Video stutter on DVB-T on Win7 Hauppauge HVR4400 & ATI Video card

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Video stutter on DVB-T on Win7 Hauppauge HVR4400 & ATI Video card

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#87095 19-Jul-2011 19:46

Hi. I'm having problems with stuttering video on live TV on my Media centre PC.

This thread takes up from the following forum where it got off topic somewhat.
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=86965.

To Summarize:

I have a Win7 Pro 64 bit PC, Hauppauge HVR4400 with latest driver. Error free terrestrial signal. Asus P7P55D-E Motherboard, I7 870 CPU, 4GB ram, Asus Radeon EAH5770 graphics, V11.6 Catalyst driver CPU about 6%

I have scanned both Terrestrial & Satellite channels and merged all the channels. Made the Terrestrial the preferred tuner.

I am seeing some stuttering in the video on Live TV (DTT). Pain in the Arse.
I don't see any stutter on Satellite including SBSHD.
The only difference is in the signal format. I believe that satellite is MPEG2, and Terrestrial H264/MPEG4.

I have updated to Win7 SP1, and the tuner driver a couple of days ago and updated to the latest Catalyst driver. No difference

There are plenty of forum threads suggesting this may be to do with the ATI Catalyst driver for the video card

My event log is full of multiple information events from the catalyst video driver. Hundreds a second. seems to recur in batches at random intervals

"Information 17/07/2011 11:06:26 a.m. amdkmdag6246 4DVD_OV"

This is something to do with checking that the display device is HDCP compliant and the event log spamming is a known issue. The developer is aware of the issue and it is supposed to be resolved in the next release of the catalyst driver v1.7

My TV is the secondary display on my PC connected by VGA so it is not HDCP compliant.

When I first configured the Terrestrial tuner I had to disable an added H264 codec to get any picture at all. Is there an alternative H264 codec I can use with media centre?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

My next test is to see if the stutter occurs on the primary BenQ display which is I think HDCP compliant.

Allen.

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384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#495551 20-Jul-2011 07:54

Do you get the stuttering when you play an HD .mkv video?

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AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#495927 20-Jul-2011 20:32

blur: Do you get the stuttering when you play an HD .mkv video?

15GB MKV of 2001 A Space Odyssey plays perfectly on media player. 16% CPU. From memory this was a either a straight 1:1 backup or re-encode to 720p from Bluray using dvdfab.

I have tested after removing the Shark007 codec pack, installing an updated Shark007 codec pack, changed the codec settings to use Microsoft, and alternative codecs. Symptoms change from stutter to picture breakup/pixelation, but I havn't found a fix yet.

This issue is with live TV. I have now seen it on Terrestrial and some Satellite channels. It is random, sometimes I see it several times in a program, sometimes none.

I have seen it occur on timeshifted playback, but not usually in the same place twice.

I like the media centre interface but I'm thinking it's time to try something else maybe DVB-Viewer?
Any other suggestions

Regards Allen.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496027 20-Jul-2011 23:22

Just installed Media Portal. Still got the video stutter. Will watch for a while tomorrow and see if it's improved. Media portal uses a different H264 decoder than media center. PowerDVD9. May try the other decoder options tomorrow.

Text on the Media Portal install & config screens are a bit buggy with text overlapping etc but main app screen looks OK.
Functions on the hauppauge remote are in the wrong place. Anyone know which remote control option I should select for a Hauppauge Media Centre remote?

Regards Allen.

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496075 21-Jul-2011 08:29

If you want your MediaPortal to look a little like MediaCentre, then install the Maya Skin.

Do you know someone with a different video card you can try? My thoughts are for the sake of $100 - $200 then it might be worth just buying a NVIDIA or similar! At least it will save your sanity.

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496078 21-Jul-2011 08:36

Edit: I've just googled the Asus EAH5770 and it looks to be a top-notch card, and should have no issues. That said, I have always been prejudiced towards NvIDIA for some reason. Probably because I've had a good run with them.

I still think you should also run diagnostics on your Western Digital Black drive. My stuttering was caused by a Western Digital Black 2TB drive that was failing when it was writing viedo to the drive. Even when playing "live TV" you are still writing to the drive and then playing it so you can pause live tv, rewind etc.

Jump on the Western Digital website and download the diagnostic tools under the support section.

