New Install WHS - playback exception error (-5,0x80040200)

[rhansen]

So, I just installed SageTV Media Center for Windows on my Windows Home Server. I configured everything and it seemed to be working just fine until I went to view a live program and now I get this error:




Any thoughts?

[gplasky]

WHS isn't really designed for playback. It is the back end of your system. HD200 extenders or PC Clients would be the preferred method fpr playback. With that being said make sure you have the latest DirectX installed and the preferred drivers for your video and audio card would be Windows 2003 server drivers. Windows XP in most cases will also work. ALso make sure you install the appropraite decoders for the file type you're trying to play.

Gerry

[rhansen]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am in the process of updating all of my drivers, but now I am getting this error:



???

I have uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times now with no luck.

[Spartan]

Did the same yesterday (also on WHS) and have the same problem as the OP. Client & MVP works fine.

While I realize its intentions, it is helpful to run SageTV on the WHS console (*not* over RDP) for testing and so forth...

[wayner]

You always get this error with WHS since it is a server OS and not equipped to play media. It would be useful to do so but it is pretty much a no go unless you do lots of futzing around.

[Spartan]

Originally Posted by wayner

You always get this error with WHS since it is a server OS and not equipped to play media. It would be useful to do so but it is pretty much a no go unless you do lots of futzing around.

Incidentally, prior to installing WHS this week, I had been using Windows Server 2003 Standard, and playback worked just fine.

[bhyman1]

Tried Placeshifter?

[wayner]

My server is in a room in the basement with a bunch of cable boxes, HD-PVRs, etc. If I really need to try playing back Sage content then I will bring in a laptop and use Placeshifter. But I usually just go to another room in the house with an HD-200 and check out the playback from there. If I have to do config then you could always RDP into your WHS box from a room with the HD-200 as well but then you can't actually make physical changes like verifying the cabling between tuners and boxes, etc.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by rhansen

Thanks for the quick reply. I am in the process of updating all of my drivers, but now I am getting this error:



???

I have uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times now with no luck.

After you WHS install did you install PP1 or was it part of the install and did you let WHS perform ALL of the Windows updates? ANd did you install SageTV as a WHS add-in and NOT just run the .msi installer?

Gerry

[rhansen]

The WHS was fully patched/updated (as of today) before I installed SageTV. However, I did accidentally install the .msi as a normal program during my initial installation attempt. I uninstalled everything SageTV related and proceeded to install the msi as an add-in via the WHS console.

Do you suppose that there is something lingering from the initial install?

If I can't solve this by tomorrow AM, I plan to wipe the WHS and start fresh. That might/should solve the problem.

Tried Placeshifter?

-- Yes. I get a similar result, but without the error prompt. The setup wants to start, but the blue screen w/ text goes black and hangs.

[gplasky]

Blue screen is usually a device driver /hardware issue. Take a look at the memory dunp or look for the event log to see what ddevice is causing the issue.

Gerry

[Fuzzy]

There is a reason the WHS version comes with a free placeshifter license...

[SWKerr]

I would uninstall and delete the Sage directory. Uninstall the drivers for the capture cards as well. Install Sage with the msi from the WHS console. Then try to play back a few files before you add the capture cards back.

Separate playback from recording for the troubleshooting. Once you know it plays back OK then add the tuners back on at a time. Record something and watch it before you try live TV.

You will need to install DirectX and the correct codes in order to get decent playback. What video card are you using? The is a trick to getting the ATI 780G working.

[rhansen]

I reinstalled the WHS OS this morning and everything is working just fine now. I am sure that something happened when I tried to install the msi like an exe.

Thanks for the advice anyways.

[Spartan]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

There is a reason the WHS version comes with a free placeshifter license...

What would you have me do, put placeshifter on the WHS? Makes no sense...

My WHS is in my furnace room along with all of my cabling. I've been trying to troubleshoot my shoddy analog cable recordings (OTA is fantastic), so it is helpful to be standing in front of my server to test recording/playback. My SageTV on WHS cannot playback due to the error the OP posted above.

Nevertheless, I think I have found the problem. I think my 2 HVR-1600 cards are not fond of my 4GB of RAM. Reducing it by 1024 in boot.ini via the following switch has seemed to fix it:

/burnmemory=1024

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Spartan

What would you have me do, put placeshifter on the WHS? Makes no sense...

My WHS is in my furnace room along with all of my cabling. I've been trying to troubleshoot my shoddy analog cable recordings (OTA is fantastic), so it is helpful to be standing in front of my server to test recording/playback. My SageTV on WHS cannot playback due to the error the OP posted above.

Nevertheless, I think I have found the problem. I think my 2 HVR-1600 cards are not fond of my 4GB of RAM. Reducing it by 1024 in boot.ini via the following switch has seemed to fix it:

/burnmemory=1024

No, I meant to use placeshifter on another computer on the network. That's why it is included, to be used there for configuration. You shouldn't have to run a UI on the WHS machine, and it is much easier to not even bother trying.

[wayner]

I agree with what you are saying but technically WHS doesn't support non-headless configurations. I don't know if you have ever visited the MS WHS forums but whenever I post about the issues that I am having I get a response like "Running WHS with an attached montior (keyboard/mouse) is not supported as WHS is meant to be run headless" or even "Remote Desktopping into WHS is unsupported. You should be able to do anything with WHS, or add-ins, through the WHS console"

I know that these are ridiculous answers but that gives you an idea of the way that MS, and some others see how WHS is supposed to work.

[rlvogel322]

I RDP into the box and run the standard SageTV client for all configuration (source setup). I also get the playback error but don't care since I can use a client to test playback.

[wayner]

The one thing that I found very tricky in this type of implementation on WHS without being able to see the playback was the ability to change options on my cable box. But I recently came up with a solution for this. I have an old portable DVD player that has been somewhat destroyed by my kids but the screen still works and it has a video/audio input. I have connected this to a 3 way A/V switch (which I bought for $8 at a electronics liquidation shop) so that I can connect it to all three of my cable boxes. This way I can see the output of my cable boxes and make sure that I have a valid cable signal and I can change the settings of the box - such as video format, digital audio format, etc. (Note - I have the component or svideo output of the boxes connected to the Sage tuner and the composite output connected to my switch/monitor)

Maybe such a setup would be useful to you? It helps if you have cable/sat boxes connected to your Sage server.