No sound with SOME channels

[Ctrl-Z]

I have a serious sound issue with SageTV V4.0 that seems to be getting more common. Sometimes I lose all sound to many of my TV channels. Not all, perhaps half of them. The first time I tune to one of these channels there will be a major static but after switching channels I no longer get the static but may or may not have sound. I'm not certain if the affected channels are the same each time this happens (currently out of my first 35 channels; 2 7 8 9 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 34 have no sound while all the others are fine).

It IS a SageTV problem as regular TV works fine and the Hauppauge TV application has sound. Exiting and restarting SageTV doesn't help. Rebooting the computer doesn't help. Unplugging and replugging my Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 doesn't help. The SageTV client on another computer suffers from the same sound problem.

Anyone ever heard (pun not intended) of this problem? It is getting really frustrating not having sound to half my channels when I least expect it. I also have a Hauppauge PCI 150 card installed but this is not the tuner SageTV picks to use as the livetv tuner. Is there some way to convince SageTV to use the other tuner as a test for this problem? Thanks for any advice.

[Ctrl-Z]

Thanks Clicker. I was able to disable the PVR-USB2 tuner however the sound problem persists with the other tuner. 3 of the channels for which I was missing sound last night now work while all the others still have no audio. As the Hauppauge TV application continures to have no problems with sound on any channel, I don't think that the Hauppauge drivers are to blame although I will try to update drivers later (last time I tried this, the tuners never worked again and a system retore was in order).

According to device manager my PVR-USB2 drivers are version 2.2.73.23063 and my PVR PCI II drivers are 2.0.35.23258. Kind of difficult to reconcile these versions with the beta versions you list. I have also update JAVA to current version but this did not help either.

I'd hate to be the only one out there with this problem...

[Narflex]

Where are you located at? Are you using cable or antenna?

[Ctrl-Z]

I'm in Alberta, Canada and using Shaw Cablesystems. Regular cable TV works fine and so does the Hauppauge TV app. Sometimes SageTV works fine too but that is getting rarer. I'm using an NForce4 motherboard with the built-in Realtek AC97 audio.

I did notice when I checked Detailed Setup that Audio Renderer was [Blank]. No "Default", just blank. How's that even possible? I have since tried every one of the choices; Realtek AC97 Audio, Default Directsound device, Default waveout device and Directsound: Realtek AC97 Audio. It doesn't make any difference. Over a 1/3 of my channels have no sound and those channels change slightly each I time I check.

I guess the next step is a complete reinstall of SageTV into a new location.

P.S. I just had SageTV set to one of my "silent" channels for about 3 minutes and suddenly the sound returned (I did absolutely nothing on my computer to affect that). I am now missing sound on only a few channels - haven't checked them all.

[Ctrl-Z]

Well I've uninstalled and reinstalled SageTV into another location and thus far everything is working fine. I hope it lasts. Now I'll have to do some research on how to get my favourites etc. to work again. Maybe easier just to start over again...

[Opus4]

I don't have any comments on the sound issue, but...

Originally Posted by Ctrl-Z

Well I've uninstalled and reinstalled SageTV into another location and thus far everything is working fine. I hope it lasts. Now I'll have to do some research on how to get my favourites etc. to work again. Maybe easier just to start over again...

Did you keep your old wiz.bin? If so, simply shut down SageTV & copy the old wiz.bin to the new install directory. (First, make a copy of the one you are currently using for the new install, just in case.) You do not need or want the old properties files from the old installation.

- Andy

[Ctrl-Z]

Horror of horrors; the missing audio is back. Same channels as before. This is insane. I guess the only thing left is the Huappauge driver updates. Though I think my computer might be possessed.

[mlbdude]

Not sure if it will work, but check out the beta drivers posted on Hauppauge:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/suppo...rt_pvr150.html

Sounds similar.

