Stuttering on LiveTV (5 Viewers)

[Rudi99]

Still having stuttering. The both values must be changed: Signal-level is 44-55, signal-quality is 98-99%. That should be enough. I already wondered how the quality could be so bad with 98% signal-pegel, but then i read the results on my sat-receiver again and saw, that i confused the two values. Sorry.

 

[tourettes]

Still having stuttering. The both values must be changed: Signal-level is 44-55, signal-quality is 98-99%. That should be enough. I already wondered how the quality could be so bad with 98% signal-pegel, but then i read the results on my sat-receiver again and saw, that i confused the two values. Sorry.

Should be enough if you dont get the discontinuity errors in the TsWriter.log. If you do then its not enough.

 

[csandml]

Hi all

I haven't had a chance to do any further testing but i can't help but think something else is going on with this stuttering (not just the dropped packets). I definitely have a fairly poor signal and the dropping of packets isn't going to be helping. But with the builds since 19228, where i get the stuttering, if i hit pause for a second and then play all appears corrected. To me, this says something else is going on??? Also, if i skip to another channel and back again two or three times eventually the stuttering channel will appear fine. Both these things says to me that MP is perfectly capable of receiving the signal ok under certain circumstances or maybe at these times it does not drop the packets???

Anyway time for bed.........Again!
Regards csandml

 

[Shazell]

I have been sticking with 19228 until I sort out a better signal.

But I did encounter another form of stuttering which turns out to be related to another problem I had.

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/get-support-90/problem-tv-server-wlan-41937/

This new stuttering was regular, about every 60 seconds. And it was definately processor related as if I was moving the mouse at the same time the mouse pointer would also freeze. Using Process explorer I could see spikes in CPU usage every 60 seconds with a process called System:4 using almost 100%.

This was due to the wireless network connection trying to connect when my router was switched off. With the router switched on the WLAN connects and the stutter stops. I am only using a single core CPU atm I expect multicores will not have this issue. The problem is not caused by MP but I would rather not leave my router on permanently but not sure how to avoid it atm.

Anyone encountering stutters I would sugest using Process Explorer and looking at CPU usage graphs to see if there are any other issues.

 

[RedTop]

I also experience stuttering watching Live TV. It happens mostly with one DVB-T channel, which has the highest bitrate of available chanels, provider says VBR around 4Mbit/s. Others are 3.5 or less. Other channels stutter only onece in a while.
I looked into log files and only thing logged at this time is something like this in MediaPortal.log on client machine:

2008-08-12 11:22:01.421875 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 3,972168 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:02.140625 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,730957 - dropped 2 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:04.968750 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,3056641 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:06.078125 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,1879883 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:08.734375 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,9487305 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:09.718750 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,9140625 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:12.000000 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,2910156 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:12.546875 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,4804688 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:19.375000 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,3085938 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:19.593750 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,1811523 - dropped 1 frame(s)
2008-08-12 11:22:21.140625 [Debug][3]: Planescene.InternalPresentSurface: timePassed = 0,6069336 - dropped 1 frame(s)

My specs are:

TV Server RC2
Win XP SP3
Intel Little Valley with Atom 1,6GHz + 1GB DDR2
Tuner Leadtek WinFast DTV1000S
CPU load around 8%

Mediaportal RC2
WinXP SP3
Intel C2D T5500 1,66GHz + 2 GBDDR2 + GMA950
CPU load around 15%

Does anybody have any idea?

 

[jonesdb]

You can monitor performance (CPU, Write operations/sec, read operations/sec etc.) through the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) accessed by Start -> My Computer, Right click Manage -> Performance Logs and Alerts -> counter logs. Setup counters for CPU utilization, Write Operations etc. for the TVService process. Start your logging, run your tests, stop your logging and review the logging data.
Procmon from sysinternals ( Process Monitor ) Process Monitor will let you drill down into a running process to identify the activity of the various threads, but watch out for the amount of data you ask for. You'll get swamped quickly.
I have a single seat setup with XP Pro and M780 card. While watching the analog card, CPU usage increases each time a new timeshift file is started until CPU utilization starts hitting 100%. Then I start getting stuttering etc. The problem exists only on analog channels. (I'm running analog and clear QAM from cable). See my posts @ https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/1-0-rc2-svn-builds-280/cpu-usage-increases-function-time-43412/

 

[druid9]

First Time I have felt disappointed since I started fiddling with MediaPortal about 3 years ago. With installation of RC2, TV is now unwatchable. I think there could be a couple of possibilities.
1. To get rid of the "Quartz too buggy" popup, I needed to upgrade Windows Media Player to version 11 and run the video flicker hotfix, as listed in the wiki. I believe the latter updates quartz.dll, maybe this new version is buggier than the old one. I seem to recall that in previous M$ updates to this file there were more bugs than the old one. I am hoping that this is not the problem, as it might mean I can't go back.
2. I am in a fairly poor reception area, signal strength is around 50% and quality at close to 100%. MAybe the new TS reader is too sensitive for where I am. Certainly applying the new version posted in this thread stops the flicker, but the amount of pixelation makes the TV unwatchable. I have lots of continuity errors in the TS reader log, so maybe this is the problem. I have noted that a lot of the posters in this thread are also from Australia, where our TV coverage is not so good as in other parts of the world, and where almost everyone is using DVB-T. Coincidence? If poor reception is my issue, I am stuffed.

None of this was an issue with RC1

I have attached logs (if only I could remember how) for anyone who wants to look, am now reinstalling RC1. I hope this can be fixed.

On a side note, it would seem to me that an upgrade to something as fundamental as a TS reader, a required upgrade to Windoze system files, and an enforced upgrade to a relatively fundamental piece of software like WMP with all of its attached hooks into Windows media capabilities is a little beyond the progression from RC1 to RC2. Would have thought that with the issue of a release candidate, only very minor bug fixes would be needed. RC1 was absolutely rock solid for me, maybe it should have been left alone - at least by me.

 

[Rudi99]

Would have thought that with the issue of a release candidate, only very minor bug fixes would be needed. RC1 was absolutely rock solid for me, maybe it should have been left alone - at least by me.

ack

 

[druid9]

So, a report back

RC1 reinstalled, no more continuity errors in the TS reader log, no more stutters. Some pixelation at times (which is not new), but all seems to be fine back the way it was.

Is there any way I can help the devs with this issue (no programming experience) but happy to test possible solutions.

MP is a great piece of software, would love to help make it perfect. I am concerned that RC1 will be the end of my upgrade path if this is not resolved though.

 

[tourettes]

So, a report back

RC1 reinstalled, no more continuity errors in the TS reader log, no more stutters. Some pixelation at times (which is not new), but all seems to be fine back the way it was.

Thats because

#1 those errors arent yet logged in the TsReader.log when the stream has those)
#2 Pixelation is seen as the larger amount of data is not dropped

Mainly the stuttering / dropped frames is happening on the recent builds as TsReader is more strict when it comes to corrupted stream data. This is done to help badly written codecs (almost every single one) to cope with those streams that have errors. It much smaller usability issue to have small stuttering on corrupted stream than having MediaPortal crashing directly to the desktop when some coded decides to cause a crash.