Client can't view more than 3-4 minutes of server footage (live or recorded) (1 Viewer)

[2themaxx]

TV-Server Version: 0.2.3+svn:16582
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.3+svn:16582
MediaPortal Skin: Blue Two
Windows Version: Window XP Service Pack 2
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 160GB (SATA), Western Digital Caviar 160GB IDE Raid 0 Stripe Array (Record Drive)
Memory: 1.5 GB PC 2700 (3x512)
Motherboard: Gigabyte K8NSNXP
Motherboard Chipset: Nforce3 250
Motherboard Bios: Award/Phoenix Bios 6.0
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 (128MB)
Video Card Driver: Latest (as of 30 Nov 2007)
Sound Card: HDA X-Plosion
Sound Card AC3: Optical Out
Sound Card Driver: Latest (as of Aug 2007)
1. TV Card: Hauppauge Win-TV PVR 250
1. TV Card Type: Analog
1. TV Card Driver: 1.18 and middleware 2.3
MPEG2 Video Codec: ATI Video Codec, Dscaler
MPEG2 Audio Codec: Dscaler
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Time Warner Communications
HTPC Case: Tower ATX
Cooling: Case Fan, HD Fan, CPU (Zalman copper core)
Power Supply: House Brand 500W
Remote: Hauppauge 45 Button
TV: Panasonic 27"
TV - HTPC Connection: S-Video

Single-seat setup:
When trying to view live TV, or pre-recorded video (from TVServer), client crashes the computer after ~3 minutes (almost on the money). I know that the pre-recorded video is fine, because I can skip to anywhere in the file, and everything works great (for about 3 minutes). I've also been watching live-tv with the timeshifting. It looks like I can pause indefinately (relatively speaking ~10 minutes was the longest I tried), but again, 3 minutes after continuous play, the picture stops, I hear sound for a few seconds more, and then the screen goes black (with lots of artifacts - looks like a not-quite blank graps card memory) and the computer stops responding (to any/all of remote, mouse or network - running a headless machine). Again, timeshifting and skipping work great in either live or pre-recorded video, but I can't actually *watch* it. I thought it might be the codec (Cyberlink ATI MPeg 2 codec), but Dscaler exhibits the same problem. No issues with downloaded MPEG-4's, or DVD iso's (with either codec). In fact, I watched one of the pre-recorded videos streamed over file-sharing on another computer, and it played fine. This looks to be an issue with the player itself.

Oh, and another bug, i don't get a picture the first time media portal is started. I have to stop the TV, play a video and then stop it in order to get a picture.

Any ideas about the 3 minute rule and my computer crashing? I'm using Mpeg-TS by the way (although i think the extension is still .mpg)
Thanks a mil!
Jai
P.S. I don't know how much these log files are going to help because they're right after a hard-reboot which then re-loads the service and the client.

 

[2themaxx]

Tried again, this time with a real test

Well,
I re-ran it with autostart disabled, and used the test tool to clear/collect the log files, and am attaching them now.
Just to clarify:
1) I watch something pre-recorded using TV server for about 3-5 minutes (sometimes longer, not sure why it works longer sometimes than others, but 3 minutes seems to be about average)
2) the picture stops but the sound continues for like a second more (TV Fullscreen)
3) I still hear Mediaportal responding to the remote, but nothing happens (I've tried to stop it, push "power" which in my configuration closes mediaportal, etc).
4) after about 2-5 seconds of mediportal responding aurally if I attempt with the remote (click.wav, but nothing happening onscreen, or visually), or just 2-5 seconds after the picture freezes (I don't have to do anything and it will lock), I then get a black screen, or a *very* artifacted frame, that is looping between like 1-2 frames.
5) mouse locked, network not responsive, only a hard reset works.
Oddly enough, this doesn't happen with another mpeg-2 source such as a DVD, or a DVD iso, and MPEG4 files are fine (XVID/MKV). It *does* happen with files recorded on a previous version of mediaportal (0.2.3 RC2), but that file played for almost the whole length (32 mins) before crapping out on me.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Hi

Only thing i can see in the event log, is the ATI2mtag error.

Now we know there are problems with ATI drivers after version 7.2 (Feb 2007) with MP, might be worthwhile trying.
that driver.

Look at the problems here

Cheers

 

[2themaxx]

Ray,
Thanks! I had a strong suspicion it was graphics card related, but wasn't sure... Thanks for the info. I'll try the "old" drivers and post back if I get it working. What's weird is it originally appeared to be mainly on playback. Now I'm not so sure and I'm doing a Memtest as we speak (no failures... keeping fingers crossed). Anywho, I'm running a Radeon 9800, and I don't imagine that even any drivers this year changed anything that much for an old board. Thanks again!
Jai

 

[2themaxx]

No Dice... still crashing

No joy after downgrading the catalyst driver. While mediaportal did stop the occasional but annoying crash, it still didn't solve the problem with the Mpeg2 playback. For those just tuning in, Mediaportal crashes whenever I watch LiveTV, or play back a show recorded USING mediaportal. I can pause, timeskip, etc. without problems, but when watching uninterrupted for about 3-4 minutes, it crashes. This has gotta be a client thing, because I can watch all my pre-recorded shows using an external player without problem. This appears to be codec independent as I have used both ATI and Dscaler's codecs (with much improved performance using ATI's codec), but again it still crashes like clockwork after about 3-4 minutes. Any help would be much appreciated. I really enjoy TVServer (since I can take down the main program for admin), but my 0.2.3 RC2 build was more stable (without TVServer, but again, this appears to be a client thing).
Also, one more question. Can I upgrade my client without upgrading the TVServer? I'd hate to lose all my scheduled recording programs by upgrading both. thanks!
Jai

 

[tourettes]

About the upgrading. It's highly recomended that MP and TVE3 are always running with the same SVN build. That's because there are multiple interfaces between those two and interfaces that aren't the same version could be causing pretty odd issues.

 

[2themaxx]

Any suggestions about the crashing for mpeg2 playback?