Upgraded my TV server now have live tv stuttering/pixelation (1 Viewer)

pilehave

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    Try and disable EPG grabbing for a while. Or at least disable it when timeshifting/recording (setting in TV-Server Configuration).
     

    jonathantwynham

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    Ok. I tried disabling EPG whilst timeshifting, unfortunately in a 15min period I had 20 continuity errors..

    As it mentioned bad signal I have also added a splitter/amplifier to my aerial cabling to ensure that it has a good signal.. oddly it hasnt increased my signal strength any! still sitting at 78% strength with 100% quality..

    Im running out of ideas....
     

    mm1352000

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    Hi Jonathan

    Sorry I haven't responded to your previous posts. Massive information overload!

    In short...
    The common causes of continuity errors in the TsWriter log files are:
    1. Bad signal strength and/or quality. Too strong; too weak; noisy... all sorts of possibilities.
    2. HDD overload. Usually some flavour of security software causing problems by scanning the MediaPortal and/or TV Server folders (particularly the time-shifting and recording folders). Sometimes the HDD is just highly fragmented and/or almost full.
    If you haven't got a signal problem then consider the HDD possibility. There are other possibilities too such as overheating components and DPC latency issues (low level PC driver stuff) that could be checked if you are convinced both signal and HDD are okay.

    About signal problems...
    Do not pay much if any attention to PC tuner signal readings. They're unlikely to show transient (short, random, bursty) signal problems like the ones you're describing, because often they're low resolution (ie. the smallest change may be 10, 15 or even 20%) and they're averaged over time. So, they don't prove that your signal strength or quality are okay.

    Regards,
    mm
     

    jonathantwynham

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    MM. Thanks for the reply.

    Will take a proper look at the hdd and other issues mentioned.

    Your not wrong about ignoring the signal details listed in TV server.. I have 5 DVB-T tuners all off the same aerial through a 4 port splitter/amplifier. 2 tuners show 78% strength and 100% quality, 2 tuners show 0% strength and 100% quality and the other tuner shows 44% strength and 0% quality yet they all work exactly the same!
     

    mm1352000

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    Your not wrong about ignoring the signal details listed in TV server.. I have 5 DVB-T tuners all off the same aerial through a 4 port splitter/amplifier. 2 tuners show 78% strength and 100% quality, 2 tuners show 0% strength and 100% quality and the other tuner shows 44% strength and 0% quality yet they all work exactly the same!
    ...and that was the other thing I was going to say (but didn't, since I didn't think it was directly relevant)... :)
    You can't compare readings from 2 tuners unless they're the same brand and model, and using the same driver version. TV Server simply reports the values provided by the tuner driver. The only thing we do is restrict the values to be in the 0 to 100 range. However, each driver has it's own interpretation of what X% means. 70% for one tuner could be 50% for another... or 100%... or anything. We just don't know.
     

    jonathantwynham

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    The 2x dual dvbt's are blackgold BGT36XX using the same drivers and they show 78% on one and 0% on the other!
     

    jonathantwynham

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    Right.

    I am still having issues with my setup....

    In an unrelated note, I had an issue with one of my back up tuners (set as a low priority) (in that it was a blackgold that decided to nuke itself!) and it took out my servers PSU.

    So, as I couldnt get hold of one easily (being a Dell it using their own slightly modified version of the ATX standard), I have now swapped my server and am using a Del Precision 690 with dual core xeon and 4gb ram. I have my quad (dual dvbt and dual dvbs) tuner in it and am still having the same issue.

    I have noticed that during copy some files from my file server to the tv server the discontinuities go up and up!

    So, I have just ran a network packet stress test, as soon as I fire up any kind of network traffic on the tv server it loose the picture and the discontinuities rise.

    Now this is a different server to before (so I ruled out the NIC), I have swapped ports on my switch to no difference.

    So my question is.. what can cause the TSwriter/TVServer discontinuties that is linked to network traffic across two entirely different machines running different hardware, apart from sharing the same tuner card....

    I should also mention that my lan is CAT6 running in dedicated trunking in the walls and floors with a seperation distance of 500mm to any ring mains/lighting circuits etc. The aerial cable runs around from the end of my loft (where the aerial is) along the purlin and then inside my loft room at the other end. The sat cable comes in from the side of the house, alongside the aerial cable and through the same entry. My lan is terminated with a patch panel in the wall of the loft and then runs up to a 1gbit dlink switch...

    Ideas? Im at a loss!
     

    mm1352000

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    Hello again Jonathan

    I am still having issues with my setup....
    Sorry to hear that.

    In an unrelated note... I have now swapped my server...
    Please update your forum profile system specifications to reflect the changes. When you do that, please also ensure everything else (especially MediaPortal and Windows versions) is up to date.

    I have noticed that during copy some files from my file server to the tv server the discontinuities go up and up!
    This should not surprise you. I previously indicated that discontinuities can be caused by HDD load. You said you were going to take a look, but subsequently have said nothing further about it. I'm left uncertain about whether you followed up or not.

    So, I have just ran a network packet stress test, as soon as I fire up any kind of network traffic on the tv server it loose the picture and the discontinuities rise.

    Now this is a different server to before (so I ruled out the NIC), I have swapped ports on my switch to no difference.
    The conditions of your test are not sufficiently clear.

