Topic: Audio Stutter, Live TV [Solved] (Read 8814 times)

1maynard · « **on:** January 13, 2018, 09:18:26 pm »

I have been having a problem with audio stutter when watching live OTA TV. I have HD Homerun network TV tuners. I have tried different audio settings, increased the buffer time and still have the issue. What is strange is it does not do it all of the time. Seems to get worse the longer you watch TV. I never had this issue when I was using Kodi with Media Portal. I loaded a copy of HD Homerun view on my HTPC to see if I had the issue and watched TV all evening and it never skipped a beat. I can switch to my TV and use its tuner and it also works fine, no stuttering. I adjusted my antenna and checked signal strength and most all stations are at 95-100% signal strength. I have a I7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 8 gb ram and a GTX 950 GPU. Windows 10 Home, so I should have more than enough power to run it. I am using WASPI set to exclusive access. also I am running RED October HQ and my video quality is excellent. If I play back a recorded TV show it does not stutter and playing a DVD copy also plays and sounds fine. Playing CD Rips also sound fantastic. Only stutters when watching live OTA TV. Any body have any suggestions as the wife is starting to complain.
Thanks

mwillems · « **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2018, 09:55:20 pm »

I have noticed the same isue with an HDHomerun Prime for quite a while; it's fine when it starts, but after about an hour of live tv watching audio starts glitching intermittently which gets worse over time. I also don't have any issues with recorded TV or any other content, and i don't know what causes it.

The good news is that I can tell you that there is a really easy work around: press the pause button (not hte stop button) to pause the show, and then press pause again to unpause. Pausing the show momentarily allows the audio to resync, and automatically triggers a change from live playback to timeshifting mode so you don't actually miss any part of the show. The glitch doesn't recur for me once the switch to timeshifting is made.

Hope this helps.

1maynard · « **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2018, 09:17:45 am »

Thanks, I will try that tonight. I am wondering if there is a setting that can be changed to prevent this from happening. Last night when it started the stuttering I started HD Homerun view on my laptop and tuned to the same station as we were watching and it never stuttered at all for the hour that I watched it. In the meantime we had to shut down JRiver and use the TV antenna to watch TV the rest of the evening. This seems to be a bug in JRiver to me because I never had the problem when I was using Kodi/Media Portal as my PVR. Two years ago I downloaded a trial of JRiver and ran it at the same time I was evaluating Kodi and I do not recall it ever stuttering. I really hope someone can help solve this as the wife is starting to push me to switch back to Kodi because of it. I almost have MC set up how I want it and except for this issue I really love it. The video and audio sound quality during playback of copied CD's and DVD/BluRay's if fantastic. Watching live TV has a better picture quality than I ever had with Kodi.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2018, 04:24:49 pm »

Similar problem over here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112649.0.html Same points for you.

Have you checked the setting in MC? "Options > Theatre View > Behaviour > Disable Windows Media Center"

Others may disagree, but based on many issues seen with MC, having WMC even installed and set up on the same PC as JRiver MC can cause problems. Even if WMC isn't being run at the same time, it will be trying to collect EPG data on a regular basis, which can interfere with MC functions. Particularly Live TV.

If possible you should uninstall WMC from the PC to test JRiver MC properly. You could take a full backup of the boot drive if that is where WMC is installed, and restore that backup if needed. Or if you could just make sure the no part of WMC is left running, or started during a reboot. That may be enough to allow MC to work correctly. Worth a try.

Also, use the very latest version of MC23 available. There have been a number of changes to TV and the way certain tuners are handled.

It would also be worth searching the forum for threads from other people moving from WMC to JRiver MC. There have been a lot of discussions and fixes.

tzr916 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2018, 05:15:14 pm »

What type of audio connection? hdmi or...
To what? Tv or AVR or speakers or...
Are you using bitstreaming or not?
Do you have anything in DSP enabled or not?
Do you have "Video Clock" enable/disabled?
Have you installed the latest HDHR Firmware and Software?
What version of MC?

I have never had any audio skipping for Live Tv (or otherwise), three HDHRP boxes w/3 Cablecards, using hdmi bitstreaming to AVR (no DSP), Video Clock disabled.

1maynard · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2018, 07:10:11 am »

Quote from: RoderickGI on January 14, 2018, 04:24:49 pm

Similar problem over here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112649.0.html Same points for you.

