Stuttering Playback While Recording...

[briankeys]

My SageTV server was working great, even after I upgraded to 6.4.8 then less than two weeks after the upgrade, playback became unwatchable with stuttering video, lots of digital noise in the audio and jerky/sluggish menu operation. CPU utilization was high at a constant 50% - 60% on a dedicated server with just SageTV client and service running. CPU remained high after shutting down the client but dropped to normal levels after the service was stopped.

I uninstalled SageTV and Java, checked for viruses and malware (found none), checked for unusual processes runing (found none) then reinstalled the latter - Same problem as before.

Next, I uninstalled SageTV, Java and deleted everything in the SageTV folder except sage.properties and wiz.bin / wiz.bak. I reinstalled the older version of Sage 6.3.10 and the problem appeared to be solved.

Next I reinstalled SageMC 6.3.7a - everything was still back to normal, running great and video playback was flawless... until a show started recording at which point the jerky video, audio and sluggish menu returned. Once the recording process stops, everything returns to normal?

I'm going to check my memory this evening but looking for ideas on what I might be missing in my troubleshooting. I have the server networked to two MVPs but the problem exists even when disconnected from the network.

Thanks!

Dedicated SageTV HTPC running both SageTV service and client
Two Hauppauge HVR1600s recording from DirecTV SD Tuners
AMD X2-4400 Processor
Nvidia 8400 Video Card
Motherboard Realtek Audio
2 Gigs Ram
1TB Disc Space, non raid
Networked to two MVPs

[briankeys]

Just some more information that I should have included before..

1. OS is clean WindowsXP install for HTPC, no games etc.
2. Problem remains regardless of VMR9, Purevideo, Intervideo etc. settings
3. Problem remains after switching back to default STV
4. Windows update was disabled, and all other automatic updates were disabled also.

Thanks!

[Opus4]

The standard first question for stuttering is: are your recording drives formatted using 64K clusters? If not, change to 64K clusters first. And, are all the recording paths pointing to the correct drives?

- Andy

[briankeys]

Thank you and yes, they are formatted to 64K clusters and NTFS. All recording paths are correct and the drives are SATA 300 installed locally in the server computer.

I've had the system running unchanged and stable for almost 18months now and it remained stable and performed beautifully for almost two weeks after updating to 6.4.8. The problem started happening out of the blue on Monday and persists after several uninstalls / reinstalls including a downgrade to 6.3.10.

The problem is consistant in that playback and menu operation is normal while nothing is recording, but becomes erratic once a recording is initiated.

I'm going to run some tests on my memory and drives tonight but looking for other ideas also.

Thanks!

[jerryt]

1) Sageproperties is not a file you want to save when reinstalling because of a problem. Because the problem may be one of the entries in the Sageproperty file itself.

2) What was recently installed?

3) Revert with System Restore to your oldest image.

[briankeys]

Thank you Jerry,

1) I'd be perfectly willing and would even prefer to redo my remote settings etc after reinstalling with a fresh new sage.properties file but I'd rather not lose my recordings and watched history. I was under the impression that I needed to carry over sage.properties, wiz.bin & wiz.bak to retain my history but maybe I just need wiz.bin and wiz.bak? Can you clarify?

2) Nothing was recently installed other than the 6.4.8 update. This is a dedicated HTPC with no keyboard or mouse attached. It just hums along doing its PVR thing on SD recordings.

3) That's a good suggestion once I've verified my memory and drives don't have any issues, thank you!

[Opus4]

You need to keep wiz.bin; that's the database.

The properties file & its autobackup should be removed if you think there are settings issues in it. There's a FAQ about doing a clean re-install if a bad setting needs to be cleared.

- Andy

[briankeys]

Reinstalled 6.4.8 with only the existing wiz.bin, nothing else. Worked great as before until a recording started then same high CPU, jerky video, stuttering audio and jerky menu.

I ran error checking on my media drives and there were no errors but they are 49% fragmented. - I need to research defrag options/issue in the FAQs and this forum - I went to defrag the drives and windows defragmenter absolutely crawled... took 30 seconds just to move one of the comskip .log files!

Checked Device manager and found no warnings but noticed that 3 of my five drives (One is the DVD) are running in PIO mode even when 'DMA if available' has been selected.

HD Tune shows a maximum transfer rate of 1.3 MB/sec and a burst rate of 1.0 MB/sec with 54% CPU utilization.

I think I just found my problem, thanks guys!

[briankeys]

It's fixed, thanks for the help!

I thought I had all the auto updates disabled when I set the system up but missed the one for the chipset drivers. It did an update and messed up the SATA storage drivers somehow. I simply uninstalled them, let Windows rediscover them and everything is back up and running. My SageTV install got a spring clean in the process and I now have normal recording volume (was a bit low before) and the only other annoyance of occasional audio clicks is gone also.

Thanks!