1.11.0 Video & Audio Stuttering for short period of time for LiveTV only after S3 or S5 (1 Viewer)

[marttoma]

Hello,
I have one problem with liveTV, everytime, when I am watching liveTV, within ~ 3minutes the video and audio freeze for 0.5-2secs, after this "freeze" liveTV audio and video is running fine.

It happend only with liveTV (it does not happen with recorder TV or films from DVD) everytime after MP wake up from standy or when the HTPC is switch on (from switch off status), antivir SW does not have impact (I tested also it without any antivir SW and it still freezes). I was trying plenty of ideas, but without success.

I have Single-seat system with OS Win 7x64, all drivers are up to date (I also removed all and istalled all drivers from "zero"), I have RAM memory drive for ts buffer (I had 2GB for ts & 6 GB for OS, now I have just 1GB & 7GB for OS).

My video card is integrated in AMD A8-6500T, my TVcads are DBV-C Cine CT6 from Digital Devices, motherboard is MSI A78M-45.

My HDMI output for TV is Panassonic set up to frame rate 50Hz, I am using dynamic fresh rate feature in MP - TV is set up to 50Hz as well.

Interesting is, it happen only with liveTV (!), it does not happen with:

• recorded TV
• any DVD or Blue Ray films
• any other movie content with avi, ts, mkv etc. file types
• any videos from my Sony camera

At the and I think the source fo issue could be:

• bug in MP (it happens also in previous MP releases like 1.10, 1.9 etc.)
• bug in video card driver (AMD) - I tested all drivers available and it happens with all
• bug in TVcard driver - I tested 3 different versions and it happens with all

Logs are attached - freeze happen with last ~1 minute of this log. As I donthave any other idedas what can set up differently or how to slove this problem, I would like to aks you others for help.

Thank you.
marttoma

 

[mm1352000]

Hello marttoma

This is caused by the timeshifting EPG grabber. The freeze happens as the EPG data is transferred from TsWriter to the TV library.

You can see that this event in the TV service log:

[2015-06-28 21:12:41,064] [EPG ] [21 ] [INFO ] - dvb:mhw ready MHW 0 titles found
[2015-06-28 21:12:41,064] [EPG ] [21 ] [INFO ] - dvb:dvb ready.EPG 183 channels
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,059] [EPG ] [21 ] [INFO ] - TimeshiftingEpgGrabber: OnEPGReceived got 183 channels

...coincides exactly with the problem in the TsReader log:

[2015-06-28 21:12:44,075] [14808a10] [1324] - Demux : Video to render too late= -0.922 Sec
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,075] [14808a10] [1324] - Demux : Audio to render too late= -1.314 Sec
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,080] [14808a10] [117c] - vidPin : Video to render late= -0.927
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,080] [14808a10] [ 814] - audPin : Audio to render late= -1.319
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,086] [14808a10] [1324] - Demux : Video to render too late= -0.893 Sec
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,086] [14808a10] [1324] - Demux : Audio to render too late= -1.181 Sec
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,086] [14808a10] [1324] - Video Continuity error... 6 ( prev c ), bufferOffset=23500, bufferLength=32336
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,111] [14808a10] [1324] - Audio Continuity error... f ( prev 0 ), bufferOffset=7896, bufferLength=32336
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,111] [14808a10] [1324] - Demux : Audio to render too late= -1.182 Sec
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,111] [14808a10] [1324] - Demux : Video to render too late= -0.878 Sec
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,147] [14808a10] [1324] - DeMultiplexer::FillAudio pts jump found : 2.928000 113.532822, 110.604820
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,147] [14808a10] [1324] - Demux : Video to render too late= -0.914 Sec

The only way to resolve this in TVE3 is to disable the timeshifting EPG grabber.

Regards,
mm

 

[marttoma]

Hi mm,

thank you. Your explanation exactly match my issues You cant imagine how much time I spent to find the reason From your explanation only way is to use EPG grabbing when idle I think.

Could I have few questions?:

• EPG grabbbing during timeshifting:
  • Why it takes too long and why it has impact on audio/video?
  • How often EPG grabbing refresh and what is the trigger to start EPG grabbing?
  • Does it exist some setting to split the EPG grabbing to more "channel groups" and to grabb EPG in the groups with EPG grabbing pauses to avoid stuffering?
  • Does it exist some option to automatically move EPG grabbing during timeshifting from used TV card to not used TV cards to avoid stuffering?
• EPG grabbing when idle:
  • When Power Scheduler is set up to wake up MP in order to do the EPG grabbing, what happen if the MP goes to standby before EPG grabbing finish? Does is start from zero next time?

Thank you.
marttoma

 

[mm1352000]

Hello again

thank you.

No problem. It's my pleasure to be able to help you.

From your explanation only way is to use EPG grabbing when idle I think.