Have you checked the setting in MC? "Options > Theatre View > Behaviour > Disable Windows Media Center"

Option is checked Disable WMC, also since this is a win 10 machine there is no WMC so the other adivec should not be applicable, I do have Media Portal installed on this PC.

Yesterday I started MC around noon and had the wife monitor it for stutter. she watched it all afternoon and around 5:30 it started stuttering the audio. She paused it like mwilliams suggested and it stopped stuttering for a short time than started back up and kept getting worse. It also got out of sync with the video. I then turned HDHomerun view on on my laptop ant tuned to the same channel and it played fine. During a commercial I shut down MC on the HTPC and started up Media Portal and switched to the same channel and watched TV using it the rest of the night. I had no stuttering issues or sync problems. I really think it is some kind of a bug or a settings issue in MC. I have tried different audio settings WASAPI and direct sound as well as default audio device direct sound and no changes.

TZR916, My audio connection is HDMI to AVR with passthrough to LB 65 B6 oled. I am not using bitstreaming as recommended, nothing enabled in DSP, video clock is enabled, I installed latest HDHR software to see if it would help and no change. I am running latest version of MC. I downloaded it to see if it would help, it made no change. I am using Red October HQ because I have a I7-2600 CPU along with a GTX-950 GPU. and 8gb ram. so my pc should be more than capable. As I have said before the stuttering only happens when running MC. I had many issues with Kodi/Next PVR, Kodi/ Media Portal. but when using them I did not have audio stutter. When I was running WMC it also played Tive TV fine without stutter. I am open to any suggestions on solving this. I really want to continue using MC because of all of its wonderful features but the stutter issue is a deal breaker. I have 16 days left on my free trial and would really like to solve this. I want to thank those that are trying to help me.

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1maynard · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2018, 08:10:50 am »

Last night when the audio started stuttering I recorded the TV show that we were watching live before I switched to Media Portal. I just watched the recording and it played perfectly so the stutter issue is only when viewing live TV. There must be something with the way that MC decodes the live signal vs recording it. Hope this helps with solving the issue.

tzr916 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2018, 11:50:33 am »

Quote from: 1maynard

...I am not using bitstreaming as recommended ... video clock is enabled..

That's the opposite of what I am using.

I am using bitstreaming to an AVR. I'm sure there's plenty here that will say bitstreaming in MC is not recommended. Guess that's true for audio of higher quality, but for Tv it should be fine.

I don't have any sync issues so I have video clock disabled.

Have you tried changing those two settings?

1maynard · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2018, 01:21:52 pm »

Quote from: tzr916 on January 15, 2018, 11:50:33 am

That's the opposite of what I am using.

I am using bitstreaming to an AVR. I'm sure there's plenty here that will say bitstreaming in MC is not recommended. Guess that's true for audio of higher quality, but for Tv it should be fine.

I don't have any sync issues so I have video clock disabled.

Have you tried changing those two settings?

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try changing them tonight to see if it helps. I have to say that the people on this site are much more helpful than the other sites that I have been on when I was running their software.

On another note the wife started up the HTPC a short while ago and the sound would not work. I had to restart the PC to get it back. Has me wondering if windows could be causing my sound issues? I leave the PC running all of the time because when I was running Kodi it would not start up 1/2 of the tine when resuming from sleep. I have to check to see if windows did some updates recently. The windows 10 has only been running on this pc for the last two weeks. I have had the audio stutter has been here from the beginning, the no sound issue is new. If all else fails I may do a fresh download of JRiver MC.

JimH · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2018, 01:27:59 pm »

If you have no sound, right click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner of the Windows desktop, then select audio mixer. Check to see if something is muted.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #10 on:** January 15, 2018, 05:01:30 pm »

Sorry I missed in your first post that MC is running on a Windows 10 PC.

There have been a few people report stuttering of Live TV, but not many. One was a bad ethernet cable/driver/NIC which meant the HDHomeRun was dropping packets. In that case WMC and the SiliconDust software was still working fine. See this thread from this point on: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,111492.msg775310.html#msg775310
Specifically, there is a "Low Level test for network packet loss" you can do for dropped packets. See here: https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5877

Others have seen a failing HDHomeRun power supply cause the problem, even though other software worked fine with it. It would make sense that if a power supply was weak or failing that the issue would show up after it was in use for some time and had warmed up. That would be consistent with your observations.

