Re: Recorded TV playback

I applogiize. It appears that my responses are too long for you to read them.
Again, I stipulated your requested info in my last two emails.

Again
1. C drive is controlled by an internal SATA controller.
2. I've run several company's Disk Diagnostic programs to check C drive
health and throughput. Everything comes back 'normal' or 'no problems found'
3. MCE uses Windows Media Player to play .dvr-ms and any videos/DVDs. I have
verstion 11 -- which is not the problem because I suffered through this
irritation in version 10 as well
4. WMP does not have a built-in MPEG decoder (either 1 or 2). It relies on
the user t purchase and install a decoder. (i.e. If I unstall WinDVD, MCE
will not play ANY video of any kind. WMP uses the InterVideo MPEG decoder.
5. I have hardware acceleration checked. Because I started getting errors
when I played media files on the web. A knowledge Base article suggested I
turn down the amount of hardware acceleration to resolve this issue. I did. I
can now play web media.
6. I have two decoders for MPEG. '1Click DVD Copy and DVD43.' Multiple DVD
copy programs (most of which came bundled with suite products. Again, I DO
NOT have trouble playing DVD or copied MPEG-2 files off the C drive. The
stuttering only occurs with .dvr-ms (which are also MPEG-2 based).
7. I downloaded the decoder check program long ago. The trouble was and is
MCE will not install any other video decoder other than the first one in (in
my case Intervideo). I bought a CinePlayer decoder. Add/Remove programs shows
it is installed. Task Manager indicates the CineDecoder is up and running.
However, the DVD Decoder Check only lists Intervideo. Also, the WMP does not
recognize the CinePlayer DVD Decoder Pack plugin I installed.

In the past, discovered that if MCE is set to accept MS Messenger, even Live
TV would stutter as MCE checked for incoming messages. I de-selected MCE
Messenger and even uninstalled Windows Messenger (I have no chat or messenger
services on my PC)



"JW" wrote:

Apparently the C: drive is slower in retriving data then the other drives or
there is some other activity going on on it when you are playing a
recording? And this causes a retrival delay which is not providing enough
clock time left for the decoding and display process

Is the SATA controller for it built into you MOBO or is it a separate
controller or adapter?

The Win DVD player is probably using Overlay rendering instead of DVR9
rendering which MCE always uses.

What is your CPU utilization when only playing a recoded TV program from the
C: drive?

What MPEG2 Decoder are you using? And does it have hardware acceleration
enabled? You can use the following utility to check:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=DE1491AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en

I suggest that you try another such as the Free 30 day trial of the NVIDIA
Decoder if it is not the one you are using.

What make/model graphics card are you using
"GEVan" <GEVan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:13EB6FDF-F216-433C-AB7B-670E109E3101@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Don't know what you mean by 'hard drive cache.' Only thing to tell you is
it
is a SATA, not IDE like I said before. Ultra-DMA. 300GB. 7200 RPM.

Intel 4 chip, 3.2 GHz, 512 MB on board cash, 800 MHz front buss. 2GB RAM.

I'm reluctant to move the pagefile to another drive. If that drive went
out,
then Windows will crash. Sure, it would rebuild one on startup, but I see
better troughput keeping it on the internal drive than moving it outside
the
box. Temp files are on external drive (1 TB, 7200 USB drive). Watching
copied
DVD's (at MPEG-2) from these drives have no problems. Playback of .dvr-ms
files on these drives have no problem. Only when I put a DVD or .dvr-ms on
the C: drive does MCE stutter.

If I use another player for the movies (WinDVD 8), no problems playing
movies on the C: drive. --> the problem must reside in eShell's operation.
I've tried making the priority higher, but no real effect -- in fact, it
seems worse as System Services and programs are now starved for CPU time.

No other CPU intensive programs running duriing recording or playback. If
I'm working on something while I'm recording, then yes, the actual
recording
has temporary halts and stutters as the CPU tries to handle all the info.

Checking memory usage (free memory) and CPU usage during recording, I
average around 1 GB free memory (meaning the pagefile is not being
utilized)
and CPU levels is around %20-30. System is NOT overloading. That's why I
can't figure out why it would be stuttering.

A friend told me to get a stronger power supply (400W -vs- 300W),
believing
my PC is underpowered. But almost all my peripherals are either self
powered
or of minimal power drain (i.e. USB microphone, wireless keyboard, mouse,
etc.)

"JW" wrote:

You could try putting the Pagefile on another drive.
Are there any entries in the event logs that indicate any disk reading
problems when playing recorded TV?
Any unusual CPU utilization when watchng a recording from the C: drive?
What is the speed of C drive and how much cache does it have on it?
"GEVan" <GEVan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:83A8117A-EF69-410B-9C7F-6BD54A92806B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1. No problems with Live TV
2. DMA is enabled
3. I can watch a DVD that I've copied to a HDD without any probems
(unless
I've got a heavy CPU program running in the background.)
4. I record TV to my second internal drive to get smooth playback. It's
only
when I record to the default location (or just C:) that its fouls up.
Since
my drive is 300GB, I'm not making good use for a lot of space
4. IDE all (two drives are self powered USB interface -- and even they
work
well)

"JW" wrote:

Do you have any trouble with LiveTV?
Are DMA tranfers enabled for the drive?
If you have another internal drive other then C have you tried it?
Is C: an IDE drive? If yes is another device on the same IDE bus?
"GEVan" <GEVan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5F204CD9-CB18-44FB-8561-BBD0CFCD7B04@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Why is it when I record TV onto the default c:/../recorded TV the
playback
stutters (i.e. stops/hangs) on a random basis (avg. once per two
minutes.)?
Yet when I record to an external drive, the playback is perfect?

NOTE:
No other programs are running in either scenario.
Messenger service is turned off in MCE and deleted in Windows XP.
All hard drives routinely defragged on a daily/continuous basis. 250
gigs
free on C.
2 gigs RAM.
the 'TEMP directory is on ANOTHER drive (O:/) other than C or the
recorded
TV (P:/) drive. Pagefile remains on C.









.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Recorded TV playback
    ... hyperthreading shouldn't be an issue here (if it was an issue with MCE, ... your background task uses the "CPU" other then the one that you are using ... both in recording and playing. ... and not the USB/IEEE drives? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
  • Re: Recorded TV playback
    ... Any and ALL stuttering/ hang problems come from MCE only. ... Your CPU may be what's called a HyperThreaded or HT CPU which means it looks ... both in recording and playing. ... and not the USB/IEEE drives? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
  • Re: Recorded TV playback
    ... I can make MCE provide smooth plack if I make two adjustments in Windows ... Your CPU may be what's called a HyperThreaded or HT CPU which means it looks ... both in recording and playing. ... and not the USB/IEEE drives? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
  • Re: Recorded TV playback
    ... hyperthreading shouldn't be an issue here (if it was an issue with MCE, ... your background task uses the "CPU" other then the one that you are using ... both in recording and playing. ... and not the USB/IEEE drives? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
  • Re: Recorded TV playback
    ... AFAIK MCE Does not use Media player to play DVDs it goes direct to your ... decoder from their Website and try it. ... DVD's from these drives have no problems. ... No other CPU intensive programs running duriing recording or playback. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)