Pixelation after FF, is this normal?

[stevech]

MVP, NTSC.
For 1 second or so after pressing the Hauppauge remote's skip button, I see what look like mpeg compression tiles. Screen photo enclosed here. This doesn't happen using the PC's S-video feed on the Sage server nor on a PC running the Sage Client software. So I can't blame the disks or LAN speeds.

This does not happen with the FF button where it skips frames much like a VCR in FF. It happens only with the skip ahead 10 seconds button.

Is this pixelation normal for the MVP?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by stevech

MVP, NTSC.
For 1 second or so after pressing the Hauppauge remote's skip button, I see what look like mpeg compression tiles. Screen photo enclosed here. This doesn't happen using the PC's S-video feed on the Sage server nor on a PC running the Sage Client software. So I can't blame the disks or LAN speeds.

This does not happen with the FF button where it skips frames much like a VCR in FF. It happens only with the skip ahead 10 seconds button.

Is this pixelation normal for the MVP?

I have two MVPs, an older model and a relatively newer model (with SPDIF) and don't see this pixelation. I have FF set for 30 sec and rew set for 25. Both MVPs are wired.

Gerry

[nielm]

I have a wired MVP and I do see this pixellation when I skip (but not smooth FF). I assumed it was normal...

[wrems]

I assumed this pixilation was normal as well. My wired MVP does the same when skipping forward/reverse as well as when comskip kicks in to bypass the commercials. To me it hasn’t been that big of a deal, at the same time it would be nice to have smooth transitions…

[Opus4]

I believe it is normal & may depend on the tuner or its drivers. I don't think I saw it when I connected to my Linux system, for example, but it has been a while since I tested that connection.

- Andy

[stevech]

Dependent on what tuner made the recording???

This pixelation, since it's absent with the PC S-video-to-TV arrangement, is affecting the WAF for the MVP.

I was hoping that the pixelation was curable/avoidable, since it happens for the skip button but not FF.

[gplasky]

Well I don't see it on recordings from any of the 2 nVidia Dual tuners. And I don't even try to ff the HD recordings from the HDHomerun. Commercial skip shows no pixelation either.

Gerry

[Taddeusz]

I've seen this happen on my MVP. In fact, it's the reason I changed back to using the smooth FF/REW. It was just too distracting.

I believe it happens because the MVP displays the image before it's totally re-synced the MPEG stream. I've seen this happen on the Scientific Atlanta digital STB's that Cox Cable here in OKC distributes. I think newer revisions of the firmware have fixed the "problem" by just not displaying any video until it syncs the whole picture.

[toricred]

Originally Posted by gplasky

I have two MVPs, an older model and a relatively newer model (with SPDIF) and don't see this pixelation. I have FF set for 30 sec and rew set for 25. Both MVPs are wired.

Gerry

Which model is the one with SPDIF? I've been thinking about getting one, but the lack of SPDIF has stopped me.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I've seen this happen on my MVP. In fact, it's the reason I changed back to using the smooth FF/REW. It was just too distracting.

I believe it happens because the MVP displays the image before it's totally re-synced the MPEG stream.

So this says that it can be corrected (it's a bug), since it doesn't happen for FF, just SKIP, with 6.1. If tuner-dependent, the photo at the top of this thread was from an MVP purchased from Sage in the last month, and the recording was from a Hauppauge PVR USB2.

So should the pixelation - which happens on 100% of the button pushes, be reported as a bug?

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by stevech

So this says that it can be corrected (it's a bug), since it doesn't happen for FF, just SKIP, with 6.1. If tuner-dependent, the photo at the top of this thread was from an MVP purchased from Sage in the last month, and the recording was from a Hauppauge PVR USB2.

So should the pixelation - which happens on 100% of the button pushes, be reported as a bug?

It happens for me only with the 10 second skip kind of FF/REW. The default smooth FF/REW works fine. At least for me.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

It happens for me only with the 10 second skip kind of FF/REW. The default smooth FF/REW works fine. At least for me.

Me too. I was not clear when I said FF in the thread subject but the SKIP button in the top message here.

Since pixelation does not happen with FF, but does with with the skip button, does this mean that SateTV LLC could correct this problem?

[Opus4]

I'm aware that this is for the FF skip. I can't test anything at the moment, but I've heard that it might be related to 'closed GOP' settings, which could be different on different tuners. If so, that could explain why some people see it & not others with various tuners or even on different Operating Systems w/obviously different drivers.

Custom recording qualities can be created for Hauppauge tuners using the info on SageTV support's Configuration page -- see Hauppauge Cards & Recording Quality. The PDF manual's Appendix H has a blurb about those settings & which one property you would need to create. The FAQ thread has a post with some examples. You could try playing with some settings to see if it affects the pixelization after FF.

- Andy

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by toricred

Which model is the one with SPDIF? I've been thinking about getting one, but the lack of SPDIF has stopped me.

I believe that all the new MVPs from Hauppauge have digital out, but that it is a Digital Coax port, not optical.

And it is not marked on the box that it includes digital out. Hauppauge just added it to the MVP with no fanfare.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I'm aware that this is for the FF skip. I can't test anything at the moment, but I've heard that it might be related to 'closed GOP' settings, which could be different on different tuners. If so, that could explain why some people see it & not others with various tuners or even on different Operating Systems w/obviously different drivers.
- Andy

Just to be clear: the pixelation problem under discussion here is present, for me, is only on the MVP. Not present on the Sage PC Client nor the client running on the PC. So if it's tuner related, it affects the MVP's decoder.

Can it be corrected?

[TXVike]

I have a WinTV USB2, MVP (wired) and I see the same thing. Pixelation on the MVP, but not on the two PC client's that connect to the same server when watching the same recorded shows.

[stevech]

The SageTV response to my formal problem report on this was that they are aware of the problem, and ...