Consistent picture issues (stuttering/pixilation)

[Dkeyguy1]

Oddly my issue always happens the most on certain channels and not at all on others.

This is where I was before I replaced all my lines and splitters

[Wetzel402]

Another cable card is worth a shot. I had issues getting a working card at first and maybe it doesn't "work" properly.

I have a Logitech RF keyboard but it doesn't have the nice MCE controls

[Wetzel402]

I think I'm finally getting to the bottom of the problem. Ceton tech support asked me to send them a 2 - 3 min recording that includes stuttering/pixilation. They were able to view the recording without problems so now it is looking like a hardware/driver issue on my end. Not the greatest thing to hear but at least I have somewhere concrete to start.

I will, of course, start with drivers and BIOS updates. If that doesn't work I may look into moving my GPU if I have a free 16x slot.

[barnabas1969]

Holy cow, Batman! You've been dealing with this for more than 18 months?

Ummm... you say that you have verified that the frame rate doesn't change, so it's not the 29/59 issue. Are you certain?

Also, if I were you, I'd be wanting to verify that it isn't something wrong with the tuner at this point. Have you tried another tuner (of a different brand)? Maybe you should try the Silicondust HD HomeRun PRIME tuner. I've avoided posting a response because you're using a Ceton tuner... and some Ceton fan boys will crucify me for saying this... but it might be worth your time (especially since you've found no resolution in 18 months) to try a different brand of tuner.

In my experience, the InfininTV is excruciatingly picky about the signal, and the HD HomeRun Prime is not.

You can buy it on Amazon and return it within the 30 day return period without any cost, if you tell Amazon that it didn't work for you. It can't hurt to try.

[RyC]

Didn't he say that when Ceton support played a recording where he saw stuttering, they didn't see any stuttering? Doesn't seem to be the tuner in this instance...

Ceton tech support asked me to send them a 2 - 3 min recording that includes stuttering/pixilation. They were able to view the recording without problems so now it is looking like a hardware/driver issue on my end

[Yeveisna]

Holy cow, Batman! You've been dealing with this for more than 18 months?

Ummm... you say that you have verified that the frame rate doesn't change, so it's not the 29/59 issue. Are you certain?

Also, if I were you, I'd be wanting to verify that it isn't something wrong with the tuner at this point. Have you tried another tuner (of a different brand)? Maybe you should try the Silicondust HD HomeRun PRIME tuner. I've avoided posting a response because you're using a Ceton tuner... and some Ceton fan boys will crucify me for saying this... but it might be worth your time (especially since you've found no resolution in 18 months) to try a different brand of tuner.

In my experience, the InfininTV is excruciatingly picky about the signal, and the HD HomeRun Prime is not.

You can buy it on Amazon and return it within the 30 day return period without any cost, if you tell Amazon that it didn't work for you. It can't hurt to try.

Ceton requested he send in a recording 2 minutes minimum to 3 minutes maximum that showed signs of the issues. Upon Ceton's viewing of the recording they saw no such problems on their end.

Ceton fan boys will crucify you? You mean people not replying to your solution as often as you advertise it in the Ceton section, is a form of crucifixion?

[Crash2009]

so now it is looking like a hardware/driver issue on my end.

Those guys down at Ceton are pretty smart. Were they able to tell you specifically which piece of hardware? and exactly what does "hardware/driver" mean?
1-failing hardware
2-failing driver
3-both
Could you copy and paste their words here?

[richard1980]

While stuttering by itself could possibly be related to 29/59, pixelation is not. Pixelation indicates that the decoder is not receiving the full data stream. Since recordings play fine on a different system (whatever system Ceton used), that indicates that there is nothing wrong with the signal or the pipeline from the cable line to the recording drive. That effectively rules out all of the hardware in the system except the CPU and GPU.

[Wetzel402]

Ceton's response:

We viewed the recording you made and were able to view it without any sort of pixelation at all. This leads us to believe there's some sort of hardware issue on your end, rather than a problem with the InfiniTV or signal/SNR. We recommend that you verify that your BIOS and video card drivers are up-to-date.

Let us know if that helps, and let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Ceton Support

Since I last posted I:

• Tried changing the setting so the GPU controls the graphics rather than the software
  Updated my BIOS
  Deleted the Nvidia supplied driver and tried the Windows update driver
  Tried and still have installed the GPU manufacturer driver

After each step I tried playing back my recording with the same result.

