Upgrade Help...6.1.9 to 6.3.10

[tktplz]

Background...Ive used the 6.1.9 version for a while now (if it ain't broke...). I recently got a HDHomerun (for the Olympics in HD) and I felt it was time to take the plunge to the latest SageTV version 6.3.10. I upgraded my server first after doing a backup, and that went very smoothly. I installed the HDHomerun and that also went smoothly. I can use the HDHomerun for HD programs without any problems thru the server. I have only done slight modifying to the Sagetv.properties for the 2 nVidia Dual-TV cards and 2 MVPs...I have not tweaked any directshow filters.

My problem lies with my client...I have an AOpen 945-VXR. I am having problems with the video on HD sources, and now SD sources don't play well anymore. I sometimes get a black screen with audio when I try to playback other SD media files, so I think it's video-codec related. The OSD also sticks, and I get the SageTV "swirly" icon most of the time. I downloaded the latest video drivers from the intel website for the Mobile Intel 945GM Express chipset. I know it's an imbedded video chip, but I should be able to get it to run HD with the proper codec, right? I have the nVidia codecs available and have tried the nVidia default, nVidia Pure Video, and the default Sage codec. I also use the AC3 filter for audio. When I playback video the processor jumps from 5% to 50-70%.

I have no problems using the MVPs for SD material - They both still work great since the upgrade.

Can anyone give me an idea of which codec is best for this mini-pc? Or any ideas to streamline this PC so it can handle the added HD? Would a RAM upgrade help - from 512mb to 1gb? Thanks in advance for your expertise!

[tktplz]

I saw a 100% CPU usage thread about a Java Heap Size registry change. I changed the server and client to 512MB and did re-boots on both machines. It did not help the client at all.

[cychou]

What render are you using? VMR9 or Overlay? In your case, try to stick with Overlay to begin with and see what you get?

Also try to play your SD/HD files from outside of Sage using Window Media Player or Media Player Classic to see if your environment can play those files at all. What kind of files are you trying to play? Mpeg or H.264?

Personally I have had trouble with upgrading Sage. Somehow the upgrading process simply messed up the set up and I simply manually uninstall Sage and wipe out its installation directory before installing it again.

[Conejo]

Most people who got these as a kit installed a Intel Celeron M 4xx, Core Duo or Core 2 Duo mobile processor, one DDR2-533/667 SO-DIMM (notebook memory [it only has one slot]) and a 2.5" Serial ATA hard drive [around 5400rpm].

The 'Express' Intel GMA 950 video chip is OK with SD or DVD content but will choke attempting to process and display anything above 720x480i @25fps, and I don't believe the purevideo codec can make this greyhound run any better.

Even if one would fit, a decent HD capable graphic card would eat your 65w power supply as a quick snack.

The AOpen MiniPC was great for its size, fast and abundant ports and video-out options but its on-board video processor really curtails its use. Probably the reason why the STX-HD100 has its own threads and the MiniPc doesn't.

But then again, the people on the GBPVR or the Green Button forum might disagree with me.

[tktplz]

Cychou - I'm running Overlay, as I use the component out to a RPTV @ 1778X1080 (As close to native resolution as I can and still see most of my desktop). I will try to run a mpeg straight thru WMP or TheaterTek DVD player. But my problem with SD material only started when I upgraded to the 6.3.10...I never had even a slight hiccup with SD material with 6.1.9. But now that I have the HDHomerun, I thought the 6.3.10 was needed...Or can I use 6.1.9 with the HDHomerun? This may be the solution I'm looking for if there is in-fact a change in video rendering from 6.1.9 to 6.3.10.

I did a complete copy of the SageTV file before the upgrade, so I can easily roll-it-back. I'd rather avoid this until a last resort, as I like some of the new 6.3.10 features...but I want my TV back!

Conejo - That's what I thought someone would say...It's a Mobile PC and not very good at rendering HD. I may swap a few things around and use a different PC for that client. I am also going to try a few other codecs just for giggles to see if that helps. I know I'm close to a solution, so I'll just keep tweaking. Anyone know of a decent codec that is better on resources than the nVidia or SageTV defaults? I use this PC as a dedicated SageTV client, and nothing else, really.

Lastly, would a RAM upgrade have any affect on this video rendering? If some of the video rendering is falling on the processor, and not just the GPU, could RAM help?

Thanks so far for the ideas..

[Conejo]

Doing a GIS on Intel GMA 950 got me stuck on a "CarPC" web forum for a couple of hours. I blame you.

The GBPVR link in my previous post had some options you could try.

Also, there were a couple of praises for the GMA950, one person mentioned having the chip in their laptop doing full 1920x1080 HD running VLC Media Player.

RAM would have a dramatic affect on how high-res graphics are imaged because you need the RAM to decode the image and the on-board graphic chip uses shared memory. You would at least want 1GB, and if the extra cost wasn't a factor then 2GB. But since there's only a single slot that would mean swaping the current 512MB for a 1GB or 2GB SO-DIMM.

Have you tried using SageTV 6.4.6rc? Every once in a while an upgrade causes havoc and a later upgrade smoothes everything out again. There have been a lot of improvements lately.

[tktplz]

OK...Here's what I got going. I was able to get SD and HD to play with the Power DVD Cyberlink Codec. It seems to run my rig, with only a slight delay on the OSD. The video and audio are rendered well, but the OSD sometimes sticks. My processor stays pegged at 100% for HD content, but for SD it drops to about 20-30%. I can live with this, and I will also upgrade my RAM to see if that helps.

I do have a new problem with my Imported Videos. I have a folder with about 1000 Music Videos that are in a MPEG (majority) or AVI (very few) form - each file is about 100-200megs. Detail screen shows "MPEG-1[MPEG2-Video 16:9 480p @ 29.97fps, AC3/384 kbps @ 48kHz Stereo]"

In version 6.1.9 each file would play very well on my server, client and my 2 MVPs. Now, since the upgrade I cannot get them to play on anything without doing a "convert format" to each file first. Once I re-encode them to MPEG2 I get on the details screen "MPEG2-PS[MPEG2-Video 16:9 480p @ 29.97fps, AC3/384 kbps @ 48kHz Stereo]" The only thing to change is the MPEG-1 to the MPEG2-PS, and the file increases in size by about 10%.

So I think I have 2 options:
1- I am able to re-encode each file, but I have to do each one-by-one, right? Or is there a way to batch them and have them run overnight? Or could I run them through another re-encoder such as Media Coder and would SageTV recognize the new encoding?
2- Is the file actually being re-encoded or can I just change a property tag within each file to represent the MPEG2-PS property that SageTV needs to play these files?

Thanks for your help thus far!