What am i missing??

[mooky55]

I am at my witts end with Sage, its about to get thrown out the window. I am new to sage, only been using (trying to use) it for about a month or two. I am have dell poweredge server(T110, I3 Proc, 4 gb ram, seperate system and recording drive (formatted at 64K) running windows 7 64 bit with a hauppage 2250 capture card.) I am running sage V7 and a HD300 media extender on a D-link GB backbone. I have always had quality problems, especially in fast action scenes, it has a tendancy to studder and twitch. Latley i've been having a problem where everytime i do a schedule recording its choppy, hangs and jumps around throughout the recording. My server is not using the resources i have provided it, so i dont think thats the problem, but i must be missing something. Does anyone have any ideas??

[Fuzzy]

It'll probably end up being one of two things. either the network isn't getting the throughput properly from teh server to he HD300, or the hard drive isn't keeping up with the playback. hard drive issues could be either a virus scanner bogging it down, or it could actually be a failing drive (so that it has to constantly re-read the sectors until the CRC's match).

[paulbeers]

Are you sure you are getting a good signal on the HVR2250 as well? Does the recordings studder in the same place everytime?

[ThePaladinTech]

simple question - probably not it but you didn't say and no one asked yet-

What is recording quality set at?

[Bagal]

Have you tried playing back the recording locally on the server using something other than Sage, such as VLC?
If there's no quality issues locally, then it would probably indicate an issue with the network.

If you still have quality issues, then I would suggest copying another video file to the recording drive (i.e not a recording made with the 2250) and try playing that back locally, if you still have problems, then it's most likely the drive or something interfering with it, if not it could be the 2250.

I would also suggest copying a recording to the system drive and playing back from there, if you still get issues then it could be something like a virus scanner as Fuzzy said.

Finally I would try copying the recording to another PC and checking the playback on that.

[rrhorer]

As others have indicated, it is probably one non-obvious issue that is causing your problem. For example, it could even be an audio issue -- check your A/V play-back selections, and try the Windows 7 built-in codecs if you haven't already done so. Another issue could be your Java heap. The default amount is not enough if you are using any of the various fan art capabilities, especially with the HD300. Most of all, hang in there -- you'll find the solution and be very happy with the result once you do. Many have the HVR 2250 working well with less of a system than yours.

[mooky55]

thank you all for your replies, i will have a chance to do some testing this weekend so i will post the results. My recording quality is set to great. It could be virus scan causing an issue, as i installed that after everything was working (before i noticed an issue with playback). Sage is looks great in theory, so hopefully i can get these issues resolved.

[gplasky]

If you keep anti-virus exclude the directory where recordings are stored. Also any other media directories.

Gerry

[Savage1701]

I'm with many of the above posters. Here's what I would do:

1. Playback on the server itself and see if chop/jumps happen locally on your Server where the recordings are stored, and at the EXACT same spot. If so, obviously, you have a signal quality or disk access issue or both.

2. Playback something locally on your extender that you know plays smoothly on your Server.

3. I'll take flack for this, but there is a huge difference if your ethernet port on your Sage Server PC is using PCI bus bandwidth or has a dedicated x1 Express lane. If it's a Dell Server, I am guessing it has x1 lanes for the GbE, which is a beautiful thing.

4. I've had to alter the NIC (T/R Window Size, Offload, etc) to be less "nit-picky", which is a terrible term, with Sage. But I DON'T EVER use Jumbo Frames. Unless your network is in perfect harmony, and your switch and router and NIC agree on the size of the Frame, I think it is a one-way ticket to the rubber Ramada.

The nice thing with the Extenders is their is relatively little to worry about with decoder issues.

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by mooky55

thank you all for your replies, i will have a chance to do some testing this weekend so i will post the results. My recording quality is set to great. It could be virus scan causing an issue, as i installed that after everything was working (before i noticed an issue with playback). Sage is looks great in theory, so hopefully i can get these issues resolved.

Oh, I just caught that - wow, that could totally do it, as could defragging programs. I can make my Sage Server screw up on command by defragging or verifying it's drive arrays on anything but the tiniest of resource allotments/RAID controller settings to those sorts of things. As could auto-indexing.

[mooky55]

Thanks for all the help, virus scan was the issue. Disabled it and all my records are looking good so far. I love the community around sage, that was one reason i choose to go this direction. thanks again!!