Huh? Playback Stutter??

[mightyt]

OK ... No I am perplexed ... I just recorded my first show on 6.0.19. Playback was terrible. Stuttered all over the place ... If I opened the file in Media Player it worked just fine ... no stuttering ... What's up with that?

BTW ... Seems Live TV does the same ...

[IncredibleHat]

I just installed 6019 yesterday, and after messing with the new STV, I watched "Bewitched" (remake) on Encore.

Other than my analog cable being garbage quality, the playback of the show was smooth. It actually seemed smoother than v50X I had prior installed, but it could have just been the channel (I've noticed some channels are more shadowy in motion than others on this analog cable).

Did you mess/change any settings you had previous set? Or did you do a full clean install, and had to resetup everything? Maybe you missed a step, or did something different in that resetup?

I just did an upgrade. It kept all my settings (it reverted a couple, like the STV), but all in all I had nothing to reconfigure for 6019.

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by IncredibleHat

Did you mess/change any settings you had previous set? Or did you do a full clean install, and had to resetup everything? Maybe you missed a step, or did something different in that resetup?

Nope ... This was a fresh Vista OS install. No Sage was present at the time ... Box is clean as a whistle ... Not sure what I missed since I have done this several times before. Of course now that I said that I am sure I missed the one thing that would cause this!

Thanks, T.

[Raiko]

I have the same problem but I don't have a solution.

I hope someone helps you so they can help me at the same time.

I have a Hauppauge PVR-150 and 250

[IncredibleHat]

If I could get it to stutter like you all are having, I could then offer up solutions I have tried on getting it working. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I get fine playback. Actually, it seems it is smoother than v5... although that may just be perceived, and not actual.

My content:
SageTV 6.0.19
nVidia Purevideo Bronze 1.02-223
nVidia Forceware 93.71
Java 1.4.2.12
XP Pro SP2 (have not run software update in eons though! gave up on it breaking things)

I run FSE, Hardware Acceleration ON, VMR9 with nvidia decoder selected, and default audio device (which is my onboard RealtekHD stuff).

Maybe some of that may help? *shrug*

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by IncredibleHat

If I could get it to stutter like you all are having, I could then offer up solutions I have tried on getting it working. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I get fine playback. Actually, it seems it is smoother than v5... although that may just be perceived, and not actual.

My content:
SageTV 6.0.19
nVidia Purevideo Bronze 1.02-223
nVidia Forceware 93.71
Java 1.4.2.12
XP Pro SP2 (have not run software update in eons though! gave up on it breaking things)

I run FSE, Hardware Acceleration ON, VMR9 with nvidia decoder selected, and default audio device (which is my onboard RealtekHD stuff).

Maybe some of that may help? *shrug*

Thanks for the feedback...

Well, I'm using ...

SageTV 6.0.19
nVidia Purevideo Gold Version 1.02-185
nVidia GeForce 7950 GX2 Card with Vista Provided nVidia Driver 9.6.8.5 Dated 10/9/06
Java 1.6.0
Vista Ultimate

I had the same settings except FSE off ... which should have made it better if there were video problems ... tried it on just for the heck of it and had the same results as before.

I can't see how it could be network since my NAS is RAID5 and both Sever and NAS are wired GigE?? Plus, like I said it worked great from my NAS using my v.4 server over 802.11g ... Got me?? Again, the shows also play great on the v.6 server via Windows Media Player 11.

Unfortunately this sure put me at a stand still from considering upgrading my Family Room Box for now.

So, I am stumped too.

[briands]

Originally Posted by mightyt

Thanks for the feedback...

Well, I'm using ...

SageTV 6.0.19
nVidia Purevideo Gold Version 1.02-185
nVidia GeForce 7950 GX2 Card with Vista Provided nVidia Driver 9.6.8.5 Dated 10/9/06
Java 1.6.0
Vista Ultimate

I had the same settings except FSE off ... which should have made it better if there were video problems ... tried it on just for the heck of it and had the same results as before.

I can't see how it could be network since my NAS is RAID5 and both Sever and NAS are wired GigE?? Plus, like I said it worked great from my NAS using my v.4 server over 802.11g ... Got me?? Again, the shows also play great on the v.6 server via Windows Media Player 11.

