Stutter During Playback - only when Recordings start

[jptaz]

That is exactly what mine sounds like....but only on recordings that start on the PVR 500. All 4 other tuners other tuners start up without the sound, but occasionally get a video hiccup.

I assume you recorded that externally since in my case this is never captured in the actual stream, but just during playback.

John

[aperry]

Yeah, I held my laptop up to my stereo speakers and used the "Sound Recorder" program in Windows. Not very high-tech, but it gets the point across.

Interesting that this only happens with PVR-500 cards. That's all I have on my system, so that would explain why I always hear it.

[xxilikedirtxx]

Same problem here, PVR500

[mayamaniac]

jpaz, looking at your post counts, you must have been using SageTV for a long time. So how did this stuttering happened? Has it always been there or just one day appeared? If the latter, then I would check to see what you recently installed or changed. Another thing is check your java installation, either upgrade or downgrade to see if it fixes the problem. And good job spelling stutter right, instead of "studder" like I see some posts.

[jptaz]

Well I hav been using SageTV since version 1.2.8. I have only had the PVR 500 for a year and until recently I did not ever watch TV on the SageTV Server, but rather always had a seperate client and it never showed up...in fact it still does not if I watch from one of the two clients. It sounds like Aperry is saying this is a new issue with Version 4.x.

John

[aperry]

That is correct. I have always played from the server (toyed with the idea of setting up separate server/client at first, but decided on this route). This strange sound stutter did not start happening until version 4.

[domc]

Originally Posted by aperry

No, I have not yet, but I am going to submit a bug report.
I recorded the symptom I am hearing. About 6 or 7 seconds into the clip you'll hear what is happening. It happens multiple times as I had multiple other tuners all start up at the same time.

Yep, I'll chime in here and say this happens to me too.
Pvr-150 (one tuner) 3ghz machine and my hard drive is in 64bit clusters.
It's a bug but who is causing it? Pvr-150 or SageTV is the question.
This happens when watching a recorded show and then a timer begins to record a favorite or manual recording.

[aperry]

It's hard to say. Hopefully, the developers can chime in at some point and let us know how to fix it.

[jptaz]

I sent my log files from when this happens to support.

I would suggest anyone who has this issue email support since it will make it highher priority. I know as a software developer if I see one customer with an issue it is lower priority than if 5 customers have the exact same issue.

Aslo email support directly at support@sagetv.com...They never got my web submission so I don't know if something is broken with the web form or what.

John

[ben_95sl1]

Sorry I'm confused, does the recorded file get screwed up or is it just the playback? If it's the playback, then wouldn't it have to be a cpu problem?

I've had better playback by using sagetv service and making the front end priority above normal. I switched back to the normal all-inclusive mode in above normal priority just to see any differences and I noticed a minor video only stutter (seems a lot less severe then yours) in playback only when a recording starts. Doesn't seem to occur with the service. I've had the audio problem before, but that was temporary and caused by a major problem cpu problem which seems to have gone away when I upgraded to the sagetv epg for canada in 4.1.3.

Have you tried other decoders, audio renderes, etc?

[aperry]

Originally Posted by ben_95sl1

does the recorded file get screwed up or is it just the playback?

It's specifically related to starting a recording. If you bump back, the sound stutter does not happen. And this happens both with and without the service mode. I doubt it is a CPU issue, given that others are having the same problem, and I've got two systems, one brand new, one with a new processor, and they both do it.

Originally Posted by ben_95sl1

Have you tried other decoders, audio renderes, etc?

Yes, yes, and yes. No change.

On another note, when watching live TV, I have seen a pause in the video as one show finishes and the next one starts.

[jptaz]

My answer is the same as Aperry's.

Also this does not happen with my 3 PVR 250 cards nor does it happen with my VBOX USB HD Tuner. I do get a momentary video blip as you mention sometimes, but not normally and even with above normal priority on UI using SageTV it happens. In fact even playing back a DVD I get it.

John

[ben_95sl1]

Originally Posted by aperry

It's specifically related to starting a recording. If you bump back, the sound stutter does not happen. And this happens both with and without the service mode. I doubt it is a CPU issue, given that others are having the same problem, and I've got two systems, one brand new, one with a new processor, and they both do it.

Yes, yes, and yes. No change.

