WinTV-PVR USB2 and SageTV Client

[spud]

Is it possible to use the SageTV client without needing to install the Hauppauge software drivers and actually plugging in the USB2 device? I have tried this on a total of 3 client machines so far to determine what the problem is. So far before the software is installed AND USB2 device plugged in, the error is: 0x80040218. If I install the SW driver and actually plug in the device (and of course load the HW drivers) a new Video Decoder appears in the Video settings of the detailed settings screen in the SageTV client. It is the InterVideo NonCSS Video Decoder for Hauppauge. Until this option appears (even if not selected) the computer will not display any video, only audio and gives the aforementioned error. This driver does not seem to appear without actually plugging in the USB2 device.

Is this just the way it is or am I not installing the drivers correctly. I thought that SageTV had built in decoders to handle this device. Anyone else run into this problem. Please let me know if this is normal.

Other than that the remote picture is extremely good. In fact the PC that is acting as the server is too slow and without adequate video to even display it correctly locally (even though WinTV does display fine). The remote machines display very well up to the max rating of the unit, over 4G/hr in that machine but they have Nvidea 4 cards.

thanks in advance

[mikbro]

From you post I gather you want to be able to install SageClient on a machine and -not- have to install the drivers from your USB device in order to get it to work, correct?

Actually SageClient requires a Software MPEG Decoder be loaded on the client (or the server for that matter if you want to watch video on the server).

Now the USB encoder comes with Hauppage's Intervideo software decoder, and while I would think it should work without the device physically installed I have not tried using it without the hardware attached.

Actually your best best is to buy or download a trial version of Intervideo's DVD player software. This will install the software decoder for you and won't require you to have the USB device attached.

There are other software decoders out there (search "decoder" or "codec"). Different people have their favorites as to which gives the best results or different hardware/video cards.

[spud]

Thanks. I will try another decoder. The hardware just needs to be plugged in during the installation not afterwards for the Sage TV client. It is just an inconvenience, not a show stopper at all. I did want to show a friend the quality. This is where the issue was first discovered. He is not in the local building and therefore didn't have easy access to the hardware encoder to activate the software.

thanks again