Tv Recordings Broken Video and Audio (1 Viewer)

[Stephen O'Kane]

But if it is CPU power-state switching, what can be done about it?

At the risk of poking my not so clever nose in here. I would suggest setting the Power Options Plan in the Win 10 Control Panel to "High Performance" if not already set, this automatically sets the min. CPU state to 100% (Balanced is only 5% but can be adjusted) . This may be the easiest way to stop power state switching.

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Thanks for the advice, but I have that set already, and I also have USB Selected suspend settings disabled.

A third thing you could try (in addition to fiddling with CPU power/speed settings, and checking DPC latency) is to try to increase the TV service process priority (in TV Server Configuration -> general section). Remember to restart the TV service after changing that setting in order for the change to take effect.

I have tried that in the past, increasing the priority in steps, right up to RealTime and it did not make a noticeable difference. That was on MP1.12, since the clean install of MP1.15 I have left that setting as installed.

I do not know how to change the CPU power/speed settings other than the setting above? Is this something that is possible through Control Panel, or is it buried deeper?

 

[mm1352000]

I have tried that in the past, increasing the priority in steps, right up to RealTime and it did not make a noticeable difference. That was on MP1.12, since the clean install of MP1.15 I have left that setting as installed.

No harm in trying again. You've got nothing to lose, right?
Note that I wouldn't recommend using real-time. That shouldn't be necessary, and may well negatively impact other software you use.

I do not know how to change the CPU power/speed settings other than the setting above? Is this something that is possible through Control Panel, or is it buried deeper?

Windows power settings are probably sufficient for most people. As previously stated, there are probably more technical/targeted settings available in the system BIOS/EFI.

 

[Owlsroost]

Just as a 'something to try' test, attached to this post - https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...tv-playback-rate-matching-for-testing.130394/ - are alternative versions of some TV server and client program files (see the post for installation instructions). The TV server file writing component (TsWriter.ax) effectively puts the PC into a slightly higher power state when it's recording and timeshifting, so it *might* make a difference.

 

[doogle]

it appears that I have similar issue if not identical, tried everything on this thread. Seems to me that the power state is likely cause. When wake is triggered by scheduled event, system wakes, but does not turn on display (I think this is typical MP behaviour) . I believe that if there was a way to force display on at wakeup, then this would make the power state different, so that recordings would work correctly. Haven't yet found a way to do this, maybe running a program at wakeup, but surely there is a setting in Windows 10 or BIOS that does this ?? (I can't find one, but following a system wakeup for a scheduled recording (no display) something happens to power state (evidenced by display coming on) when I move mouse on remote, i.e. causing an input to the IR receiver (USB) - this always corrects the video breakup in recordings). I bet a keyboard keypress would do the same.

 

[Stephen O'Kane]

Which version of Media Portal do you have.

MP1.15 works well for me with the TsWriter.ax file mentioned above.
But the issue returned when I moved to MP1.20 recently.

 

[doogle]

1.21 pre-release, but it was an issue in 1.2. I usually keep up with the releases, can't remember when this started happening as it was intermittent and not that often, so I put it down to satellite dish needing to be re-peaked. I now know that was / is not the issue.

 

[CyberSimian]

I believe that if there was a way to force display on at wakeup, then this would make the power state different, so that recordings would work correctly.

The normal recommendation for an HTPC is to enable Windows "Away Mode" in the Windows power plan. This gives the behaviour that you have described: when the system wakes to perform an unattended recording, the system wakes with away mode active and does not switch on output to the screen. If the user then presses the POWER button on the remote control or moves the mouse, the system transitions from away mode to normal mode, and output to the screen is enabled.

If you are 100% convinced that enabling output to the screen solves the video breakup problem, you could try disabling away mode to see if that makes a difference. Note: a side effect is that if you press the POWER button on the remote to "switch off" the HTPC when it is recording, nothing will switch off until the recording finishes, i.e. the screen will continue to display video (at least, I think that that is what will happen -- I am not entirely sure).

You will need to look at PowerScheduler to see if that controls "Away Mode", and adjust it accordingly (if you disable "Away Mode" in the Windows power plan, you may find that PowerScheduler enables it again if you don't disable it in PowerScheduler too).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[doogle]

Yes, I had the same thought about away mode. I had to unhide the setting in win10 and then set it to disable. Unchecked the Allow Away Mode setting in powerscheduler. No change. On wakeup for recording, the system appears to be in away mode, i.e. the screen is off. Once again I have shown that the recording 'comes good' at the time that I move the mouse. I checked that both away mode settings were still disabled and they are.

Slight tangent: does the tswriter.ax affect power state?

 

[joecrow]

Just for a test have you tried the "Ultimate Power Plan", see here for further info. I'm not sure I would recommend it for long term use but it may help with the trouble shooting.

 

[doogle]

Interesting suggestion joecrow, might keep that in reserve , although maybe that will just keep pc from going into standby, which I could already do , however that's not desirable as pc would be on when it doesn't need to be.