Cannot watch while recording

[gu5tav083]

I recently purchased a Hauppauge win-tv PVR-250MCE and installed and setup SageTV. I was having stability problems so I did a clean install of Windows XP Pro. That seemed to fix most of the problems. However, I have found that I can't watch the program be recorded or a previously recorded show while recording. If I do, the current recording is not completely recorded. It is split into multiple files with large unrecorded gaps in between. It will record about 150 MB and then usually make aroung an 800 KB file. While watching and recording simultaneously, the CPU usage is between 40-50%, with occasional higher spikes. I am using the Intervideo Non-css for Hauppauge mpeg2 decoder.

Has anyone had this issue? I never really watch a show that is currently being recorded, but I would be able to watch a previously recorded show while recording. Note: I have no problem with recordings which happen when I am not watching any other recording.

I may be an issue of lack of computer power. My computer is as follows:

750Mhz Athlon T-Bird
256 MB pc133 sdram
ATI Radeon 9000 NP --> monitor+SDTV
120GB maxtor 7200 rpm, 8MB cache HD
Windows XP Pro (no service packs)
Hauppauge PVR-250MCE
Latest version of SageTV (MlbDude2)

Thanks for your help in advance.

[stanger89]

VIA chipset? Do you have the latest drivers installed for it? I ask because it sounds like you're having HDD throughput problems.

[gu5tav083]

It is a via chipset; the latest drivers are not installed. I will try that and post the results.

[gu5tav083]

I installed the latest 4in1 and it looks good so far. I'll do some more rigorous tests when I get the time.

Thanks for the tip.

There are two other problems that I cannot figure out:
1. The video seems to be overscanned too much but reloading the media player fixes this. It is just annoying to have to reload the media player so often.
2. The video will sometimes become "garbled". I don't have a picture of this happening but it goes completely gray scale and jumbled (it is hard to describe) This requires a stop and reopen of the file.

[ToxMox]

I'm guessing it is a CPU issue. It is probably maxing out your CPU when you watch a show and that is causing the recordings to break up. You may want to try the easy performance increase in this post:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...=&threadid=284
It probably doesn't help having that slow cpu combined with 256mb of ram.
How are you viewing the video btw? Through the tv-out of your vid card? If so make sure you disable the monitor's output as that will hit your cpu even harder during playback.