After PC on for a few days, gbpvr recordings have pixelated video and corrupt sound

[lchiu7]

My setup is XP Pro SP2, Shuttle XPC with AMD Athlon 2000+ 512MB memory, Hauppauge PVR250 card. Release of gbpvr is the last release (sorry to be vague but can't remember the number)

This works most of the time. But I have noticed that after a few days of running (this PVR setup is on all the time), the following will occur in recordings

1. The video will have random pixelated patterns across it
2. The sound will have a constant pulsing audio overlaid over the audio track (though still listenable)

The only way out of this is to reboot. So I suspect possibly a memory leak occurring and/or possible bad memory? The PC does only two main tasks

1. Record TV shows at appropriate times
2. Wakeup each night to update the epg

I say bad memory because occasionally the PVR will lock up completely requiring a reboot but I only notice that when I go to use gbpvr and realise the machine is not responding at all

Any other ideas or has anybody experienced this problem?

Thanks

[stefan]

I'm not sure why I'm telling you this, but, anyway... I don't have your problem, but I do get your "pixelated patterns" sometimes, but for me it always resolves if I stop and start the video file. So for me it's not too big a deal. Have you tried other decoders?

[lchiu7]

The pixelated patterns and audio distotion are in the actual MPEG file. It really doesn't matter what MPEG decoder I use. If I author the MPEG to DVD the patterns and distortion remain when played on a DVD player so I am convinced the problem is in the recording phase, not the playback. Also as I noted, if I reboot, the problems with future recordings doesn't exist but the ones that exhibited this problem, still have the artifacts

[stefan]

Ouch. Sounds like your card doesn't feel to good. Maybe if you could restart your card upon wakeup? Search the forum for wake.cmd. That script was intended to restart the pvr-350, since it has issues with its tv-out when waking up, but maybe it works/can be altered to restart your card too? And maybe, just maybe, that could help.

[lchiu7]

I guess the way to check if it's gbpvr is, when I next see this occuring, before rebooting try recording a show using the WinTV2000 application that Hauppauge provides. If it records okay, then it it's likely to be gbpvr. If it records the same way then it's some strange problem in my PC around leaking memory, bad memory etc. I can't think how it could be the card itself since it works fine the majority of the time

[capone]

I wouldn't rule out heat. Could be anything from the board, processors, HDs, RAM, or the vid or tv card. My guess it would be the vid or tv card, though, if it is heat.

Check that the fans are running, if your vid card has a fan that it works, and maybe pop the case and feel the compoents when you notice it happening. Things willl get hot, but you'll know if it is excessive.