[Ctrl-Z]

Yup, certainly sounds familar; "Beta driver version 2035_23297
Fix for lack of audio on some TV channels when using the WinTV-PVR-150 and WinTV-PVR-500 under Windows Media Center Edition, Linux, SageTV or BeyondTV:"

So I optimistically installed the beta drivers and now I have NO SOUND ON ANY CHANNEL. Forcing SageTV to use just the PVR-150 tuner instead of the USB2 tuner results in a badly flickering video display and no sound. I will now attempt to clean out the Huappauge drivers and start from scratch.

[Ctrl-Z]

A clean install accomplished nothing. I have disconnected the PVR-USB2 and am testing only with the PVR-150 beta driver version is 2.0.35.23297. When these beta drivers are installed I lose all sound from all TV channels in SageTV AND Huappauge WinTV2000. Before at least WinTV2000 worked. Real nice - a driver version explicitely intended to fix missing audio in some channels like the exact problem I had - instead results in no audio at all. I guess that's why they call it "beta".

At this point I don't know what else I can do. Reinstall WindowsXP?

[Ctrl-Z]

I have discovered something interesting which makes this whole mess more understandable. It appears the problem with missing audio on some channels (or all channels if I use the current beta drivers) only occurs if the PVR-150 card is enabled in Setup Video Sources. If it is disabled and the PVR USB2 tuner is the only one available to SageTV, there seems to be no problems with audio on any channel. I suspect that whenever I had audio working in the past correctly, it was only because SageTV was somehow picking the PVR USB2 tuner. This would also make sense in that Hauppauge seems to acknowledge that the PVR-150 (and not the PVR USB2) has problems with missing audio.

So now I would like to know how to convince SageTV to use one or the other tuner? Currently if the PVR-150 is enabled it is always the one used for LiveTV as far as I can tell. Thanks.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Ctrl-Z

So now I would like to know how to convince SageTV to use one or the other tuner? Currently if the PVR-150 is enabled it is always the one used for LiveTV as far as I can tell. Thanks.

If the 150 can't be used reliably, I would be tempted to just remove that one from SageTV until something changes so that you can trust that tuner again. If you really want both enabled, you can look for the properties with 'encoder_merit' (or some such term) & set the one you prefer to a higher number value.

- Andy

[Ctrl-Z]

Originally Posted by Opus4

If the 150 can't be used reliably, I would be tempted to just remove that one from SageTV until something changes so that you can trust that tuner again. If you really want both enabled, you can look for the properties with 'encoder_merit' (or some such term) & set the one you prefer to a higher number value.

- Andy

Thanks Andy. I'd really like to throw the PVR 150 in the garbage but there are times in which it could come in very handy - after all it does provide sound for most of my channels.

I did change the encoder_merit setting. I had two of these entries and both were set to "0". I changed one of them to "1" and that seemed to get SageTV to use my PVR USB2 encoder for LiveTV. However as soon as I changed the channel to one of the problem ones (in my case Channel 21), the sound blanked out and a check of the Source Details reveals that the PVR 150 is now "being used for Live TV". WHY??? I change the channel again and now the PVR USB2 is being used. I change the channel back to channel 21 and the PVR USB2 is still being used. So there still seems to be a lack of consistency as to which encoder SageTV is going to pick.

[Opus4]

That property comes into play "when all else is equal"... and I don't know what could have been 'unequal' in your case. (Maybe make both values non-zero, but I don't know if that will make any difference.) I simply take it to mean that the merit value is used most of the time, but it isn't always given priority for whatever reason... which is partly why I suggested not using the 150 until the some fix is found.

Since you say both tuners work correctly in the Hauppauge software, I would follow up with SageTV tech support to see what other ideas they might have.

- Andy

[Ctrl-Z]

Originally Posted by Clicker

Ctrl-Z, did you already try moving the 150 to another PCI slot to rule out an IRQ conflict?