On another note, when watching live TV, I have seen a pause in the video as one show finishes and the next one starts.

sorry for not being clear, I'm not blaming it on the processor speed, that's more or less a separate issue. I am agreeing that it may be sage not working correctly with the pvr500 - a bug. I'm simply suggesting that sage is causing a severe yet momentary cpu spike and you end up with a nasty playback stutter. I've spent the last month monitoring cpu usage and sagetv debug log in order to figure out whats going on, and noticed how easy a stutter can occur even with a powerful system.

good luck

[White94Cobra]

Hmmm... I think I am experiencing the same issue. I made the assumption that it was ShowAnalyzer-related, but I'll pay attention to see if it happens when a recording starts. I am using two PVR-500's (unfortunately) and a USB-PVR2.

[JonTom]

I'm going to watch this thread too. I have a stuttering problem, but it is somewhat different. I have 2 PVR150s.

When watching a pre-recorded show on my 'server/HTPC' (using service mode/client or reg UI mode), I get frequent but irregular stutters - the video and audio either speed up (dramatically) to play 2-3 seconds worth in one 'blip' of sound, or they simply skip forward (without the 'blip'). This seemed to start when I upgraded to 4.1.3.67. I fixed it once by reverting to 4.0 (no change), uninstall completely (including deleting leftover files) and then re-installing 4.1.3. However, the WMF hotfix hosed my system, so I did the reinstall again, but the problem won't go away this time...

This doesn't seem to be related to recordings starting for me as it happens at all times of the hour (not just at half past or on the hour), and the glitches are not present in the recordings as my client can play them back fine, and rewinding the playback shows the missing section.

I thought maybe SA as well, but disabling it made no difference.

[ben_95sl1]

all I can suggest is log cpu usage in parallel with the debug logging command in the sage properties file and see where cpu spikes occur. I also had the task manager cpu usage up on another monitor/pc while watching a show, and if I saw a stutter I'd look over at the graph, and it always coincided with a cpu "blip" - and in my case, its always been sagetv service doing the cpu spike, where its redoing a schedule, starting a recording, etc. mine doesn't stutter now for whatever reason (the service worked for me), but atleast I was sure what software was causing the problem. take it FWIW...

figuring out the culprit is one thing, solving it is another

[Narflex]

This is fairly odd.

I looked over jptaz's log files and nothing looked out of place. If this started for you with V4, is there a new feature in V4 you're using that wasn't there before (like FSE)?

I'd also like to know if there's any CPU spike in your task manager when the recordings start up. (there's nothing special about the PVR500 vs. the PVR150/250/350 with regards to how SageTV handles it so you shouldn't see differences with each card; and if you do then it's likely a driver issue)

I'm also curious if it happens in any player app that's running while the recording switch occurs.

We'll do what we can to resolve this; but first we're going to need some more feedback on when it does/does not happen (Since we can't repro it on our end)

[ben_95sl1]

narflex: a quick question...

does sagetv control cpu usage internally somehow (ie. throttle itself down) when its doing scheduling/starting a recording, etc? I'm assuming it does, otherwise stuttering would be commonplace.

[jptaz]

I will try and set up performance logging when I get a chance so I can see what is happening when the audio hiccup occurs.

I have played with FSE / VMR and NO FSE / Overlay with all sorts of Decoders including the SageTV Decoder with no difference. I will have to do a little experiment to see if another player, i.e. MediaPlayer, sees the same behavior when the recordings start.

I think I am using the latest version of the PVR 500 MCE Drivers from Hauppauges website. I will confirm tonight.

John

[mandrews44]

Hi,

I am running the 2 older Haupauge 250 cards and since I installed the latest release, I have been getting a few second studder every 5 minutes. It doesn't matter where you are on the video or even if you pause before the studder so I doubt it is the video. I can predict exactly when it is going to happen. I have since downgraded back to v2.2 and I am getting the same result. I do not know what was updated and remains from v4.1.3 but it remains and was not there before this version. Recording is not effected. CPU rates seem higher than the normal 2-4% recording and 15-20% playback as I normally have. I have had my sage system running for over a year and this is the most CPU usage I have ever seen.

High CPU usage happens when you start and stop a video and every 5 minutes. Should the scheduler take up so much CPU? I don't know of anything else that can be running. Only programs I have running on this dedicated server is sage related. (Remote, etc.)

Regards,

Mark