When watching live TV I have to pause the program or record it to stop it from stuttering.

 

Anyone esle have the same issue?

 

Does this on HD and Digital signals.

Does not do this on Extenders.

Have also encountered this but there seemed to be no other solution except restarts.
Crappy MS codec?

Try installing ffdshow and running this program to use a different codec:
http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/04/media-center-decoder-utility-mcdu-finally-comes-to-windows-7.html

Thanks for the reply at least I dont feel so alone with my problem.

Seems very stange that everyone else raves about it?

Perhaps its all lies :)

I hit the back button (<<) once to create a 3 second buffer.  It isn't the best fix, but it works every time.

What video card? I found the MS default one can't hold it's own - I installed the latest nVidia for W7 and is smooth as silk, even when recording another show. Also, what kind of HDs? Really need SATA300.

Very common problem, one that I couldn't fix. So now I use extenders at every TV.

Strange an extender will out perform a direct connection to the video card?!

I am in fact 100% certain that MS' crappy codec is at fault.
Maybe because it doesn't use hardware acceleration of the GPU?

Try other codecs, as I said before.

But in Win7 the MS codec does use GPU acceleration. With my 8500 video card, I typically see 5% CPU utilization when watching TV. In Vista, I'd see 30-40% CPU uttilization. When watching a recorded TV show, its even lower.

The codec is anything but crappy.

mmatheny:

Strange an extender will out perform a direct connection to the video card?!

This really surprises you? An extender only does a few things so it's very easy to test and make sure it does all of those things properly. A PC on the other hand can do just about anything and thus is far harder to test.

dmagerl:

But in Win7 the MS codec does use GPU acceleration. With my 8500 video card, I typically see 5% CPU utilization when watching TV. In Vista, I'd see 30-40% CPU uttilization. When watching a recorded TV show, its even lower.

The codec is anything but crappy.

I beg to differ.
And it most certainly does NOT use GPU acceleration.

It most definitely DOES on my P5N7A-VM. Brilliant codec all round (for me - your mileage may differ) ;)

Regards

Neil__C:

It most definitely DOES on my P5N7A-VM. Brilliant codec all round (for me - your mileage may differ) ;)

Regards

Those codecs have been absolute crap for me.

Stuttering TV or TV signal errors.
No FFW/RW.
Copying Prohibited errors.

FVCK the new codecs and give us the original Vista codecs or make it easier to switch codecs!
1. and 2. got fixed by switching to other codecs.

I'm fairly certain it is a buffering bug.  I'm using fairly new Western Digital SATA hds and a 8800 GT.  I had the same problem with my 7900.  I'm using Vista.  The problem could be resolved with W7.  I don't know.  The problem is very intermittant on my computer.  I only see it happen once every couple of months.

mmatheny:

What video card? I found the MS default one can't hold it's own - I installed the latest nVidia for W7 and is smooth as silk, even when recording another show. Also, what kind of HDs? Really need SATA300.

I meant the MS video drivers.