No HD playback stutter in VMR9 for me but...

[Chilli]

...the picture shows up in black and white?? HD playback works in its full glory in Overlay mode (with good picture quality too, for me at least) but I really like the transparent OSD in VMR mode. Seems like most people get some HD stutter in VMR, and a lucky few are problem-free but my case is a first. SD playback works fine in VMR.

I have been running Sage since its early days and have been on v2 for about 3 years w/no issues, but recently I decided it was time to upgrade my PC and to go HD. Knowing that v6 is problematic for some people, I'm running a 15-day trial on Sage v6.0.19 on WinMCE SP2b, 3800+ X2, 1GB RAM, Java 1.5 and an Nvidia 7300GS (93.51 drivers) w/HDMI out. CPU utilization is low in either mode (25-30%). Last night, I was watching a pre-recorded episode of Cold Case HD in 1080p (Overlay) on my 40" LCD TV while my wife was surfing web on the PC (using a separate monitor, of course) and TV playback remains stutter free. It is stutter free in VMR too but no color. Then, the scheduled anti-virus scan came on...but still no stutter.

I have a Hauppauge PVR350 (TV-out disabled), and a HDHR. I use the Intervideo video decoder. SageTV Service is off. VSE on/off makes no difference. I'm a bit reluctant to try major tweaks (Java 1.4, v6 RC, etc) cos I guess I'm really only fussing about the transparent OSD. Everything else works fine (DVD playback in Sage, good stability, low CPU, etc) and I'm hoping someone knows a setting (in properties file perhaps?) that I could change to fix this problem.

[cummings66]

Submit a bug report. I don't know the answer and it sounds like a first to me.

[Chilli]

Ok, I submitted a bug report and was told to try Cyberlink/Nvidia decoders. After installing the 30-day trial Purevideo decoders, I still couldn't get color in HD playback under VMR mode. On a whim, I thought maybe my dual display setup is wrecking havoc here (I read somewhere that there are some known issues with Nvidia's Forceware drivers wrt Dualview performance). I had set my TV as the primary display with the PC monitor designated as secondary display. So I tried switching it around (i.e. TV = secondary display). Guess what, though that didn't fix the color problem, CPU utilization shot up to 50-60%, from 15-20% before (ok, I cited 20-30% in my first posting but that was before the Hauppauge registry hack). Sage UI became very sluggish and video playback was clearly degraded (e.g. good audio w/black screen in overlay mode). I rebooted the PC and switched the TV back as primary display and voila, I got fast UI response and low CPU utilization again!! And the best part (short lived) is that I now get color in HD playback under VMR mode (using either Intervideo NonCSS or Nvidia decoders)!! Unfortunately though, I now get slight stutters in VMR mode AND the colors look faded when compared to Overlay?! So I'm back to square one...non-transparent OSD but good, stable playback in Overlay mode. Makes me wonder why VMR playback was black-and-white and stutter-free before and now it's color with a slight stutter. More importantly, I keep reading these posts about HD stutter in Sage v6 but no stutter when played back outside Sage - is the playback outside Sage on the primary display while Sage playback is on the secondary display? Just thinking out loud here...

Just uninstalled Purevideo and rebooted - VMR is still in color but the slight stutter persists.

[Chilli]

Shucks! I rebooted once more and Sage lost my PVR350 analog tuner. Now I get an error message Sage.PlayBackException: ERROR (-4, 0x8004022f). Tried re-installing Sage but got an error 1904. Tried re-adding the video source but Sage simply won't accept the analog tuner feed. Now I recall why I was reluctant to try major tweaks in the first place... Gotta sleep now...

[cummings66]

I lost my pvr150 card somehow when I made a change with my video card. To get it back I ended up removing the drivers and reinstalling them and it came back and Sage found it once again.