Need Help - SageDCT(?)

[NetworkGuy]

I have just encountered a new problem. I think it is with SageDCT and I am looking for some help.

Here is my setup.
- Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz CPU
- 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Memory
- 3-1TB (1TBx1) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD
- Windows 7
- SageTV 7
- SageDCT 2.6
- HDHomeRun Prime (2) Version: 20130328

Last night I was recording 6 TV shows simultaneously and watching a playback on my HD-200. At some point, the playback started to pause and stutter. It finally shut off. When I looked at the system, SageDCT was using about 90% of the CPU and the memory usage was over 5GB. (Maxes out memory.) The recordings are going to the 3 local drives.

I had also received Sage System Message that part of the recording was lost due to conflicts with other tuners. (Pieces of every recording were missing.) I have recorded 5 shows simultaneously before without a problem.

I have not done any updates on the system, so I at a loss to what is happening. Any suggestions on what to look at?

Thanks,
John

[MattHelm]

Are you using drive letters in you record paths, or UNC paths?

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Are you using drive letters in you record paths, or UNC paths?

Drive letters. Have not made a change to the SageTV or SageDCT setup in months.

[NetworkGuy]

Here is an update. I was able to record three shows at a time. Barely.

I installed SageTV, SageDCT, and HDHomeRun on another computer and tried to record three shows. They all recorded and SageDCT did not use a lot of memory or CPU.

I am wondering if it is the hardware of the original system.

Suggestions on what to test?

Thanks,
John

[firenice]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

Here is an update. I was able to record three shows at a time. Barely.

I installed SageTV, SageDCT, and HDHomeRun on another computer and tried to record three shows. They all recorded and SageDCT did not use a lot of memory or CPU.

I am wondering if it is the hardware of the original system.

Suggestions on what to test?

Thanks,
John

I have a similar setup and have experienced similar issues. I start testing with memtest then move on to individual drive tests. You could also be experienceing, as I did, some LAN latency because of a screwy switch. Thats a lot of bandwidth with 6 shows recording.

Good Luck
Mike

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by firenice

I have a similar setup and have experienced similar issues. I start testing with memtest then move on to individual drive tests. You could also be experienceing, as I did, some LAN latency because of a screwy switch. Thats a lot of bandwidth with 6 shows recording.

Good Luck
Mike

Probably not bandwidth. The drives are local and the HDHomeRuns and the PC all plug into the same 1GB switch with 1 foot lan cables.

I will run a memory test.

Thanks,
John

[Fuzzy]

harddrive issues could be cropping up. As a drive starts to have issues, it will effectively slow down, as it has to rewrite/reread sectors until the CRC passes. So, things might still 'work', but be considerably (and inconsistently) slow.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

harddrive issues could be cropping up. As a drive starts to have issues, it will effectively slow down, as it has to rewrite/reread sectors until the CRC passes. So, things might still 'work', but be considerably (and inconsistently) slow.

I was just thinking that I can not remember how old the drives are.

So I downloaded HD Tune and ran a test on the three drives. It turns out that one of the drives is slower then the other two.

Recording Drive 1 Avg Transfer: 101.7 MB
Recording Drive 2 Avg Transfer: 50.2 MB
Recording Drive 3 Avg Transfer: 105.6 MB

Since I have recording set to Bandwidth, it was probably fine when it was recording just one show to a drive. But when I started with 4+ recordings, the slow drive could not keep up and caused the problem.

I have ordered three new 1TB drives and will replace them this weekend.

I think the HD200 was part of the problem. I have tried using it to play videos on another CPU and all I get is a blank screen. I am guessing that something finally went in the unit. I will also test it later this weekend.

Thanks,
John

[RonBoyd]

I have the exact same behavior as described in the OP, except that I have a Vista OS and HD-300. Furthermore, I have never tried 6 recordings at the same time but I have done 5... with varying results. This "out of memory" problem has been going on for about a year. Originally, I found the only solution was to reboot but then you lose all current activity (recordings). A couple weeks ago someone mentioned that you can clear the memory with the "Delete" key. This does relieve the pressure but I still need to reboot as soon as possible or it runs out of memory quite rapidly.

I did notice that when this issue started, it would recur after about a week. Prior to that, the computer could go for months (6 or more) of continuous operation (24/7) without a reboot.

This is very irritating and I would definitely like to hear about other possible solutions.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

A couple weeks ago someone mentioned that you can clear the memory with the "Delete" key.