    Are you testing solely on the server (eg. TV Server Configuration -> TV Channels section -> preview function), or are you using one of your clients to view the picture during the test?

    If a client is involved, that obviously means MediaPortal and/or TV Server are going to be using your network. That being the case, it shouldn't be particularly surprising that a concurrent network stress test could disrupt the picture etc. in the way you described. MediaPortal's default configuration is to use RTSP streaming to acquire the TV feed from TV Server. As is commonly the case, our implementation of RTSP uses the RTP protocol/format for transferring the content (ie. video, audio etc.). RTP in turn usually (in the case MP/TV Server: always) uses UDP as its underlying transport protocol. UDP is an "unreliable" protocol, which means there's no guarantee that a sent packet will arrive at its destination. In times of high network load (eg. a stress test), it would not be unreasonable for switches, routers, or other intermediate nodes to drop UDP packets. This could explain the situation.

    So my question is.. what can cause the TSwriter/TVServer discontinuties that is linked to network traffic across two entirely different machines running different hardware, apart from sharing the same tuner card....
    Please refer to my previous comment regarding the possible causes of discontinuities. If you would like a more specific answer then you will need to provide more specific information about your situation.

    Ideas? Im at a loss!
    My feeling is that this thread has lost its focus, and therefore I'm finding it difficult to help you.
    If you're actively troubleshooting a specific problem and you would like my help with it, please:
    1. Ensure your forum profile system specifications are fully up to date.
    2. Reduce/simplify the steps or conditions required to reproduce the problem as much as possible. For example, if you can reproduce the problem on the server by itself then do that (ie. completely exclude the clients).
    3. Describe the situation (eg. the conditions when the problem does and does not occur, test(s) you're performing etc.) in full, including dates, times, channel names, and client/server involvement where appropriate.
    4. Provide full debug-level log files from both client and server using the MediaPortal Watchdog tool where available.
    In general, the more you reduce/simplify the problem and the better you describe it, the better my chances are of being able to assist you.

    Regards,
    mm
    P.S. Your forum profile system specifications indicate you're using Windows XP with mixed and older versions of MediaPortal and TV Server. I don't know if that information is actually correct. If it is, our support will be limited.
     

    jonathantwynham

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    MM,

    Appreciate your help, but as the original title of the thread, I am still actively troubleshooting the pixelation and stuttering of live tv as I have never managed to solve the issue..

    1. Ensure your forum profile system specifications are fully up to date.

    I have updated my system specs to show correctly.​

    2. Reduce/simplify the steps or conditions required to reproduce the problem as much as possible. For example, if you can reproduce the problem on the server by itself then do that (ie. completely exclude the clients).​

    The network test is using software called 'LanBench', it uses winsock to send and receive data packets. It can be configured to receive packets from another machine or create a loop and send and receives packets on the same machine. I have it set to send data from itself to itself - in effect the packets are going from the TV-Server to the network switch and back to the TV-Server. I am also testing the effect of network data on solely on the TV-Server... If i go into channels and preview it basically pixelates the picture and then completely stops until the network test is finished. It also sometimes stops the audio.

    It is also not a CPU load issue. I have ran software called HeavyLoad that stress tests the CPU's, it will bring it to 100% usage and the discontinuities do not increase. HeavyLoad also supports data transfer stress test on HDD - copying 40mb/s to either the system drive or my SSD whilst timeshifting also has no effect on the discontinuities​

    3. Describe the situation (eg. the conditions when the problem does and does not occur, test(s) you're performing etc.) in full, including dates, times, channel names, and client/server involvement where appropriate.

    I have ruled out the HDD load as my server is now a completely different machine with completely different hard drive installed, and the extra addition of a solid state drive purely for timeshifting. This is also a barebones install on the server - only the specifics needed to run TV-Server and windows. No antivirus, no firewall, no MSE, literally nothing that can affect HDD load other than TV-Server.

    I dont need to include dates/times as it does this every time I run the network test.

    If we are watching TV and not doing anything our of the ordinary it only happens on HD channels, primarily ITV channels, SD channels behave normally.
    If I run the network test and/or copy data to/from any other our laptop / file server then it will happen on any HD channels and sometimes with SD channels.​

    4. Provide full debug-level log files from both client and server using the MediaPortal Watchdog tool where available.

    Log files from TV Server attached..​
     

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    mm1352000

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    Thanks for the update Jonathan

    I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'm going to have to keep this response extremely brief.

    I have updated my system specs to show correctly.
    Thanks (y)

    The network test...
    1. Please do isolated testing of Freeview and Freesat signals with each tuner (ie. AVer, BGT 1, BGT 2, BGT 3, BGT 4) to confirm the problem applies equally to both sources and all tuners. Since you have combined channels, this may require creation of specific test channels. Do not test with combined channels please.

    2. Please use the DPC Latency Checker tool to check your DPC latency:
    http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

    Test:
    • during a "network test"
    • when a "network test" is not running
      • with a Freeview SD channel
      • with a Freeview HD channel
      • with a Freesat SD channel
      • with a Freesat HD channel

    I have ruled out the HDD load
    I note your log files say TS is using E:\mp-timeshift\live5-0.ts. Seems a little odd for the SSD to be E: instead of C: (assume you'd want to use it as main OS drive for best benefit). Please double check and confirm.

    Have to run. Hopefully the above will be enough to get you going.
     

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