Choppy video only when recording

[TheSneak]

I get choppy playback, but only when recording or watching live TV. Here is my hardware configuration:

GB-PVR version: 1.1.5
Processor: AMD Athlon 1.68 GHz
Ram: 512 MB
Video card: NVidia GeForce4 MX 4000 with latest drivers
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
HauppaugeWinTV-PVR 500 MCE
Using gbpvr.exe

I have tried increasing the ram to 1.5 gigs. I have tried an ATI 9600 video card. I am using the 1.87MB 6.05.01.0902 quartz.dll file. I am using no plugins. I have tried VMR7, VMR9 and Overlay. I've tried both InterVideo and Cyberlink decoders. I've uninstalled AC3Filter. None of these seems to make a difference.

Hopefully, I've provided the information necessary to determine what I'm doing wrong, but if not, let me know what else I need to post. Thanks for your help.

[sub]

Maybe try defragmenting your disk.

[TheSneak]

I took your advice and defragmented my drives. They needed it, but I still get choppy playback when recording. It doesn't seem to have helped at all. Any other suggestions, please?

[sub]

I'm not sure. Try other combinations of audio/video decoder.

[Carlito]

I'm guessing it's your cpu.
is it peaked at 100% when the choppiness occurs?

edit:
another thing to try is different video/audio decoders. I guess the cpu should be able to handle recording and watching at the same time.
Try the dscaler decoder, i've had good luck with it on similar hardware.

[wtg]

Also, check the I/O mode the controller is using. If it's a PATA drive it should be using an Ultra DMA mode but there are a variety of reasons that XP will silently downgraded to PIO mode. If so, it could explain the stutter while recording.

[stustunz]

you do have 2 physical harddrives (not just 2 partitions on the one harddrive)

[TheSneak]

Also, check the I/O mode the controller is using. If it's a PATA drive it should be using an Ultra DMA mode but there are a variety of reasons that XP will silently downgraded to PIO mode. If so, it could explain the stutter while recording.

This was the problem. Thanks, all, for your concern and attention to this matter. I intend to add a subsection to the playback page in the wiki explaining the problem and how to rectify it once I get wiki edit rights. If anyone wants to beat me to it, feel free. Thanks again.

you do have 2 physical harddrives (not just 2 partitions on the one harddrive)

I have 3 drives and 4 partitions. Is there a pitfall here I should be aware of?

[stustunz]

just make sure you have your live tv buffer and recordings saved to a seperate drive from your operating system
spreads the read/writing to drives

glad you got it sorted