How do you clear memory with the delete key?

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

How do you clear memory with the delete key?

At the "Main" menu (at the Server) simply hit the "Delete" key. The Window will "white" out and then refresh. Again, it doesn't seem to release great amounts of memory but it does get things back... sometimes.

[Alan1250]

I ran a test a few days ago, once I finally got 4 or my 6 tuners up and running (Windows XP). I was SHOCKED to see that I was using 100% of CPU!

But it turned out to be a false alarm! All the CPU was being used by the automatic conversion for a program that had just completed. With the video conversion stopped, I was barely using 3-5% of CPU. You might check to see which task is taking all those cycles and using that memory. Good luck!

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by Alan1250

You might check to see which task is taking all those cycles and using that memory. Good luck!

I have noticed that eliminating the commercials takes up a lot of memory when working on several shows at once.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

I have noticed that eliminating the commercials takes up a lot of memory when working on several shows at once.

I have Comskip set to process outside the hours that I am recording and it only processes one show at a time.

Thanks,
John

[nyplayer]

I have 7 tuners and run Comskip live on all the tuners if they are recording and have never had a problem. The only time I had a problem was when one of my drives had errors ... I ran chkdsk /f during downtime and it fixed the problems and have not had a problem since.


I have had 7 recordings and 7 comskip running at the same time and 2 clients watching a show and have no problem with CPU Usage or memory usage. One thing I have is 3 recordings drives and I use bandwidth setting in SageTV. PS I am using the onboard PCIe NIC on my I3.


I run hdsentinel on my server which warns you if any drive errors.

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

One thing I have is 3 recordings drives and I use bandwidth setting in SageTV. PS I am using the onboard PCIe NIC on my I3.

I record to six different drives and twelve folders. What I don't know how to do is manually decide which drive the actual recordings are saved to. Therefore, it is entirely possible (probable) that quite often SageTV is accessing the same drive and/or folder. I haven't monitored for that... and am not sure I know how to anyway.

I will investigate hdsentinel. That seems like a wise choice.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

I record to six different drives and twelve folders. What I don't know how to do is manually decide which drive the actual recordings are saved to. Therefore, it is entirely possible (probable) that quite often SageTV is accessing the same drive and/or folder. I haven't monitored for that... and am not sure I know how to anyway.

I will investigate hdsentinel. That seems like a wise choice.

Sage takes care of that if you set it to use BandWidth it will use the next drive with most available space for the 2nd recording... it will not use the same drive. If it is only recording 1 show then it will use the one with most space.

PS how do you record to 6 drives and twelve folders???? If you have more than 1 recording path on 1 drive that will mess up the Sage space calculations.

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Sage takes care of that if you set it to use BandWidth it will use the next drive with most available space for the 2nd recording... it will not use the same drive. If it is only recording 1 show then it will use the one with most space.

PS how do you record to 6 drives and twelve folders???? If you have more than 1 recording path on 1 drive that will mess up the Sage space calculations.

That's what I thought so didn't really think about it.

I record a lot (travel a bunch) and found that I was filling up hard drives. My original solution was to simply move the files into separate folders (Austin City Limits, Castle, or American Idol, for instance) and tell Sage to look for those files there. Unfortunately, Sage took this to mean I wanted to add that folder to my "recordings" locations. I simply ignore the clutter since I still have the need to expand my storage space quite often.

BTW, it's not like I record and store forever... it just takes me a while to get around to watching the recordings.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

That's what I thought so didn't really think about it.

I record a lot (travel a bunch) and found that I was filling up hard drives. My original solution was to simply move the files into separate folders (Austin City Limits, Castle, or American Idol, for instance) and tell Sage to look for those files there. Unfortunately, Sage took this to mean I wanted to add that folder to my "recordings" locations. I simply ignore the clutter since I still have the need to expand my storage space quite often.

BTW, it's not like I record and store forever... it just takes me a while to get around to watching the recordings.

I see I would look into fixing this ... because Sage will not work as it is supposed to. You can remove any extra paths from the recordings Settings In Sage. Sage will still remember where the recordings are.... and leave only 1 on each Drive.

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

I see I would look into fixing this ... because Sage will not work as it is supposed to. You can remove any extra paths from the recordings Settings In Sage. Sage will still remember where the recordings are.... and leave only 1 on each Drive.

Great! I will look forward to working on that next week. <chuckle>

Thank you.