recordings timelines' get messed up

[JonTom]

Using SageTV service with a retail 150 and 150MCE.

1) What PVR-150 drivers do you use (esp if you have the 2 above cards)?
2) Has anyone else seen this?
3) What can I do to troubleshoot the problem below?

I have a problem where sometimes my recording have messed up timelines. Either the timeline goes too fast (bar shows 1 hr, but skips at 3-4 sec intervals so that file only take 15-20 minutes to play) or the timeline doesn't move at all (shows 1hr but stays at 0:00).

If the timeline moves too fast, then rewinding goes back to the 'correct' point in the file (ie: watch the show until the 10 minute mark (takes 3 minutes), rewind 10 secs, arrive at 9:50 and miss 6 minutes of show).

If the timeline doesn't move at all, then any RW/FF skips to the begining of the file and we start over. This error & behaviour seems new since I have changed to a different driver version.

Both these FF/RW behavious occur when I reach a commercial break and Sage tries to autoskip to the next show segment.

I seem to have narrowed down the point when these behaviours occur. If I watch a pre-recorded show while recording something else, these errors OFTEN show up, but not every time. It seems to only happen on 'high priority' favourites (naturally) - reruns of Friends, Seinfeld, etc are usually fine, but Primetime firstruns of [insert your favourite show here] are almost always messed up.

This has killed the WAF and is making serious inroads in MY acceptance factor.

I need to try more drivers versions still, but I'm looking for other suggestions as well. I did have the two 150s working together fine at one point, but the WMF fix has caused me to make so many changes to my system in search of returning to proper functionality that I'm not sure what caused this. It has been one of those 'fix this bug and another crops up' situations

The hardest thing is that it doesn't happen every time, but seriously seems to happen (almost) everytime on shows that I need to be recorded correctly. FWIW, watching on a client (separate PC) doesn't seem to trigger the problem but I can't be sure - the problem is not sufficiently reproducable.

[MilkmanCDN]

I am having the EXACT same problem. I too run SageTV in service mode with 2 x PVR-500MCE's and 2x PVR-150MCE's.

I have launched a bug report with Sage. They have since gotten back to me and told me to upgrade my hauppauge drivers and switch to v4.1.6. beta. I have done this; but, the problem still persits. I've sent a follow-up email to Sage support tonight.

If they get back to me, I'll forward what they said. In my case the problem doesn't happen too often (one out of 10-15 recordings I'd say); but, that's often enough, especially when it's the wife's show that get's botched.

I always record all my shows in mpeg2 mode at standard DVD playback rates. For what it's worth, you can run VideoRedo on the damaged mpeg files (yes it reports that they're damaged) and fix it with the "Quickstream Fix" option in the "Tools" menu. It'll strip out the "bad video frames" and your file will run good as new (but the length will be a few seconds/minutes shorter).

I would also like to note that I NEVER has this problem with I ran Sage v2.2.8 (Cayars STV) on the SAME HARDWARE!!! This is a definately some kind of software problem.

Let me know if you dig up anything else on this subject.

[JonTom]

Do you get both problems?

Reading on SHSPVR forums, there are timeline issues with several driver versions. They recommend 23025 and 23035, not the latest. I've tried one (problem continues) can't remember which ATM, not @ HTPC. Apparently these drivers have the 'audio/volume' bug; I've not seen this yet but I'm sure I will as soon as I fix this timelines problem

FWIW, I have now also developed the "studder when recording starts" that is being discussed here but it is minor compared to this issue.

I tried videoredo with unsatisfying results; mods, feel free to join these threads (my bad).

I record at "Great" quality for (I think) everything.

While I never found Sage4 as stable as 2.2, I did get it working fine until the WMF exploit patch hosed my system. Since then it has been one thing after another. I may just bite the bullet and reformat/reinstall. Ugh.

For reference:
SageTV 4.1.3.67
SageMC 16x9 latest dev (problem occurs with default STV too)
WinXP Pro
Via kt333 mobo (gigabyte VA-7XRP IIRC)
AMD 1800+
Tons o cooling
512MB RAM
NVidia GF4200
SA & Dirmon

BTW: nice avatar

[JonTom]

I take back my comment about the driver version. I am now running the latest WHQL 23348. This might explain why no audio problems and still glitch. I will try 23025 tomorrow.

[JonTom]

Do you get errors on files recorded on all cards, only 150/500, or only one card?

[MilkmanCDN]

Since I have 6 tuners, it's hard to track down which tuner recorded which show. If there's a logfile handy, I'd like to know about it. I've asked Sage support; but, they still haven't gotten back to me regarding this.

If such a thing exists, I don't think that it would be too difficult to track down whether one specific tuner was causing the problem or if it really is a driver issue.