Yes... or acquire EPG from another source (eg. XMLTV, WebEPG).

Could I have few questions?

Sure, always!

Why it takes too long and why it has impact on audio/video?

Bad code design.

How often EPG grabbing refresh and what is the trigger to start EPG grabbing?

Both of these depend on DVB EPG "refresh every" configuration.
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...figuration/TV-Server_Configuration/05_DVB_EPG

TV Server will refresh the EPG as often as you specify using the "refresh every" setting. The trigger is that all tuners are idle and the time since the last EPG grab completed exceeds the "refresh every" time.

Does it exist some setting to split the EPG grabbing to more "channel groups" and to grabb EPG in the groups with EPG grabbing pauses to avoid stuffering?

I don't really understand the first part of what you're saying, but in general it is not possible to avoid the stuttering. The length of the pause/stutter depends only on how much EPG TV Server finds, and this is not configurable.

Does it exist some option to automatically move EPG grabbing during timeshifting from used TV card to not used TV cards to avoid stuffering?

No.

When Power Scheduler is set up to wake up MP in order to do the EPG grabbing, what happen if the MP goes to standby before EPG grabbing finish? Does is start from zero next time?

If PS is working properly, I would have thought it wouldn't allow MP to go to standby until after EPG grabbing has finished.

Best regards,
mm

 

[marttoma]

Hello mm,

thank you for your clear answers. I have configured MP to do EPG grabbing when idle and the issue is gone Amazing!

I would have few more questions:

If PS is working properly, I would have thought it wouldn't allow MP to go to standby until after EPG grabbing has finished.

There is a setting to dont let put MP to standby before the EPG grabbing finish in PS, what happen if you set up in PS to let MP goes to sleep before EPG is finished? When EPG grabbing triggered by PS will start again next time, will it start from first channel or will it continue from last from previous EPG grabbing?

Both of these depend on DVB EPG "refresh every" configuration.
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...figuration/TV-Server_Configuration/05_DVB_EPG

This description is for EPG when idle I think. What is the trigger for EPG when timeshifting and what is the "refresh period"in this case?

Yes... or acquire EPG from another source (eg. XMLTV, WebEPG).

Which EPG method would you recommend for SingleSeat configuration? For TV server running 24/7 the EPG when idle is probably fine option. For SingleSeat configuration I dont know.

Best regards,
marttoma

 

[mm1352000]

I have configured MP to do EPG grabbing when idle and the issue is gone Amazing!

There is a setting to dont let put MP to standby before the EPG grabbing finish in PS, what happen if you set up in PS to let MP goes to sleep before EPG is finished?

First, I'm not a PS expert, so I find it difficult to answer this question.

I can say that I recently saw an issue that was caused by allowing the PC to sleep before EPG grabbing was finished. The PC went to sleep in the middle of tuning, and that caused the tuners to be deadlocked/unresponsive. Therefore I don't know if I can recommend allowing the PC to sleep before EPG grabbing completes.

In general, I suppose that if the EPG grabber is not configured correctly (minimum channels selected) then you will have problems regardless of if the PC is allowed to sleep or not.

If you allow the PC to sleep before EPG grabbing completes, you may find that the EPG is not complete or that MP can't tune channels (unresponsive tuner problem described above).
If you force the PC to stay awake until EPG grabbing completes then the PC may continually grab EPG and never sleep (due to bad EPG grabber configuration).

When EPG grabbing triggered by PS will start again next time, will it start from first channel or will it continue from last from previous EPG grabbing?

It probably depends how long the PC has been sleeping, but I don't really know.

Why do you ask? Are you concerned about something?

This description is for EPG when idle I think. What is the trigger for EPG when timeshifting and what is the "refresh period"in this case?

When timeshifting:
trigger = change to new channel; if you change to another channel before EPG grabbing is completed (approx. 2 minutes) then EPG grabbing would be cancelled
refresh = there is none; if you stay on the same channel for a long time then EPG will eventually run out

Which EPG method would you recommend for SingleSeat configuration? For TV server running 24/7 the EPG when idle is probably fine option. For SingleSeat configuration I dont know.

I don't see any reason why the idle EPG grabber + PS can't work for a single seat configuration.
The choice of method has to be yours, based on how long EPG grabbing takes to complete (...which depends on your channels) and how easy it is to find and configure an external (XMLTV, WebEPG etc.) EPG source. I have no recommendation except to do what works best for you.

Best regards,
mm

 

[marttoma]

Why do you ask? Are you concerned about something?

