[mythtv-users] Fwd: Pixelation/Bad Recordings HDHR Prime -- I am at my wits end

[Captain Hook]

On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Captain Hook <captainhookzero at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Tom Lichti <tom at redpepperracing.com>
> wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 11:00 AM, Joseph Fry <joe at thefrys.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> >> I have rewired everything again as I am not comfortable using an
> >> >> amplifier
> >> >> to amplify my signal, only to use multiple splitters to reduce it
> back
> >> >> down.
> >> >> It doesn't seem to make sense.  Instead I have connected the Monster
> >> >> cable
> >> >> 4-way splitter (-7.5dBmV/output) to the cable coming in from Comcast
> >> >> and
> >> >> connected my HDHR Prime directly to one of the outputs.  Another
> output
> >> >> of
> >> >> the Monster Cable splitter is connected to another splitter
> >> >> (-3.5dBmV/output) which goes to my TVs.  Another output of the
> Monster
> >> >> Cable
> >> >> splitter then goes to my existing long run to my cable modem.
> >
> >
> > I don't know if it's relevant, but you only mention 3 feeds off of the
> > splitter, is the other output terminated properly? Or did you mean a four
> > outlet splitter, one in and 3 out? And are all outputs on the second
> > splitter also terminated properly?
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtv-users mailing list
> > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
>
> Regarding interference, I am seeing this on what seems like every
> single channel at least some of the time, so I don't think that it is
> interference, unless I am seeing interference on everything on the
> HDHR Prime and this isn't affecting my cable modem or either Comcast
> set top box (including one which is a DVR).
>
> My mistake on the wiring; I probably confused myself I rewired it so
> many times.  I just looked at it and I have the following:
>
> Comcast signal in to MoCA filter to a two output splitter.  One end
> goes to my HDHR Prime, the other end goes to another two output
> splitter.  This two output splitter is then connected to my cable
> modem and then the other end goes into yet another two output splitter
> that goes to my two televisions.  So between my HDHR Prime and the
> Comcast "feed", I only have one splitter.  Yet on my TVs, I have three
> splitters in front of them and no issues; and my cable modem has two
> splitters in front of it and no issues.
>

I believe I have narrowed this down to an issue with my hardware, or my
MythTV setup and have been wasting my time chasing signal issues.  I have a
thread on Silicon Dust's site (much is duplicated here, but here is the
link if you are bored:
http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=15543) and a member
of their team was assisting me.  It appears that the HDHR Prime is getting
perfect signal, and the video in both my desktop (Windows MCE) and VLC
(HDHR GUI in Linux on my frontend) are pristine with zero audio dropouts or
video pixelation when watched simultaneously.

Now I am not sure where to go from here. In looking at the performance data
in vSphere, I am not seeing anything that may cause this. This is a pretty
decent machine, i5 3570K (overclocked to 4 ghz, though I don't know that
ESXi is respecting this), 16GB of RAM. I have 4 CPU cores and 12GB of RAM
provisioned to the Myth Backend server and I am not doing anything else
with it, so I can't imagine it is a performance issue with anything other
than the storage, which is all in the same box and carved up as VMDKs by
ESXi.

I have a few routes I can go here; first, I could use a separate spindle
for just my recordings (right now it is being shared with a Windows Server
data share that sees fairly little i/o). Second, I could pop in a 60gb SSD
I have laying around and write some recordings to that to see if it makes a
difference.

Any suggestions?  I really don't want to build another box and turn it into
a NAS, though that's probably my best bet...  I have enough money sunk into
this at this point.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20130911/050d1a9c/attachment.html>