PVR-350 issues list

[nilo_sb]

Hi,

Have just installed my Sage with PVR-350 and UIRT interface and here's my system:
Pentium 4 - 3GHz + 80GHD + 512MbRam + PVR-350

here's the list of issues I found so far and my comments and questions:

1)When using LiveTv, the Video Out freeze sometimes when I have selected to watch a channel coming thru the super video imput. When that happen, I select a channel that is tunned by the RF tuner and it works fine. The channels from the super video input keeps frozen for while and comes back ok few minutes later. I saw many threats about over heat on the card that would lock the card but I'm wondering that in may case it should lock for any channel whether it's from coming from the video in or from the tuner. Anyway, is the colling solution really worth to try?

2)Did try to setup the FM tuner an the sage, can see it on the program guide but can't tune anything on it. It this possible?

3)Remote that came with card only works for very few keys. I saw someone solution about this here. Is there any easy way to expand the remote funcionatily on sage?

4)Remote only works when sage is the active window. Also saw some solution here. Any pool of suggestions on how to solve this?

After all, I'm impressed with the system performance and if I can improve the above issues, specially the first one, would be perfect!

Thanks

Nilo

[pcuoco]

1.) That's a strange one I haven't seen before. I believe even though there is only 1 S-Video input on the card, 2 are indicated in hardware. Try and see if that works.

2.) Sage does not support FM radio.

3.) During the install you needed to check the box to install support for the Hauppauge remote. Do a search for "irremote.ini" and you should find a file that will fix the problem. Opus4 the forum Moderator is also the resident remote guru. He has links for most of the files and know-how for remotes in his signature line.

4.) To fix this you need to use windows messages. Again, see Opus4's signature line or the Sage Wiki for more info.

Good luck.

[Opus4]

For #3 & #4, I know pcuoco mentioned this, but I'll just add a link that answers both questions to save time looking for the info -- see the last Q&A in this FAQ entry:

I have the new 45-button Hauppauge remote. How can I get it to work with SageTV?

- Andy

[nilo_sb]

Thanks.
I have used the above tips and the remote is now working as expected but it won't work if the sage isn't the active window. In this case, if sage is the only window present, it would maximize it and make it active and the remote will work. If there are muiltiple windows presente, it's showing the box where I have to select which window to activate, which isn't much helpfull as my desktop is away from my TV.

Regarding the freezing on the video out, I didn't understand what to do. I have in the card one cable out with s-video and composite video, which I use the composite to connect to my TV. There is another plug to imput the s-video to the card, which I'm connecting to my directv receiver output.
What I'm saying is that it won't freeze if I'm watching live tv and have selected the channel which is captured by the cable tv tuner. Whenever I select a chanel that is coming from the directv receiver (thru s-video in) it freezes very often, very, very often! :-(

Thanks,

Nilo

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by nilo_sb

I have used the above tips and the remote is now working as expected but it won't work if the sage isn't the active window. In this case, if sage is the only window present, it would maximize it and make it active and the remote will work. If there are muiltiple windows presente, it's showing the box where I have to select which window to activate, which isn't much helpfull as my desktop is away from my TV.

Which ini file did you download? And, are you using the green 'Power' button before trying to use the remote with SageTV? With the ini files I uploaded, that button runs SageTV (to start it or to bring it into focus) and puts the remote into SageTV mode.

BTW: I don't know anything to say about problems with the 350, but if you are using its TV-out for both videos and menus, you can actually put it to sleep in the system tray & still use it on your TV. 1) Install the ini file to control SageTV regardless of focus. 2) Start SageTV with the green power button. 3) Put SageTV to sleep in the system tray by selecting the 'Sleep Mode' option on the main menu (_not_ by pushing the power button on the remote again). 4) Continue to use SageTV while its menus are shown only on the TV.

- Andy

[bartley9]

Originally Posted by pcuoco

1.) That's a strange one I haven't seen before. I believe even though there is only 1 S-Video input on the card, 2 are indicated in hardware. Try and see if that works.

