Choppy HD video in Sage

[CPA]

Choppy Video

I am getting choppy video mostly with HD content, but some on SD content. By choppy I mean it is as though the video freezes for a split second and then catches up with the audio; mostly noticeable in high action scenes. These same video files play perfectly in Zoom Player, VLC, Windows Media Player, etc. Only Sage seems to have the problem.

I have an AMD64 3500+ processor/1 GB of Patriot memory/6600gt video card (driver 84.21, latest drivers lock up computer)/Pure Video 223 Decoders/VMR9/Automatic De-Interlacing. Switching to Overlay changes nothing. Tuners are a Hauppauge 500 and Motorola 6200 over firewire. From what I have read, my equipment should not be the problem. I am using SageMC 6.7.

I have done a lot of research on the forum about HD playback and this seems to be a relatively common problem with Sage. While there are many suggestions to remedy the situation, it seems that ultimately the only solution is, don’t use Sage for HD content. This is a baffling solution to me when there are free players like Zoom and VLC that can handle this content just fine, but the software I paid for cannot. What’s wrong with this picture?

Then to make matters worse, I get all excited about external media players, yet I find that Sage will not let me use TV files with the external player. Then I find that there is a setting in properties to make it play TV files, but then it tries to us the external player for Live TV which does not work. Argh!

Is anyone out there getting successful HD playback using the Sage player? If so, HOW?

[pgitta]

Well, I have a 3400+ with your exact video card and mine is finally good using two Vbox DT-150s. I still have an teeenie little bit of chop during slow HD pans but it's hardly noticable.

All my stutter problems went away with the new video adaptor.

I use overlay and PureVideo, acceleration enabled, 64K clusters.

All I can think of is play a video in Media player and click on the Nvidia PureVideo settings to make sure the card is in DXVA mode and try changing AUDIO decoders if you haven't already.

Mine works with VMR9, but not as well as Overlay.

That hardware should work. Weird.

[CPA]

Originally Posted by pgitta

Well, I have a 3400+ with your exact video card and mine is finally good using two Vbox DT-150s. I still have an teeenie little bit of chop during slow HD pans but it's hardly noticable.

All my stutter problems went away with the new video adaptor.

I use overlay and PureVideo, acceleration enabled, 64K clusters.

All I can think of is play a video in Media player and click on the Nvidia PureVideo settings to make sure the card is in DXVA mode and try changing AUDIO decoders if you haven't already.

Mine works with VMR9, but not as well as Overlay.

That hardware should work. Weird.

Thanks for the reply. I don't do any OTA. I get my HD in other ways.

I did check the PureVideo settings while playing HD content and it did say DXVA mode 1. Which brings up a whole other question. When is VMR9 actually being used? If I set it in Sage the PureVideo says DXVA mode 1, on screen display works, but more severe stuttering starts and I get black bars on all four sides of the video. If I set Sage to default interlacing, I am assuming its letting PureVideo handle it (which is set to prefer VMR 9 and indeed lists DXVA Mode 1 during playback) but OSD goes away (or goes flaky anyway) and correct aspect ratio comes back. What gives? If I have VMR set in both places what is controlling what?

What did you mean by changing audio decoders? I am using the Nvidia decoder currently. Should I be using something else?

[pgitta]

I meant to try to experiment with different audio decoders. (default, Sage, etc)

Some people have reported stuttering due to the audio decoder they used.

BTW...my video is fine now with Nvidia's decoder, but if I set to their audio decoder I get zero sound.

At any rate, I think that's a long shot.

From my research, the following can cause stuttering:

Inadequate video card
Small drive clusters
Hardware acceleration (enabled or disabled)
MPEG decoder
Audio decoder
SATA hard drives
some scan library blah blah setting in Sage.properties file
uneccessary running services
antivirus programs
disk catching on storage drives (disable)
using O/S drive for recording directory

The biggest thing I would be concerned about is why the latest drivers for your video adaptor are locking up your computer. That should NOT be happening. I would address that first.

I'm 99% sure your problem is video hardware related. If your computer won't let you use the latest drivers...that could be a problem.

