Corrupted video files? Missing data - randomly CHANGING missing data?

[BlueRidgeMark]

Good info, kp. What kind of processor do you have and what was the RAM amount before the upgrade?

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by BlueRidgeMark

VideoRedo is able to fix the files, even some that would crash anything that tried to open them. It's reporting sync errors. I've enabled logging, but can't find a log file! Nothing in the help file, either. Is the "log" just the screen that pops up and reports the errors at the finish?

Yep, it's just what it tells you at the end. Sync errors mean that your problems are either caused by errors on the stream or errors keeping up with the recording of the stream.

Originally Posted by BlueRidgeMark

Anyway, that's a useful diagnostic and a nice band-aid, and thanks very much for the tip, Rick.

Well worth the purchase price IMO.

Still, leaves you with a PC with problems. Chances are you're having trouble recording the stream. A couple of ideas:
Can you put the capture HDD on its own cable?
Cut down anything running that you don't need, esp. antivirus etc.
Reduce the quality for the capture, to something a lot lower (the quality either for the tuner or the overall one).

Originally Posted by BlueRidgeMark

File corruption seems to happen when trying to do other things (like video editing or DVD authoring) on the computer while it's recording.

I hate to say it because I know it can be financially difficult, but I wouldn't do any of that stuff on my SageTV server. I lay that off to another PC on the network...

[kpsmith]

Originally Posted by BlueRidgeMark

Good info, kp. What kind of processor do you have and what was the RAM amount before the upgrade?

I think its a 2600+ AMD T-bird on a mini Via board. I had 512MB in it before I upgraded. So pretty much knew it shouldn't have been the processor. Thats why I looked at the memory. As soon as I upgraded problems went away.

The other thing that may be worth looking at is what version of drivers you are using for your capture device. I recently had some issues with bad drivers on my 150 that caused some odd playback errors. It all came down to the stream not being captured correctly in the first place.

[FidgetyRat]

I find that most the time, if a recording gets corrupt, transcoding the file fixes the problem. Also good for audio sync issues. But I haven't had one in a long time.. I found that the corruption isn't really linked to hardware, but some glitch in my tuners I suspect. It is very very rare, maybe 1 or 2 a year.


Something sounds suspicious here. My hardware is not the best ever,

3Gig celeron, 2 disks in SATA RAID striped, 768MB RAM and I can record 3 shows at once while watching 1 on an extender and the other in a client with no corruption or skipping.

[BlueRidgeMark]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Yep, it's just what it tells you at the end. Sync errors mean that your problems are either caused by errors on the stream or errors keeping up with the recording of the stream.


Well worth the purchase price IMO.

Agreed!

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Still, leaves you with a PC with problems.

Again, agreed!

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Chances are you're having trouble recording the stream. A couple of ideas:
Can you put the capture HDD on its own cable?

No. The NetVista's weird layout won't let that work unless I get rid of the DVD burner.

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Cut down anything running that you don't need, esp. antivirus etc.
Reduce the quality for the capture, to something a lot lower (the quality either for the tuner or the overall one).

It's pretty low quality already. We're getting less than a gig of data per hour.

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

I hate to say it because I know it can be financially difficult, but I wouldn't do any of that stuff on my SageTV server. I lay that off to another PC on the network...

Yeah, that may be the way we have to go. I'm going to try more RAM before I go that route. It's got a 128 meg stick and a 512, with two slots. A gig stick will take me to 1.5 gig, and I'll mothball the 128. I can do that for ~80. If that doesn't work, I'll probably get another off lease NetVista or Dell. There are some pretty good deals out there.

This was supposed to be cheaper than buying a new DVR to replace our dying Pioneer!

Oh, well, even if we break even on that, it's a better solution. IF it works!

[BlueRidgeMark]

Originally Posted by kpsmith

The other thing that may be worth looking at is what version of drivers you are using for your capture device. I recently had some issues with bad drivers on my 150 that caused some odd playback errors. It all came down to the stream not being captured correctly in the first place.

Oh, let's not talk about drivers! I am massively UNimpressed with Hauppauge! I had to find out from a support email (after my first card was defective) that Win2k requires that you install the beta drivers that can be found on their website. There is NOTHING, not a HINT, anywhere on the website that I have found that would tell someone running Win2K to use the beta drivers. Unbelieveable! What is so hard about making a list of supported OSs and listing the appropriate drivers!

So, yeah, it sure could be the drivers. Unreal. It's not like this is a brand new product!


Stepping back and looking at the whole PC picture, can you believe the crap we put up with? Bad drivers, software conflicts, etc, ad nauseum!

Add to that the chaos that is the video world (ever since the Betamax VHS wars!) with a zillion codecs, etc.!

How would things look if we had to put up with the same level of incompetence from, say, auto makers?

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by BlueRidgeMark

This was supposed to be cheaper than buying a new DVR to replace our dying Pioneer!

In my experience a home-made PVR is many times more expensive than a standard DVR. Worth it, I think, but expensive and it just keeps taking...

[Wheemer]

Originally Posted by FidgetyRat

Something sounds suspicious here. My hardware is not the best ever,

3Gig celeron, 2 disks in SATA RAID striped, 768MB RAM and I can record 3 shows at once while watching 1 on an extender and the other in a client with no corruption or skipping.

Don't forget he's burning dvd's too

[BlueRidgeMark]

If we avoid burning DVDs while recording, we get good recordings. If we burn, about 9 out of 10 recordings are bad. VideoRedo has been able to fix all but one. Sync errors every time; mostly video frame dropouts.

More RAM on the way...

[rickgillyon]

When you burn, are you authoring first or just burning straight MPGs to a disk?

Does your burning software stage an image to a temp folder first?

[BlueRidgeMark]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

When you burn, are you authoring first or just burning straight MPGs to a disk?

Authoring.

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Does your burning software stage an image to a temp folder first?

Burning is done from TMPG DVD Author 3. It does write the DVD files to a folder on the C: drive, then to DVD. Sage is recording to the D: drive.


One thing hit me last night is that I may have a problem with the IDE cable on my storage drive. Because of the IBM's weird layout, my second HD is on the secondary IDE channel with the DVD burner. That shouldn't be a problem, but that channel has one of the old 40 conductor IDE cables, which is NOT a good idea for a modern HD. I didn't think about it when I installed it, but I should be using an 80 conductor cable. Got several laying around, so I'll drop one in and see what happens.

Of course, it's also possible that there's just too much data flowing on that secondary channel when I'm both recording AND burning. If so, I may have to have a custom cable made...

[rickgillyon]

Yes, I would make sure that it's an 80 cable. I recall advice at one point that if mixing HDD/Optical on one cable, the HDD should be the master. Not sure if that really matters, but might be worth a try if it can be done. And make sure your jumpers are set correctly...