There is an adapter on the hauppage website which makes the second available via a header on the capture card.

[Crashless]

Originally Posted by nilo_sb

Hi,

Have just installed my Sage with PVR-350 and UIRT interface and here's my system:
Pentium 4 - 3GHz + 80GHD + 512MbRam + PVR-350

here's the list of issues I found so far and my comments and questions:

1)When using LiveTv, the Video Out freeze sometimes when I have selected to watch a channel coming thru the super video imput. When that happen, I select a channel that is tunned by the RF tuner and it works fine. The channels from the super video input keeps frozen for while and comes back ok few minutes later. I saw many threats about over heat on the card that would lock the card but I'm wondering that in may case it should lock for any channel whether it's from coming from the video in or from the tuner. Anyway, is the colling solution really worth to try?

I've had a lot of problems with the 350, but never have seen that.

This will sound strange, coming from a Sage forum, but does it happen with the WinTV program? If it does, contact hauppauge support and see what they say.

Alternatively, have you tried the RCA input instead of the s-video? Does it do the same thing?

[pcuoco]

Originally Posted by nilo_sb

Regarding the freezing on the video out, I didn't understand what to do. I have in the card one cable out with s-video and composite video, which I use the composite to connect to my TV. There is another plug to imput the s-video to the card, which I'm connecting to my directv receiver output.
What I'm saying is that it won't freeze if I'm watching live tv and have selected the channel which is captured by the cable tv tuner. Whenever I select a chanel that is coming from the directv receiver (thru s-video in) it freezes very often, very, very often! :-(
Nilo

Now I understand. I just re-read your first post. You're using a USB-UIRT to change channels. I missed that the first time. The USB-UIRT and PVR 350 combo can sometimes cause conflicts, especially on older motherboards. Yours sounds newer, but you may want to make sure you have the latest bios and drivers for everything, and make sure the 350 and the USB-UIRT are not sharing an IRQ. Another option would be to try to control your DTV Box with a serial connection.

[nilo_sb]

Thank you guys.

Yes, I have installed the correct ini file but was not aware of the "green button" procedure. Will check it out tonight.

I couldn't find the addapter in hauppage web page :-(

Well, the only connector available in the card for input is a s-video. Is there an adapter from s-video to composite video or should I use the adapter suggested above to get the extra imput?

The freeze doesn't happen with wintv program. Pretty much, the freeze happens only at the capture side of the card thru s-video ( like I said, didn't find an composite imput yet). It's does work fine when using the tuner though.

[nilo_sb]

The UIRT is working fine as far as changing the directv receiver channel when required to do so.

My main issue now is the freezing. It's killing me!

Thanks,

Nilo

[Opus4]

BTW: there is a link for the extra input adapter here, but I doubt you really need it. I just thought I would post the link to it since it was brought up.

- Andy

[nilo_sb]

Will I be able to switch/select or configure it as an aditional souce on the SageTV software?

Sounds interesting!

Thanks,

Nilo

[pcuoco]

nilo_sb,

The idea I was trying to get at, is that if there is a conflict with the USB-UIRT and the 350 with either IRQ or drivers, it will cause the 350 to lock-up as you are experiencing.

I ran across this before setting up a friends box. Same symptoms you describe. Works great on one channel until he used the USB-UIRT to change channels. The USB-UIRT did it's job, but then a lock up on the 350 and subsequently Sage. He had to install a separate USB card eventually to avoid the conflicts and get it working.

[nilo_sb]

Pcuoco,

What you saying make lots of sense to me.
I think the USB-UIRT conflict is the bad guy here, since it's seems to freeze exactly when I change channels.
I however didn't understand when you say to install a separate USB card. My UIRT is connect to a standard USB port on my PC.

By the way, are you a Brazilian?

Thanks,

Nilo

[pcuoco]

When my friend was having trouble with an IRQ conflict with these devices he was able to correct it by installing an additional USB board he had laying around instead of using the motherboard's USB. That's how he fixed the USB/PVR350 conflict, that's not necessarily the best way to go about it.

