No Sound on some recordings, and limited listing of channels

[jlhatch]

2 problems:

1-Some of my recordings have no sound. I"ve updated to the latest drivers for my PVR-150 and updated Sage to 2.2. The Sage tech guy hasn't figured it out yet, and about half of my recordings have no sound. He suggested I turn off 3D acceleration, but it had no effect.

2-The Sage interface only shows 5 channels at a time, over a period of 90 minutes. Enlarging the window only enlarges everything in the window, rather than allowing for either more channels or showing a larger space of time for those shows. I have 100's of channels coming in via cable, and prime time is 3 hours long, so how do I make the interface easier to see more channels over a longer span of time?

Rev. Jeff Hatch
(trying desperately to not get TiVO like my wife keeps hounding me to do)

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by jlhatch

1-Some of my recordings have no sound. I"ve updated to the latest drivers for my PVR-150 and updated Sage to 2.2. The Sage tech guy hasn't figured it out yet, and about half of my recordings have no sound. He suggested I turn off 3D acceleration, but it had no effect.

I don't know about the recordings w/o sound other than there used to be a problem with MS Messenger interacting with Norton AntiVirus (or something like that -- you could search the forum) causing the audio to get muted in the recording. But, I don't know if that is an issue any more. You could try recording with the original Hauppauge software & see if the audio gets muted. If so, check with Hauppauge too.

2-The Sage interface only shows 5 channels at a time, over a period of 90 minutes. Enlarging the window only enlarges everything in the window, rather than allowing for either more channels or showing a larger space of time for those shows. I have 100's of channels coming in via cable, and prime time is 3 hours long, so how do I make the interface easier to see more channels over a longer span of time?

There are a couple ui/epg_num_xxx properties that you can use to change the grid size, but the font stays too large if you have it display too many rows/columns. The MalDude2 custom STV has some basic settings in the LiveTV Guide's Options menus (use the Options command) to allow you to set the grid size + the size of the font it uses. (The font size is custom to that STV, so you can't use it to set the grid font size & then switch to another STV.)

- Andy

[jkoutrouba]

Originally Posted by jlhatch

1-Some of my recordings have no sound. I"ve updated to the latest drivers for my PVR-150 and updated Sage to 2.2. The Sage tech guy hasn't figured it out yet, and about half of my recordings have no sound. He suggested I turn off 3D acceleration, but it had no effect.

I've had this problem recently, too. All recordings for about a week had no audio. At some point, the system started recording sound again. I don't know what happened. I rebooted at one point, so that may have had an effect. I have an ATI eHome Wonder and a PVR-150. I think all of the recordings were done on the ATI, though I didn't think to look at all of them before deleting a few. As a troubleshooting step, I've removed that as a source so that it will force the PVR-150 to record and I'll see if it makes a difference.

I've also had problems with severe static on the audio track. It sounds like complete noise, and at a very high level, too. It completely drowns out all sound from the program, making it unwatchable unless muted is OK.

[nielm]

Re EPG: Sage is designed to have a 10ft UI -- to be viewed from a distance on a low-res TV screen, so the EPG has limited rows/cols and big fonts otherwise it would be unreadable...

My web interface customisation also has an EPG (2 actually!) in which you can customise the number of rows/cols (the [Show Options] button), and it uses a smaller font, so you can have a 24hrx100 channel EPG grid if you want

[jlhatch]

Thanks for the replies, but both replied with answers spoken in techese rather than in English. I generally have no idea what either of you said. Here are the terms that need definitions:
*EPG
*ui/epg_num_xxx
*MalDude2 custom STV
*STV
There was also reference to a customization that might do for me what I'd like in terms of more channels and a wider grid with more hours, but the link listed gives 36 different links that also describe what they do in techese, so I have no clue which of those to d/l.
So thanks again for the suggestions - but can you reply back in tv-idiotese so I can try and solve these two problems?

Jeff

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by jlhatch

Thanks for the replies, but both replied with answers spoken in techese rather than in English. I generally have no idea what either of you said. Here are the terms that need definitions:
*EPG
*ui/epg_num_xxx
*MalDude2 custom STV
*STV

This FAQ entry & the links it has might help: Is there some sort of reference for the various acronyms and terms used around here?

In addition:

ui/epg_num_xxx was my short-hand for a couple properties that start with ui/epg_num_ and are listed in the SageTV manual, starting with some related ones on p. 185 for the v2.2 manual.

The MalDude2 custom STV can be found here.

- Andy

[jlhatch]

I have printed the manual for Sage 2.1, so the page numbers are a bit off, but I sorta see in there what you're talking about. But you leave out the definition of STV, as in "& then switch to another STV." (It's also not on your acronym link, which is actually a link to another link that has the acronyms.)

So I'm getting closer to understanding what you're talking about, but I still don't know what a Maldude STV is, and what I should do with it (or how). Really really really really dumb down your answers and try to give me some step by step things to do and I'll try to do them. Thanks,

Jeff

[Opus4]

As posted in the link found in that FAQ, an STV is a "SageTV interface definition file. (See the List of available customizations.)" It is what defines what you see in the SageTV window when you run the program. You can change which STV file you use as you user interface in Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> SageTV Application Definition & select the button next to that option.

If you want to change the STV, though, first you have to install a custom STV to be used. The "MalDude2" STV happens to be found at the link I gave above. The very first line in that thread (between the rotating SageTV icons) has a link to a web page w/info on this STV with instructions on its installation.

Alternatively, you can edit those above-mentioned properties to set the size of the LiveTV Guide grid. To do that, you have to exit SageTV completely, edit Sage.properties (See Appendix A in the manual), then restart SageTV.

- Andy

[nielm]

For the 'Web interface customisation', click the link in my footer for Sage Customisations, then scroll down until you see "SageTV Web Interface"... This will eventually take you to the webserver page with installation instructions and screen shots. EPG is Electronic program Guide -- ie the table with the channels and shows.

[bluenote]

Hi Jeff

I don't know if this has occurred to you, but I'll suggest it and you can do what you like.

You may be happier not trying to customize your setup -- keep in mind that things can go wrong, and easily wind up much worse than an EPG you don't like.

The other direction involves much reading, much dedication, but ends with much satisfaction. I just thought I could (maybe!) add some clarity to the decision making -- maybe that EPG isn't so annoying after all?

for what it's worth

Cory

[jlhatch]

Yeah, the advice above wasn't very user friendly, so for now I'll just bumble my way along. Sage reminds me of DOS, and I'm looking for WinXP, if you know what I mean. Certainly there are lots of tweaks and customizing that can be done, but messing with the internal files rather than using a GUI that allows for easy customization is just not worth it right now.

And since the whole thing only works sporadically anyway, and when it does work it takes me 40 minutes to compile and burn a DVD of the show I want to watch on my TV, I may just send it all back and get a TiVO. For some reason the wife doesn't like watching a TV show on my monitor as opposed to watching it on the big screen tv, so this way of recording shows has not proved to be better or faster than her original idea that we get TiVO. Maybe someday it will be available to the masses, but there's a reason we don't mess with win.ini files anymore - too much can go wrong.

Thanks for your help.

Jeff