HDPVR Halts in unRAID

[willieb]

Originally Posted by wayner

It could be a very similar issue though - the audio takes several seconds to kick in and the HD-PVR takes a few seconds to lock onto it. When it doesn't lock onto it in time it throws an error. For me, and for some others, this only happens on the initial sync up when it starts recording. In your instance it happens when the audio format changes when there is a commercial.

Absolutely agreed. It is likely the same issue. But you don't have any problems during commercials? It seems very odd that if we are on the same hardware and same firmware and same drivers (are we?) that you only have problems on initial tuning and I only have problems in the middle.

[wayner]

I don't think the audio format changes on my STB when it goes to commercial - isn't that the nature of your issues? Perhaps that is just an issue with your cable provider, and/or the FX cable channel?

[willieb]

Originally Posted by wayner

I don't think the audio format changes on my STB when it goes to commercial - isn't that the nature of your issues? Perhaps that is just an issue with your cable provider, and/or the FX cable channel?

I guess that is possible, but I think commercials that have 5.1 sound are rare/non-existent, so I would think it would happen on almost all channels that broadcast in 5.1, regardless of provider.

Do you have an AV receiver? If so you can watch a show and watch the front display of the receiver (at least on my Yamaha and my Denon you can) when the show goes to commercial, the audio switches from 5.1 to stereo and then back to 5.1 when the show starts again.

But I am just guessing from what I see happening in my own situation. If your doesn't switch, or better yet, if it does switch and you don't have issues, then that gives me hope. I might switch my delay to wait after tuning just to see if it somehow helps.

[wayner]

I do have AVRs connected to a few of my systems so I will check this out when I get a chance. I have a couple of Yamahas and a couple of Pioneers - and I know what you mean about the audio switching that you can see on the display of your AVR. But I think it is possible that the broadcaster "normalizes" everything to the same format in some instances.

[Tiki]

It also can depend on how you connect the audio from the STB to HDPVR.
If you use RCA cables for audio, you won't see the problems from audio changes during commercials because everything will be stereo only anyway. I think you will only encounter this problem if you are using SPIDF / optical for audio (or possibly HDMI, in the case of Colossus or HDPVR 2).

[willieb]

Originally Posted by Tiki

It also can depend on how you connect the audio from the STB to HDPVR.
If you use RCA cables for audio, you won't see the problems from audio changes during commercials because everything will be stereo only anyway. I think you will only encounter this problem if you are using SPIDF / optical for audio (or possibly HDMI, in the case of Colossus or HDPVR 2).

Right. I had assumed we were both talking about using spdif to get 5.1 but it is good to clarify the point. I eliminated the halts by switching to RCA stereo, but that's not Such a great fix since I lose 5.1.

[BobPhoenix]

I eliminated the halts by replacing a power supply on one of my HDPVRs and using a Windows VM so that I can use the Windows 1.5.7 drivers which have always worked for me. Not ideal - PIA actually - but gets me my 5.1 audio.

Next step is to switch to PC powered HDPVRs so I can stop buying power bricks.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I eliminated the halts by replacing a power supply on one of my HDPVRs and using a Windows VM so that I can use the Windows 1.5.7 drivers which have always worked for me. Not ideal - PIA actually - but gets me my 5.1 audio.

Next step is to switch to PC powered HDPVRs so I can stop buying power bricks.

It would be nice if someone like @Narflex took a look at this to see if this is something that could be addresses in the SageTV core or is this fundamentally a flaw in the HDPVR. I believe he has an HDPVR and runs linux, but I'm guessing he must use RCA audio (as I do).

[willieb]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Next step is to switch to PC powered HDPVRs so I can stop buying power bricks.

I switched 2 HDPVRs over to power over my PC power supply last weekend. They are way more stable and one of them definitely has a better picture (it had been experiencing some sort of analog interference or ground loop issue or something that caused some waviness in the picture). Both are rock solid now. The whole mod took me 20 minutes. The main thing is to use a multimeter or something to make sure you get positive and negative sorted.

Overall much better, Except for this audio issue. And I have been going for almost a week now only using my stereo-wired HDPVR for channels with commercials and my SPDIF wired HDPVR for HBO, etc. I have had no halts so I am sure that this is the issue.