Or try this:
Attachment 2849

I haven't switched PCI slots (only have 2 on my DFI NForce4 board!) because I am convinced the problem lies with the Hauppuage card and the crappy drivers Hauppauge provides. There are lots of PVR-150 owners out there who seem to have very similar audio problems. Plus I cannot envision a scenario where I can receive 3/4 of my channels with sound and the others with no sound as a PCI conflict...

Rather than succumb to your 2nd suggestion, I think I'll buy another PVR-150 and test it in the hopes that the problem is related to a particular hardware revision of the card. There really doesn't appear to be any feasible alternative to this card - unfortunately.

[Ctrl-Z]

An update to my PVR-150 audio problem. I bought a new PVR-150 just to see if a different hardware revision might help. It didn't. In fact with the new card, I have sound with only 3 of my approx. 70 cable channels. I have no confidence Hauppauge will ever release drivers that fix the missing audio problem for me. Is there another brand of PCI card type hardware-based encoder that would work well with SageTV and standard cable? Or is there some way of fine-tuning channels in the registry so I can both hear and see them? Too much to ask?

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by Ctrl-Z

An update to my PVR-150 audio problem. I bought a new PVR-150 just to see if a different hardware revision might help. It didn't. In fact with the new card, I have sound with only 3 of my approx. 70 cable channels. I have no confidence Hauppauge will ever release drivers that fix the missing audio problem for me. Is there another brand of PCI card type hardware-based encoder that would work well with SageTV and standard cable? Or is there some way of fine-tuning channels in the registry so I can both hear and see them? Too much to ask?

SageTV supports a bunch of tuners:

http://www.sagetv.com/requirements.html?sageSub=tv

I use an AVerMedia M150 with my Hauppauge 500 and it works fine. Tuner might be a bit better on the 500. I hear good things on the ATI 550 based cards too.

[walts81]

Well, I've had a simliar audio problem since ver 2.2, only mine would sometimes not have audio on LiveTV OR a recording. I have one Hauppauge PVR250 (retail) and 2 Hauppauge 250 Roslyns (ordered from Sage's bundle offered a couple years ago). I'm not sure if it is just one card or not, however certain testing scenarios would indicate that it might just be the retail 250. But anyway, I've never been able to find a fix. Let me know if you find one. I like sage but I can't use it with sporadic audio recording.

- Josh

[Ctrl-Z]

Originally Posted by mlbdude

SageTV supports a bunch of tuners:

http://www.sagetv.com/requirements.html?sageSub=tv

I use an AVerMedia M150 with my Hauppauge 500 and it works fine. Tuner might be a bit better on the 500. I hear good things on the ATI 550 based cards too.

Thanks. I've been researching alternatives too and rather like the ATI Theatre 550 Pro chipset cards, specifically the ATI Wonder Elite due to its RF remote control. There's not a lot of feedback here with regards to how well SageTV works with these cards, some problems with lockups on channel changing have been reported. Can I expect to have problems with an ATI Wonder Elite in combination with my PVR-USB2? Will the ATI remote control work well with SageTV?

[Ctrl-Z]

Originally Posted by walts81

Well, I've had a simliar audio problem since ver 2.2, only mine would sometimes not have audio on LiveTV OR a recording. I have one Hauppauge PVR250 (retail) and 2 Hauppauge 250 Roslyns (ordered from Sage's bundle offered a couple years ago). I'm not sure if it is just one card or not, however certain testing scenarios would indicate that it might just be the retail 250. But anyway, I've never been able to find a fix. Let me know if you find one. I like sage but I can't use it with sporadic audio recording.

- Josh

The missing audio on certain channels problem I've heard about only in relation to the PVR-150 and PVR-500 cards. I would suggest you try and pinpoint the specific tuner that's causing the problem and either experiment with different driver versions or remove the card as I did. You can tell which card is being used for LiveTV by looking at the card details in Setup Video Devices ("currently being used for LiveTV: true"). If you are currently viewing a LivetV channel without sound, just take a look here at which of your 3 tuners is being used for LiveTV.

If my problem tuner is being used to record then, yes, I won't get any audio on the recording either.