R5000 captures OK but Sage looses it

[mediahome]

I have been going around in circles on this one. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

When I switch between channels it usually takes two tries to get Sage to switch. The first attempt results in a black screen or a single frame from the previous channel content. Hit stop and select the channel again and it plays OK. Every once in a while it will switch on the first try.

When waiting with a black screen on the first try I checked the R5000 app on the server and it has changed channels and is capturing the stream to the designated folder as it should. It appears that the R5000 is working correctly but Sage just doesn't think that the streamed file is there.

When searching the forum for similar symptoms it was suggested that the USB controller could be the cause. I have tried both Intel and NEC based USB controllers with no change to the symptoms.

These symptoms occur with both a PC based client and an HD Extender so it would appear to be a problem with the server. The server is running the WHS server version 6.3.5. The problem is not for lack of resources - the server is a dual Xeon 2.6 with 3Gb memory. The Sage video directory is on a hardware based RAID 5 array. Network is wired 100Mb.

Mediahome

[mediahome]

Some additional information...

I use D* and this only happens with the local channels in the 1-99 range. Other channels change on the first attempt. It does not appear to make a difference whether the channels are HD or SD.

Mediahome

[tdoris]

I've have the same problem periodically. It usually happens when I switch between H264 and MPEG2 Dish broadcasts. Sometimes, it appears to be something with SageTV, but other times the R5000 software is still misidentifying some H264 streams as MPEG2. Right now, I'm just trying to get my HD100 extender to work with local broadcast H264. I either get artifacts that I don't get from a regular SageTV client, or it won't play at all (I've already submitted a support request on this)

[HawgGuy]

I had this problem with an earlier version of the r5000 app. But not since running the latest (as of about 6 mos ago).

[mediahome]

Thanks for the replies. I slept on it and decided it has to be something wrong with the disk subsystem. Looked at the status and saw that the drive was formated with 32K clusters. I had run a disk utility on it to resize them to 64K but apparently that didn't work. I will backup everything (all 1.6Tb's worth) and reformat.

[mediahome]

I reformated with 64k clusters and still have the problem. When tuning to local channels on D* the first time in results in a black frame or a single frame of the previous channel. When I stop and select the channel again it plays OK. This does not happen with channels 100 and higher.

Any ideas?

[HawgGuy]

At this point I'd be scouring the r5000-hd support group on AVSforum.

[mediahome]

HawgGuy - I have been over there and will go back to see if I can find anything. I need to thank you for all of your contributions in the forum. I have read a lot of them and learned much along the way.

This problem sure seems to be a Sage issue. When you change to a local channel the R5000 app shows that it is streaming the new channel and a file with the new show name is building in the designated directory. Sage just sits there like it it still waiting for the channel change to complete. If you pause Sage and then play while it is in the 'black screen" mode it displays a "No Signal" message. It is almost as if Sage was too quick to try and play the streamed file and got there before the file was initialized.

[Ron]

Originally Posted by mediahome

HawgGuy - I have been over there and will go back to see if I can find anything. I need to thank you for all of your contributions in the forum. I have read a lot of them and learned much along the way.

This problem sure seems to be a Sage issue. When you change to a local channel the R5000 app shows that it is streaming the new channel and a file with the new show name is building in the designated directory. Sage just sits there like it it still waiting for the channel change to complete. If you pause Sage and then play while it is in the 'black screen" mode it displays a "No Signal" message. It is almost as if Sage was too quick to try and play the streamed file and got there before the file was initialized.

I see the same thing, from time to time, but since I'm mostly archiving, it's not a big issue to me. Also seems like it happens more often on the extender than on a PC client.

I'm using a Fios STB with the R5000. I can actually watch that the server has executed the R5000 DVR application for the correct channel and that the Fios STB is also on the correct channel. So that definitely points to a Sage issue. Interestingly, I also have HD Homerun, and there's no issues with Sage quickly tuning to and playing the designated channel.

[mediahome]

OK, I figured out how to fix the problem but I don't quite understand why it is a problem. In the SageTV Channel Setup configuration I remapped the local channel physical channel to the physical channel of the D* local feed. In other words, the local ABC affiliate here in Portland is KATU on Channel 2. I remapped the D* local feed channel 6420 to physical channel 2 (KATUDT). To get this to work correctly, I had to select KATUDT, hit Remap, and then select "Map different Station to this Physical Channel." Doing the remapping from the contect of channel 6420 did not appear to resolve the channel change problem.

