SageTV client not compatible to Windows 7 64bit?

[mkanet]

I just setup text-book perfect Windows 7 SP1 64bit machine (Intel Quadcore Q6600 and 8GB RAM). Only the most minimum peripherals installed for sound and video (WHQL tested drivers). Nvidia 545GT for display card and Creative Labs Xifi for sound.

The only software besides drivers that I installed are Java (32bit) and SageTV 7.1.9 Media Center.

Basically, this is the most stable and standard testbed I could provide for sageTV under a 64bit Windows environment.

I am able to play ANY media file using system directshow decoders under Windows Media Player and Media Player Classic (EVR/VMR9). I am also able to navigate throughout sageTV menus without any issues; even when using memory/graphics intensive diamond stvi and respective fanart.

However, when I try to playback basic mpeg2/H.264 media, sageTV client becomes unstable and crashes.

Symptoms include:
1- Playing back standard QAM mpeg2 TV recording and press stop.. after navigating through a few menus, sageTV will just quietly close/exit from memory without any errors.
2- Playing back bluray standard MKV files.. as soon as I hit play the entire sageTV app will turn white. If I click on the white area, sageTV will give an error dialog about sageTV crashing.

It looks pretty obvious that SageTV developers never actually tested sageTV client under a 64bit Windows 7 environment; at least not on the same machine as the sageTVservice.exe.

When I did a search on our forums for 64bit Windows and SageTV client, I couldnt find anyone that actually used sageTV client successfully under Win7 64bit without playback issues. I did find people who complained of sageTV client crashing under Windows 7 64bit though.

I am curious if anyone has heard of someone who has somehow managed to prevent sageTV client from crashing under 64bit Windows when playing video files. Maybe there's a way to force sageTV into not crashing?

I thought that a 32bit JVM accessing 32bit Microsoft Directshow filters should work the same way regardless of operating system.

I wish I could use an extender; however, the way I have things setup, I really need to have a working client under this Windows 7 64bit PC one way or another.

Some people have had luck disabling DEP (Data Execution Prevention) under 64bit OSs for video/audio related software. Unfortunately, completely disabling DEP didnt prevent the crashes.

Thanks in advance!

[darcilicious]

However, when I try to playback basic mpeg2/H.264 media, sageTV client becomes unstable and crashes.

What video encoder are you choosing in the settings? I use the Microsoft DVD one (with the stand alone client, I'll admit -- but on W7 x64 nonetheless).

I can try installing a trial version of the SageTV server/client if you like -- especially since my current longer term plans include migrating my server/client to that W7 x64 box anyhow.

[gplasky]

Sage PC Client runs fine on Windows 7 64 bit. I have it currently set for Microsoft DTV-DVD decoder. I also have it being used with TMT3, Core AVC 3 and Divx on various 64 bit clients. No issues with playback whatsoever. Sage PC client was thoroughly tested on Windows 7 64 bit. I have installed this on over 2 dozen clients without an issue. And also never had to do anything with DEP. My only caveat is I disable UAC on these clients. As long as you keep your network protected properly UAC is not necessary. I also have UAC enabled for customers who want it (for whatever reason) and thos function without an issue. You'll need to provide logs if you want help troubleshooting. I would also recommend sticking with the version 6 of java and the last build (build 26 I believe) and not use the latest version 7. I also install both the 32 bit version and the 64 bit version, letting java decide which pieces to use.

Gerry

[JerryB]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Sage PC Client runs fine on Windows 7 64 bit. I have it currently set for Microsoft DTV-DVD decoder...No issues with playback whatsoever.

I concur. I'm running Sage PC Client on Window 7 x64 and have never had any issues with playback using the Microsoft DTV-DVD decoder, nor have I experienced any of the crashes reported by the original poster.

The one area where I differ from Gerry's post is that I leave UAC enabled on my Windows 7 machines. However, I bypass the effect of UAC with respect to Sage by installing Sage in its own directory on a separate drive (P:\SageTV\)

FYI, I don't have drives going up to "P". I just changed the drive letter on this drive to "P" to indicate that these are program files that I want to operate outside of the standard windows/UAC control.

[mkanet]

Hmm... okay, as long as I know it works fine on a clean install of Windows and the latest java.. then I know it's related to a decoder I'm using. This makes it very easy. I only have one decoder that's not included with the OS and SageTV... I'm using an old TMT3 audio decoder hacked to work with 3rd party apps; which I specified sageTV client to use for ALL media types. The only reason I did that was get HD audio support. This decoder works fine though under Vista32. I think the problem might not be this decoder by itself. It's the fact that I also have TMT 5 full version bluray player installed on the same machine. Both versions share the same friendly decoder name "Arcsoft Audio Decoder HD". I have no idea which filter sageTV will try to use when building a graph. If I uninstall the TMT 3 filter, sageTV will STILL see the filter as being installed.

