Playback Issue

[dabeast]

Forgive me if this is not the right forum.

I'm experiencing a play back issue where about every 20-30 seconds the screen with go black for a second then come back and about 3 seconds later the audio will stutter and the screen will freeze, it will then play correctly for about another 20-30 seconds.

Below is a video of what is happening.
http://youtu.be/JQ39OUrTxag

It only seems to happen on the 4 major networks CBS,NBC,ABC,FOX. All my premium movie channels record/play just fine.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT:
The PC is a bit overkill for tv was old gaming machine.
i7 (integrated intel 4000 gfx)
8 gigs of ram
126 gig ssd for os hd
7200 rpm hdd for storage

[Shackleford]

Do you have another source (ClearQAM tuner, television or cable box) to verify if it is an infinitv or wmc issue and not the station or cable company?

[dabeast]

This is only the HD channel. The non HD of those stations do not seem to have the problem. Other TV's in the house do not use a cable box so they only get a few channels but the above channels work fine as they are not the HD versions.

I don't think it is the infiniTV card as I just recently got a new one and it still happens. I just don't know where to begin to debug the issue.

Let me add this there are times when the above issue doesn't happen but most of the time it does.

[werds]

This is only the HD channel. The non HD of those stations do not seem to have the problem. Other TV's in the house do not use a cable box so they only get a few channels but the above channels work fine as they are not the HD versions.

I don't think it is the infiniTV card as I just recently got a new one and it still happens. I just don't know where to begin to debug the issue.

Let me add this there are times when the above issue doesn't happen but most of the time it does.

What programs and or services are running? Have you seen anything unusual in Task Manager when this is occuring? What hardware are you running? What are the specific Signal Noise ratio and signal strength for those particular channels you are suffering the issues from? Sorry for the multiple questions but having to start wide net in order to narrow it down.

[dabeast]

i7 (integrated intel 4000 gfx)
8 gigs of ram
126 gig ssd for os hd
7200 rpm hdd for storage
ceton infinitv 4 card

motoroloa m card
optimum west cable

The machine is an old gaming rig but when I moved it to a tv box I reinstalled everything fresh.

Windows 7 with only media center running and any services that windows needs.

[dabeast]

signal level is 7.2 dBmV
Signal To Noise Level 37.6 db

I have no problem running diag software if there is any I should run to try and help solve the issue just looking for where to start.

Thanks,

[JazJon]

Just checked out your video, looks SO familiar from a few years ago but I can't remember what it was all about. Do you have an Audio Video Receiver between the output of your HTPC and the TV? If so try connecting the HDMI directly to the TV as a test. I remember re-running the Digital Cable adviser too. (some strange HDCP problem) This is all a vague memory so sorry I can't recall my exact fix from a few years ago. I'd also make sure you have the latest intel video driver installed first. That's all I can think of but I know I'm missing something else.

[dabeast]

It is connected directly to the TV.
I'll check my drivers.

If it was an issue like HDCP wouldn't it happen on all the channels?

Thanks,

[JazJon]

It is connected directly to the TV.
I'll check my drivers.

If it was an issue like HDCP wouldn't it happen on all the channels?

Thanks,

That's a good question, I think it's only for high res 1080i/1080p requirements so maybe yes maybe no.

If nobody else has a good idea on what to try, I'd do a diagnostics capture a Ceton Diagnostics zip file, open up a Ceton support ticket, and have them analyse the signals/conditions

I've seen pixelation but not full pause black outs like that

[dabeast]

Using the same tv I set up my xbox as a extender and the same issue through that. If that helps at all.

I'm going to try and borrow another tv that has hdmi and see if it does it on that tv.

[Shackleford]

If I had to guess at this point I'm betting its coming from the cable company. I had something like that happening at one point and it was the channel. Did you use a different hdmi cable and different TV input?

[JohnW248]

have you checked the debug screen while watching the channels with trouble? (Info +411 on the remote) and see what's going on with the frame rate (last screen last entry) or if there is any issue with the signal. These channels should be clear and therefore would not have HDCP issues, that's reserved for protected content like HBO and almost everything else on TWC but not clear channels.

Since it shows up on both the xbox and your computer, that moves it out of the display driver area and is more likely a signal issue with those channels. ABC & FOX are 720p, CBS & NBC are 1080i but who knows what's going on with the cable headend. This sounds like there might be a sync issue between the audio and video signals but check the debug screen. Chances are the fix is up stream from you since it happens on both the xbox and computer.

Can you record a program and play it back? Have you installed any third party codecs? Is your Windows FW on? Are you running MS Security Essentials?

[dabeast]

The framerate doesn't change that was the first thing I checked as I'm aware of the 29/59 bug.

I can record the shows but the issue show up in the recorded playback also.
No third party codecs, firewall is on yes, not running security essentials.

[JohnW248]

Running any AVS? If so remove (not disable) and see if that clears the issue.