[chadman]

I have the same choppy video problem in Sage watching HD shows with vrm9 and hardware acceleration turned on. Shows on the HD channels that are not 1080 seem to play much better. The sound is good, but the video is just very slightly choppy with 1080i. My CPU runs HD shows at about 25-30% so I know the CPU is fine. I have 1.5 gig of memory and it seems to be fine. I have tried an ATI 9500 Pro (my original card), then got a NVIDIA 5200 with 256 megs, and am now using a ATI x1600. The choppy performance is almost the same on all three cards with the NVIDIA being the worst. I use the NVIDIA decoders from Theater Tek.

To fix this problem all I have to do it change it to Overlay. My problem is I want the cool transparent menus to work, but it seems vrm9 has to be on for this to work? I was also told the picture is best quality using vrm9. I do not under stand where the choppiness is coming from. I can play a HD recording I made with Sage in Zoom Player and it plays perfect. This makes me believe it is a problem within Sage. I use vrm9 and the same resolution with Zoom and the HD video does not have the choppy affect.

Thanks, Chad

[emok]

which de-interlace method have you set on the nvidia decoders? if you are using "Smart" can you try switching to "Automatic"? Some people have problems with the "Smart" setting.

[camTexas]

I have a Athlon64 2800 and don't have problems stuttering on any HD playback at 1080i resolution even when I'm recording a 2nd HD program in the background (using VMR9/FSE). I did have problems when using a 6600GT card but upgrading to a 7600GS card fixed it for me. All this is with the latest (223 I think) Nvidia decoder, latest NForce and video drivers from Nvidia as well.

[CPA]

I have used the "automatic" setting for de-interlacing but have had more success with the "video" setting. I use an Hitachi 36" direct view HDTV that is only capable of a 60Hz refresh rate. I run in dual view mode to a vga (800x600) input and a component (1920x1080) input.

So you think the 6600GT is not enough horsepower? Even overclocked? Seems like I have heard of others on this forum having success with the 6600GT but maybe that is outdated info. I am using the latest 223 decoders, but not the latest display driver. I tried it, but as soon as I try to play something in dual view mode, the video locks and stutters. In fact the computer locks and has to be restarted at the machine.

CPU runs 35-40% on HD content. My video content is on a SATA drive with 64k clusters, I am using Harware Acceleration. I am not using O/S drive for record directory. I am running AVG anti-virus, but still not very many services in the background. How does one disable disc caching? I'm not familiar with the scan library setting in Sage.properties file. Any help?

Anybody have any advice on the external player issue I mentioned in my first post? Can it be setup to use external player on TV files but Sage on Live TV?

[pgitta]

In the file Sage.properties, try setting the "seeker_periodically_scan_library" value to 'false'.

Disk caching is enabled or disabled under the properties window of your hard drive and under My Computer <drive> properties

[KarylFStein]

I got my HDTV playback working smoothly on my 6600GT card this weekend. It's been a long road and unfortunately I don't know what fixed it. I built the entire system from scratch to document it and get rid of any junk that may have been left over from trying to debug and fix this issue. I did not change the hardware or software that I had except I upgraded the video drivers from 83.xx to 91.31. I am running 1.02-196 of the PureVideo decoders and am not going to touch them even though a newer version is available.

My CPU is an Intel 2.26GHz and the video card is running at stock speeds and only has 128MB of memory. I am using Overlay. My resolution is 1920x1080 (1080p). I only have 512M of RAM. Sorry I can't say what got it working for me. All I know is that my choppiness / stuttering with 1080i HDTV through Sage is no more...

[pgitta]

To fix this problem all I have to do it change it to Overlay. My problem is I want the cool transparent menus to work, but it seems vrm9 has to be on for this to work? I was also told the picture is best quality using vrm9.[

Same for me. Stutter with VRM9. overlay good.

And if the picture is better in VRM9, then it would have to be a hologram, cause the way it is now in overlay, it's like "being there".

[blade]

Originally Posted by CPA

I am getting choppy video mostly with HD content, but some on SD content. By choppy I mean it is as though the video freezes for a split second and then catches up with the audio; mostly noticeable in high action scenes. These same video files play perfectly in Zoom Player, VLC, Windows Media Player, etc. Only Sage seems to have the problem.

Are you using FSE? I have a 6600GT and it won't even play SD content smoothly at 1080i when using VMR9 without FSE.

You said switching to overlay doesn't help. I would think your card should be able to do HD at 1080i using overlay without too much trouble.

