Stuttering in scheduled recordings unless client window is open (TSWriter Continuity error) (1 Viewer)

Kent Ohlsson

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March 14, 2012
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MediaPortal Version: 1.2.2

Description
When scheduling a recording, the resulting TS-files are full of stuttering problems.
Viewing the recordings either using MP or an external player such as VLC results in a lot of stuttering both in video and sound.
However, if I make a live recording I don't experience the described problem. I can watch those recordings without any stuttering what so ever. If I do a scheduled recording, everything will work out great if I don't close the MP client, that is I just leave it open without closing the application window. I can even toggle off TV in the client, put windows in sleep mode and it will wake up as scheduled and make a perfect recording as expected.

A scheduled recording with the MP client closed always fails and it makes no difference if the computer has been in sleep mode prior to the recording or not.

The TS writer log files are full of errors like
Code:
Recorder:Pid 44b Continuity error... 6 ( prev 8 ) - bad signal?
It's nothing wrong with the signal. Everythings works great if the client window is left opened when recording.

What do You guys think?

Steps to Reproduce:
1) Watch live tv.
2) Go to view the EPG
3) Schedule a recording using the EPG info.
4) Close the MP client window.
 

Paranoid Delusion

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    Am I correct that you are recording to E: drive which is a usb hdd, if you change the recording\Timeshift path to the same drive (timeshift shows using C: drive) does it make a difference, if not then try using the C: drive, just to eliminate any usb\external drive problem.

    Also make sure windows power settings are on max performance.
     

    Kent Ohlsson

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    Thanks Ray for Your quick reply :)

    Yes, that's correct, I'm using an external USB 3 drive for recordings.

    I did the following:
    • Changed Recordings folder to C:\Recorded TV
    • Changed Power Scheme to Maximum Performance and I resetted all settings to default for that power scheme.
    • Rebooted
    • Scheduled a recording in the EPG to occur after 5 minutes
    • Closed the client window
    • Waited (no power savings occured)
    • Opened the client and stopped the ongoing recording
    Unfortunetely the problem persists, still very heavy stuttering when viewing the recorded TS-file.
    It confuses me a lot. I'm reverting to my old settings since none of the changes seemed to make any difference. Do you have any more ideas?
     

    Paranoid Delusion

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    Sorry nothing else springs to mind atm, just so everyone is sure.

    Watching live tv through the client works flawlessly and Windows Aero theme is enabled.

    Not that any of the above should make that kind of difference :confused:

     

    Kent Ohlsson

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    I should be ashamed as I didn't RTFM. I recall I changed to a basic theme a while ago to preserve computing resources. :notworthy:
    I will revert to AERO and do some testing and report back. This is embarrasing ...
     

    Paranoid Delusion

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    Well at least normal video file playback should be improved with Aero.

    TSWriter and TSReader both have test versions in Area 51, not sure whether you want to go down that road currently.

    The other things that could be suspect are network or possibly latency, but why would Mediaportal.exe running solve those problems, is your setup a single pc or with multiple clients, also do you have the latest drivers for that TV card.

    Might be worthwhile downloading and running the dpc latency tool while testing, just to see if any peaks occur which relate to driver or network issues.

    Forgot to ask is wifi involved, or is the network connection wired.
     

    Owlsroost

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    Do you have anything (like anti-virus scanning) which might run when there are no foreground windows open ?

    Try running MP in 'windowed' mode (not fullscreen) or minimised to the taskbar and see if that still 'fixes' the problem.

    Also try enabling one of the animated windows screen savers (instead of running MP) to generate some CPU/GPU activity during recordings.

    Tony
     

    Kent Ohlsson

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    First, I'm feeling so much gratitude to You guys trying to help me out here. You are my heros.

    Trying how different changes affect the problems takes certain time since I have to schedule a recording, and do some waiting before I get the result. (Usually I reboot between changes to be on the safe side.)

    So far I have done the following without any improvements:
    • Disabled all the server plugins (again) and tested. No change.
    • Replaced the TSWriter with the one from Area51. No change.
    • Checked again that the TV-card drivers are the latest.
    • Ran DPC Latency tool which didn't indicate any problems at all during a recording (w/o client running).
    • Disabled the built in wifi device since I won't use it. Using wired Internet only.
    More info:
    • It's a newly installed Win 7 system. Everything updated of course.
    • It's a dedicated single seat HTPC and I haven't really installed more than a few other programs.
    • I have installed Norton Ghost though for backup purposes.
    I will do the following and report back
    • Disable Win 7 firewall (Do I really need it anyway in my NAT-LAN ?)
    • Run chkdsk /f /r on C:
    • Try running MP in 'windowed' mode
    • Try enabling one of the animated windows screen savers
    • Uninstall Norton Ghost completely using an uninstall tool.
    • Uninstall ffdshow (I don't use it anyway)
    :)
     

    Kent Ohlsson

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    • Disable Win 7 firewall. Done, no change
    • Run chkdsk /f /r on C: Done, no change.
    • Try running MP minimized to tray. No foreground windows opened. Done, no change, meaning: Perfect recordings because MediaPortal.exe is running.
    • Try enabling one of the animated windows screen savers. Done, no change.
    • Uninstall Norton Ghost completely using an uninstall tool. Done, no change.
    • Uninstall ffdshow (I don't use it anyway) Done, no change
     

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