MediaMVP + SageTV + MP3 Music = Abrupt Transitions and Pops?

[jgsouthard]

I'll admit up front that I haven't done my homework on this, but I'm hoping if others have seen this that it might narrow down my troubleshooting.

I have SageTV 5.0.4.92 running on a PC connected to one TV, and a MediaMVP (SageTV Media Extender) connected to another TV via wired Ethernet. Yet another PC on the network is used for storing MP3 music files, and I'm using SageTV as a media player for audio setups in each location.

As others have noted, the SageTV Music module is frustratingly limited, but it does sort of work. Within it's limitations, it's working OK on the TV/stereo connected directly to the SageTV PC. Unfortunately, my primary audio setup is in the living room connected only to the MediaMVP.

On ONLY the MediaMVP, the transitions between MP3 songs are botched. What happens is that about 2-3 seconds before the end of each track, a sharp "pop" sound occurs and the track quits. After a couple more seconds, the next track starts. Sometimes only the pop sound is noticeable, other times the track quits before the music has faded out and I get both the pop and the abrupt end of the music. But the pop alone is loud enough to destroy the listening experience.

Has anyone else seen this behavior with the MediaMVP/Media Extender units?

Here's what I don't know, and what I'll need to troubleshoot:

- Don't know if the problem only occurs with SageTV or also occurs with the Hauppauge MediaMVP software. My guess is that this issue is restricted to SageTV, but I haven't loaded the Hauppauge SW for testing.

- Don't know if it's dependent on MediaMVP version (I have Model 86001, Rev D3A, Lot 4503, one of the last ones prior to the addition of the digital audio out jack).

- Don't know if it's dependent on the bit rate of the MP3 files. I'm using high quality VBR (average around 225k bps), and one of the issues to test is whether CBR makes a difference. No way am I going to re-rip and re-gain level over 300 CD's, however.

Jim

[Edited to add MediaMVP revision info]

[JUC]

got it too--had it for a while. Don't know of a fix unfortunately.

[jgsouthard]

Originally Posted by JUC

got it too--had it for a while. Don't know of a fix unfortunately.

Any chance you can narrow down the troubleshooting? For instance, did you see it on CBR MP3's, on a later MediaMVP rev, or on the Hauppauge software? If yes to any of these, it would rule out some potential causes...

[Opus4]

Song transitions will be handled much better on the MVP in v5.1. (I just figured I would save you some troubleshooting for the moment...)

- Andy

[jgsouthard]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Song transitions will be handled much better on the MVP in v5.1. (I just figured I would save you some troubleshooting for the moment...)

- Andy

Thanks, Andy! I just confirmed that CBR MP3's didn't help, and it would have taken some time to try Hauppauge software. Plus, I suspected that the issue was with SageTV.

Under the assumption that I'm not going to find a solution on my own, I'll hang tight for the next revision.

The Music module really needs some work, so I'm glad that at least some elements are being addressed.

Jim

[rtengvad]

Originally Posted by jgsouthard

On ONLY the MediaMVP, the transitions between MP3 songs are botched. What happens is that about 2-3 seconds before the end of each track, a sharp "pop" sound occurs and the track quits. After a couple more seconds, the next track starts. Sometimes only the pop sound is noticeable, other times the track quits before the music has faded out and I get both the pop and the abrupt end of the music. But the pop alone is loud enough to destroy the listening experience.

Has anyone else seen this behavior with the MediaMVP/Media Extender units?

[Edited to add MediaMVP revision info]

I've have the same problem and because of that given up playing music via Sage. A real pitty but hopefully the new ver 5.1 solves all our problems

rtengvad

[OneThomas]

Folks - This is a SageTV software thing for sure. I was using the Hauppauge MVP units for years with their software to play music and view simple video/pictures - sound was always beautiful. (Picture has always been kinda' dark...) The sound issues that you guys are describing started for me as soon as I started using SageTV software on the 2 units I have.

I asked Sage about this and they told me it was a known problem that was bing fixed with version 5.1 (now 6.0, I guess).

