Tv Recordings Broken Video and Audio (1 Viewer)

[Stephen O'Kane]

Hi Guys

I have discussed this issue before but I never got to the bottom of it. Entirely my fault as I wanted to test more, to try and isolate the issue better, and never quite got round to it.

Now I have upgraded to Win 10, and no longer have Win MediaCentre I want to get to the bottom of it.

The issue is corrupted recordings, video and audio break up, making recordings annoying to watch, and in some cases unwatchable.

The issue is baked into the recordings - the break up is seen at the same time in the recording (i.e. if you skip back you get the same corruption again in the same spot, Also the issues are seen in VLC Media Player.

So I assume the issue has to be with the TVServer (the TsWriter log full of continuity errors)
There is has been no TsReader log created since I reinstalled MP.

After reading other threads on similar issues I have turned Windows Defender off.
And my Avast Anti Virus has exceptions for the Team MediaPortal directory and the Recording/Timeshift directory (they use the same dir)

I have tried a clean install.
I uninstalled all MP (1.12.0) parts, including MySql and did a clean install of MP 1.15.0 (single seat installation)

But the issue persists.

Live TV has no issues, TimeShift has no issues, only recordings.

This happens on most, if not all channels, but it does not happen all the time. There does not seem to be a pattern. Day or Night - it can happen any time.Happens on HD and SD channels too.

However I have noticed that is stops if I start watching catchup.
If I start watching a recording, from live point (or from beginning) the errors stop.
i.e if watching the recording from the Live Point no stuttering in visible, and if watching from the beginning, the stuttering stops at the point in the recording that I started watching from the beginning.

As Live Tv, and Timeshifting works perfectly, there must be no issue with the Signal.
Also as Live TV and Timeshift use the same directory the HDD must be ok.

This issue was happening on MP1.12 on Windows 8 and Windows 10.
And now on MP1.15 on Windows 10.

The issue has to be a TvServer setting that I have to change - Any ideas?

Thanks
Stephen.

=================
I have attached the TsWriter and TVService logs, and I will try to describe the situation in log captured.

I was watching a previously recorded show,
At 2016-07-27 22:28:10,282 another show started recording.
The continuity errors are seen in the logs from then.
At 2016-07-27 22:53:35,387 I switched to watching the show currently being recorded
The continuity errors disappear from the logs at this time.
For the next 15 minutes I catch up on the show, and then stop watching.
At 2016-07-27 23:10:29,272 the errors start again and continue until the end of the recording.
==================

 

[Owlsroost]

My guess is power saving might be the cause - just recording uses minimal CPU power, so have good look around the windows power settings (USB and drive/sata/pcie settings in particular).

 

[Stephen O'Kane]

My guess is power saving might be the cause - just recording uses minimal CPU power, so have good look around the windows power settings (USB and drive/sata/pcie settings in particular).

I never dived under the hood in Windows much - just basic settings etc, so is it just a matter of trial and error, or is there some guidelines?

Check the Advanced power settings I currently have this:
Turn off hard disk after: 20 minutes
USB Selected suspend settings: Enabled
PCI Express: Maximum power savings

I have on board graphics, i.e. no GPU, so I assume PCIE setting are not relevant.
Also if recording has started, the HDD and the USB tuner should be ok, i.e awake and running.

Another thing, is that the issue issue still happens if I am working on the machine (desktop, not laptop), so to me that would not indicate power saving issues.

I'm really stumped. :-(

 

[mm1352000]

so is it just a matter of trial and error

Yeah... but it's not difficult.

Turn off hard disk after: 20 minutes

Probably fine.

USB Selected suspend settings: Enabled

Suspect, due to the effect it may have on your tuner, and especially if using a USB HDD for recording/time-shifting. Try disabling.

PCI Express: Maximum power savings

Probably fine.

Another thing to check would be CPU power saving settings. They may be in the BIOS/EFI.

Another thing, is that the issue issue still happens if I am working on the machine (desktop, not laptop), so to me that would not indicate power saving issues.

I think you may be surprised. Even when you're working, Windows will power down core components such as the CPU and peripheral components such as USB controllers to the lowest possible power state.

 

[Stephen O'Kane]

so is it just a matter of trial and error

Yeah... but it's not difficult.

Ok - I'll have a play about, and hope I don't break anything

USB Selected suspend settings: Enabled

Suspect, due to the effect it may have on your tuner, and especially if using a USB HDD for recording/time-shifting. Try disabling.

The HDD is not a USB Drive - it's the main HDD in the machine, 2TB SATA 7200RPM. OS is on a 120GB SSD.

Another thing to check would be CPU power saving settings. They may be in the BIOS/EFI.

Is this the Min and Max Processor State under the 'Process Power Management' setting?