???

[mediahome]

I just noticed the 12/26 firmware update for the HD100 so I applied it hoping that it would help. I reset the channel mapping and then tested it. Unfortunately the firmware update makes it worse. Now it takes 4-6 channel change attempts to get it to display the new channel.

[mediahome]

I wanted to add that I have associated this behavior with MPEG4 channels. I cannot change channels to the VOOM MPEG4 channels either. And the VOOM channels are not remapped like the local channels are so it appears to be a problem with the stream not the mapping.

[briands]

Just getting my Dish 211 R5000 box set up

One question (at least so far)

Should I select the Option for "Use *.ts file extension"

[HawgGuy]

Originally Posted by briands

Just getting my Dish 211 R5000 box set up

One question (at least so far)

Should I select the Option for "Use *.ts file extension"

No.

[briands]

Thanks! I had guessed that leaving it default would be best. Wow this thing works great.... I'm afraid to touch anything, but one more question... Will I have any trouble with the Compressed bit rate setting? How much space will it save? And, lastly (for now) Is there a way to tell which channels are mpg2 and which are mpeg-4? Is there a list somewhere?

[HawgGuy]

Originally Posted by briands

Thanks! I had guessed that leaving it default would be best. Wow this thing works great.... I'm afraid to touch anything, but one more question... Will I have any trouble with the Compressed bit rate setting? How much space will it save? And, lastly (for now) Is there a way to tell which channels are mpg2 and which are mpeg-4? Is there a list somewhere?

I have not had any problems with the compressed setting. Not sure of the numbers for space saving.

All but a few of my HD channels are h.264 streams at this point. I think ESPN is still MPEG-2 (while ESPN2 is h.264) and TNTHD. Probably one or two others as well. You can tell for sure by playing Sage in a window and watching the r5000 app status screen, it will identify the stream type that it is currently capturing.

[redondo_se]

Originally Posted by mediahome

OK, I figured out how to fix the problem but I don't quite understand why it is a problem. In the SageTV Channel Setup configuration I remapped the local channel physical channel to the physical channel of the D* local feed. In other words, the local ABC affiliate here in Portland is KATU on Channel 2. I remapped the D* local feed channel 6420 to physical channel 2 (KATUDT). To get this to work correctly, I had to select KATUDT, hit Remap, and then select "Map different Station to this Physical Channel." Doing the remapping from the contect of channel 6420 did not appear to resolve the channel change problem.

???

I'm having the same problem, but I don't quite understand your statement. Is it working correctly for you now or not?

I have an HDHomerun used for tuning OTA, and 2 Dish Vip211 boxes. I got it working fairly well, but I wanted to be able to use the OTA tuners in the Vip211 boxes. I tried to do this by using the "Add Channel to Lineup" in the Dish Lineup. For most of my OTA channels, I just entered the station name and the channel number, e.g. WISHDT and then 8-1. For several of the sub-channels, I had to enter the "Station ID" because it didn't recognize it correctly, like the "Radar" channel on 8-3. For the sub-channels that weren't recognized, I did a "Map Different Station to this Physical Channel" using the OTA channels from the HDHomerun scan, clicked remap on the unrecognized channel in the dish lineup and selected the channel from the HDHomerun lineup.

I get similar symptoms to you. When I try to tune to one of these stations through the guide, the Vip211 tunes it fine, but the sage client just shows a black frame. If I try to change to a different OTA channel, I see a still frame of the last channel to which the Vip211 was tuned.

Actually, now that I think about it, I think it was working before I did the remap on the sub-channels that weren't being recognized correctly.

Thanks,
Sean.

[mediahome]

I was referring to remapping the Dish local broadcast channels not OTA channels.

[redondo_se]

Originally Posted by mediahome

I was referring to remapping the Dish local broadcast channels not OTA channels.

So is it working correctly for you now?

Thanks,
Sean.

[mediahome]

I went back and double checked everything again and found something. When Sage fails to change to a new channel the R5000 apps shows that it is streaming to a file named after the new channel but it does not actually save anything or if it does it is only a fragment of video. With further research on the forums I found that adding the parameter "RecDelay: 2000" in the R5000 config file adds a delay in the initiation of the recording by the R5000 software. This resolves this problem.