Next up I am going to try moving the GPU to a different slot if I have an open one. I also may try, if it is powerful enough, my on-board GPU. I odd thing, now that I'm leaning toward the GPU, is that during a GPU test no errors are detected even under full load.

I did change MoBos at some point in the past but I have always been using the 9800 GT so if it is bad that would explain why the problem still exists after the swap.

[Wetzel402]

Holy cow, Batman! You've been dealing with this for more than 18 months?

Ummm... you say that you have verified that the frame rate doesn't change, so it's not the 29/59 issue. Are you certain?

Also, if I were you, I'd be wanting to verify that it isn't something wrong with the tuner at this point. Have you tried another tuner (of a different brand)? Maybe you should try the Silicondust HD HomeRun PRIME tuner. I've avoided posting a response because you're using a Ceton tuner... and some Ceton fan boys will crucify me for saying this... but it might be worth your time (especially since you've found no resolution in 18 months) to try a different brand of tuner.

In my experience, the InfininTV is excruciatingly picky about the signal, and the HD HomeRun Prime is not.

You can buy it on Amazon and return it within the 30 day return period without any cost, if you tell Amazon that it didn't work for you. It can't hurt to try.

Believe me, I've walked away from the project several times and always return for more punishment

I've verified several times using the WMC debug screen that it isn't the 29/59 issue.

[Crash2009]

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=3907#ov

Is this the board you have? Try a different video card in it. GTS 450 has some nice specs

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/gts-450

There is one other possibility...Maybe your Bios just needs an adjustment...

[Wetzel402]

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=3907#ov

Is this the board you have? Try a different video card in it. GTS 450 has some nice specs

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/gts-450

There is one other possibility...Maybe your Bios just needs an adjustment...

That is my MoBo.

I plan to try some older Nvidia drivers and I also found a thread talking about a "noise reduction" setting that was able to correct stuttering for several people on the Nvidia forums years ago that is worth a shot if the setting still exists.

As far as a bios adjustment, I wouldn't know where to start. I have never done more that changing boot priority.

A question for anyone who knows, does the PC still process all video when extending? I was thinking it might be worth using my Xboxs to help troubleshoot the problem but if the PC still handles all the load then the stuttering and pixilation will remain.

[barnabas1969]

No, the PC does not process the video when you use an extender.

[Crash2009]

As far as a bios adjustment, I wouldn't know where to start. I have never done more that changing boot priority.

If you can change boot priority, you can change INIT FIRST DISPLAY. There are lots of video's out there on the AWARD BIOS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... J_hWeg_wF0 This guy gives a good demonstration.

[Wetzel402]

If you are referring to setting the external graphics to have priority over internal/on-board then that is already set. If not, please explain further

[Crash2009]

If you are referring to setting the external graphics to have priority over internal/on-board then that is already set. If not, please explain further

OK. Just wanted to confirm that, since you said, "I wouldn't know where to start. I have never done more that changing boot priority."

What driver are you using for the 9800? Have you tried uninstalling the driver, boot, then use windows update to install the driver it prefers to use?

[Wetzel402]

I might be a bit more inept than that with bios settings but I'm no expert

As Ceton suggested I'm going to try several old drivers. I already have tried the latest driver from Nvidia, the GPU manufacturer, and Windows. None of them solved the problem.

I also tried adjusting "noise reduction" in the Nvidia control panel after finding a forum discussing the setting helping stuttering and pixilation issues. It helped but didn't solve the problem.

[Crash2009]

Another question for you. Did you CLR CMOS after updating the bios?

[Wetzel402]

I'm not particularly familiar with clearing the cmos. I did set bios defaults when the bios was updated and have since saved some setting changes to the cmos.

During my recent troubleshooting I tried the following:

• Adjusting the noise reduction setting in the Nvidia control panel does have an effect but doesn't make playback acceptable.
  10 different old Nvidia drivers. None of them corrected the problem and during the process I found that watching the same recorded clip 3 times will yield varying amounts of stuttering/pixilation regardless of driver version.
  Moved my GPU from one PCIe slot to the other open x16 which caused no change in quality.

I still need to:

• Try a different TV with the HTPC
  Try a different HDMI cable
  Try extending to my Xbox

[barnabas1969]

You can clear CMOS by setting the jumper as described in your motherboard's manual, or you can unplug the power cable, and remove the lithium battery for 5 minutes. This will reset everything in BIOS back to defaults, and it's always a good idea to do this after updating to a new BIOS version. After you put the lithium battery back in, and plug in the power cable, you'll need to change settings in BIOS again.