TV Stutters after 1 hour (1 Viewer)

[broadscott]

Hi Broadscott.

I recently became aware that stuttering occurs at pretty much every change of programme. It's not at exactly the same time, but generally within a minute. Have you noticed this? I do get stuttering during programmes now and again as well, but perhaps the fact it occurs at programme breaks might help identify the cause.

I'm using the MPV codec, and don't have any other problems (that I've noticed).

I don't get stuttering at channel changes, only after watching TV for an hour. I think your problem is different to mine (and it sounds like it may be related to access to the hard drive).

I recently conducted another experiment where I played a radio station through my TV tuner card for over an hour with no stuttering occurring, indicating it it definitely related to video.

 

[kadafi]

I have the Pinnacle 100i PCI Stereo card and mine does the same thing..
After a while TV starts to stutter and I have to turn off and on MP and it works again..

Changing channels take 3-4 seconds and sometimes causes the TV image to stutter too..

 

[Taipan]

mine does the same thing..

Just saying that you have the same problem without offering any logs or system details isn't very helpful ...

If we are going to nail this issue, then we need specific data - configuration details, log files, how to reproduce, etc ... please help by providing this information and any other information on what you have tried and eliminated so far.


Otherwise, we are just working in the dark ...

 

[hawk2k2]

MediaPortal Version: 0.2.2.0
MediaPortal Skin: BlueTwo wide
Windows Version: Windows XP (SP2)
DirectX Version: 9.0c December
CPU Type: P4 2.8Ghz Northwood
HDD: 120GB SATA (C 320GB NCQ SATAII (timeshift/record)
Memory: 1Gb DDR
Motherboard: Asus P4C800 deluxe
Motherboard Chipset: Intel 975?
Video Card Model: ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128mb
Video Card Resolution: 1360x768@60Hz
Sound Card: sound blaster audigy1
1. TV Card: DNTV Live! Hybrid LP
1. TV Card Type: DVB-T
Audio Codec: MPA Decoder Filter/Cyberlink
Video Codec: MPV Decoder Filter/Cyberlink
TV: Samsung 40inch LCD 1366x768
TV - HTPC Connection: VGA

I seem to be having the same problem. After I watch tv with timeshift on for a certain period of time (i havnt timed it yet) it starts to stutter badly. The audio is fine, just the video is really jerky. This does not happen with Media Center, just MP.

Any ideas, I really want to convert from Media Center

Cheers
Hawk

 

[Taipan]

Any ideas, I really want to convert from Media Center

We need more information ....

Can you repeat the exercise, but take a note of the elapsed time (the time it takes before the stuttering commences) and the precise time that the stuttering occurs so we can check if there are any clues in your MediaPortal.log file. Exit MediaPortal and then attach your MediaPortal.log file here, with the time noted when the stuttering commenced.

 

[Marcusb]

I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread, but have you checked how fragmented your recording drive is?

WinXP handles SBE (timeshifted) files very badly and they end up being very fragmented. If the disk is close to full, you'll get bad stuttering after the timeshift buffer uses all the contigious space and then has to start hunting for free disk space.

 

[hawk2k2]

I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread, but have you checked how fragmented your recording drive is?

WinXP handles SBE (timeshifted) files very badly and they end up being very fragmented. If the disk is close to full, you'll get bad stuttering after the timeshift buffer uses all the contigious space and then has to start hunting for free disk space.

my timeshift/recording drive is a 320GB seagate SATA and its brand new... nothing is on it, apart from jerky timeshift data

 

[Marcusb]

OK, so we ruled that out. There is another thread where it was suggested to use large cluster sizes on the recording drive. this works well, but if the clusters are too big you will get stuttering when timeshifting is turned on.

 

[snarlyboy]

Not working here either

Area: Media Portal Program
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.2.0 (2006-12-21)
MediaPortal Skin: BlueTwo
Windows Version: Windows XP (SP2)
.NET CLR Version: 2.0.50727
DirectX Version: 4.09.00.0904 (9.0c)
Audio Codec: MPA Decoder Filter
Video Codec: MPV Decoder Filter
CPU Type: AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Memory: 1 GB
Motherboard: VT8366-8233
TV Card Model: Hauppauge PVR150MCE
TV Card Type: -
TV Card Driver: -
Video Card Model: Radeon 9550 (256 MB)
Video Card Driver: -
Video Card Resolution: 800x600
Video Render Type: -
Audio Card Model: Vinyl AC'97 Codec Combo Driver (WDM)
Audio Card Driver: -
Synopsis::

I have a Hauppauge PVT150MCE and have been using the last many versions of the stable releases of Media Portal and have had this problem (the same as broadscott) since version 0.2.1.0 --- I have a dedicated full screen PC (admittedly a slightly old one, but with plenty of memory) and I HAD thought this was a defrag issue off my media drive... but playing back videos does NOT have this problem - only watching LIVE TV - but I use the analog Composite input for my channels from a set top box.

I use 64K clusters (when I formatted my video drive - i.e. not the boot drive - the one with all the videos and temp folders) because I read somewhere this is better for fragmentation with timeshifting - I cant remember if this was a Media Portal or SageTV tip tho.

This did not seem to happen in versions prior to 0.2.1.0 though I obviously haven't been using my system as much as a main tv back then.

I will comfirm that for me as well, turning Timeshifting on seems to reduce/remove the stuttering that occurs after an hour of watching, but since I use an external set top box, I usually have Timeshifting OFF becuase changing channels is slow/delayed 60 sec with it on (since I am using an external set top box as my "tuner").

Also turning the TV iff in the menu and back on seems to "reset" the stuttering for a little while for me - not the full hour some here are reporting though.

I have the latest drivers and patches for my video and tv cards.

Any help would be appreciated and I would gladly test something if you can tell me what would help. thanks!

 

[snarlyboy]

btw my video drive is 160Gb EIDE drive with about 86Gb on it... I will check if it is fragmented - I dont think it is very much...