Unfortunately this sure put me at a stand still from considering upgrading my Family Room Box for now.

So, I am stumped too.

I think FSE ON should improve your performance.

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by briands

I think FSE ON should improve your performance.

Tried it, but unfortunately didn't make a difference ... Should I leave it on while troubleshooting this or wait until it's solved then turn it on?

[MeInMaui]

Have you checked to make sure you have dxva (hardware acceleration) enabled in the decoder? Open the purevideo control panel from the system tray during playback. Note that you will have to make sure the purevideo decoder is the preferred decoder (you can use deccheck for this) and then set the video decoder in sage to default in order to get access to the panel. Another quick check is to look at your CPU utilization during playback. If it is very high, you are probably not using hardware acceleration. HTH

Aloha,
Mike

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Have you checked to make sure you have dxva (hardware acceleration) enabled in the decoder? Open the purevideo control panel from the system tray during playback. Note that you will have to make sure the purevideo decoder is the preferred decoder (you can use deccheck for this) and then set the video decoder in sage to default in order to get access to the panel. Another quick check is to look at your CPU utilization during playback. If it is very high, you are probably not using hardware acceleration. HTH

Aloha,
Mike

OK ... Maybe you're on to something ... I did install the decoder and have selected it in Sage, but don't see any Purevideo control panel in my tray?? Hmm ... Went to the Program Files folder but only say a NVIDIA Corporation/Forceware folder and MCE scripts folders under that. An nStrant Media was under Forceware, but it only had a Media Center like application in it. What do you think? ...

OH, There's noting in my Startup Menu either ...

Also ... do you know if the "Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility" work in Vista as well?

Thanks, T.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mightyt

OK ... Maybe you're on to something ... I did install the decoder and have selected it in Sage, but don't see any Purevideo control panel in my tray?? Hmm ... Went to the Program Files folder but only say a NVIDIA Corporation/Forceware folder and MCE scripts folders under that. An nStrant Media was under Forceware, but it only had a Media Center like application in it. What do you think? ...

OH, There's noting in my Startup Menu either ...

Also ... do you know if the "Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility" work in Vista as well?

Thanks, T.

Sorry, I don't know anything about vista. I did a little googling and found this. Maybe it will help. There are also some comments on the linked page that suggest others have had some issues with getting purevideo decoder hardware acceleration to work in vista.

Edit: There is a known bug that causes the tray icon to be inaccessible if you select the nvidia decoder directly in sage. You have to select 'default' with nvidia externally set as the preferred decoder.

Aloha,
Mike

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Sorry, I don't know anything about vista. I did a little googling and found this. Maybe it will help. There are also some comments on the linked page that suggest others have had some issues with getting purevideo decoder hardware acceleration to work in vista.

Edit: There is a known bug that causes the tray icon to be inaccessible if you select the nvidia decoder directly in sage. You have to select 'default' with nvidia externally set as the preferred decoder.

Aloha,
Mike

Thanks again Mike ... Well, last night I tried setting the Sage Decoder to default, but the nVidia agent in the tray didn't show up. I even rebooted. So, I downloaded the utility from the link you provided and it did work. In fact It showed Microsoft MPEG2 Video Decoder as the default! So I set nVidia as the default through the utility and again used Sage with the default decoder selected.

I was blown away and found that my live TV and recorded shows (the same two I have been using to benchmark this) worked just fine. I was really happy, but decided to withhold my excitement and try it in the morning before leaving for work. And, this morning it again work just perfect!

Went to work and shared this possible solution to one of my staff who also uses Sage. I told him I was going to wait and test it another time tonight before assuming the problem was solved. So, minutes ago I ran Live TV and arrgh ... gimme a break ... the stuttering is back ... I started up the 2 show I recorded and the same thing over and over.

I check the Decoder Utility and nVidia was still selected ... Sooooo ... back to square one.

Oh, for the heck of it I checked the Task Manager to get a look at Network Performance and CPU Utilization while watching a stuttering show and the Net wasn't hitting 2%, mostly bounced around .5% and 1%. The CPU Usage hung out at around 4-6% with an occasion spike at 10%. So, I have determined for sure this is not Network or CPU performance. Again I tried the MPEGs in Media Player and they ran just fine, back to Sage and stutter.

