems went away. I accept it and move on.

I dont have a resistance to restarts, i have a resistance to "nightly". i.e. there is no convenient and consistent time slot, between backups, overnight recordings, etc.. i usually dont have a (everyday at 3am) type window. It would be 3 on monday, 2 on tuesday, nothing wednesday, etc.. and i really dont feel the need to schedule 7 different tasks.

[stanger89]

Beyond that it, it shouldn't be necessary, if you're requiring nightly restarts it indicates you've got a larger problem that could come up and bite you at any time. It's a kludge that should not be necessary.

[bits]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Beyond that it, it shouldn't be necessary, if you're requiring nightly restarts it indicates you've got a larger problem that could come up and bite you at any time. It's a kludge that should not be necessary.

When I say restart I am talking about SageTVService only, not my PC. Before Sage I never restarted my PC unless I did an update or something out of the ordinary.

Before the Colosuss I did not restart Sage but with the Colosuss it is absolutely necessary. There is nothing wrong with my server but there most certainly is something wrong with Colosuss/Sage.

Also, it is a known fact that certain plugins and actions will cause java heap associated with Sage to max out over time.

[Biggen]

For what its worth, i never restart my server. Maybe once a month if I am doing maintenance on it. Running the latest SageTV beta (whatever it is at the current time), Diamond UI, and BMT. No Collosus though. Running a 2250 with a HD-PVR

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by bits

When I say restart I am talking about SageTVService only, not my PC. Before Sage I never restarted my PC unless I did an update or something out of the ordinary.

Before the Colosuss I did not restart Sage but with the Colosuss it is absolutely necessary. There is nothing wrong with my server but there most certainly is something wrong with Colosuss/Sage.

Also, it is a known fact that certain plugins and actions will cause java heap associated with Sage to max out over time.

Then there is a error or leak in the plugin. You also have to remember java doesn't always release memory back to the ui but reserves it once used.

The problem with nightly restarts is you don't know when a plugin that is using the implementation class is being used and a restart during some of them could be bad news and cause other issues.

[bits]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Then there is a error or leak in the plugin. You also have to remember java doesn't always release memory back to the ui but reserves it once used.

The problem with nightly restarts is you don't know when a plugin that is using the implementation class is being used and a restart during some of them could be bad news and cause other issues.

I hear what you are saying but as long as I have a Colosuss there will be a daily restart of SageTVService because there is no way around it. I have been doing the restart for over a month and all is good. If the Colosuss/Sage thing is ever fixed I will re-visit the restart.

Before the Colosuss I did not need to restart even when the java heap was maxed at 1024. I could go for weeks and all would operate, albeit little bit slower, just fine. Add the Colosuss and you get screwed up recordings and BSODs and that is fact.

As an aside does the adding of fanart and metadata increase java heap, especially when it is adding during use of an extender? Does browsing video, which results in the showing of fanart and backgrounds cause java heap to increase? Lastly does using more extenders increase java heap size? All these things seem to increase java heap on my setup. There are others but I do not remember them at the moment.

[jptheripper]

Originally Posted by bits

Before the Colosuss I did not need to restart even when the java heap was maxed at 1024. I could go for weeks and all would operate, albeit little bit slower, just fine. Add the Colosuss and I get screwed up recordings and BSODs and that is fact.

There, i fixed that for you. It cannot be "you", b/c I do not have those symptoms, and therefore it cannot be fact, b/c for me, it is simply untrue.