Thanks!

[jgsouthard]

Originally Posted by OneThomas

Folks - This is a SageTV software thing for sure. I was using the Hauppauge MVP units for years with their software to play music and view simple video/pictures - sound was always beautiful. (Picture has always been kinda' dark...) The sound issues that you guys are describing started for me as soon as I started using SageTV software on the 2 units I have.

I asked Sage about this and they told me it was a known problem that was bing fixed with version 5.1 (now 6.0, I guess).

Thanks!

I'm the original poster for this thread. Using 6.0.11 through MediaMVP is definitely an improvement -- the songs play until the end without dropping early, and I usually don't get the loud pop during the song transitions. It's now gone from unacceptable to usable.

On the other hand, all is not perfect; I'm now seeing a different problem. Randomly, but on average about every 1 or 2 songs, at some point during the song I'm getting a loud beep/squeak/whistle/pop/chirp (not sure how to describe it); but just a quick blip and then it's gone. I didn't get this with earlier versions. I also don't hear it using any other player on the same files (e.g. Winamp, Windows Media Player, foobar2000 are all ones I've tried), so I'm convinced it's an issue with SageTV 6.0.

The new 6.0 Music media player interface is certainly totally different than 5.0 and earlier, but I'd be hard pressed to call it better. The terms weird and confusing and limited still apply. I still think the Music module is a glaring weak spot in SageTV.

[Kev]

I have the same issue with Sage v5. I had put in a bug report and they said they knew of the problem and it would be fixed in the next version (V6). Now that version 6 is out they expect us to pay for the fix, which I feel is unreasonable. I have complained to sage about it saying that if V6 is a paid upgrade then they need to support version 5 with a fix for this issue for free. They responded that they feel as though it is a small issue and a free fix is not necessary. I think this is rediculous as it makes the system unusable for exporting music which is one of the main 3 functionalities of the system (music, video, pictures).
I have been dissapointed with sage for this reason, but I seem to be alone. If any others agree with me that we are being hosed by being expect to pay for a fix by being forced to upgrade to version 6 to fix this issue then I would appreciate your support. Please email your comments to the support time and add any feedback to the forum.

[jgsouthard]

There's a fine line between a half-baked partially-implemented feature and a bug. The Music module in SageTV has been half-baked and partially implemented for a long time, and we all knew it. Plus, every software developer makes judgement calls as to which bugs are worth fixing and which aren't, especially on older versions of software.

While I agree that SageTV should have fixed the issue in v5, I respect SageTV's right to decide to work on improvements in v6 rather than continue development on v5. And I respect their decision to charge for v6. I don't like these decisions, but I support their right to make them and they are no different than similar decisions made by many other software companies.

We get to vote with our wallets and our feet. My vote is to stay with SageTV and pay for v6.

[mdnttoker]

I got the random "blips" on my MVP in v5, and still get them in v6.

SageTV is supposedly aware of the problem, but please submit bug reports (power in numbers)...

-Dan

[jgsouthard]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

I got the random "blips" on my MVP in v5, and still get them in v6.

SageTV is supposedly aware of the problem, but please submit bug reports (power in numbers)...

-Dan

The major pops and cutoffs I was getting on song transitions are gone in v6. I never noticed the random blips in v5, but they are definitely there in v6. Not quite as irritating as the song transition problem, but almost....

[heffe2001]

I think the random pops started around v5.0.4, or maybe it was the beta mvp.bin files that they came out with between 5.0.4 and v6.

Annoying yes, showstopper no (at least at our house, I use a PC Client where I watch TV, the kids are using the MVP, so they don't even notice).

[AngelofDeth]

The random pops are a Sage 6 thing... it only happened to me using the alpha mvp.bin in version 5. But, I still get pops in transitions on many of my mp3s, and even cut off at the end just like version 5. Haven't submitted a bug report because I rarely use sage or the mvp for music. My PC is hooked up to my stereo so thats usually how I listen.