Please help with frequent audio loss on HD-PVR recordings...

[t4uecker]

hello -

i am running sage v7 on a windows 7 machine using just one comcast rng1000 cable box that's connected to just one hd-pvr. the video between the cable box and the hd-pvr is connected by component cables (of course) and the audio is connected using an optical cable.

the problem i'm having is that about 40% of the time (according to my wife), a recording will have no audio. there will often be a loud "pop" at the very beginning, but no audio thereafter.

this happens for the same show on the same channel, so i don't think it has to do with the audio format. for example, some episodes of "the daily show" on comedy central will have the audio just fine and others will lack it.

also, i started having this problem only after i switched to sage v7. when i was running sage v6, the audio was fine, though i had other problems with the system just locking up at times (which is part of why i switched to v7).

i want to make sure there isn't some software/codec/setting that i'm missing that would solve this problem. for example, i don't have tme installed...don't know if that matters. and i don't know if there's some codec that would make a difference. the confusing part is why some recordings have audio but some don't.

from reading other posts, it sounds like i may be able to resolve this by switching to analog audio (correct?), but even if so, i'd prefer to avoid that if possible.

thanks in advance!
tu

[vividweb]

What drivers are you using on the HD-PVR?

With my system the only sure way to get clean audio was with analog. Optical would work for a while, but would eventually degrade, a reboot would fix it for a little while.

[t4uecker]

Originally Posted by vividweb

What drivers are you using on the HD-PVR?

1.5.7.0, which i think seems to be the version many people are running now.

With my system the only sure way to get clean audio was with analog. Optical would work for a while, but would eventually degrade, a reboot would fix it for a little while.

i'm perplexed why changing from sage v6 to v7 should make a difference. why would the optical audio be working fine in v6 but not v7?

[Skirge01]

Check if you have an hdpvr_magic=true setting in your sage.properties file. If so, change it to false.

[will]

I use two HD-PVRs hooked up with optical audio and I have never had any audio issues.

Have you switched out your cable box recently?

[macsupergeek]

Maybe you can first verify if its the HD-PVR dropping the audio and not the STB.

[t4uecker]

darn...i've tried both of the suggestions here and still no luck.

i first checked the "hdpvr_magic" variable. it had been set to "true," so i changed it to "false." even after that change, i still had about 40% of the recordings missing audio.

i then changed out the stb with another one and set the "hdpvr_magic" back to true. (what does that setting do, anyway?) i changed it back so that i could test one variable at a time. still no luck -- i.e., recordings still often lacked audio (but sometimes had it).

i then changed the hdpvr_magic setting to "false". so now, i have a new stb and the hdpvr_magic set to false. still the same problem.

any other suggestions? (he asks, hopefully...)

[Beefcake550]

I think macsueprgeek is right. I'd suggest validating that the STB is outputting audio properly. Using the same cables, bypass the HDPVR and see what happens. If it's OK, then we at least know it's the HD-PVR.

-Brian

[t4uecker]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

I think macsueprgeek is right. I'd suggest validating that the STB is outputting audio properly. Using the same cables, bypass the HDPVR and see what happens. If it's OK, then we at least know it's the HD-PVR.
-Brian

the problem is that

1. i have the stb connected to the hd-pvr and then the hd-pvr connected to a computer i'm using as a server, all of which is located in a cabinet area in the basement, nowhere near any tv we watch. and
2. it only misses the audio about 40% of the time, so it's possible that it might be fine at the moment i'm observing.

if i wanted to bypass the hd-pvr with my current setup, is that even possible? i can't just connect the stb to my computer server, afaik. i suppose i could take it over to a tv and connect it directly, but that would be a pain.

all of which is why i swapped out one stb for another. i figured that the odds of BOTH stbs not working properly was practically zero, so that's what led me to believe the problem was with how the hd-pvr is configured.

by the way, i think i saw somewhere that increasing the time delay between (1) when sagetv tunes the channel on the stb and (2) when the hd-pvr starts recording, could help with the audio issue. but now i can't remember where i saw that or what setting is involved.

is it possible that some timing (or other) change in sagetv could help?

thanks again,
tu