I would check your IRQ's. If there's a conflict, you might want to try placing the 350 in a different PCI slot to correct it if you have one available.

Like I said earlier, I'd also make sure you're running the latest bios for the motherboard, and you have the latest drivers for the USB-UIRT and the PVR-350.

No, I'm not Brazilian, I'm Italian-American.

[gplasky]

Another thing you can do is go into bios and turn off ports you're not using to free up more IRQ's. Disable a printer port, a serial port, sound card midi port, game port, etc. Move the PVR350 to a different slot and let it find another IRQ. Also in some BIOs you need to enble the option (ESCD?) so that the BIOS will update with the new device settings.

Gerry

[nilo_sb]

Thanks for the suggestions. Will try all then tonight! :-)

Nilo

[nilo_sb]

Hey folks, just an update of what have happened thru the weekend and to say that I may return the whole thing as soon as Sage customer service return my message.

- I Disabled some devices from BIOS to free up IRQs and nothing changed. Did also change the PVR to a different slot and no changes on the freezing issue.
- Used some sort of air gun I have to blow a considerable air flow right at the PVR chip to check if I had an over heating issue as described in many threads. The chip temperature droped a lot while using the gun for many minutes, but the freezing issue was still there, no changes at all.
- Decided to uninstall the whole thing and start from zero. Installed only the PVR software and drives ( no Sage and UIRT ) and it works fine, including the video output to TV.
- Installed the Sage without UIRT. It works fine untill I turn the PVR video out to "enabled", having freezing very often.
- Installed the UIRT driver and connected the UIRT device and it also works fine as long as the PVR video out is not enabled. When enabled, same freeze issue happen.

Basically, I believe there is some sort of incompatibility between the Sage and the PVR in what regards this video out and hardware decoding feature form the PVR-350.

I have the rule that spending $300 for something should require few hours of my time to make the necessary setup to have it working 100%. It's now over 50 hours on it and it still doesn't perform as it should be.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Nilo

[insomniac]

I would guess that you need to enable assigning an IRQ to USB in your bios. This may keep your uirt from sharing an irq with your 350. I would also suggest that you try changing your latency on your pvr350 card via powerstrip. See my suggestions and experiences in other posts on this forum.

I.

Originally Posted by nilo_sb

Hey folks, just an update of what have happened thru the weekend and to say that I may return the whole thing as soon as Sage customer service return my message.

- I Disabled some devices from BIOS to free up IRQs and nothing changed. Did also change the PVR to a different slot and no changes on the freezing issue.
- Used some sort of air gun I have to blow a considerable air flow right at the PVR chip to check if I had an over heating issue as described in many threads. The chip temperature droped a lot while using the gun for many minutes, but the freezing issue was still there, no changes at all.
- Decided to uninstall the whole thing and start from zero. Installed only the PVR software and drives ( no Sage and UIRT ) and it works fine, including the video output to TV.
- Installed the Sage without UIRT. It works fine untill I turn the PVR video out to "enabled", having freezing very often.
- Installed the UIRT driver and connected the UIRT device and it also works fine as long as the PVR video out is not enabled. When enabled, same freeze issue happen.

Basically, I believe there is some sort of incompatibility between the Sage and the PVR in what regards this video out and hardware decoding feature form the PVR-350.

I have the rule that spending $300 for something should require few hours of my time to make the necessary setup to have it working 100%. It's now over 50 hours on it and it still doesn't perform as it should be.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Nilo

[cummings66]

Originally Posted by insomniac

350. I would also suggest that you try changing your latency on your pvr350 card via powerstrip. See my suggestions and experiences in other posts on this forum.

I.

I've seen you say this a couple times here recently. How are you changing the PCI card's latency using powerstrip? As far as I can tell from having run it, all it does is change the video timings for your video output card, i.e. Nvidia 5700FX.

What menu and version program of powerstrip lets you change latency?