You upgraded the HDHomeRun software. Did that update the tuner Firmware to the latest at the same time? From their Software Changelog it looks like the latest software (Release 20171221) doesn't do a Firmware update, but the previous Release 20170930 does. There doesn't appear to be anything significant in their Firmware Changelog, but they don't always list every change in there. You may need to install Software Release 20170930 of the software to get the latest Firmware, or use the firmware update through the device webpage. (Ref: Firmware Release 20170815 - "Add support for upgrading the firmware via the device webpage.") Be sure to reboot the HDHomeRun after a firmware update.

As you are using a HDMI connection to your AVR, have you installed the latest Video Drivers? They handle the audio through HDMI. Reboot after update.

Are you running WASAPI Event Style? Or have you disabled it at "Options > Audio > Audio Device > Device setttings > Disable Event Style (required by older hardware)"? Using Event Style should be better, but perhaps try with an without it.

Quote from: 1maynard on January 15, 2018, 08:10:50 am

Last night when the audio started stuttering I recorded the TV show that we were watching live before I switched to Media Portal. I just watched the recording and it played perfectly so the stutter issue is only when viewing live TV. There must be something with the way that MC decodes the live signal vs recording it. Hope this helps with solving the issue.

I'm pretty sure but not positive that Yaobing (the primary TV developer at JRiver) has said that Live TV uses a different playback engine (the TV Engine) to when MC is playing a recording or just a file. I can't find the reference though, so I could be imagining it. If so that test doesn't help a lot. But it does confirm that the audio stream isn't corrupted.

Maybe when Yaobing spots the thread he will ask for logs.

1maynard · « **Reply #11 on:** January 15, 2018, 06:11:41 pm »

Quote from: JimH on January 15, 2018, 01:27:59 pm

If you have no sound, right click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner of the Windows desktop, then select audio mixer. Check to see if something is muted.

Thanks Jim,I checked that first, nothing is muted. Strange thing is now every time I exit and reopen MC I lose sound until I restart the PC. I guess tomorrow morning I will need to do some investigating. Seems like the more I try to correct the issue the more problems it causes.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2018, 06:47:07 pm »

Do you use Internal Volume and have Volume Protection turned on? If so the MC volume will be dropped to 20% at start of playback.

But that should happen after a reboot as well. Curious.

1maynard · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2018, 07:20:30 pm »

Quote from: RoderickGI on January 15, 2018, 05:01:30 pm

Sorry I missed in your first post that MC is running on a Windows 10 PC.

There have been a few people report stuttering of Live TV, but not many. One was a bad ethernet cable/driver/NIC which meant the HDHomeRun was dropping packets. In that case WMC and the SiliconDust software was still working fine. See this thread from this point on: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,111492.msg775310.html#msg775310
Specifically, there is a "Low Level test for network packet loss" you can do for dropped packets. See here: https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5877

Others have seen a failing HDHomeRun power supply cause the problem, even though other software worked fine with it. It would make sense that if a power supply was weak or failing that the issue would show up after it was in use for some time and had warmed up. That would be consistent with your observations.

I have replaced the power supplier with better quality one's last year when one of them failed. Thing is I can close out of MC when the stuttering starts and use the tuners with HD Homerun view or Media portal and there is no stuttering.

You upgraded the HDHomeRun software. Did that update the tuner Firmware to the latest at the same time? From their Software Changelog it looks like the latest software (Release 20171221) doesn't do a Firmware update, but the previous Release 20170930 does. There doesn't appear to be anything significant in their Firmware Changelog, but they don't always list every change in there. You may need to install Software Release 20170930 of the software to get the latest Firmware, or use the firmware update through the device webpage. (Ref: Firmware Release 20170815 - "Add support for upgrading the firmware via the device webpage.") Be sure to reboot the HDHomeRun after a firmware update.

I am on the latest firmware I just checked.

As you are using a HDMI connection to your AVR, have you installed the latest Video Drivers? They handle the audio through HDMI. Reboot after update.

I am using HDMI for all connections, I updated the Video Drivers and rebooted when done. No change.

Are you running WASAPI Event Style? Or have you disabled it at "Options > Audio > Audio Device > Device setttings > Disable Event Style (required by older hardware)"? Using Event Style should be better, but perhaps try with an without it.

I have tried it both ways, No change.

