Jerky Video with DVCR

[jglev]

I downloaded and installed Sage TV yesterday and have to admit that it is very impressive. I have the DVCR (I know it isn't the greatest, but am holding out for either Circuit City or CompUSA to offer the PVR-250 for $99 since I missed it a few weeks ago). Anyway, everything works fine (I tried the 1.4 beta), but the video (more noticeable with recorded video than live video) is jerky with frequent pauses. Does anyone have any suggestions to fix it? I am running it on a 2.4 MHz Pentium IV with 512 MB RAM and a 120 Gig HD, so hardware shouldn't be a problem. Additionally, the picture quality seems worse with Sage than when using the Creative software (seems more pixelated and blocky). I really want to buy Sage while it is on sale, but if I can't get it to work decently with the hardware I have now, I will have to wait until I get the PVR-250 on sale.

Thanks.

[Narflex]

Reformat your video disk partition(s) with 64K block sizes. This can be done through Disk Management in Computer Management. That should clear up your jerky video problem...and quite often it'll clean up the video in general. Let us know.

[jglev]

Excellent!!
I didn't have my HD partitioned, so I partitioned it using about 80 Gigs and re-formatted it using 64K block size as you suggested. I then told Sage to use the newly partitioned disk and did some experimenting. No more jerky video and the video itself looks MUCH better! I am still experiencing some stuttering of the picture when using the client, on a networked computer, but this is probably due to the wireless G connection.

I am definitely going to buy both Sage TV and the client. I guess I will need the Actisys IR to control my digital cable box (Motorola DCT 5100)?

Thanks again.

[dkardatzke]

Yes, you will need the IR-200L (or similar device with Girder) to control your cable box.