TV Stopping Problem

[ns06]

I know the title doesn't really sound that clear, but I couldn't think of an easy way to describe my problem.

At the moment when watching tv (Sky Digibox => S-Video => BTV) the video will suddenly stop and not advance any further. This can happen afer a minute or after 25mins. The time duration still counts on so it's not BTV freezing or anything. It's been going on for about a month or so now. Here is what I have tried so far:

- Changed the BTV folder on the HDD WD 250GB SATA to a WD 74GB Raptor
- Unable to format entire 250GB HDD so partitioned and formatted what I could and tested
- Changed time slice size
- Upgraded Catalyst and Theatrix drivers
- Upgraded from BTV 4.1 - 4.4
- Changed default decoder from SnapStream Video/SP Decoder to Cyberlink Video/ SP Decoder (PDVD6)
- Changed Video Renderer from 3D Accelarated to Overlay


None of the above have worked so I am now left with nothing but a sporadic stoppage when I watch tv.

Could anyone suggest what could fix this problem besides reinstalling windows?

[Bigbird999]

ns
Do you have both ATI MMC and BTV installed, or did you once have MMC installed and then removed? I have the same tuner card as you in my all purpose computer running ATIMMC and I have occassionally seen a video freeze with the audio continuing. So I am thinking it might be an ATI driver issue. Maybe yor issue is the ati mmc software or a left over remenant of the ati installation.

BB

[ns06]

I did have ATI MMC installed before but I have since formatted the OS drive and re-installed Windows XP so it wouldn't be that.

The audio also doesn't continue. It's as if the stream from my Sky box stops, but it isn't a problem with that as I tested it with a direct connection with my monitor and it's fine. Also, when recording shows (without the viewscape in live tv) there is no problem at all.

I'm beginning to think it may be a IRQ issue as it is down as 20 in the queue and I read in another thread that an IRQ issue could cause this problem. I won't even pretend to know whether it is this but anyone else with a suggestion?

[mdnitoil]

This has started happening to me also in the last month or so. 4.4 was working just fine so I have to assume something has gone wrong on the ATI driver end. I'd love to just rollback, but I don't know what the last good driver was.

[ns06]

I thought of that also when you mentioned it there. I know it has stopped before but that was only ever once in a blue moon! I might try re-installing the drivers from a few months ago and testing again.

What I did try last night was to drop the default recording to "Good" as opposed to "Bestest (DVD Quality)" (which I created myself - 9224kbps) and that seemed to work... for about 45mins! I thought it might also have been because my HDD couldn't keep up with the constant recording. I noticed it first occured when I started downloading HD videos from newsgroups and they were 9-12GB each. Such constant access to the HDD at times would cause the live tv feed to stutter and it would become unwatchable. That's when I decided to partition the drive; 100GB - HD video, 135GB to Beyond TV and leave the downloading to another drive and left the new HD partition just for storage. Formatted the new BTV partition and tested but like I said, that didn't work.

I'm open to any suggestions anybody might have as it's looking like a re-install of my OS at this stage!

[mdnitoil]

I finally got around to investigating this and have narrowed it down to the ATI drivers for the 550. I downgraded to the 175 revision of drivers and live TV started working again...no more freezes. I suppose I can work my way up to find the exact driver rev that breaks live TV, but for anybody with this problem, 175 seems to fix it.

[jonesbasf]

Just wanted to thank all of you for this thread and especially mdnitoil for nailing this! Downgrading to the 175 immediately eliminated the studder from Live TV. I cannot believe how much nicer it is to not have to press the forward button every 10 seconds. Have not tried recordings yet, but certainly will.

Just in case others need it, here is the link to the older versions.

http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/x...evious-xp.html