I May Have To Learn How To Live Without Service Mode (Stutter Related)

[michelkenny]

I've been using the service since day 1 and I haven't ever had a problem. It's recording one SD show right now and the service is bouncing between 0 and 2%. The only time I've seen mine at 80%+ is when one of the MVPs does something weird, as in press too many buttons at once or things like that... in that case none of my MVPs would respond anymore and I had to restart the service. But besides that, no problems related to using the service on my end.

[Goodspike]

They've asked for a log file on this. What would be the best way to do that?

Run Sage with the service running, then exit, then copy and rename the log file. Then run sage without the service running, then exit, then copy and rename the log file?

Stated differently, do I need two log files for this (one with and one without the service)?

[ben_95sl1]

Are you speaking only of the latest 6.X betas?

With 5.04.....Ironically, I minimized stuttering by using service mode (I have been using service mode for over a year). I run the client in above normal priority and it helped on my old system, and I assume it helps on my new one. The only major cpu problems I would ever run into is during an epg update; but I schedule it at an unimportant time and hence has no effect on recordings or playback.

There's no way I'd go back to non service mode anyway, as sometimes the client likes to crash with a weird DVD, etc; I'm already in hot water over a grey's anatomy episode that got ruined while I was encoding some video at the time, and I believe showanalyzer went bonkers with another corrupted video.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

They've asked for a log file on this. What would be the best way to do that?

Run Sage with the service running, then exit, then copy and rename the log file. Then run sage without the service running, then exit, then copy and rename the log file?

Stated differently, do I need two log files for this (one with and one without the service)?

I would at least get the log from running the service & the log for the client used at the same time, but the best way to answer your question would be to reply to the email & ask for details of what log(s) to send.

- Andy

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by ben_95sl1

Are you speaking only of the latest 6.X betas?.

Nope, all versions including the Ver. 4 betas. I started this thread in the Software forum and it got moved here (which is fine--enough time had been given for people to see it there).

[ToxMox]

This thread as well as other recent service threads got me wanting to test my setup. I am running my Sage server on an Athlon 64 3500+ with 1gb of RAM running in service mode and doing playback of HD locally.

I decided to stress test the machine just now.
I kicked off 4 HD .TS recording via the HDHomeRuns I have as well as 5 SD recordings at the same time.
Then I started watching one of the HD TS files and here are my usage stats:
SageTV.exe ~30% CPU
SageTVService.exe ~5%
sagetv_hdhomerun.exe ~7%

When I stop playback but keep recording I get:
SageTV.exe ~2%
SageTVService.exe ~2%
sagetv_hdhomerun.exe ~2%

I run no firewalls or antivirus or anything automatic on my Sage server.
I wonder if this is a hardware issue you guys are experiencing or some sort of software issue. I record everything using drive letters. No UNC or any of that
I run the service as my user account not the local system account also.
Using latest snapshot of Java 6

Nforce 4 chipset

Just trying to add as much info as possible to this thread.

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by Keenan

Do you have it configured for SpeedStep/Cool 'n Quiet?
Is this not desirable when running Sage? I have the AMD equivalent of run-cool, or what ever it is they call it, currently running on my setup.

Cool 'n Quiet should be fine, but you will see more CPU usage when active... IE SageTV may use 5% CPU normally, but may appear to use much more CPU when the CPU is throttled down.

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

Athlon 64 3000+
No Cool n Quiet
Just ZoneAlarm.

I removed the AV as an experiment to see if that would help with the stutter. It didn't, and I just haven't loaded it on again. Being behind a router, using ZA, not doing email and not doing any browsing besides here and TitanTV, I'm not terribly worried about viruses, but I will load it on again.

I used to use ZoneAlarm back in the day, but tossed it due to random performance problems. Try removing ZoneAlarm and reverting to the Windows firewall. Your stuttering problem might go away.

Since you're behind a firewall, ZoneAlarm is overkill anyway.

[Keenan]

I'm running a Athlon 64 3800+ with 2 gigs of RAM. Not running in service mode. Cool n' Quiet has been disabled. No firewalls that I'm aware of, turned them off.

My CPU usage runs anywhere from 40 to a couple of peaks at 80+, normally stays in the 50-60 range. This is on live TV and playback of recorded TV.

Based on some of the other posts here, those numbers seem pretty high, could that be related to the stuttering video I'm having on 1080i channels?

Haven't tried service mode yet as it looks like I have to reset everything up in Sage, unless there's an easier way.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

Just trying to add as much info as possible to this thread.

Thank you--that was very helpful.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Keenan

I'm running a Athlon 64 3800+ with 2 gigs of RAM. Not running in service mode. Cool n' Quiet has been disabled. No firewalls that I'm aware of, turned them off.

My CPU usage runs anywhere from 40 to a couple of peaks at 80+, normally stays in the 50-60 range. This is on live TV and playback of recorded TV.

Based on some of the other posts here, those numbers seem pretty high, could that be related to the stuttering video I'm having on 1080i channels?

Haven't tried service mode yet as it looks like I have to reset everything up in Sage, unless there's an easier way.

Those are certainly higher than my numbers without service mode. Makes me wonder whether you are running service mode and don't realize it, because I only have a Athlon 64 3000+, and after accounting for the speed difference, my numbers with service mode would probably be similar to yours.

