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

jonathantwynham

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March 27, 2013
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Hi.

Not got any logs yet as I am testing a few things.

I justed upgraded my uber-stable win xp and tv server 1.5 to windows 7 64bit and tv server 1.10. i am running a blackgold bgt3650 (dual dvb-t and dual dvb-s) and a avermedia hybrid dvb-t. Its the same hardware (dell poweredge t105, amd opteron quad core, 1gb ram, 2x70gb hdd - 1 system and 1 timeshift).

The previous build was perfectly stable and ran flawlessly, but I upgraded due to wanting to keep up-todate with the MP, but with 7-64bit and MP1.10 I am getting a lot of pixelation and sometimes the live stream stalls till its stopped and started again.

This happens a little on SD channels but is unwatchable on HD channels.

I should also mention that none of my clients have had the configurations changed at all.

Whilst im changing settings one at a time does anybody have any suggestions?
 

jonathantwynham

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March 27, 2013
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Hey.

Ive took a log from my main client. It shows a lot of "Video Continuity error".

I have a 79% signal level and a 100% signal quality. This is on SD and HD.

Using perfmon on the tv server I am seeing a 6% cpu usage and 3mb/sec max disc usage, 11mbps network usage (I run full 1gbit land) - this is when watching SD and HD. This does not increase when the picture pixelates..

According to tv-engine when i select the current streaming channel in manual mode (that im watching on the client) i am not getting any discontinuities...

Any ideas?
 

jonathantwynham

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March 27, 2013
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Ok..

Bad to worse!!

I had a read through my server logs and it was making a lot of comments about fake PMT's etc and channels being detected as moved.. so I have done a full scan and update on both my dvb-t and dvb-s cards, all channels are now correct and updated.

I then decided to upgrade my lounge client to 1.12 also. That has gone smoothly (apart from it defaulting to narrative audio.. easy fix).

Since doing the channel scan I am finding that sometimes when I try to tune an HD channel I am getting a blank screen and just the audio.

Ive grabbed the logs from my lounge client and the relevant logs from my tv-server (i cleared all the logs before and did a few channel changes etc).

I am hoping somebody can see something as I am now not sure.. cant believe I have gone from a perfectly stable setup (for over a year now) and ended up with something thats driving me crazy.. just lucky my wife is understanding!
 

mm1352000

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    Hello Jonathan

    I'm looking at your log files now. Will report what I find shortly... :)

    P.S. In future, please could you try to use the Watchdog tool wherever possible. I ask this because the Watchdog grabs all the relevant log files and details from the given system. I acknowledge you have separate server and client installs, so getting the server log files may be a little more complex. If you have MediaPortal installed on the server then running the Watchdog on the server will grab the TV Server log files; otherwise you'll have to grab them manually as you've done.
     

    mm1352000

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    Okay.

    Regarding your earlier problems...
    Our recommendation is and always has been to use matched versions of MediaPortal and TV Server. We don't test or provide support for non-matched configurations. Of course you can choose to try to only upgrade TV Server (or only upgrade MediaPortal) as you did... but that is at your own risk. Please be aware there's a very real possibility of fundamental incompatibilities, especially when using very different versions (eg. 1.5 and 1.12) as you were trying to do. Considering that the only change you made was to upgrade the server, I suspect incompatibilities were at the root of your earlier problems.

    Regarding your current problems...
    I agree that it appears that the server side seems likely to be okay, at least in terms of signal strength/quality (because there are no server-side continuity errors in the TsWriter log).

    The symptoms you described (getting a blank screen and just the audio, and more issues with HD than SD) are typical of network issues - either connectivity (bandwidth, latency etc. - typically issues with wireless or powerline connections) or configuration (firewall and security software on client or server). Since you have a gigabit connection which according to you was working fine previously and hasn't changed as part of your upgrades, I'm inclined to discount the possibility of connectivity issues. Security software sometimes responds weirdly to updates, so I'd advise you to check that stuff.

    I see that you are using RTSP (default configuration) for the streaming connection. I take it that has always been the case too (ie. you weren't previously using UNC paths AKA SMB shares)?
     

    jonathantwynham

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    March 27, 2013
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    Hi.

    Thanks for your help.

    My previous configuration was TVserver V1.5 on XP-32 and all my clients ran V1.10 on W7-64 - this ran absolutely perfectly, HD worked great on most of my clients (I have a couple of clients which have older cpu's and onboard vga which cant cope), but I got fed up of the 'not supported' message on the server and decided it was time to upgrade (wish I hadnt now!)!

    So after I installed W7-64 as a fresh install on the server I opted for MP1.12 for the TV server setup. I upgraded my lounge client to 1.12 yesterday afternoon, but no difference.

    The issues Im trying to solve only came about after upgraded to the server to 1.12 with clients on 1.10, however the second set of logs I posted are from matched 1.12 on both server and client, and unfortunately the same problem exists.

    Yes, 1gigabit lan throughout the house, the tv server currently has its firewall off and does not have antivirus (its only job is tv server).

    RTSP is what i have always used on my MP setup (right from 1.2), so that shouldnt be any issue...

    I'll keep fiddling!
     

    mm1352000

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    So after I installed W7-64 as a fresh install on the server I opted for MP1.12 for the TV server setup.
    Ahhh, I thought you had upgraded TV Server first, then Windows afterwards when you had encountered problems. This makes a huge difference.

    A fresh install of a new version of Windows is a much bigger change than upgrading TV Server. It would be wrong to assume that W7 will behave the same as XP even with the same hardware.

    With this in mind, I would advise you to check that you have installed the latest versions of the drivers [from the respective vendor website(s)] for all your hardware. In particular, I would recommend to focus on your NIC, motherboard chipset, and storage chipset(s). Default Windows drivers can sometimes be problematic. Finally, I'd also recommend to make sure you've power cycled the PC after installing Windows and drivers. It may seem obvious to say this but Windows doesn't seem to perform properly after updating drivers until after it is rebooted. At least, that has been my experience.
     

    jonathantwynham

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    Thanks for your help.

    I have come across something odd! All the BBC HD channels work perfectly, channel 4 HD stutters and pixelates, but only on fast moving video, ITV HD channels result in a blank screen with audio!
     

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