0 byte files and 80% CPU

[bgorrell]

I'm having a problem several times a week where my computer will get "stuck" when Sage starts a recording. The CPU jumps to 80% and will not come back down untill I reboot. I can use the computer and close SageTV and SageTVService normally, so Sage isn't really locked up. But even if I kill every running program and service from Task Manager it will still stick at 70-80%. I think Sage may be creating a loop in a network service or something.

The other symptom is that the MPG files are 0 bytes and it keeps adding additional 0 byte files (34 of them the last time this happened). Then, when it thinks it is done, it deletes all of the files and there is no recording.

I also find that most (but not all) of the time it did not successfull change channels when this happens (may be a side effect of CPU slowdown).

I've tried 2.1, 2.2.2, and 2.2.3. I also tried with and without SageTVService running. I also tried deleting and re-installing Java VM.

I'm going to try attaching my sagetv_0.txt log and a directory listing. The problem started at 18:00 hours with the attempted recording of "Caesars 24/7".

As I said, this occurs several times a week, but the rest of the time it is fine. After a reboot, the problem goes away for a while. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[nielm]

You should log this problem to support...

I notice this line being logged before it generates a new file:
Sun 1/16 18:05:16.521 SEEKER HAS DETECTED A HALT IN THE ENCODER...TRYING TO RESET IT
This suggests that there may be a problem with your capture card or drivers...

I also notice you are using a custom capture quality (MyDVD2): does this problem still exist when using one of the built-in capture qualities (DVD long play for example).

You could also try re-installing the drivers for your capture card.

[bgorrell]

Thanks for your input, Nielm. I noticed that line too. However, I haven't seen that line in other logs when I've had the same problem in the past. I will look for it next time this happens. I've tried re-installing the PVR-250 drivers using different versions. I've tried the one off of Frey's link and the latest off of SHS's forum. As for the capture quality, I simply am using the line that is on Frey's tips page for custom qualities (4Mb with VBR). I've been using this since version 2.0, so I'd be suprised if that caused it.

If I could guess a common thread to the problem, it is when one recording is ending and another starts and when a EPG update is attempted at the same time as the new recording. That kind of looks like what is happening here, and that has been the case at least once in the past when I looked at the logs.

P.S. I did submit this as to Frey as a support request as well. I honestly believe my problem started with 2.1. I don't want to go back to 2.0 because I really value my wiz.bin info (and Cayars STV). If there were a simple way to export wiz.bin and re-import, I would go back to 2.0 in a heartbeat. I'd really like to see MPG tagging implimented similar to MP3 style tagging.