Calling all MP New Zealanders (Both of you!!) (7 Viewers)
- Thread starter TVKiwi
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- September 1, 2008
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Sorry folks, missed some posts for some reason.
rlevis: I'm using Catalyst 10.4. Go to the ATI Overdrive section and check the second gauge ("activity") on the right hand side...
gperkinson:
It is not that the result is terrible, however it isn't great. Are you using the latest drivers for your hardware? The most important things for live TV are your TV card, motherboard chipset/storage controller, and video card...
To be honest, I'm not sure that is the issue. I can't remember what we started discussing when you first told me about this issue but I notice now that your system includes mirrored WD HDDs. Are your timeshifting or recording folders on there?
Mirroring makes writes to disk slower on average if it is not supported with hardware (I'm guessing you're using the Intel "Matrix" or "RapidStorage" RAID for that). Slow writes lead to TsWriter failing to keep up with the TV stream. In addition, I'm guessing that those 1.5TB drives are "green" (noticed your green drive too rlevis
) drives - they have a reputation for being problematic. I absolutely wouldn't recommend them! Panning and generally high-motion scenes are when the bitrate of the video will be the highest, hence they are the most prone to issues like what you describe. All the more reason to try the stuttering patch...
rlevis: I'm using Catalyst 10.4. Go to the ATI Overdrive section and check the second gauge ("activity") on the right hand side...
gperkinson:
It is not that the result is terrible, however it isn't great. Are you using the latest drivers for your hardware? The most important things for live TV are your TV card, motherboard chipset/storage controller, and video card...
To be honest, I'm not sure that is the issue. I can't remember what we started discussing when you first told me about this issue but I notice now that your system includes mirrored WD HDDs. Are your timeshifting or recording folders on there?
Mirroring makes writes to disk slower on average if it is not supported with hardware (I'm guessing you're using the Intel "Matrix" or "RapidStorage" RAID for that). Slow writes lead to TsWriter failing to keep up with the TV stream. In addition, I'm guessing that those 1.5TB drives are "green" (noticed your green drive too rlevis
) drives - they have a reputation for being problematic. I absolutely wouldn't recommend them! Panning and generally high-motion scenes are when the bitrate of the video will be the highest, hence they are the most prone to issues like what you describe. All the more reason to try the stuttering patch...I'm not so sure there is any issue with the WD Caviar Green drives. They are a little slower than most drives but plenty fast enough this this purpose, and ultra quiet. I never had any stuttering issues with MP 1.0 and prior versions for about 12 months of use. Problems only started after upgrading to newer versions. But with the increased buffer size and less I/O operations with this patch, it appears to be working perfectly again!
I can only use Motion Adaptive as the best deinterlacing option on the integrated HD3200. That runs the GPU just under 60%. Vector Adaptive takes it to 95% but it's no good.
I'm not sure if the difference between the 2 methods are that great. Does anyone know?
I would also be interested to know what deinterlacing method is used by most modern TV's. I'm planning to get a Samsung 50" Plasma in a few months.
Right. I didn't have ATI Overdrive installed, so did that and found it.
I can only use Motion Adaptive as the best deinterlacing option on the integrated HD3200. That runs the GPU just under 60%. Vector Adaptive takes it to 95% but it's no good.
I'm not sure if the difference between the 2 methods are that great. Does anyone know?
I would also be interested to know what deinterlacing method is used by most modern TV's. I'm planning to get a Samsung 50" Plasma in a few months.
No, I use the 400GB partioned part of my 500GB drive - the other 100GB is for OS.
Yep, Intel Matrix and I have the WD Green disks.
Slow writes lead to TsWriter failing to keep up with the TV stream. In addition, I'm guessing that those 1.5TB drives are "green" (noticed your green drive too rlevis
Hmmmm..... I might have to start looking at this patch given rlevis's experiance and he also has the WD Green drives, however I also had this issue on earler versions of MP
So mm1352000 & rlevis, I'm on V 1.1.2 - would you mind spelling out from the link above exactly the steps and file / patch I need to install - are there any tricks to installing it that I should know about?
Thanks Graham
Download the 1.1.2 zip
Make a backup of the 2 folders in the "Program Files\Team MediaPortal" folder.
Terminate MP and stop the TV Service (Administrative Tools).
The zip has files in 2 folders which correspond to the 2 folders in the "Team MediaPortal" folder.
Copy these files to the matching folders.
Restart the TV Service or reboot the PC.
Cheers.
Make a backup of the 2 folders in the "Program Files\Team MediaPortal" folder.
