HDHomerun Prime recordings stuttering

[rickw]

I recently purchased a HDHomeRun Prime to receive Clear QAM channels. But most of the recordings having terrible stuttering. For some shows it makes it totally unwatchable (thus the WAF is decreasing).

The stuttering is in the recordings because I see them when watching the video from Sage or VLC. Tried watching the recordings on the server, copied to a different machine and via an extender. Stuttering is in the same place no matter how I view the recording.

Does anyone have ideas what could be wrong?

Here's the list of things I've tried:

• Increased RAM on server to 3G
• Ensured HDHomeRun was running lastest firmware
• Defrag Hard Drive
• Ensured HDHomeRun Prime and Sage are on same gigabit switch
• Ensured Signal Strength was 100%

Server Specs:

• Pentium 4 3Ghz
• 3G RAM
• C: 80G Boot & Sage
• D: 950G Recordings
• F: 300G Misc. & Backups

Thanks,
Rick...

[Telecore]

I would try these two things first:
1. Check your network adapter settings: make sure interrupt moderation is disabled, max out TX/RX buffers and check other settings (offload items should be enabled).
2. Increase SageDCT RTP/Write buffers.

[rickw]

Originally Posted by Telecore

I would try these two things first:
1. Check your network adapter settings: make sure interrupt moderation is disabled, max out TX/RX buffers and check other settings (offload items should be enabled).
2. Increase SageDCT RTP/Write buffers.

I'll check the network adapter settings.

Not running SageDCT since I'm just using it for QAM. (i.e. no cable card in the mix yet)

[rickw]

My server is running WinXP and none of those settings are available in the Network Adapter dialog.

Is there a way to view/change them from the command line or the registry?

Thanks,
Rick...

[MattHelm]

What are your CPU usages like when recording??? Are you using 64K blocks on your recording drive?

[rickw]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

What are your CPU usages like when recording??? Are you using 64K blocks on your recording drive?

CPU mostly stays around 10%-20%, but will spike at times to 100%. Haven't correlated the spikes to recording stutters.

Not using 64K blocks anymore. When I added this drive it was no longer recommended and the disk usage of the .edl, .txt, and .log files had been adding up.

BTW I still have a couple analog tuners and they never have problems. Of course even long recordings with those are not the size of a digital recording from the HDHR.

Rick...

[MattHelm]

Not sure, but if you aren't doing anything else, you shouldn't see over 10% CPU usage during recordings. You are using drive letters, not UNC paths, correct?

Oh, what network card are you using?

(My dad's machine records 10 channels all at once, and never see 10% CPU.)

BTW, ALL my "data" drives use 64K blocks. Only the OS uses the default.

[rickw]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Not sure, but if you aren't doing anything else, you shouldn't see over 10% CPU usage during recordings. You are using drive letters, not UNC paths, correct?

Oh, what network card are you using?

(My dad's machine records 10 channels all at once, and never see 10% CPU.)

BTW, ALL my "data" drives use 64K blocks. Only the OS uses the default.

Network card is a "Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx". Built-in card with the Dell 8400.

Haven't been able to figure out why the CPU spikes. But it is very clear that it's SageTVService process that hits the CPU. Guess I'll try disabling plugins and going back to the stock STV.

Re-formatting my drive to 64K blocks would be a real pain since I don't another location big enough to hold our current recordings. So I'll leave that till last.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by rickw

Network card is a "Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx". Built-in card with the Dell 8400.

Haven't been able to figure out why the CPU spikes. But it is very clear that it's SageTVService process that hits the CPU. Guess I'll try disabling plugins and going back to the stock STV.

Re-formatting my drive to 64K blocks would be a real pain since I don't another location big enough to hold our current recordings. So I'll leave that till last.

And UNC paths?!?!?!

Can I suggest grabbing a cheap Intel network card. I know it's $$, but they seem to be the best. Here is the one I get:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CY0P7G/...I1ARDDWN0XDJ8Q

On the rest, I was just saying what I do, not what you should do. That would be the last thing I'd change.

[rickw]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

And UNC paths?!?!?!

Can I suggest grabbing a cheap Intel network card. I know it's $$, but they seem to be the best. Here is the one I get:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CY0P7G/...I1ARDDWN0XDJ8Q

On the rest, I was just saying what I do, not what you should do. That would be the last thing I'd change.

All local drives, no UNC.

Swapping the NIC is an easy change. I'll pick one up today and give it shot.

I appreciated all the suggestions, cause my SageTV setup has been really stable with regard to recordings for years. So it's disappointing having problems now.

Rick...

[Telecore]

I was running two HDHR Primes and two HDHR's for a couple of years and installed an Intel NIC - it worked very well 99% of the time - no stuttering, but occasional green blocks when recording multiple shows - my adapter settings are below:

Intel Adapter Settings (Advanced Tab)
1. Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing = Disabled
2. Enable PME = Enabled
3. Flow Control = Rx & Tx Enabled
4. Gigabit Master Slave Mode = Auto Detect
5. Interrupt Moderation = Disabled
6. Interrupt Moderation Rate = Off
7. IPv4 Checksum Offload = Rx & Tx Enabled
8. Jumbo Packet = Disabled
9. Large Send Offload V2 (IPv4) = Enabled
10. Large Send Offload V2 (IPv6) = Enabled
11. Locally Administered Address = Not Present
12. Log Link State Event = Disabled
13. Priority & VLAN = Enabled
14. Receive Buffers = 2048
15. Receive Side Scaling = Enabled
16. Receive Side Scaling Queues = 2 Queues
17. Reduce Speed On Power Down = Enabled
18. Speed & Duplex = Auto Negotiation
19. TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4) = Rx & Tx Enabled
20. TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6) = Rx & Tx Enabled
21. Transmit Buffers = 2048
22. UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4) = Rx & Tx Enabled
23. UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6) = Rx & Tx Enabled
24. Wait for Link = Auto Detect
25. Wait on Link Settings = Disabled
26. Wake on Magic Packet = Enabled
27. Wake on Pattern Match = Disabled
Power Management Tab
1. Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power = check
2. Allow this device to wake the computer = check
3. Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer = check
Power Options -> Advanced Settings
1. Link State Power Management Setting: Off

Note: other adapters (Realtek, etc) have similar settings.

[rickw]

Just an update. I replaced my NIC, but that didn't help. Next I decided to go back to as stock as possible on the software because I was still seeing a periodic CPU spike.

I went back to the stock STV (from Phoenix 2)
I removed all plugins

My recordings are now stutter free.

The mystery now is what was causing the 100% CPU spike.

Thanks for all the suggestions