Stutter and high CPU usage with Fusion 5 HDTV

[bbig119]

I've got a Fusion 5 lite, and am having a hard time getting it setup properly in Sage. I notice that I get jerky(stuttered) playback of live HDTV OTA. The CPU is frequently hitting 100% when I see such stutters. When I watch TV with the fusion app, CPU usuage is well below 25% consistenly, and playback is smooth.

Any ideas on how I might fix this?

Thanks

[bbig119]

Nobody else has problems with their Fusion cards?

[Polypro]

Is DXVA enabled in the Fusion options?

P

[newmedia42]

I'm having the same problem, but with the Gold version using Sage's provided decoder... I purchased the NVidia codec drivers, and tried using them, and it got the CPU usage down to 10%, and silky smooth, but there's no audio since the NVidia codec has some BS issue where it won't output digital sources except via digital outputs - lame. To make matters worse, if you select a different audio decoder with the NVidia video decoder, it normally crashes miserably after a few seconds.

I also tried the alpha DScaler MPEG decoder, which used more CPU and has some jerky issues, but not as bad as the Sage one.

But the real killer for me is that once I got something somewhat stable, the turner would sometimes just get stuck on a channel, so say you turned to channel 14, it would work fine, but then every other channel change would act like it was changing, but it would just sit on the same channel.

I would point out that I'm running 4.1.3, not .4, so maybe something has addressed some of these issues in the new version, but I haven't had time over the holidays to pop it in yet.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by newmedia42

I'm having the same problem, but with the Gold version using Sage's provided decoder... I purchased the NVidia codec drivers, and tried using them, and it got the CPU usage down to 10%, and silky smooth, but there's no audio since the NVidia codec has some BS issue where it won't output digital sources except via digital outputs - lame. To make matters worse, if you select a different audio decoder with the NVidia video decoder, it normally crashes miserably after a few seconds.

I also tried the alpha DScaler MPEG decoder, which used more CPU and has some jerky issues, but not as bad as the Sage one.

But the real killer for me is that once I got something somewhat stable, the turner would sometimes just get stuck on a channel, so say you turned to channel 14, it would work fine, but then every other channel change would act like it was changing, but it would just sit on the same channel.

I would point out that I'm running 4.1.3, not .4, so maybe something has addressed some of these issues in the new version, but I haven't had time over the holidays to pop it in yet.

You can use the nVidia video decoder. Why not just choose a different audio decoder or use spdif with the nVidia audio decoder?

Gerry

[newmedia42]

Originally Posted by gplasky

You can use the nVidia video decoder. Why not just choose a different audio decoder or use spdif with the nVidia audio decoder?

As I mentioned, when I've tried to use it with any of the other audio decoders, it crashes Sage within a few seconds. As far as using digital out, I may ultimately set that up, but on NVidia's site, they acknowledge this in their knowledge base as a 'bug' and say it will be fixed at some point, so I'd rather not have to change my config (I have one projector/amp and one HDTV using the same Sage box, since I only watch one at a time, and it would be a bit inconvienient to have to turn on my amp every time I wanted to have audio on my HDTV).

[jasmithvr6]

I'm having the same problem with jittery/stuttering playback via OTA HD in Sage. I have Sonic and Nvidia decoder packs installed. I prefer Sonic over Nvidia, since Nvidia knocks down screen size to 4x3 for non-HD broadcasts. Sonic is able to stretch SD to 16x9, which the wife prefers. Afterall...that's all that matters.

Anyway, I was getting the jittery playback using Sonic. Switched to Nvidia and seems to be better, although not consistently better. If I watch the same show in Fusion's APP, it's smooth as silk. Tried using VMR v. Overlay and it's horrible.

I'm running Sage 4.1.3, with a Fusion 5 Lite, 9800 Pro and a Celeron 2.4ghz with 1gig of RAM. All time shifting is being handled to a local Seagate drive, so shouldn't be any network slow-down problems. My reception is >90% on all channels. I'm finding myself watching more HD through Fusions APP than through Sage right now.

[blade]

Originally Posted by jasmithvr6

I prefer Sonic over Nvidia, since Nvidia knocks down screen size to 4x3 for non-HD broadcasts. Sonic is able to stretch SD to 16x9, which the wife prefers. Afterall...that's all that matters.

The Nvidia decoder can stretch SD to 16x9 as well. All you have to do is open the decoder properties and change it from Content Default to Anamorphic/Raw and everything should playback at 16x9.

4x3 content can also be stretched to 16x9 in Sage by using the aspect ratio settings. There is even a plugin that allows you to set up your favorites to automatically switch between aspect ratios.

[jimwhite]

Is there anyway to get a "smooth" or "smart" non-linear stretch, the way most TV's and MCE can ???

[blade]

Originally Posted by jimwhite

Is there anyway to get a "smooth" or "smart" non-linear stretch, the way most TV's and MCE can ???

I think it can be done with FFDShow. The biggest drawback IMO with non-linear stretching is that pans look like a funhouse mirror because of all the distortions in shape that it causes.

Some people like it, but it drives me nuts.

[jasmithvr6]

Originally Posted by blade

The Nvidia decoder can stretch SD to 16x9 as well. All you have to do is open the decoder properties and change it from Content Default to Anamorphic/Raw and everything should playback at 16x9.

4x3 content can also be stretched to 16x9 in Sage by using the aspect ratio settings. There is even a plugin that allows you to set up your favorites to automatically switch between aspect ratios.

I can see the Nvidia icon running when I minimize Sage while watching a show. Only problem is that it won't let me view properties when I right click on it. I just upgraded to 102.185. I can't find a setting in WMP10 that allows me to force Anamorphic/Raw. Any suggestions?

Also, found that running Nvidia video decoder and Sonic audio decoder is not a good combo. That was the primary cause of the stuttering and audio lage problems I had during OTA playback. Using strictly Nvidia works ALOT better, although still have some audio lag problems.

[blade]

When selecting Nvidia Decoder in Sage most people can't access the properties. If the Nvidia decoder is the default decoder you should be able to select default and be able to right click on the tray icon and access the properties or playback a file using windows media player and access the tray icon using it.

If the Nvidia decoder isn't the default decoder you should be able to set it as default using this program.