Oh, and to the other poster, I am running ZA, so I could give that a try, but I don't see what the firewall would be doing during a recording process.

[ToxMox]

I neglected to mention one more important item.
I am displaying 480p via component from a 6600gt video.

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

Those are certainly higher than my numbers without service mode. Makes me wonder whether you are running service mode and don't realize it, because I only have a Athlon 64 3000+, and after accounting for the speed difference, my numbers with service mode would probably be similar to yours.

It does seem high, but there's nothing else really running on the computer. The system idle number is right about the balance of the Sage number totaling 100%.

Also should mention I'm running 1080i out via DVI with 7600GT.

I've been struggling with my stuttering problem for weeks now, and it's a bummer as 3 of my 5 TV stations are 1080i. The 720p stations/recordings work fine.

I'm thinking of scrapping the install and starting all over.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by flachbar

All of you having trouble with service mode, are you running the service with the LocalSystem account, or with a user account ? I had several people reporting problems with the newest SageMC version and service mode, and it turned out that a lot of those were related to using the LocalSystem account. Might not be the case for the issues you are having, but I thought I'd mention it...

Dirk

I forgot to check this until just now, but I am running it local, not under a user account. I can't change it right now, but I'll try to change it tomorrow either after 11:00 tonight or sometime tomorrow.

[Goodspike]

Okay, I switched to a local account, and it had a very nominal affect, if any.

Did a bit more playing around, and Service running by itself only takes up 0-5% of the CPU cycles while recording. If you then start Sage to view the program, it's Sage taking up the extra cycles, not Service.

I should mention that this isn't a big problem. The only time stuttering is really an issue is during sports, and it's only while recording the sporting event being watched, and typically only once the recorded portion gets somewhere in excess of one hour. So one solution would be to just turn off service while I'm watching sports. In fact, that was something I was doing to break up the file so it wouldn't be longer than an hour, but I was turning the service back on after turning it off. Perhaps during sports I can just turn it off if no other solution is found.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

Okay, I switched to a local account, and it had a very nominal affect, if any.

Did a bit more playing around, and Service running by itself only takes up 0-5% of the CPU cycles while recording. If you then start Sage to view the program, it's Sage taking up the extra cycles, not Service.

I should mention that this isn't a big problem. The only time stuttering is really an issue is during sports, and it's only while recording the sporting event being watched, and typically only once the recorded portion gets somewhere in excess of one hour. So one solution would be to just turn off service while I'm watching sports. In fact, that was something I was doing to break up the file so it wouldn't be longer than an hour, but I was turning the service back on after turning it off. Perhaps during sports I can just turn it off if no other solution is found.

It may sound strange but try a totally different audio decoder. See if there is a difference between Directsound and wave also. I had noticed some high CPU usage when using either AC3 or Dscalers audio decoder on a PC. (I can't remember which or if it was Sage's audio decoder.) At this point it is worth a try.

Gerry

[White94Cobra]

Just coming to the party a bit late... After fighting for a couple of weeks with poor performance and lockups, I tried running w/o service mode. Sage was MUCH more responsive and nearly all my lockups/freezes/spinning icon issues went away. I tried a fresh install of Sage with 6.0.15 (keeping only my wiz.bin) and the problems remained. Upgrading to the latest 1.6 Java helped somewhat. Using Default / VMR9 (Purevideo) for video and SageTV Mpeg for audio.

We've actually started using Sage again instead of reverting to Tivo and the WAF is slowly climbing back to where it was.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by gplasky

It may sound strange but try a totally different audio decoder. See if there is a difference between Directsound and wave also. I had noticed some high CPU usage when using either AC3 or Dscalers audio decoder on a PC. (I can't remember which or if it was Sage's audio decoder.) At this point it is worth a try.

Gerry

Actually, that's a very good suggestion, but I already did that a long time ago. I suspect without Service running I'd have a lot more options for audio, because of the reduced CPU demand, but the one I have been using is the one that caused the least stutter. Oh, and I did recheck everything in that regard when I switched to Ver. 6.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by White94Cobra

Just coming to the party a bit late... After fighting for a couple of weeks with poor performance and lockups, I tried running w/o service mode. Sage was MUCH more responsive and nearly all my lockups/freezes/spinning icon issues went away. I tried a fresh install of Sage with 6.0.15 (keeping only my wiz.bin) and the problems remained. Upgrading to the latest 1.6 Java helped somewhat. Using Default / VMR9 (Purevideo) for video and SageTV Mpeg for audio.

We've actually started using Sage again instead of reverting to Tivo and the WAF is slowly climbing back to where it was.

Yes, it is much more responsive w/o Service on mine too. Glad to hear that 1.6 Java only helped somewhat. That's one of the things I'd wanted to try, but playing a beta on a beta didn't seem like a good idea. Since the improvement was only marginal, I'll wait.

[cvitech]

For what its worth, there is a version 1.4.2_13 of Java out now. This is not a beta version. I have tried the beta version and they do speed up things but I still have problems with it. The 1.4.2_13 seems much better. It seem to fix alot of things for me on my client side of things. I do run Sage in a service mode. I have noticed that the sage service consumes very little cpu utilization. It is about 1% to 2% on my server. When I run the sage client on the server as well, sage service will increase to about 6% to 10% and sage client will be around 60%. Of course, I never run the client on my server as a general practice.