Choppy audio on second tuner card

[gprichardson1]

Hi all,

I've been running my Sage server with a PVR-150 for a long time now, and have been running SageTV 5.0.4 since it became available. Everything has been working great.

I just recently added a second PVR-150 (model 274) to my server. The original card is using driver 2.0.18.22280. The new card couldn't use this driver (I couldn't tune in any stations with the 2nd card) so I ended up using driver 2.0.43.24103, which allowed me to tune in all my stations. Everything seemed great.

I can record from both tuner cards. The original card still works perfectly. Both video and audio are great. The video on the second card is great but the audio has problems. For normal coversation in a video everything is fine. But if there is any action, music, etc.. the audio gets choppy. My most recent example is David Letterman. The music playing at the beginning of the show is all choppy (like the audio is cutting out) as is the applause. But when there's just verbal interaction like Dave's monologue or an interview, it sounds fine.

I tried watching this mpeg on my desktop PC using WMP as well as Ulead DVD player. In both cases the audio is choppy in these specific areas, which tells me that the problem is happening during recording, not during playback.

My dilemma is that I don't know what to tweek, change, fix, or test at this point. I couldn't find any setting in the Source Setup in SageTV, and it looks like all the settings in Detailed Setup are for playback, not recording. I even tried the latest beta driver on the Hauppauge site (2.0.43.24108) but it didn't make a difference.

One thing I was just looking at on the Hauppauge page is that it said to install base driver 2.0.43.24103 then install the driver update/middleware v22_23257. I didn't do that second part. What exactly is middleware? If I do run that is it going to update the old 2.0.18 driver that I'm using on my original card? That card is still working fine and I'm afraid to do anything to screw that one up. If this updater will just update the 2.0.43 driver and leave the old driver alone then I'll give this a try (maybe not running this updater is the cause of my audio issues? I dunno...)

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate anyone's experience and/or advice.

Thanks!

-Gary

[banmj]

I have the same problem using 2 150's. My first card is hooked up to a cable box and reception is great. The second card is using the coax and getting choppy audio on some stations when there is more action, and it is especially noticeable when there is laughter.. I am using the latest drivers for both. I experimented a few months ago and determined the analog coax sucks compared to the digital box, and just decided to live with it. What inputs are you using for the cards?

[IncredibleHat]

I sort of have been in the same boat.

I have had a PVR150 for most of this year, and just last month I bought a second PVR150, and have been having strange, and upsetting complete loss of sound on some channels when both cards are 'hooked up'.

I too tried the beta drivers from their site, with no change in ANYTHING as a result.

One thing I did notice, running the beta driver installer, it installed and updated BOTH my cards. There isn't really a way to simply install the driver for 'just one card', so you may have already updated/changed the drivers on your original card.

The only way to revert, would be to yank out the new card, run hwclear.exe, and reinstall the original drivers you were using.

I do know the 'middleware' stuff is COMPLETELY confusing. I cant recall, but I think at one point I gave up installing all the extra crap, and just installed the first file.

These steps I had written down so maybe they mean something (my mind sucks on recalling things, so thus why I write them down lol):

hcwclear.exe
pvr150_20_35_23348_3264.zip
hcwsmd05_23290.exe

Of course I didn't write much else on those notes... and my 'HTPC Software' folder that contains all things I use to install/update with, also has the following files in it:

pvr150_500_basedriver_2043_24103.exe
pvr150_500_basedriver64bit_2043_24108.exe (the beta)

Anyhow... I have written to Hauppauge tech support about my drop of sound on some channels when having the second card hooked up, and so far the only response I have gotten is a request of Model and Rev#s, which I promptly sent them along with a photo of the two card's chipsets and whatnot. Still waiting on their response.

I'm wondering if they changed something on the newer cards, that conflict with their older cards...

[gprichardson1]

I'm using straight coax to both cards. Hmm, I wonder if it's a signal quality problem? Maybe my old card (or old driver?) is more accomodating when it comes to the signal quality than the new card/driver. I'll have to dig up a signal booster to see if that makes a difference.

I'd heard Hauppauge's support isn't the best which is why I started with this forum. I guess Hauppauge's support hasn't improved over time. Too bad.

I'll give the signal boost a try and see if that makes any difference. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks for the responses!

-Gary

[IncredibleHat]

I had picked up a Philips Magnovox 4-way powered splitter to try and combat my issue. I saw absolutly no change in ANYTHING... so I returned that piece of crap pretty quickly For $30, it was basically a cheapy $2 4-way passive splitter that weighed 2 pounds and had a cord for grounding lol.

You may be onto something with the pickiness of signal quality. My analog cable isn't the greatest, and the lower channels (the ones it randomly has issues with) look worse than the higher numbered channels. I've never lost sound on a channel above 22.

[Wade]

There are definately issues with Hauppauge drivers with 2 - 150s installed in the same system. I've been playing with the newest beta drivers (24108) and, mostly, they've worked OK for me. I had major issues with 24103 and the other earlier versions of the drivers. You have to go WAY back in versions before the drivers will work correctly with both cards installed. I want to say some version around 22230 is the last 'good' version of the driver.

[Polypro]

Do you still have the pics of the two cards? I wonder if they started using Samsung tuners on the 150's too?

P

[IncredibleHat]

After trying something the hauppauge tech support asked me to do, I noticed that one of my PVR150's uses a ESMT tuner chip, while the other is Samsung.

The troublecard (the new one) is ESMT.

If that may help anyone? Prolly not

The tech said to try using just ONE card at a time, and see if the problems persist, or go away with whichever card is in at the time. I assume, this is to rule out a single faulty card. For me, the bad discolorations in video persisted on the second (new) card, but not on the older one I had (which works perfect all by itself).