A Clue

[Myth2Sage]

What kind of clue am I getting when both recorded video and liveTV are glitchy and stutterery (stutterery???) on a 1.5 GHZ P4 SageClient Machine with a 440MX NVIDIA 128MEG on a 100BaseT Hub??

Also can someone clarify to me the difference between the Video Renderer and Video Decorder vis a vis their function within Sage.

Thanx


M2S

[nielm]

Video decoder takes compressed video and uncompresses it producing a raw uncompressed digital video stream..
Video renderer takes a raw uncompressed digital video stream and displays it somewhere on the screen..
There are many different video decoders, many from third parties for different video compression formats (divX, Mpeg2, Xvid, WMV etc)
There are 3 different video renders which are part of the OS and which have different features/benefits/disadvantages.

Stuttering... could be many things ranging from fragmented disk, to poor video drivers not supporting VMR9... There are many posts in this forum which suggest things to look into.

Note: There is no difference in Sage between viewing liveTV and viewing a recording -- Sage records liveTV before displaying it.

[pcuoco]

The video decoder is the software that decodes the MPEG2 file into video frames.

The renderer is how your video card displays those frames onto your monitor or TV. The options here being VMR9 (based on DirectX9) and Overlay. You need a DirectX compatible video card to use VMR9.

That aside I'd say that you're stuttering is due to a video decoder problem. What decoder are you using?

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by pcuoco
The video decoder is the software that decodes the MPEG2 file into video frames.

The renderer is how your video card displays those frames onto your monitor or TV. The options here being VMR9 (based on DirectX9) and Overlay. You need a DirectX compatible video card to use VMR9.

That aside I'd say that you're stuttering is due to a video decoder problem. What decoder are you using?

I have tried the default one, the CyberVideo one and the Hauppauge one.. All produce the same result.

As far as fragmentation on the HD, would that not produce the same effect on the Server's machine as well??

The server has flawless video and audio.


M2S

[Opus4]

Another thing: Do you have ZoneAlarm on the server? I had to give that up since mid-way throught the v2 beta, ZA started really disliking something that was changed in the network code & ate 100% of the server's cpu as it tried to send the video to the client.

- Andy

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by Opus4
Another thing: Do you have ZoneAlarm on the server? I had to give that up since mid-way throught the v2 beta, ZA started really disliking something that was changed in the network code & ate 100% of the server's cpu as it tried to send the video to the client.

- Andy

Nope.. It's on my home LAN protected by my main server/firewall. Nothing is installed on it except Windows 2K SageClient, Hauppauge Driver, PowerDVD and the ATI Remote software.


M2S

[nielm]

You didn't say in your original post that you were using a client

Opus was asking whether you had a firewall on the server, you replied with your client specs, mentioning that your server had a firewall.. If this server is your sage server, and this firewall is a software firewall, check whether disabling it helps...

Also check whether you have a virus scanner on the server set to checking all files.

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by nielm
You didn't say in your original post that you were using a client

Opus was asking whether you had a firewall on the server, you replied with your client specs, mentioning that your server had a firewall.. If this server is your sage server, and this firewall is a software firewall, check whether disabling it helps...

Also check whether you have a virus scanner on the server set to checking all files.

DOH!! I am sooo confused!!

No, the Sage Server is not my main server.

The Sage Machine is running XP Pro. Neither machine (Sage Server or Sage Client) have anything on them but what is necessary to run Sage. They are both dedicated HTPCs within my Home LAN.


M2S

[Opus4]

A couple other things I am purely guessing about... Some people have said it helped to force their network cards to full duplex; others have said auto worked better.

- Andy

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by Opus4
A couple other things I am purely guessing about... Some people have said it helped to force their network cards to full duplex; others have said auto worked better.

- Andy

So it might be a bandwidth error? I wonder if I can copy a video file to the client machine and see if it will play it properly.

That would surely indicate whether it was a bandwidth or local issue..

M2S

[Myth2Sage]

I just had a thought.

If I piped my Client's video out thru the TV-OUT of an installed PVR350, could that solve my jittery video problem?


M2S

[Opus4]

Don't know... it would depend on what is causing the jittery video in the first place.

- Andy

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by Opus4
Don't know... it would depend on what is causing the jittery video in the first place.

- Andy

I forgot to mention earlier. And I believe it may be the source of my problem.

The video card I am using is an old TNT2 Ultra with 32 MEGS of RAM. It's the only video card I have left that has a SVIDEO Out connector.

Could this be the cause of my jittery video?

For the record, I tried hooking up the TV OUT and set the menu to ENABLE both TV OUT features thru the Sage Client. My TV reported NO SIGNAL.


M2S

[mls]

Originally posted by Myth2Sage
I forgot to mention earlier. And I believe it may be the source of my problem.

The video card I am using is an old TNT2 Ultra with 32 MEGS of RAM. It's the only video card I have left that has a SVIDEO Out connector.

Could this be the cause of my jittery video?

For the record, I tried hooking up the TV OUT and set the menu to ENABLE both TV OUT features thru the Sage Client. My TV reported NO SIGNAL.


M2S

For TV out from the video card, that may need to be set up within the video driver settings. Sometimes requires a reboot for that to take effect.

The settings within in Sage are to switch the output to go out the PVR-350.

You have one or the other set the wrong way for whichever S-video out connector you are trying to use.

As for your video card being a cause of the jerky playback, that is very possible since the drivers for that old of a card may not fully support the requirements (DirectX 9, etc.).

The output (quality) of SageTV would be better (and use less CPU) thru the PVR-350 if you get it set up correctly.

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by mls
For TV out from the video card, that may need to be set up within the video driver settings. Sometimes requires a reboot for that to take effect.

The settings within in Sage are to switch the output to go out the PVR-350.

You have one or the other set the wrong way for whichever S-video out connector you are trying to use.

As for your video card being a cause of the jerky playback, that is very possible since the drivers for that old of a card may not fully support the requirements (DirectX 9, etc.).

The output (quality) of SageTV would be better (and use less CPU) thru the PVR-350 if you get it set up correctly.

I had thought that the reason I wasn't getting TV OUT on my Client machine is because I hadn't set up the PVR 350 thru Sage.

So I went to the SETUP screen and did the setup?

DOH!!!! I had actually did the setup for the PVR250 that is on the Server! Screwed everything up.


M2S

[Myth2Sage]

Playing with my client again this morning. Had a thought. It died of lonliness. Had another one, was able to keep it alive.

What if I disabled the Audio and check Video and versie vicie? Wouldn't that tell me where the problem lies?

Next question. Is it possible to disable one and keep the other going?


M2S

[mikejaner]

Your 32Meg TnT2 is probably causing the stuttering. We are talking about a video card which came out in 1998.

[mls]

If you are using the 350 for output, then you should turn of 'software decoding', which would be trying to also feed your old, outdated video card.

That could very well cause all kinds of problems.

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by mikejaner
Your 32Meg TnT2 is probably causing the stuttering. We are talking about a video card which came out in 1998.

I thought so too.

So I put in an Nvidia Ti4200 128 Meg card.

Still have stuttering.


M2S

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by mikejaner
Your 32Meg TnT2 is probably causing the stuttering. We are talking about a video card which came out in 1998.

I am operating under the assumption that any 350 TV OUT problems I have are because of the TVOUT/P4 Chipset issue.

That being the case, I have reverterd back to trying to get things to work thru the regular S VIDEO connection.


M2S