getting hacked off!

[ukmgranger]

I had sage working pretty well for a while! My video had stopped stuttering and the system seemed to be running pretty well.

That was until yesterday when I did a windows update

I'm now back to jerky video again.

I have to say that when my system can't do the SINGLE thing that it is built for I start to get pretty mad

I am using the latest nVidia drivers and the latest nDVD decoder along with Sage v3.0.7. I barely have any other software installed on the system (which was reformatted very recently).

I have tried re-installing Sage and the nVidia drivers/decoder and also replacing the 'quartz.dll', but to no avail. I think I must seriously look at another bit of software as V3 of Sage REALLY has not made anything any better.

It seems that Sage is as delicate as a flower. You almost have to pussy-foot around the thing to prevent it from having a paddy in terms of the video playback.

As I say, when the one thing the system is built for doesn't work, what’s the point!

[salsbst]

That was until yesterday when I did a windows update...
...As I say, when the one thing the system is built for doesn't work, what’s the point!

To say that Microsoft Windows was built to be a PVR is just a bit of a stretch, don't you think?

[ukmgranger]

Originally Posted by salsbst

To say that Microsoft Windows was built to be a PVR is just a bit of a stretch, don't you think?

What choice do we have!

[Kanati]

Get it running smoothly again and DON'T UPDATE anything in windows. You never know what they are mucking about with in an update. I've found that once it's running right you just gotta leave it be. As you say, sage is a bit....... flaky. Sometimes things are perfect and for no apparent reason it'll just wig out and start behaving oddly.

My latest oddity is hitting "exit" on the remote and having it flash the menu only to go immediately back to the playing video. Then I have to hit exit once again.

You just have to treat it like a baby and if it's happy, don't disturb it.

[ukmgranger]

Trouble is I've been trying to get it working again all day, to no avail!!

[salsbst]

I just don't understand why you update MS software, something goes wrong, and then you turn around and blame a 3rd party.

It is not Sage that is flaky, it is DirectX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ukmgranger]

Originally Posted by salsbst

I just don't understand why you update MS software, something goes wrong, and then you turn around and blame a 3rd party.

It is not Sage that is flaky, it is DirectX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Than Sage should be doing some sort of work-a-round then! If DX is one of the main components working alongside Sage, this should be top of the list surely.

[salsbst]

P.S. Don't take me the wrong way -- I do feel your pain. But I think your frustration is really based on Microsoft's inability to achieve stability in DirectX.... either that or they purposefully break it to make 3rd party apps look bad.

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by ukmgranger

Than Sage should be doing some sort of work-a-round then! If DX is one of the main components working alongside Sage, this should be top of the list surely.

They can't create a workaround until the problem actually appears.

[mikejaner]

I also don't run updates once I have SageTV running. Updates are too unpredictable. At least you should use an imaging program like Acronis, and image the system right before you do something like an update. This way, you can be back up in 5-10 minutes without these headaches.
Are you using VMR9?
I use Overlay, with 3d Accelleration enabled with absolutely no issues after I change the number of buffers in the registry for HD playback to be completely smooth.

[ukmgranger]

Sorry - I think I need to check my tone-of-voice!!

I don't mean to have a go at anyone (especially on this forum). It's just been a long hard day with Sage, accomplishing nothing.

I'm just amazed that having a system, which is pretty much as good a spec as you could want for a HTPC, I still can't get Sage to play video properly.

I know I shouldn't bring MC2005 into this, as it will not really do what I want it to (seperate inputs with differring lineups) but the video quality was superb when I tested it on this same system. No jumping, no stuterring.

[ukmgranger]

I use VMR9.
I don't think overlay looks very good. If there is a perfect circle on the screen (or any curved object actually) I can see the 'steps' in the curve. It is not perfictly curved like with VMR9. - if you understand that?!?

[mikejaner]

Did you up the Demux Buffers?

[ukmgranger]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

Did you up the Demux Buffers?

How would one do that? And more to the point, what does it do? Isn't that just something to do with strreaming over a network?

[Blue]

If you are certain that this was caused by a Microsoft update, you could try uninstalling the update through Add/Remove programs. The Windows update site and/or the Add/Remove Programs dialog should tell you when the updates were installed.

[ukmgranger]

Originally Posted by Blue

If you are certain that this was caused by a Microsoft update, you could try uninstalling the update through Add/Remove programs. The Windows update site and/or the Add/Remove Programs dialog should tell you when the updates were installed.

Already tried that. No go!

[Kanati]

Did you also try rolling back via system restore?

[ukmgranger]

Originally Posted by Kanati

Did you also try rolling back via system restore?

I never have this option on.

My old job was working as a sound engineer. Whenever building systems for music/audio, I was always told to never turn this option on. I figured that this would be the case for HTPC's too.

[Kanati]

I'd turn it on and limit it to a minimum amount of HD space. It doesn't come in handy often but when it does you'll thank yourself for having enabled it.

[Enormous]

If you do end up enabling system restore, make sure that you only include your OS drive. I had a rude awakening when I rolled back a system, only to find it also rolled back my video drives!