 

[Owlsroost]

The HDD is not a USB Drive - it's the main HDD in the machine, 2TB SATA 7200RPM. OS is on a 120GB SSD.

Your tuner is USB though... (a PCTV 290e according to your system specs).

 

[Stephen O'Kane]

It's been a week or so now, and it's looking good.

It seems to have been the power/sleep setting for USB that made the difference.

I am very much appreciated for your help.

 

[Stephen O'Kane]

Looks like I spoke too soon.

The broken recordings are back again, and as bad a ever.

I am really stumped.

I have played about with the power settings, as suggested, and initially all seemed well. But now it's as bad a ever.

As said before, watching live, or catch up there is no issue.
In the attached logs, the TvServer.bak log, from yesterday, you can see the issues, then when I started watching the recording from the beginning at 20.40 the issues stop.

I've no idea where to go next.

 

[mm1352000]

Stephen, I'm sticking to the power theory.

The tvserver_TsWriter.bak that I think you were intending to refer to does indeed show continuity errors starting at 20:35:27:
[2016-08-21 20:00:03,996] [4588130] [6c0] - mhw reset
[2016-08-21 20:35:27,033] [4588130] [19c0] - Recorderid 65 Continuity error... 8 ( prev 1 ) - bad signal?

...and stopping at 20:40:34 when you claim to have started viewing the recording:
[2016-08-21 20:40:34,690] [4588130] [19c0] - Recorderid 66 Continuity error... 6 ( prev 4 ) - bad signal?
[2016-08-21 21:02:07,820] [4588130] [403c] - Recorder: RECORD Stop 'E:\Recorded TV\BBC TWO HD\Robot Wars\Robot Wars - 2016-08-21.ts'

(Note: I have no way to check that 20:40 was when you started viewing the recording, but I have no reason to doubt you.)

There are two things that stand out for me.

First, the recording starts at 19:58:
[2016-08-21 19:58:03,568] [4588130] [403c] - Recorder: RECORD Start 'E:\Recorded TV\BBC TWO HD\Robot Wars\Robot Wars - 2016-08-21.ts'

The TsWriter log file doesn't show any continuity problems between 19:58 and 20:35. This suggests that there were no problems during that time, and that only the section between 20:35 and 20:40 was damaged.
Can you confirm?

Second, the Windows application event log file shows a power event at 20:34:
"2016-08-21 20:34:46";"TV Server";"(0)";"Information";"PowerEvent handled successfully by the service.";"0"

The corresponding entries in the TV service log:
[collapse]
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,294] [Log ] [PowerEventThread] [DEBUG] - TV service PowerEventThread received WM_POWERBROADCAST 7
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,295] [Log ] [PowerEventThread] [DEBUG] - OnPowerEvent: PowerStatus: ResumeSuspend
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,296] [Log ] [PowerEventThread] [DEBUG] - OnPowerEventHandler: PowerStatus: ResumeSuspend
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,297] [Log ] [PowerEventThread] [DEBUG] - PS: RESUMESUSPEND
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,307] [Log ] [23 ] [DEBUG] - Detecting BDA/WDM devices...
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,308] [Log ] [23 ] [DEBUG] - Detect legacy AM filter devices
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,340] [Log ] [23 ] [DEBUG] - Detect AM KS crossbar devices
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,341] [Log ] [23 ] [DEBUG] - Detect AM KS TV tuner devices
[2016-08-21 20:34:46,341] [Log ] [23 ] [DEBUG] - Detect BDA source devices[/collapse]

This ties into my previous observation. If the 19:58 to 20:35 section is fine, something must have happened at or around 20:35 which explains why the continuity errors start. The only possible explanation I can see in any log file is this power event (...which signals the system's transition from being in away mode to being fully awake).

 

[Stephen O'Kane]

Hi mm1352000.

Yes, that is the log I am referring too.

At 20.35 on the 21st, that is when I fully woke the computer.
[It was actively recording at that time, but had woken from sleep to start the recording - I do not know what the name of the interim sleep/recording state is].

So the errors seemed to have started at that time, then stopped when I started watching catchup.
I can confirm that the recording was perfect except for that 5minute period.

However, in the other log, the tvserver_TsWriter.log, for the 22nd August, you will see a recording starting at 19.58 on the 22nd, and it is full of continuity errors.

There was no power event during the recording. So can see from the log that the computer was in the same state as the start of the recording at 19.58 on the 21st that started perfectly.

The recording on the 21st @19.58 was perfect until the computer was woken, but the recording on the 22nd was FUBAR from start to finish.

It does not seem to be behaving consistently.
Some recordings are perfect, some are completely broken, even when the computer is in the same state.

Can you suggest some power settings that I can change to help this, or even to eliminate or identify some possible causes?

Thanks,
Stephen.