Terminate MP and stop the TV Service (Administrative Tools).
The zip has files in 2 folders which correspond to the 2 folders in the "Team MediaPortal" folder.
Copy these files to the matching folders.
Restart the TV Service or reboot the PC.
Cheers.
Hi rlevis,
Thanks for the quick reply!! I have installed the new files as per instruction and have noticed immediately the faster channel changing and file retrieval along with reduced stutter - played the ITM Fishing Show which I watched tonight with stutter (had to select back to solve) prior to the file changes and afterwards they seemed to not be there anymore, so looks promising. Often a reboot helped with this previously, so lets wait and see - I will report back. The real "golden egg" for me wouild be to remove this panning / trailing images I have been experiancing for some time now.
Thanks again.
Graham
Hi mm1352000,
My "activity" is running at around 26% and temperature 60%. I have never stuffed around with ATI Overdrive. I'm on V 10.11. Do you think this would help with my panning issue? Have you ever used the "Auto Tune" option? Should I be messing with this as I know overclocking can kill the card. Any tips appreciated.
Graham
If you find a rewind or pause resolves stuttering, it could be a VSync issue. I installed ReClock some time ago which resolves this issue. Once installed, you can select it as the Audio Renderer in MP Config for your TV, DVD, and videos.
It is also useful for watching 23.97/24hz movies without stutter, such as blu-ray. It slightly speeds up the playback to run at 25hz, compatible with 50hz TV's.
It is also useful for watching 23.97/24hz movies without stutter, such as blu-ray. It slightly speeds up the playback to run at 25hz, compatible with 50hz TV's.
- September 1, 2008
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New Zealand
The fact that the patch resolves the issue *proves* that the drives are the issue. IO operations may have crept up over time so you can't really compare 1.0 to 1.1.x or 1.2.x. Further, the more use that a drive gets, the more fragmented it gets; the more fragmented it gets, the more performance degrades. Therefore, I stand by my statement that green drives are not ideal. They are borderline, and it just so happens that Miroslav's patch reduces the IO enough that they can cope.
Here is a bit of a discussion with some image comparisons. VA is clearly better, but not as obvious as the improvement from bob/weave to MA.
Always wondered that myself...
My guess is that like anything else it probably depends on the price. More expensive TVs can have more expensive processors which can do better deinterlacing, upscaling, etc.
- September 1, 2008
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New Zealand
Hi again Graham
Good to hear that Miroslav's stuttering patch seems to have helped. Please let him know you appreciate his work - will help the team to evaluate whether it should get into 1.2.0b or wait for 1.2.0 RC.
I really recommend that you don't touch the overclocking options. It is just not worth the risk for me. Having said that, I run an HD4670 so I'm not so pressed for graphics performance. If anything, I would *underclock* my card to reduce temperatures and noise. Once again though, I recommend you just leave it alone...
Your "trailing image" issue is so hard to diagnose without seeing a screenshot of what you're talking about. It could be:
- no deinterlacing turned on, or maybe a bad deinterlacing mode (but would have thought you would have picked this up)
- screen panel lag
- non-matching refresh rates and V-sync issues
- processing artifacts
So many things to check. Any chance of some sort of image that shows the problem?
Good to hear that Miroslav's stuttering patch seems to have helped. Please let him know you appreciate his work - will help the team to evaluate whether it should get into 1.2.0b or wait for 1.2.0 RC.
I really recommend that you don't touch the overclocking options. It is just not worth the risk for me. Having said that, I run an HD4670 so I'm not so pressed for graphics performance. If anything, I would *underclock* my card to reduce temperatures and noise. Once again though, I recommend you just leave it alone...
Your "trailing image" issue is so hard to diagnose without seeing a screenshot of what you're talking about. It could be:
- no deinterlacing turned on, or maybe a bad deinterlacing mode (but would have thought you would have picked this up)
- screen panel lag
- non-matching refresh rates and V-sync issues
- processing artifacts
So many things to check. Any chance of some sort of image that shows the problem?
Yep, absolutely intended to do this once I have watched a bit more TV for a couple of days to get a good idea of what has been solved - especially since I have rebooted which usually helps and then things deteriate.
So how do you screenshot and upload - have never had to do that before.
Regarding deinterlacing - I use PowerDVD8 (from SAF4) and the "Best" setting in MP - keen to hear what other user use. I have also done some searching in the forums about CCC settings with mixed recommendations, so I have just left them as defaults. I'm on version 10.11 and have heard some users have stayed with earlier versions.
Thanks again for you help mm1352000 and rlevis.
Regards
Graham