As I stated in my reply to Jim I am now having issues with no sound. I restarted the PC and had sound, started MC and tuned to a channel and had sound but the picturte was a thumbnail view. I did a channel up and when the channel tuned in I had a full screen picture but the sound was gone. Since the wife was giving me dirty looks I tuned into live TV using the TV tuner. I think that I am giung to do a complete uninstall of MC and start over. I am beginning to think that when I did the WIN 10 upgrade from WIN 7 that something in MC got corrupted. Before I reload MC I think I will also make sure I have all of the latest windows updates installed. Wish me luck guys. As I have said before I really want to make this work. I just love all of the features. Playing music through my system has never sounded so good, and the video quality is way better than I ever had with any other Media Center programs I used before.

JimH · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2018, 07:31:21 pm »

You can put quote tags around what you want to quote.

[ quote ]
Quoted text goes here.
[ /quote ]

but without the spaces. Then it looks like this:

Quote

Quoted text goes here.

robt · « **Reply #15 on:** January 16, 2018, 12:36:29 am »

Just to say I have recently noticed the same issue with my HDHomerun Connect. Again only on live tv and I address the issue by stopping the channel and restarting live playback.

It doesnt happen often, I had just put it down to an intermittent "glitch". I am confident its nothing to do with my network or power supplies etc, my audio is played via usb to a dac and seperate power amp.

1maynard · « **Reply #16 on:** January 16, 2018, 08:55:53 am »

Working on the system to try to get the sound back. I reviewed all of the Audio settings in MC, went over all of the sound settings in Nivida and also windows sound and no dice. I cannot get any sound at all out of the PC. I then decided to do a total uninstall of MC because I was starting to have some strange issues with Theatre View. restarted and still no sound. I am beginning to think I may have an issue with my Hard drive. Right now I am reinstalling Windows 10 and then will reinstall MC. Will let you know if this corrects the audio stutter. First thing is getting sound back.

1maynard · « **Reply #17 on:** January 16, 2018, 12:02:51 pm »

Quick update on sound loss, since I could not get sound output from the HTPC I decided to plug a spare DVD player into the same input on my AVR. Guess what picture and no sound.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I then switched to a different HDMI cable and still no sound. Swapped to a different input that I was not using and the sound is back. Guess my Integra AVR is suffering the dreaded HDMI board failure. Integra extended the warranty's so I guess I will get in touch with them to see if I can get it repaired. $3,000.00 for what is supposed to be a top shelf unit and it quits working. Worst thing is I now have to reinstall MC and set it up again. Hopefully since I am now on an input that is working maybe my stuttering will be gone.

Yaobing · « **Reply #18 on:** January 16, 2018, 02:00:48 pm »

Regarding stuttering, if you pause it for a minute or so, and resume, do you still get stuttering?

1maynard · « **Reply #19 on:** January 16, 2018, 05:11:07 pm »

[Regarding stuttering, if you pause it for a minute or so, and resume, do you still get stuttering?]

I tried the pausing at the suggestion of another member. It seemed to help for a short while but after a short time it was back.

Right now I am in the middle of doing a complete fresh install of win 10 and then MC. I am wondering if it could have been an issue with my AVR Because yesterday I lost all sound when using the HDMI input I was using for the HTPC. I also noticed that the surround speakers on the Input for my TV started to sound strange. I contacted Onkyo/Integra and they are going to do a warranty repair as the HDMI boards are noted for having issues. I will let you know if the stutter issue comes back after I finish reinstalling windows and MC.

Again thanks to all wh

robt · « **Reply #20 on:** January 17, 2018, 12:18:40 am »

Quote from: Yaobing on January 16, 2018, 02:00:48 pm

Regarding stuttering, if you pause it for a minute or so, and resume, do you still get stuttering?

Yaobing

When I have seen this issue, if I stop playback and then restart (so still live playback) then it usually solves the problem. Its very intermittent and only happens on live play, not recordings or resumed.

For me, its not really stuttering, I would describe it as a "glitch" every few seconds as if the audio stops for a fraction of a second and then starts. Its barely audible but once it starts it will continue every few seconds until I stop and restart the channel.

Yaobing · « **Reply #21 on:** January 17, 2018, 07:05:34 am »

Since it happens only on live TV, I suspect it is the playback catching up with buffering. I wonder if your hard disk is fast enough, or if there is something interfering with the writing of data to the disk (antivirus comes to mind). Make sure you do not have anything "watching" the time-shifting/recording folder.

robt · « **Reply #22 on:** January 17, 2018, 11:15:38 am »

Thats interesting. My recording and time shifting folder is actually on a remote NAS which seems to work fine for other purposes but may be the issue here.