For what it's worth, I was running a different version of the drivers when Sage v2.2.8 was installed.

P.S. Thanks for the complement on the Avatar. I'm originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Hockey is pretty big there..

[JonTom]

The SageWake thread has a post that tells how to set up a log that lists all upcoming recordings. The settings page shows what each tuner is doing at each moment.

I think I saw a recordings details screen that had that info at one time too but can't find it now...

[twieder]

I'm running into the same issue: v4.1.6, one PVR-150, one PVR-500 and one PVR-USB2. Latest Hauppauge drivers on each, all recording at highest quality (standard DVD). The only other anomoly I've seen is that on LiveTV playback from the USB2 the video stutters constantly (although the recordings from it are fine). The tuners for each recording are listed in the program info, but I don't see any pattern.
Anyone find a solution for this yet?

[jkoutrouba]

I've had this problem with two A180s. I'm not sure it's driver specific. I've never figured anything out. It doesn't happen too often, and each time I just sort of have to close my eyes and hope it goes away.

[henk99]

Hi,

I have been having this issue with the timeline being too fast since the 'old' v2.x time. I have filed bug reports and e-mailed back and forth with sagetv guys. It has never been solved so far. I am trying every beta, to see if they solved it, but so far no go.
Last e-mail about this bug dates back to october 2005, haven't heard from them again.
Last thing they told me was that for some reason the timestamp was being reset. They couldn't find how and why, but they were going to fix it in v3.1. We are at 4.1.6 now.......
It is probably not high on their list of 'things to fix'. Too bad, i have payed for the product. I hope they realize that.

Henk99

PS: Here's my old post....
http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=13145

[kricker]

Anyone got a fix for this yet? After a long time of perfectly working ,all of a sudden this problem has started and will not go away. I have just re-installed xp and all new drivers and sage 4.1.8. The issue will not go away.

[MilkmanCDN]

Believe it or not, after i enabled the debug mode, I haven't had it happen to me again. Very strange.

[kricker]

My sage.properties doesn't seem to have a debug entry. Do I have to manually enter it in? The only thing I find in the manual about debug mode is the debug console registry edit. Is that what you did?

EDIT
So I enabled the debuggin console with the registry edit and I am still having problems. The wierd thing is it seems to have played back properly while recording the file, but now that the recording is done, the time counts very fast as it plays.

[JonTom]

Funny I got an email notification of a reply on this thread.

The problem seemed to go away for me after posting; I think I changed drivers (see above). All files worked fine, although some didn't play properly in WMP (I don't have a client licence on my workstation but occasionally watched pre-corded TV there). These files are missing keyframes (I think) as I cannot FFW through them - if I click on the timeline in WMP nothing happens.

I was willing to live with that problem as it is no big deal and the files work fine in Sage. But it came back on Sunday when I recorded a 2.5hr program. It was another 2.5 hr program that kicked the problem off for me in the first place.

I haven't been able to figure out what happened (no time to look into it) but I too am still waiting for an official fix...

[MeInMaui]

I just started having this same issue with some of my recent recordings. The timeline progresses very quickly (4 to 5x) during playback. Playback then ends when the timeline reaches the end of the show. Has anyone found a solution to this? The WAF is taking a serious hit. Thanks.

Aloha,
Mike

[blade]

If you're using a hauppauge card and upgraded the drivers around the time the corruption started then yes.

Some of the newer drivers cause corruption of the timeline. There are some registry changes you can make to fix it or you can try rolling back to an older version that doesn't have the problem. I don't know if there are any newer drivers that fix the problem.

There is a thread here discussing it. The registry changes are in post #12 of that thread.

[MeInMaui]

Thanks Blade. I missed that thread. I haven't changed my drivers in a long time, but I'm planning an overhaul in the next few days and those registry changes will come in handy.

Aloha,
Mike

[joe123]

Hi. I am now getting these timeline corruptions on my recordings when I was not before.

I have SageTV V6 with 2 WinTV PVR-150 cards and I recently installed SA (ShowAnalyzer) comskip.

When I turn comskip off, I still get my shows timeline all messed up. If I play the recording, it all goes well, but if I try to Fast Forard or Backwards, it goes crazy.

From reading other postings, it sounds like a WinTV driver problem. Anyone know what WinTV drivers verison fix this, or is the problem somewhere else?

[gplasky]

It's not a WinTV driver problem. People are reporting this with other tuners. I got this in some recordings from my HD Homerun.

Gerry

[joe123]

Yes, this is weird.

When my computer is mostly idle doing nothing but recording, I don't get any timeline corruptions.

When the PVR is recording AND there is moderate to heavey usages on my computer, then I see timeline corruptions here and there, but it is not consitent.

Anyone else notice with similar symptons?