Dingbatt

6737 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#496101 21-Jul-2011 09:31

Your tuner card isn't right next to your graphics card on the motherboard by any chance is it?

Had a problem with EM interference in the past.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=84&TopicId=21214

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

sittingduckz

680 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#496103 21-Jul-2011 09:31

I have the same issue Win7 Pro 64 bit PC, Hauppauge HVR2200 with latest driver. I7 CPU, 6GB ram, nvidia gtx260 graphics. I been trying to cure this for ages.

Only terrestrial signal and usually only certain programs. 7 Days seems to start glitching about 1/2 way through.

It was really bad when I had my ATI card. Changed to nvidia and now improved but still not perfect. I have not reinstalled windows yet, I've heard that the catalyst drivers can still cause issues with the nvidia card because they are not completely removed.

I have not tested this theory yet

I'm not a complete idiot, I still have some parts missing.

sittingduckz

680 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#496104 21-Jul-2011 09:34

Dingbatt: Your tuner card isn't right next to your graphics card on the motherboard by any chance is it?

I hadn't thought of this, it could cause interference. I will check mine tonight

I'm not a complete idiot, I still have some parts missing.

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496105 21-Jul-2011 09:34

Dingbatt: Your tuner card isn't right next to your graphics card on the motherboard by any chance is it?

Had a problem with EM interference in the past.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=84&TopicId=21214

Are you thinking that the heat from the video card might be causing an issue?

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496107 21-Jul-2011 09:37

sittingduckz:
Dingbatt: Your tuner card isn't right next to your graphics card on the motherboard by any chance is it?

I hadn't thought of this, it could cause interference. I will check mine tonight

I had this issue in the early days with my Hauppauge Nova-S-Plus which was seated in the PCI slot right next to the double-bay video card. They were only a few millimeters apart and was blocking airflow. It didn't case stuttering, but the image was pixelating badly. Moved the Hauppauge card one slot over and bingo - problem solved.

Dingbatt

6737 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#496117 21-Jul-2011 09:53

Not heat. Electromagnetic interference. In my case the graphics chip was adjacent to the tuner chip. I eventually moved the tuner to another slot and problem went away. Sorry about the brevity but I'm writing this on my phone. Read the linked thread.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496347 21-Jul-2011 17:44

I have just found some useful information that I will pursue tonight.

I am running 64 bit windows. Media centre is 64 bit on 64 bit windows. 64 bit media centre uses 64 bit codecs. Most formats are supported natively with Windows Foundation codecs.

Heres where it gets interesting....

on 64 bit windows two versions of Media Player are installed, a 32 bit version and a 64 bit version.
By default the 32 bit version is used when launching media player.

So Media played directly with media player uses the 32 bit player and 32 bit codecs and media played by media centre on a 64 bit machine uses the 64 bit media player and 64 bit codecs.

All my tinkering with codecs has been with Sharky007 32 bit codec pack and configureation tool. changing the preferred codec and even disabling windows foundation codecs had no effect on the video stutter.

I have seen a link on Sharkys website to 64 bit codec pack, but didn't see the need for it.

I am hoping that installing the 64 bit codec pack with 64bit FFDshow codecs will fix the stutter problem.

So 32 codecs for media player, 64 bit codecs for media centre & other 64 bit players.

I'll post back later...

Allen.

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496388 21-Jul-2011 19:45

Hmmm... Not sure that this will be the issue, however I have used the k-lite codec packs in the past. I too am using x64 bit windows and they do both versions.

B.

sbiddle

30853 posts

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#496395 21-Jul-2011 19:54

Any reason why you don't just stick to the stock standard MS DTV Decoder which is guaranteed to work?

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#496399 21-Jul-2011 20:07

Shark007 64bit codecs may have helped a little, but hasn't cured it. When focus is returned to another window or TV in a window while using the pc for other tasks It looks to have less hesitation than before.

I don't think it's the HDD or Tuner because I can rewind the pause buffer after a "Stutter" event and the same section of the program will play without stuttering.

Anyone know how to show what codecs are currently being used in media center? There is mention in some forums about pressing 411 and the "More info" button. I dont have a more info button.
411 and the "Info" button just brings up the normal program info page.

Will go back to trying Media Portal.

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