HD-PVR setup/client config success?

[Beefcake550]

Hi all,

I've been having issues getting playback of liveTV and recordings to work on my SageClient HTPC. I'm looking for people to chime in with their settings in the Audio/Video section of the setup.

Personally I have DirecTV H23-600 and initially I had it outputting native resolution. I noticed changing channels causes problems, but most likely when the next channel is a different resolution from the current. So, I set the DirecTV box to always output 720p per a suggestion here. Now, I get about a 50-60% chance that changing channels works right. I want to say that the HD-PVR is working fine and the channel changing (via serial->USB) is working fine since I can see it perfectly on the WHS machine in the basement. So, the problem definitely lies in the decoder or SageTV.

I've got the following hardware
Core 2 Quad 9300
2GB Crucial RAM
Asus P5E-VM HDMI (Intel G35 chipset)
Video via HDMI output @ 1920x1080p @ 60Hz

I've got Power DVD, Arcsoft TME, and SageTV all installed. Now matter what I do, my problems seem to either be Video is severly stuttered with no audio, or the video is fine without any audio. Even when things are fine, REW/FF don't work even as it causes audio to always get lost/messed up. I am using the analog audio out.

I'm going to try the following things tonight.
1) Switch from analog audio to Digial (albeit PCM) audio into the HD-PVR
2) trying adding the lines into SageClient.properties file.
videoframe/aac_audio_decoder_filter=ArcSoft Audio Decoder
videoframe/h264_video_decoder_filter=ArcSoft Video Decoder

I'm assuming people have this working properly, so perhaps it's just me. If one of the above doesn't work, I'm probably going to try and wipe/reinstall the machine from scratch. I really don't want to do that, so please offer me more suggestions!

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I started using Sage long ago in the 2.x days, left it for VMC (couldn't get studder free playback), and now with HD, I'm back. Please help me getting this working.

I'm also considering the purchase of a HD-100 extender box to solve the problem. Anyone have issues with those?

[Apap]

Have you tried using Overlay rather than VMR9?

[Beefcake550]

yeah, I've tried that and haven't noticed much difference in reliability.

[ghostlobster]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

yeah, I've tried that and haven't noticed much difference in reliability.

I was running into a very similar situation with my HD-PVR when using the HD-PVR's integrated IR blaster. I then switched to using my MCE blaster and LMRemote, and it smoothed out perfectly.

What blaster are you using and do you have a handy alternative?

[Beefcake550]

I am using serial control, but I do have an MCE blaster/remote kit available for use. I don't think that is the whole issue because seeking around in a recording gets messed up as well.

-Brian

[Beefcake550]

Quick update....I wiped the HDD and reinstalled everything on the client. Now everything is perfectly buttery smooth. The solution sucked, but at least it got to where I wanted to be.