I have an onboard SSD that I can use so I will change the location and see if it makes a difference. Another possible symptom I see from time to time is losing my recordings from the "Shows" list which I guess is because I don't have the NAS running 24/7. Its usually on when I'm home but shuts down during the day (so I don't schedule recordings when its off).

I'll try the ssd and report back.

1maynard · « **Reply #23 on:** January 18, 2018, 08:45:16 am »

Yaobing, I too will have to check into that also. I replaced my hard drive two years ago with a SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5-Inch 7mm Height Solid State Drive (SSD) with 10-Year Warranty- SDSSDXPS-240G-G25. Should I be looking for something better? Can you recommend something? As I have stated before if I use HDHomerun view or Media Portal to watch Live TV I do not get the stuttering, only when using MC. If it is playback catching up with buffering can any thing be done to correct it? The wife said that one day when it starts the audio sync was off also. Most of the time it is just a stutter or skipping sound. Also I set my firewall to allow all MC apps through. I will have to look into the settings for Windows Defender. I have no other anti virus or anti malware on this system. Since my AVR is down for repairs I cannot do any real testing until it is returned. I have the HTPC set up next to my recliner with a 17 in monitor so I can work on it. I can only listen to sound through headphones. I will have to check the location of my time shifting folder. I think it is on a drive in my attached storage device a Mediasonic Probox.
Thanks
Thanks

Yaobing · « **Reply #24 on:** January 18, 2018, 04:42:40 pm »

If you use SSD, then the disk speed should not be an issue. Antivirus could be an issue. Networked drive can potentially be a problem because the speed can be limited by network speed.

Yaobing · « **Reply #25 on:** January 18, 2018, 04:53:14 pm »

If logging in MC is on, try turning it off and see if that improves the situation.

1maynard · « **Reply #26 on:** January 18, 2018, 08:32:05 pm »

Yaobing, It could be antivirus, since it is win 10 it uses windows defender. I have firewall set to allow MC through but I will have to look into defender to see what I can do. The storage device is not networked. I connects to the HTPV via a Esata cable. I do not have logging enabled. I did notice that since I did a clean install of Win 10 the HTPC boots up much faster than it ever did, from shut down to Theatre View in about 45 seconds. The only thing I am running on this PC is MC and MCE Buddy. I need to look into com skip in MC to see how it works out. If I can use it I can eliminate MCE Buddy to get one more app off of the PC. I do not game on it or have e-mail.
Later

1maynard · « **Reply #27 on:** February 03, 2018, 07:22:51 am »

Update, yesterday I received my AVR back from warranty service so tomorrow I hope to get it and the HTPC reinstalled back into the media cabinet. I will then see if I still have the audio stutter issue when viewing live OTA antenna TV. I am really hoping that it was the HDMI board going out that was causing the problem. Since I have the HTPC set up mext to my recliner I have watched live TV on it listening through headphones and have not noticed the audio stutter.

robt · « **Reply #28 on:** February 03, 2018, 10:15:41 am »

Quote from: robt on January 17, 2018, 11:15:38 am

Thats interesting. My recording and time shifting folder is actually on a remote NAS which seems to work fine for other purposes but may be the issue here.

I have an onboard SSD that I can use so I will change the location and see if it makes a difference. Another possible symptom I see from time to time is losing my recordings from the "Shows" list which I guess is because I don't have the NAS running 24/7. Its usually on when I'm home but shuts down during the day (so I don't schedule recordings when its off).

I'll try the ssd and report back.

Ok, since using the local SSD I haven't noticed this issue. I consider it resolved.

1maynard · « **Reply #29 on:** February 05, 2018, 06:43:17 am »

I reinstalled my AVR and HTPC in the media center cabinet yesterday and last evening we used MC to watch live OTA TV for about four hours and was not able to detect any audio stutter issues. I will have the wife turn turn on the TV today in the early afternoon and see if the audio stutter issue comes back after everything gets heated up good. Last night was a good test as I neglected to turn on my automatic cooling fans I have installed in the components cabinet and the temp got up to 95 deg f. If all geos well today I will consider MY stutter issue solved.

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Author Topic: Audio Stutter, Live TV [Solved] (Read 8814 times)