Can you playback the recorded show with other players since it's clearqam? You should be able to play in Media Player, Nero KwikTV, Nero Showtime, VLC, etc. At least that would give a hint if it's inbound or playback. My guess now is that it's inbound and maybe it's data rate? Do you have options for different drives for Recorded tv? If so change to a different drive (not OS drive) that buffer won't change until you reboot (it should if you stop and start ehRecvr but that never worked for me). A recording will go to the new drive without a reboot so if you change the destination and then start recording from ABC and then watching that recording it'll tell you if it's drive related.

[dabeast]

I do not run any AVS on that machine.

I will try the playback on vlc tonight.

I only have 2 drives in the machine a SSD for the OS and a 3TB 7300rpm drive for storage (recorded tv).

You mentioned data rate is there a way to check/solve that then?

[JohnW248]

I do not run any AVS on that machine.

I will try the playback on vlc tonight.

I only have 2 drives in the machine a SSD for the OS and a 3TB 7300rpm drive for storage (recorded tv).

You mentioned data rate is there a way to check/solve that then?

If you have another drive (USB/Firewire/eSata) you can plug that in for testing and use it as a Recorded TV destination.

To check the data rate, open the network and sharing center and on the left click on change adapter settings, when that opens right click on the Ceton and choose status. You'll see the connection and send receive. You can leave that open as you tune one of your trouble stations then close that tune and open a tune on a channel that works and notice the difference.

The PCIe4 card appears as a 100mb network card and the USB tuner appears as a 412.3 Gbs device. (Don't have a PCIe4 card installed on this machine now).

In any event you should be able to handle a full ATSC legal broadcast without issue unless there is a hardware issue or something on the incoming signal. Hardware to check would be the recording HD and the drive controller. Since the 3TB is a 7200rpm drive, it doesn't sound like it's a slow "green" drive. Since you said you saw the same problem with over the air and cable, that kinda eliminates something the cable company is doing in converting 8VSB to 256QAM.

[signcarver]

I have seen such behavior even on STBs from the cable company (if you have one you may wish to see if it happens there and/or on a digital television if these stations are in clear qam as that would eliminate the computer and its tuner entirely. (I just saw that you stated it is not present on your digital televisions so that rules out that possibility, though often they seem to be able to compensate for errors better)

In addition to what John said about the drive, Do you have/use MoCA as I have seen such stuttering when the "beacon" signal get transmitted and there isn't a filter or the input to a tuner.

The other thing I point to when there is a problem with clear qam on a cablecard tuner and not on encrypted stations is CGMS as an encrypted signal is expected to have the CCI data which will trump CGMS while an unencrypted signal may not have CCI present...

[dabeast]

Just to be clear as the above 2 posts seem like they may have misunderstood me.

Using the ceton card pcie.
channel 5 (CBS) non hd does not have the issue
channel 505 (CBS) HD has the problem

I also have not tried to use an over the air antenna with the ceton card.

On an old tube tv without any cable box or tuner card channel 5 comes in just fine
EDIT: the old tube tv is connected to the cable using a splitter. (Cable company pushes about 70 channels you can watch without a digital box)

The problem does not happen all the time but when it does the channel is almost unwatchable.

@signcarver - MoCA?

[JohnW248]

Just to be clear as the above 2 posts seem like they may have misunderstood me.

Using the ceton card pcie.
channel 5 (CBS) non hd does not have the issue
channel 505 (CBS) HD has the problem

I also have not tried to use an over the air antenna with the ceton card.

On an old tube tv without any cable box or tuner card channel 5 comes in just fine
EDIT: the old tube tv is connected to the cable using a splitter. (Cable company pushes about 70 channels you can watch without a digital box)

The problem does not happen all the time but when it does the channel is almost unwatchable.

@signcarver - MoCA?

The Ceton card does not have an ATSC tuner and won't tune over the air. It appears that the only way you're seeing HD from channel 5/505 is with the Ceton tuner. Have you looked at that channel on another display just to rule out that issue? Can you connect a different display to your PC and check it? (Remember if you run dual displays with the PC you have to run expanded desktop and not cloned since cloned violates DRM).

MoCA is a method of sending Ethernet over Coax and is popular with Verizon and for use in homes that have coax wiring and no Ethernet for extenders. There is an issue with a signal interference that occurs on some channels with Verizon and requires a filter to remove it from the feed to an extender or a tuner.

One other thing to check is the frequency you are having issues with. If you have a standard set-up for your Ceton card, the default address is 192.168.200.1 which you can open in a browser and check the frequency under the tuner tab for the channels that have the issue. There can be several QAM channels on the same frequency and if all your problems are on the same frequency or close, there might an interferernce issue from cellphones, LTE data on cellphones, or other radio sources that are leaking.

A tight coax installation is the first line of defense if you find this issue which is to make sure all connectors are tight, compression not crimp ring and hopefully made by the cable company and not from radio shack, et al.

Remember that channel numbers have no bearing on the location of the cable frequency and 505 and 506 can be very far apart.

[dabeast]

Quick status update.

The original file (youtube clip) does not play in VLC it starts and after about 3 seconds just freezes so it would seem like the file is corrupt.

Last night I watched CBS all night and it never happened once. Same hardware setup as before. So I am at a loss again.