Confirmed SageTV 7 & HD PVR Bug. (I Think...;) )

[AlphaCrew]

Details:

FiOS: Motorola HD QIP 7100-1
PVR: Hauppauge HD PVR 1212 (X2 -- 1 is a left over from the D1 Line)
Audio: TOSLINK
PC: Windows 7 Pro 32 Bit Dedicated Dual Core Atom (No other programs Installed)
IR: USB-UIRT (Latest Version)
SageTV: SageTV_V7_0_16Setup (SageTV Service setup and running)

Problem:
During a recording, there is missing sections. (no problems with OOS)

Details:
I first noticed this behavior about 1 months ago. While recording a show, I noticed that the PVR's blue indication light went out. I immediately thought the box just locked up, however in about 3-5 seconds the blue indicator light came back on, and the recording completed. This will typically happen at least once every couple of shows (some time every show, but typically only once during the show)

No errors produced in SageTV, at least none that are displaying on the GUI.

I first thought it was the setup, so I completely rebuild the machine from the ground up, problem persisted. Connected a new HD PVR, problem persisted. Performed Fan Mod, thinking I may somehow be overheating, problem persists

One important thing to note is that this problem does not exist when using the software that came with the HD PVR.

So I'm at this point fairly confident that we have a bug with the Sage TV Software.

[darcilicious]

Seems like you'll want to report this as a bug and maybe include log files?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=29

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

Seems like you'll want to report this as a bug and maybe include log files?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=29

Done.. !

where might I find these logs?

[darcilicious]

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=149076

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=149076

Thank You, Very Much.!

[Spectrum]

I hope this gets resolved but I really doubt it is something that the Sage devs can fix. I think it's a problem with the HDPVR hardware/driver.

I had this happening in excess of 2 times / hour so I RMA'd my HDPVR and haven't had much trouble with it since. It has happened once or twice in the 4-5 weeks since the HDPVR was replaced. I never actually had it happen with logging enabled, so maybe if you catch it in a log the Sage devs can confirm whether it is something they can work on or if it is something that Hauppauge will have to fix.

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by Spectrum

I hope this gets resolved but I really doubt it is something that the Sage devs can fix. I think it's a problem with the HDPVR hardware/driver.

I had this happening in excess of 2 times / hour so I RMA'd my HDPVR and haven't had much trouble with it since. It has happened once or twice in the 4-5 weeks since the HDPVR was replaced. I never actually had it happen with logging enabled, so maybe if you catch it in a log the Sage devs can confirm whether it is something they can work on or if it is something that Hauppauge will have to fix.

Indeed, I too hope this get's resolved. The only reason I suspect SageTV is I can't seem to duplicate the problem with the software that came with the HD PVR. I can record for hours and not one missing section.

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by AlphaCrew

Indeed, I too hope this get's resolved. The only reason I suspect SageTV is I can't seem to duplicate the problem with the software that came with the HD PVR. I can record for hours and not one missing section.

In that light it DOES sound like Sage is at fault. As much as I hate to say it, I hope that is the case. If it is a Sage problem, odds are the devs can fix it; if it's a Hauppauge problem I doubt we will see a solution. They were very accommodating in replacing my HDPVR when I called support with this problem, but they were not very accommodating in finding a solution.

[Chriscic]

That's always been the case with Hauppauge. They don't seem to care what's wrong with their hardware design; they'll just send you a new one if you ask.

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

That's always been the case with Hauppauge. They don't seem to care what's wrong with their hardware design; they'll just send you a new one if you ask.

Which is why the HDPVR is the first and last Hauppauge component I will own. I'm a firm believer in voting with my wallet

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by Spectrum

Which is why the HDPVR is the first and last Hauppauge component I will own. I'm a firm believer in voting with my wallet

Indeed, I also hold the same perspective on corporations that don't consider their product "worth" fixing. With that said, is there a better solution on the market?

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by AlphaCrew

With that said, is there a better solution on the market?

That's exactly the issue. There's little to nothing else that offers HD capturing.

[Tiki]

Avermedia has released a very similar product to the Hauppauge HD-PVR. It also connects via USB, and can record from Component Video up to 1080i. It also has a hardware h.264 encoder. It came out a few months ago, but is not supported by Sage yet. I think I read that it has a newer version of the same chipset used in the Hauppauge device.

Hopefully Sage will add support for it soon and we will see if it is more reliable.

Of course having said that, I broke down and bought my first Hauppuage HD-PVR about 5 weeks ago. So far I've had no problems with it (knock on wood). Its been plugged in to a UPS and I haven't cycled power to it since I got everything working.

[Spectrum]

With the cable co's having the ability to disable analog outputs, devices like the HDPVR and the Avermedia box may be short lived. I hope that is not the case because I really loathe the thought of DRMd recordings a'la Cablecard but I hope someone gets a good Sage compatible solution on the market for HD capture one way or the other.

[darcilicious]

I thought (for now) that disabling analog outputs was only approved for pre-releases/PPV and not for regular live TV programming?

[Spectrum]

Yep but "give them an inch and they'll take a mile." I doubt it will take long the cable co to start pushing to allow disabling analog across the board. They have proven in the past to be very anti anything that allows content out of their system. Firewire was relatively open for awhile then they started locking down content with 5c. QAM was abundant in many markets but now, in most places, you can only get locals via QAM and the cable companies are pushing to do away with that too. Once they have the physical ability to block content it's only a matter of time before they start chipping away at what they will allow out over a specific output.

Of course this is all opinion and speculation, I don't purport to have any inside info

[darcilicious]

BTW, just to be clear, the cable companies are encrypting content at the behest of the content owners (network and movie studios, etc), not just because they hate their customers

I don't disagree that the content owners want to lock down everything but your post seem to imply more than is currently true

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

BTW, just to be clear, the cable companies are encrypting content at the behest of the content owners (network and movie studios, etc), not just because they hate their customers

I don't disagree that the content owners want to lock down everything but your post seem to imply more than is currently true

Good point. The cable co just makes a convenient target since they provide the last mile

[HokiePerogi]

I can confirm the op's problem. The same issue started happening to my setup within the last few weeks. I do not know what specific version of the beta it started in, but it is fairly recent (i.e. within the last month).

I thought it was my java heap size, but when I try playing the problem recordings via VLC, I notice the same issue with what looks like stutter, but is missing sections of the original recording.

I have not observed the blue light on the HD PVR going on and off during a recording because my setup is in a utility room.

A few months back I rebuilt my machine from Vista to Windows 7. I never experience this problem in Vista. I actually had much worse problems with increasingly more frequent HD PVR locks as the days went by.

I really hope this is Sage issue too. I definitely feel like it will get fixed faster if it is a bug in SageTV.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by HokiePerogi

I can confirm the op's problem. The same issue started happening to my setup within the last few weeks. I do not know what specific version of the beta it started in, but it is fairly recent (i.e. within the last month).

I thought it was my java heap size, but when I try playing the problem recordings via VLC, I notice the same issue with what looks like stutter, but is missing sections of the original recording.

I have not observed the blue light on the HD PVR going on and off during a recording because my setup is in a utility room.

A few months back I rebuilt my machine from Vista to Windows 7. I never experience this problem in Vista. I actually had much worse problems with increasingly more frequent HD PVR locks as the days went by.

I really hope this is Sage issue too. I definitely feel like it will get fixed faster if it is a bug in SageTV.

I hope you have submitted a bug report with Sage for this, so they can investigate!