At this point I believe 6.0.19 works intermittently and not at all for imported videos. I am probably stuck having to run a log and send it to Sage support.

Again, thanks for taking the time to provide me with some help. It helped me come to this conclusion.

T.

[HawgGuy]

After installing 6.0.19 I noticed a bit of stutter straight away.

FWIW - while looking at the Nvidia Purevideo control panel during playback of live TV (my kidz cartoon) I noticed the video mode repeatedly toggling back and forth betweeen film and video (was set to Smart). Changed to Automatic and now it stays steady on Video. The stutter seems gone.

[jbarr]

Just remember that if nVIDIA PureVideo is your default decode, then you must select "default" from within SageTV--do not select the nVIDIA decoder from within SageTV.

Also, you will only see the PureVideo icon during playback. Play a recording, then toggle fullscreen off, and you should see the decoder icon. Only then can you tweak things.

And as mentioned above, if you doo all that and still don't see the decoder icon, try playing any recording in Windows Media player first, then do a playback in SageTV. You should then see the icon.

[IncredibleHat]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

FWIW - while looking at the Nvidia Purevideo control panel during playback of live TV (my kidz cartoon) I noticed the video mode repeatedly toggling back and forth betweeen film and video (was set to Smart). Changed to Automatic and now it stays steady on Video. The stutter seems gone.

I've always used automatic, because "smart" would throw this off frame like a submlinal message randomly in anything I would watch. Started to make my eye twitch, so I shut it off and went with Automatic.

If you cant open the nvidia control while watching something in sage (like me, I cant, because I use FSE, and when in windowed, the control window wont open up), you can use a filter manager called... uh ... Radlight Filter Manager. Lets you open up those two nvidia control windows (audio and video) and set those nvidia settings.

Or if you have like zoomplayer installer, you can access it from that too.

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by jbarr

Just remember that if nVIDIA PureVideo is your default decode, then you must select "default" from within SageTV--do not select the nVIDIA decoder from within SageTV.

Thanks ... Yes ... I have Sage set to Default Decoder and made nVidia the Default through the Vista Media Center Decoder Utility. So, I think I am good there ...

T.

[mightyt]

Thank you all for pointing out that the nVidia Decoder Properties shows up "only" when video is being played. I never knew that! I knew I had seen it in the tray before but couldn’t understand what it wasn't there when I looked for it! Never made the connection. So, I did find it and yes, De-interlace Control was set to "smart". I reset it to "automatic" and clicked Apply. It appeared to have stopped aftger I stoped the video playback, closed and restarted Sage. I am not getting to excited since I have been here before and then it misteriously showed up again.

Now that I am aware of the impact of these nVidia settings can have, I have attached the 2 Tabs (Video & Color) from the nVidia Decoder Properties Utility. Can you take a quick look at them and make recommendations of any other changes I should consider.

One question I do have is, my Sage Video Renderer is set to VMR9. Though on the nVidia Video Tab the "De-interlace Mode" is set to "VMR9 default", the "Enhanced nView support" is set to "Prefer Overlay" instead of "Prefer VMR9". Should I change that??

Again, thanks all !!!

T.

[gplasky]

One or two monitors? If only one you wouldn't need nView I wouldn't think. Either way, if you're running VMR in Sage you would want it set to prefer VMR. If you still get stutter you can try setting nVida and Sage to overlay. Reboot and try.

Gerry

[Raiko]

Unfortunately, none of that worked for me.

It's probably because I'm on Vista Business. The Media Center utility just crashes when I try to open it.

[astribli]

Originally Posted by IncredibleHat

If I could get it to stutter like you all are having, I could then offer up solutions I have tried on getting it working. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I get fine playback. Actually, it seems it is smoother than v5... although that may just be perceived, and not actual.

My content:
SageTV 6.0.19
nVidia Purevideo Bronze 1.02-223
nVidia Forceware 93.71
Java 1.4.2.12
XP Pro SP2 (have not run software update in eons though! gave up on it breaking things)

I run FSE, Hardware Acceleration ON, VMR9 with nvidia decoder selected, and default audio device (which is my onboard RealtekHD stuff).

Maybe some of that may help? *shrug*

What kind of hardware do you have, and are you recording HDTV?
(cpu, motherboard, graphics board, memory, disk)