Yes I was prefering in the past EPG when idle, but my MP is not in idle almost never as we are watching 60% of time live TV, 39% of time recorded TV/ films and 1% life radio. In my case to have updated EPG it means I would have to use Power Scheduler and to trigger EPG grabbing based on PS. Here is the issue as the MP does not go to sleep after EPG grabbing. This was my issue in the past and it was the reason I finally selected EPG when timeshifting, but as you know I have this stuffering problem in this case

Now I changed the EPG grabbing from timeshifting to idle (I did not change anything else) + I set up to wake up MP due to EPG grabbing reason with configuration to not let MP sleep before EPG grabbing is not finished. The PS is set up to wake up MP for EPG grabbing at 4am every day and from this time MP is awake and does not go to sleep - I really dont know why - today in the morning I checked in PS what is preventing to go to sleep in PS (Wakeup / Standby Status) and there was nothing, but MP was all time awake. Here I should add one note: I have to use feature "PS to force system to go to standby when idle" to "(Hybrid) Sleep - S3" to let MP to go to sleep when idle, because when this is managed by Windows, then MP does not go to sleep (TVcard from Digital Devices) is preventing MP to go to sleep.

The EPG needed time to grabb EPG for all channels takes ~2-3 min (1 TV channel takes ~1 sec I think). In case of EPG when timeshifting, EPG was updated every time, I did not have any issue with EPG, just this stuffering

You can see my configuration (described above) in attached files (print screens).

You mentioned in your previous post: if MP does not got to sleep when PS - EPG, this can be due to wrong EPG setting, may be you would know what is wrong with my setting.


Best regards,
marttoma

 

[mm1352000]

Hello again

The PS is set up to wake up MP for EPG grabbing at 4am every day and from this time MP is awake and does not go to sleep - I really dont know why

The reason is that your DVB EPG grabber configuration makes EPG grabbing take several hours.

I seem to explain this over and over again to many people recently...

In the DVB EPG -> TV/radio EPG grabber sections, you should:

• untick "store data only for selected channels"
• the less channels you can tick, the better; ticking all channels is a bad idea (!!!)

The more channels you tick, the longer EPG grabbing takes to complete => PC always awake.

If I were you, based on your previous log files I would start by unticking all TV and radio channels except "Barrandov TV HD". It seems that the full EPG for many channels is available on that frequency:

[2015-06-28 21:10:50,177] [Log ] [22 ] [INFO ] - dvbc: TuneVBC:tv:UPC Barrandov TV HD Freq:770000 ONID:1 TSID:117 SID:1701 PMT:0xAB0 FTA:True LCN:10000 SymbolRate:6900 Modulation:Mod64Qam
...
[2015-06-28 21:12:41,064] [EPG ] [21 ] [INFO ] - dvb:dvb ready.EPG 183 channels
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,059] [EPG ] [21 ] [INFO ] - TimeshiftingEpgGrabber: OnEPGReceived got 183 channels
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,067] [EPG ] [EPG Update thread] [INFO ] - TimeshiftingEpgGrabber: CT 1 lastUpdate:28.6.2015 21:06:53
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,683] [EPG ] [EPG Update thread] [INFO ] - - Inserted 247 epg entries for channel CT 1
[2015-06-28 21:12:44,685] [EPG ] [EPG Update thread] [INFO ] - TimeshiftingEpgGrabber: CT 2 lastUpdate:28.6.2015 21:06:54
[2015-06-28 21:12:45,375] [EPG ] [EPG Update thread] [INFO ] - - Inserted 265 epg entries for channel CT 2
...
etc.

If you find that EPG for certain channels is missing after doing that then you may need to tick additional channels... but I think it will be unlikely.

 

[marttoma]

I seem to explain this over and over again to many people recently...

I think my wrong understading is comming from description in Wiki, by now I understood if you select some channels in TV EPG grabber and check the option "Store data only for the selected channels", MP will grabb EPG only for these selected channels and not for others. Now thanks to you I see it grabbs also EPG for other channels (not checked) if selected channel contains these data.
But how to find there is such channel, which contains data for other channels as well?

The reason is that your DVB EPG grabber configuration makes EPG grabbing take several hours.

This is probably key point of my wrong understanding before, as I was thinking EPG grabbing in my case with full list ocf selected channels takes just 2-3 minutes.

In the DVB EPG -> TV/radio EPG grabber sections, you should:

• untick "store data only for selected channels"
• the less channels you can tick, the better; ticking all channels is a bad idea (!!!)

The more channels you tick, the longer EPG grabbing takes to complete => PC always awake.

I see Thank you.

If I were you, based on your previous log files I would start by unticking all TV and radio channels except "Barrandov TV HD"

I tested and it works, this "Barrandov TV HD" channel really contains EPG for almost all other channels as well (just Slagr TV is missing). How did you find that this "Barrandov TV HD" contains EPG data for other TV channels as well? Which log file did you use to find this information?

I have to tested it EPG when timesfihfting for new EPG configuration (EPG grabbing for "Barrandov TV HD"), if this new config improve stuffering

 

[Sebastiii]

Hi marttoma

Can you write something here for the wiki ?
Like this it could help other too.

Thanks