[solved] Stuttering on live TV after upgrade to 64-bit OS (1 Viewer)

henso

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  • February 16, 2012
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    Hi

    I just upgraded my Win 7 32-bit HTPC to Win 7 64-bit, so I could use more than 4GB of RAM.
    Hardware:
    * Digital Devices Octopus with 2 x twin DVB-C tuners and 1 x CI module (not used, only watching FTA channels)
    * Intel HD 3000 GPU
    * Intel i7-2600K CPU
    Hardware changes:
    * Upgraded to 8 GB RAM
    * Installed dedicated HDD SATA2 for live TV

    After the OS upgrade I am having problems with live TV which I did not have with the 32-bit OS. I starts to stutter after a few minutes and continuously gets worse until around 10 minutes where the picture freezes while audio and DVB subtitles continue. If I jump back 10 sec it plays fine again until after a few minutes where the stuttering starts again.

    Info:
    * Tried LAV, PowerDVD decoders in DXVA and software modes: Problem persists
    * Monitored HDD and CPU load during live TV: HDD and CPU load seem stable from start of live TV until picture freeze
    * I noticed the Task Manager shows MediaPortal having delta page faults of 20k-40k per update during live TV. Is this normal?
    * I am not using MDAPI.
    * I tried playback from DD-TV (DVB Viewer clone) without any discontinuities, so the hardware, drivers etc. should be OK. I noticed continuity errors in the TsWriter.log, but how is this possible if DD-TV using the same hardware has none?
    * Upgraded to MP 1.10 but no change

    Could one of the experts take a look at my logs and tell me what is wrong? ;)
    Are there other things I could try to fix the stuttering?

    Any help is appreciated, the WAF is way down after the "upgrade"... :p
     

    mm1352000

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    Hello

    The TsWriter log shows continuity errors. That usually means either signal strength/quality issues, or high HDD load. Sometimes it can be caused by other things, but those causes are relatively rare.

    Since you said your signal is okay I would suggest to check that your timeshift HDD is not getting filled, and that the MP and TV Server program, setting, timeshift and record directories are excluded from virus and spyware checkers. Windows Defender, Security Essentials and other "security" software seem to be very good at causing this sort of problem...

    Regards,
    mm
     

    emphatic

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    How much RAM did you have before the move to 64 bit? I have a Hauppauge TV card, and it refuses to work with 4+ gigs of ram. The solution for me was this:

    1 - Press START
    2 - Type: "msconfig"
    3 - Move over to the "Boot" tab
    4 - Click "Advanced options..."
    5 - Remove check from "Maximum memory"
    6 - Decrease memory from its full amount to 4095
    7 - Click OK and accept the changes & reboot the computer

    If you make a note of the amount of RAM reported in msconfig, it should be easy to change back if it doesn't help. For me, it went from distorted, stuttering mess to smooth playback.

    Emph
     

    henso

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    Thank you for your replies.

    I did some more testing and for now it seems to be better with a RAM disk and Windows Defender realtime scanning disabled.
    I also uninstalled the TeamViewer Monitor driver, but I don't know if that had anything to do with it.
     

    henso

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    I am still experiencing some stuttering, but is it much better than initially.

    Changes:
    * RAM disk for Live TV
    * Windows Defender real time scanning disabled
    * Anti Virus disabled

    The logs show a lot dropped frames but no continuity errors.
    Any suggestions?
     

    Owlsroost

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    How many displays are connected to the HTPC ?

    The frame drops in evr.log are fairly regular (about one per second) and always show long 'paint' times (so something is stalling the screen rendering periodically).
     
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    henso

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    I just have the TV connected through HDMI. I have the refresh rate changer enabled, could that be the cause?
     

    mm1352000

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    Does this problem only happen with specific channels (eg. only HD channels, only SD channels, only channels from a certain provider etc.)... or does it happen with all channels?
     

    henso

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    I haven't tested for that specifically but as far as I remember all the channels I tested were HD channels. I should mention that most of my tests were done before using the RAM disk though. Should I make some new tests with mixed HD/SD channels? Any specific logging options to enable?
     

    Owlsroost

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    Have you tried running MP in 'debug' mode (which disables all except the built-in plugins) ?

    Do you have I.F.C or ViewModeSwitcher enabled (especially if black-bar detection is enabled) ?
     

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