Causes for sluggish SageTv interface?

[tvmaster2]

System is an MSI MB, GeForce 6200 AGP card with 128 ram, Celeron 2.1 cpu with 2 gigs of ram.

Everything AOK until changing television from CRT to 1080p LCD.
I have connected the DVI out from the 6200 to the HDMI in on the Samsung LCD with a DVI/HDMI connector.

In full-screen mode, the interface is now very sluggish, and is difficult just going through on-screen menus.

If I shrink the Sagetv from full-screen in setup, the interface becomes usable again.

Considering this card is capable of driving two screens of that resolution, I'd be surprised if it is just the increase in screen size that has caused the sluggishness.

Are there any things I may have overlooked, such as setup menu items or codec usage?

thanks, as usual

[stanger89]

Try disabling 3D accelleration.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Try disabling 3D accelleration.

OK, will that also kill transparent backgrounds?

Also, do you think it would hurt to increase on-board video card ram, as well as up it to DDR2 from DDR?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

OK, will that also kill transparent backgrounds?

Yes.

Also, do you think it would hurt to increase on-board video card ram, as well as up it to DDR2 from DDR?

You can't upgrade the ram on your video card. Getting a newer faster card should help though.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Yes.



You can't upgrade the ram on your video card. Getting a newer faster card should help though.

Thanks. So the 128mb of ram is likely being taxed to its limit?

[stanger89]

Your video card is likely being taxed. Just because you can connect two displays and run them at a given resolution, doesn't mean full performance or full features are guaranteed on both, expecially not when using the 3D engine.

The 6200 is a pretty weak card, especially when it comes to the 3D engine.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Your video card is likely being taxed. Just because you can connect two displays and run them at a given resolution, doesn't mean full performance or full features are guaranteed on both, expecially not when using the 3D engine.

The 6200 is a pretty weak card, especially when it comes to the 3D engine.

Sorry, it claims it CAN run two displays, but I only have one 1920x1080 connected, via DVI/HDMI

[robogeek]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Sorry, it claims it CAN run two displays, but I only have one 1920x1080 connected, via DVI/HDMI

To try to get more speed out of that card at the 1080 HD resolution, have you tried disabling the SageTV animation settings (Detailed Setup->General->Animation Options) and are you running the latest video driver from the nVidia site?

If that GeForce 6200 card has the nVidia TurboCache technology on it, running it at that high resolution should be OK for MPEG2 playback and 2D graphics but the 3D performance will be pretty bad. Have you tried running at 1280x720 to see if that helps? I know it's not quite the same as 1080, but that might work better until you can upgrade to a better video card. Or better yet, instead of dropping $100-$200 on a new video card (if you can even find a decent AGP card anymore), just get an HD200 extender

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by robogeek

To try to get more speed out of that card at the 1080 HD resolution, have you tried disabling the SageTV animation settings (Detailed Setup->General->Animation Options) and are you running the latest video driver from the nVidia site?

If that GeForce 6200 card has the nVidia TurboCache technology on it, running it at that high resolution should be OK for MPEG2 playback and 2D graphics but the 3D performance will be pretty bad. Have you tried running at 1280x720 to see if that helps? I know it's not quite the same as 1080, but that might work better until you can upgrade to a better video card. Or better yet, instead of dropping $100-$200 on a new video card (if you can even find a decent AGP card anymore), just get an HD200 extender

So, the HD200 hooks up directly to your display? If that's the case, then it really is sounding like the place to invest the money. However, how do you record the output from the HD200 to the server? USB cables? And if that's the case, do you know what the maximum USB cable length is?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by robogeek

To try to get more speed out of that card at the 1080 HD resolution, have you tried disabling the SageTV animation settings (Detailed Setup->General->Animation Options) and are you running the latest video driver from the nVidia site?

If that GeForce 6200 card has the nVidia TurboCache technology on it, running it at that high resolution should be OK for MPEG2 playback and 2D graphics but the 3D performance will be pretty bad. Have you tried running at 1280x720 to see if that helps? I know it's not quite the same as 1080, but that might work better until you can upgrade to a better video card. Or better yet, instead of dropping $100-$200 on a new video card (if you can even find a decent AGP card anymore), just get an HD200 extender

Thanks for the 720 tip - that seems to have restored much of the sluggishnes, etc. I guess I'll need a more powerfull card for 1080

[robogeek]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

So, the HD200 hooks up directly to your display? If that's the case, then it really is sounding like the place to invest the money. However, how do you record the output from the HD200 to the server? USB cables? And if that's the case, do you know what the maximum USB cable length is?

The HD200 connects to your HDTV and plugs into your network to connect to your SageTV server PC. You can then move the noisey PC away from the TV. In simple terms, the HD200 is like having a PC with SageTV Client hooked up to the TV except the SageTV server does the heavy lifting and the HD200 simply renders the UI and video streams sent by the server. Doing this will also free up some CPU time so that you could also use comskip to mark commercials without interfering with the video playback.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by robogeek

The HD200 connects to your HDTV and plugs into your network to connect to your SageTV server PC. You can then move the noisey PC away from the TV. In simple terms, the HD200 is like having a PC with SageTV Client hooked up to the TV except the SageTV server does the heavy lifting and the HD200 simply renders the UI and video streams sent by the server. Doing this will also free up some CPU time so that you could also use comskip to mark commercials without interfering with the video playback.

Thanks for the info - stupid last question . . . what is the physical connection between the server, HD200 and the TV when it comes time to actually play back the h.264 files that have been recorded?

And when recording, the HD200 takes component inputs from my Sat receiver's component outputs and then generates h.264 files to the server? How does the info get from the HD200 to the server when recording to the drive (as far as cabling goes)?

[robogeek]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Thanks for the info - stupid last question . . . what is the physical connection between the server, HD200 and the TV when it comes time to actually play back the h.264 files that have been recorded?

The HD200 connects to the server over your ethernet network and has all major connections you would need to connect to TV or surround sound receiver. For TV connections the HD200 has HDMI, component, composite, and svideo for video and HDMI, stereo, and SPDIF optical for audio. The HD200 should be able to playback anything the SageTV Client can playback on the server, including h.264. See this link for complete specs on the HD200: http://www.sagetv.com/hd_theater.html

And when recording, the HD200 takes component inputs from my Sat receiver's component outputs and then generates h.264 files to the server? How does the info get from the HD200 to the server when recording to the drive (as far as cabling goes)?

No, the HD200 can't take any inputs from your satellite receiver. The component output of the satellite receiver will have to be hooked up to the server with a Hauppauge HD-PVR. SageTV on the server does the recording and streams content to the HD200. The HD200 is purely a playback client.

[SHS]

tvmaster2 as an option
Take look at Sapphire HD 3850 AGP (I have this one) or new HIS HD 4670 AGP this blow that 6200 out water if your doing gaming and video.
Bear in mind that power supply may need be upgrade to a good one that has min output +12V@35A on 12v rail your best bet is the Corsair 550VX.