MediaMVP only plays some Sage files

[rjones]

I've been using BeyondTV for several years with two MediaMVPs. I'm about to switch to Sage because of its vastly superior MVP support. I'm running a trial version (6.5.9.204) on a freshly-installed XP SP3.

Almost everything works. However, some recorded shows will not play on the MVP. I can navigate into the folder and select a particular episode. However, when play is selected, nothing happens and Sage freezes. I have to power cycle the MVP (from the remote; it's not completely frozen) to get back to the main menu. I can't tell any difference between the shows that will play and the shows that won't play. All of them play when I run Sage directly on the XP machine.

Any ideas?

[davephan]

What format are the video files? If they are not MPEG2, then your computer will need to have enough processing power to transcode the videos on the fly into MPEG2, and keep up with the streaming. If the computer is too weak, you will see stuttering. Also, make sure all the ports are open between the computer and MVP. If all the needed ports are not open, then you will have intermittent playback problems. Are you using wired or wireless Eithernet? If you are using wireless, that could also be the source of the trouble.

Dave

[rjones]

Everything in MPEG 2 as recorded by Hauppauge 150. All ports open. Using wired ethernet on 100M switch.

There is no stuttering when the files work. The only problem is that some files simply won't play--at all. And I can't tell that there is any difference between those files and the files that work.

[davephan]

Do the problem files playback with VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)? Do you have VideoReDo? If you don't, maybe you could download a demo. Then try running 'quickfix' with VideoReDo on the problem files and try playing them again.

Dave

[rjones]

I'll check.

This is a completely fresh XP-pro SP3 build. No DVD software, no nothing. Just Firefox, DriveImage, and Sage.

[davephan]

After you take an image of your computer with DriveImage, can you install VLC and the trial version of VideoReDo? Try opening the problem video files with VLC, and determine if they will open or not. Then try running "Quickfix" with VideoReDo on a problem file, then try opening the file with VLC and SageTV. You can completely remove both VLC and VideoReDo by recovering to the image you took before the software installs. Make sure the image files are stored on a hard drive and not optical media, since optical media can fail when attempting a recovery.

If none of the above works, and you have a relatively small file that does not open, then you could e-mail it to me or FTP to my FTP server if the file is greater than about 10 megs. I will then be able to check the file. I can give you the details in a private message how to e-mail or FTP the file.

Dave

[rjones]

I took a drive image, but didn't try the test yet.

I did discover something strange. I earlier reported that the MVP was freezing on some of the files. Actually, it's not completely frozen. After about ~5 minutes, the show starts to play. Weird, huh?

[rjones]

Everything worked with VLC.

Sage tech support told me today to try the beta release. That fixed the problem! Go figure...