Not so smooth HD playback

[craigap]

My system:
AMD Opty 170 OC'd @ 2.45
Asus A8N5X Mobo
8800GT 512mb
recording to 320GB seagate SataII
Recording OTA HD with HVR-1600
Using Purevideo decoder

The stuttering isn't very bad, but it is noticeable particularly with action scenes like football. Seems to clear up in overlay. I refuse to use FSE, but non the less it doesn't help in VMR9. I want to continue to use VMR9. I've tried all the de-interlace modes and de-interlace controls in purevideo. I've tried sage's decoder. Oddly, I can only enter the controls via Radlight. The Nvidia icon in my tray won't open. CPU usage never exceeds 13%.
I've run out of ideas. I don't want to have to stick with overlay as I really prefer the transparent menus. I can't image it would my hardware not being up to the challenge.
Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[GTwannabe]

Try running FRAPS with Sage to check your framerate. What OS are you using? nVidia's XP drivers have a broken Inverse Telecine implementation that doesn't handle 1080i content properly. It converts 30fps interlaced into 15fps progressive. The Vista drivers work properly and convert 30fps interlaced into 60fps progressive.

To access the nVidia tray icon, you must set first set the nVidia decoder as your preferred MPEG2 decoder (DECCHECK). Then use "Default" for your Sage decoder option. The current release of Sage has a bug where the SageTV video decoder takes over all system video playback and ignores your preferred decoder setting. I had to unregister the Sage decoder to fix things.

[craigap]

Using XP home

Originally Posted by GTwannabe

To access the nVidia tray icon, you must set first set the nVidia decoder as your preferred MPEG2 decoder (DECCHECK). Then use "Default" for your Sage decoder option. The current release of Sage has a bug where the SageTV video decoder takes over all system video playback and ignores your preferred decoder setting. I had to unregister the Sage decoder to fix things.

I used DECCHECK and set to default. Nvidia tray Icon disappeared.

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by craigap

Using XP home



I used DECCHECK and set to default. Nvidia tray Icon disappeared.

Because the new SageTV decoder ignores your preferred setting. It's pretty useless (can't decode DVD CSS encryption), so I suggest unregistering the Sage decoder with this command:

regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\SageTV\Common\stvm2vd.ax"

You may have to change the path slightly depending on your install.

More details on the problem:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ght=unregister

[craigap]

You'll have to tell me exactly where to paste that line. So you know, I run the service as well.

[ke6guj]

That is a DOS command. Just open up a DOS prompt and paste it it.

[craigap]

OK. This seemed to be successful. I now have my Decoder set to default with the Nvidia icon in the tray an functional. And DECCHECK still confirms purevideo as the proffered decoder. I'm off now to do the FRAPS thing.

[craigap]

Using VMR9 on SD frames never drop below 57. Watching HD it ranges from as low as 30 up to 60. Switching to overlay, both SD and HD never budge from 60.
What do you think? Possibly that driver issue you were talking about? Is that a video card driver? I'm Using 169.09. I know there's newer ones but didn't see a need to switch. Until now maybe.

[craigap]

I've installed driver 169.28 up from 169.09 and my stuttering in VMR9 has smoothed out considerably, but it is still not perfect. I know longer see frame rates drop below about 52. I didn't think that I would be able to notice stuttering with 52fps, so I was thinking that these occasional hangs are just an inherent part of watching recorded video. However, I thought that I saw zero stutters while in overlay, plus frames never dropped from 59-60. After reviewing the playback in both Overlay and VMR9 of 1080i content I've determined that overlay is still better than VMR9 with the new drivers. I went to switch to overlay permanently, but this brings up a new issue though. I never bothered to look at other channels while testing overlay for HD playback, so when I went to an SD channel the channels don't fill the screen. Is this a property of overlay-no filling of the screen? I've tried messing with all the aspect ration stuff but nothing works. Every SD channel is in 4x3 on my wide screen TV. Except HD wide screen content of course.

[craigap]

bump

[dschaening]

I had the same trouble with Overlay, and found if I increased the recording quality I was able to get SD to Fill...

[civerson4]

I am having trouble using the Nvidia decoder on a Client system, but cannot find the Sage decoder to unregister it (as mentioned above). Do I need to unregister it on the server system? Seems like the decoder should be stored locally.