[blade]

Originally Posted by CPA

I did check the PureVideo settings while playing HD content and it did say DXVA mode 1. Which brings up a whole other question. When is VMR9 actually being used? If I set it in Sage the PureVideo says DXVA mode 1, on screen display works, but more severe stuttering starts and I get black bars on all four sides of the video. If I set Sage to default interlacing, I am assuming its letting PureVideo handle it (which is set to prefer VMR 9 and indeed lists DXVA Mode 1 during playback) but OSD goes away (or goes flaky anyway) and correct aspect ratio comes back. What gives? If I have VMR set in both places what is controlling what?

VMR9 or Overlay will be determined by what you select in Sage. The only video settings you need to select within Sage is the decoder to use and overlay or VMR9. Everything else should be default. If the Nvidia decoder is your default decoder you can select default. Some people claim they have problems if they select the nvidia decoder by name.

[blade]

Originally Posted by chadman

To fix this problem all I have to do it change it to Overlay. My problem is I want the cool transparent menus to work, but it seems vrm9 has to be on for this to work? I was also told the picture is best quality using vrm9. I do not under stand where the choppiness is coming from. I can play a HD recording I made with Sage in Zoom Player and it plays perfect. This makes me believe it is a problem within Sage. I use vrm9 and the same resolution with Zoom and the HD video does not have the choppy affect.

Thanks, Chad

When using VMR9 do you have FSE enabled? If not try enabling it.

To get the transparent OSD with overlay you need to turn 3d acceleration off.

[blade]

Originally Posted by CPA

I have used the "automatic" setting for de-interlacing but have had more success with the "video" setting. I use an Hitachi 36" direct view HDTV that is only capable of a 60Hz refresh rate. I run in dual view mode to a vga (800x600) input and a component (1920x1080) input.

Content is either film or video. Automatic reads the flag and switches to film or video as necessary. Smart tries to determine for itself what the content actually is instead of relying on the flag because the content isn't always flagged correctly. By setting it to video your forcing the decoder to treat both film and video content as video. This is fine for watching video content, but any film content you watch won't be handled correctly.

You didn't mention before that you were running in dual view. What happens if you have a single display connected and playback on the 800*600 display? Or single view on the 1920*1080? Do you still get stuttering on both?

Is the monitor with Sage set as the primary display?

[pgitta]

Originally Posted by blade

When using VMR9 do you have FSE enabled? If not try enabling it.

To get the transparent OSD with overlay you need to turn 3d acceleration off.

FSE often introduces a whole new issue. On my setup, I can set it and watch TV fine, but as soon as I exit the application and restart, the Sage menu comes up, then I go to Live TV and poof!!

Sage exits. Endless loop like that.

This program can be very frustrating and unpredictable.

I leave mine on overlay.

[blade]

Originally Posted by pgitta

FSE often introduces a whole new issue. On my setup, I can set it and watch TV fine, but as soon as I exit the application and restart, the Sage menu comes up, then I go to Live TV and poof!!

I have similar problems with FSE, but in order to do 1080i with VMR9 it's necessary on the 6600. If you always launch and close Sage from fullscreen without ever going into windowed mode it greatly reduces the frequency of lockups for most people.

I tend to run VMR9 at 720p. I can still use VMR without the need for FSE.

Personally I prefer the look of VMR9. It has more advanced deinterlacing features and overall better quality. It's not as noticable to me on smaller screens, but I'm watching on a 57" and the difference is easy to spot.

[chadman]

Originally Posted by blade

When using VMR9 do you have FSE enabled? If not try enabling it.

To get the transparent OSD with overlay you need to turn 3d acceleration off.

What is FSE and how do I turn it on/off?

Chad

[blade]

Originally Posted by chadman

What is FSE and how do I turn it on/off?

Chad

FSE = Full screen exclusive

Basically it lets Sage take over the video card sort of like how games do for faster performance.

Detailed settings in the advanced section. You may have to exit and restart Sage or possibly reboot before it takes effect.

It works for some people and not for others. The less you switch between windowed and fullscreen the fewer problems you're likely to have with FSE.

[chadman]

Ok the fse did not make any difference, still choppy. I do have my resolution set for 1776X1000 for my TV. Does that make any difference? Why will Zoom (using the same NVIDIA codecs) or Windows Media player play these fine without the choppiness?

Chad