I'll have to either find a way to use TMT 5's audio decoder and uninstall TMT3's audio filter or figure out a way to uniquely identify the TMT5 filter and put it in the sageTV ignore decoder list.

Thanks Gary for confirming that it's something to do with what I did; and, Win7 64bit is 100% compatible with sageTV7.

Edit: My bad, there's no such thing has a ignore decoder property setting. It was for encoders only. It looks like I'll have remove the offending audio decoder.

Does anyone know if TMT 5's audio decoder can be used in sageTV?

[JerryB]

I have TMT5 but I'm not using it's audio decoder in SageTV and it doesn't show up as an configuration option in my system. There may be a way of registering it so that it shows up but I don't have a need for it.

I'm using AC3Filter as the audio decoder and have it configured to output 5.1 sound which is adequate for my needs. However, I'm only using SageTV to watch live and recorded TV on the client machine, not ripped movies. My client PC has a Blu-ray drive so, if I want to watch a non-TV recorded movie, I just put the disk in the drive and watch it using TMT5 not SageTV.

[Fuzzy]

if you are just wanting bitstream audio support, and not decoding support, ffdshow fully supports bitstreaming HDAudio formats. I don't ever watch HDAudio content via sage either though, choosing to watch them in TMT5 (I like menus).

[mkanet]

The problem was I was using an old version of the Arcsoft Audio HD decoder. It has a problem with 64bit Vista/7. I figured out how to get the TMT 5 audio decoder to work in directshow with bitstreaming and the works (HD audio enabled in sageTV). No more crashing at all. Thanks again for confirming it wasn't sageTV that was the problem.

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by mkanet

I just setup text-book perfect Windows 7 SP1 64bit machine (Intel Quadcore Q6600 and 8GB RAM). Only the most minimum peripherals installed for sound and video (WHQL tested drivers). Nvidia 545GT for display card and Creative Labs Xifi for sound.

The only software besides drivers that I installed are Java (32bit) and SageTV 7.1.9 Media Center.

Basically, this is the most stable and standard testbed I could provide for sageTV under a 64bit Windows environment.

I am able to play ANY media file using system directshow decoders under Windows Media Player and Media Player Classic (EVR/VMR9). I am also able to navigate throughout sageTV menus without any issues; even when using memory/graphics intensive diamond stvi and respective fanart.

However, when I try to playback basic mpeg2/H.264 media, sageTV client becomes unstable and crashes.

Symptoms include:
1- Playing back standard QAM mpeg2 TV recording and press stop.. after navigating through a few menus, sageTV will just quietly close/exit from memory without any errors.
2- Playing back bluray standard MKV files.. as soon as I hit play the entire sageTV app will turn white. If I click on the white area, sageTV will give an error dialog about sageTV crashing.

It looks pretty obvious that SageTV developers never actually tested sageTV client under a 64bit Windows 7 environment; at least not on the same machine as the sageTVservice.exe.

When I did a search on our forums for 64bit Windows and SageTV client, I couldnt find anyone that actually used sageTV client successfully under Win7 64bit without playback issues. I did find people who complained of sageTV client crashing under Windows 7 64bit though.

I am curious if anyone has heard of someone who has somehow managed to prevent sageTV client from crashing under 64bit Windows when playing video files. Maybe there's a way to force sageTV into not crashing?

I thought that a 32bit JVM accessing 32bit Microsoft Directshow filters should work the same way regardless of operating system.

I wish I could use an extender; however, the way I have things setup, I really need to have a working client under this Windows 7 64bit PC one way or another.

Some people have had luck disabling DEP (Data Execution Prevention) under 64bit OSs for video/audio related software. Unfortunately, completely disabling DEP didnt prevent the crashes.

Thanks in advance!

I am using Client on a Win 7 64-bit OS. I have had intermittent problems. I have increased Java Heap Size for Sage but I think it may have something to do with Java memory allocation itself, because my issues, very similar to yours, ONLY happen when I have a Citrix Presenter Client running that also uses Java. I am wondering if Java itself is not getting enough memory.

A couple of funny things - it's worst with OTA ATSC and DVD and least annoying with HD-PVR recordings. The more I skip around a recording, the more likely Sage Client is to white out and quit. I have no issues playing those same files in WMP, using WinDVD, Cyberlink, etc. with DVD's, Blu-Rays, or video files of any sort.

If I close that Citrix Presenter client, Sage Client goes from unpredictable to zero mission failure. Since the common thing with them is Java, I have to at least consider a Java issue as the failure point.

I know that does nothing to solve your problem, but at least you know it's reproducible by others. Perhaps something on your system is using Java to the detriment of Sage Client stability? Oh yeah, one other thing - I never had any of this prior to SP1.

[panteragstk]

Java does some strange things when it runs out of memory, or one app gobbles up most of it. Citrix loves to do this. I hate citrix. (work rant).