Added New Hard Drive - Now Playback Stutters

[EChodun]

My system set-up was as follows: AMD 1800+, 512MB RAM, 2 WD HD (20 GB) and a (250 GB). I currently have my G: Drive mapped for video recordings. I've never had any problems. I went out and bought a new WD IDE 250GB HD (that would make the third HD on my system - I was using a portion, 70GB, of my second 250GB hd for recordings prior). I added it to the system, formatted it with 64K allocation and switched the directory settings in SageTV to that drive. I clicked watch LiveTV (which looked fine while viewing) and recorded away. When I played it back (using my video player), the playback was jerky and stuttered a lot. I thought it might be the HD so I took it back and bought a SATA WD 160GB HD. Plugged it in, formatted it with 64K allocation, and recorded LiveTV (which looks fine while watching) and played it back. The playback was again jerky and stuttered.

As a test I switched the recording drive back to the one I used prior to purchasing the new HD (i.e., the 70GB on my second 250GB HD). I recorded LiveTV and played it back and it looked fine on my media player. No problems at all. I then ran another test. I recorded using WinTV2000 and saved it on my new HD. Playback from the recorded programming on WinTV2000 on the new drive looked good too.

So basically, I cannot get non-stuttered or jerky playback on any new HD I add from SageTV. I considered reinstalling SageTV from start, but first wanted to see if anyone had any ideas why this would happen.

TIA.

[Lucas]

I am trying to understand the problem your facing but your statements are conflicting and slightly confusing......

Originally Posted by EChodun

I added it to the system, formatted it with 64K allocation and switched the directory settings in SageTV to that drive. I clicked watch LiveTV (which looked fine while viewing) and recorded away.

Watching LiveTV is in fact watching the recorded file so from the above it seems that everything is OK with SageTV.

Originally Posted by EChodun

When I played it back (using my video player), the playback was jerky and stuttered a lot. I thought it might be the HD so I took it back and bought a SATA WD 160GB HD. Plugged it in, formatted it with 64K allocation, and recorded LiveTV (which looks fine while watching) and played it back. The playback was again jerky and stuttered.

What video player are you referring to.
So the problem seems to be playing the video files recorded by SageTV with another player.
This could be a problem with that player's configuration. It probably uses a different decoder.

Originally Posted by EChodun

As a test I switched the recording drive back to the one I used prior to purchasing the new HD (i.e., the 70GB on my second 250GB HD). I recorded LiveTV and played it back and it looked fine on my media player. No problems at all. I then ran another test. I recorded using WinTV2000 and saved it on my new HD. Playback from the recorded programming on WinTV2000 on the new drive looked good too.

So basically, I cannot get non-stuttered or jerky playback on any new HD I add from SageTV. I considered reinstalling SageTV from start, but first wanted to see if anyone had any ideas why this would happen.
TIA.

So what you are saying is that: SageTV plays fine even on the new HD but when you try to use another video player to watch the video files, they are stuttery.

To me this doesn't seem to be something to do with SageTV so reinstalling it would not fix it but by doing an install over the top and selecting the 'fix problems' option (I think this what is called), will replace possibly corrupted files.

[EChodun]

Watching LiveTV is in fact watching the recorded file so from the above it seems that everything is OK with SageTV.

I didn't know this to be true. I thought when I watch Video via the Watch LiveTV option I am doing so in real time unless I actually rewind or go back in the video. Is this not accurate? In any event, the video playback of Watch LiveTV looks good.

What video player are you referring to.
So the problem seems to be playing the video files recorded by SageTV with another player.
This could be a problem with that player's configuration. It probably uses a different decoder.

I use VLN Player to playback video. After Watching LiveTV, I stop playback or stop recording (I forgot which) on SageTV. I then go to find the file using Windows Explore and my Video player (VLN Player) plays the file. It stutters and is jerky.

So what you are saying is that: SageTV plays fine even on the new HD but when you try to use another video player to watch the video files, they are stuttery.

To me this doesn't seem to be something to do with SageTV so reinstalling it would not fix it but by doing an install over the top and selecting the 'fix problems' option (I think this what is called), will replace possibly corrupted files.

I guess SageTV plays fine on the new HD if watching LiveTV is actually playing? The problem though is say when I'm recording (or Watching LiveTV) and my recording drive is set for the new drive, the playback on my VLN player appears stuttery and jerky. But if I switch the recording drive on SageTV to my original hard drive, the playback on VLN player appears fine.

If I try to re-install SageTV, is there a "fix problems" option in lieu of a complete install? I didn't realize that. I could always try that.

Thanks!