6.5.6 - Not quite ready for prime time yet

[AzJazz]

I have been running 6.4.8 for awhile now (it's been very stable).

I tried RC 6.5.6 last night for the first time, and within a few minutes, the SageTV client on my PC totally locked up (not even a spinning circle) while changing a channel. I don't know if this also occurs on my HD100 Media Extender, since I never got that far.

I'm back to 6.4.8 again for now ...

[mayamaniac]

A beta release not ready for prime time, no kidding? The whole point of betas are for testing and ironing out the bugs. So if you saved the debug logs, you can send it to SageTV so they can figure out the problem you are having.

[kevine]

Well, I see both of your points.

First, 6.5.6 is supposed to be the release canidate and that to me means Sage staff considers it "ready for primetime". And many times, as in 6.4.8 there were no changes between the RC and the public version.

Second, running it once and locking up does not mean it's not ready either unless it is consistent which you did not mention. However, if you can reproduce this error, please report it so that it does not get released with this problem.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by kevine

However, if you can reproduce this error, please report it so that it does not get released with this problem.

I like the way you think. Save us all from bugs!!

I've been running 6.5.6 since the day it was released (server as well as client, STV only) and have only seen the spinning circle twice for a couple of seconds each. It was after a long FF and I just attributed it to me jumping ahead of what was already buffered.

One other issue I had only once (and am unable to recreate so far) was a freeze after a couple of jumps ahead. That was cured by a short rewind. I do have logging on so if the freeze happens again I'll report it.

[AzJazz]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

A beta release not ready for prime time, no kidding? The whole point of betas are for testing and ironing out the bugs. So if you saved the debug logs, you can send it to SageTV so they can figure out the problem you are having.

Hi, mayamaniac - I brought this up because it is a "Release Candidate". I'm pretty familiar with Beta software, and use (and write) Beta software frequently.

Originally Posted by kevine

Second, running it once and locking up does not mean it's not ready either unless it is consistent which you did not mention. However, if you can reproduce this error, please report it so that it does not get released with this problem.

True enough, but I don't see 6.4.8 do this at all. Even when 6.4.8 rarely freezes, it still has the spinning circle and comes back to life after a few minutes. Just seeing the total lockup occur once on 6.5.6 within the first couple of minutes of use was cause for concern, whether it is easily repeatable or not. Also, I had stuff to record last night (along with a lot of other work stuff to do), and couldn't spend the time trying to get the problem to repeat/collect debug information.

If my wonderful wife found out that I was foolin' with "That da*ned SageTV again" instead of doing work, I would have had to do the rest of the SageTV debugging from the nearest hotel room.

[mayamaniac]

If you look hard enough on the forum, I'm sure you can find all sorts of lockup problems that people have with 6.4.8 also. Now does it means it wasn't ready for primetime?

RC or not, as long as it in the beta software section, it is a beta. In dealing with betas, unless you have spare time to deal with software problems, then you should not install it over your stable system. Definitely, you should not install a beta if you have important scheduled recordings coming up. I'm still running 6.5.5 because I don't have time to deal with 6.5.6 just incase it has problems. I might just wait for the release version which I guess will be in a week or so.

[wayner]

But don't you pretty much need one of the 6.5 betas if you have an HD-200?

[TechJunkie]

Originally Posted by wayner

But don't you pretty much need one of the 6.5 betas if you have an HD-200?

Only if you do not have a Placeshifter license. As we know placeshifter license are floating and any device can use them. If you have a HD100 the HD200 will work with version 6.4.8 they just can not run at the same time.

[AzJazz]

Well, I reinstalled RC 6.5.6 for a second go at it, and the PC interface locked up again within the first few minutes of use.

In addition, the response on the user interface seemed considerably slower - I saw lots of spinning circles as I moved around and changed channels.

I put in a bug report last week, and am waiting to hear back from SageTV tech support.

I am also back at 6.4.8 for now.

AzJazz

[m0ng00se30]

I too am seeing A LOT of spinning circles and sluggish behaviour. Even some crashing to the desktop once every day or two. I'm just living with it for now until the next update!

[AzJazz]

For whatever it is worth, RC 6.5.7 is working much better for me than RC 6.5.6, and seems as stable as 6.4.8 so far (1 day and counting ... ).