Multi tuner setup - what works best -- ( 250-16 + 250-16 ) or ( 350-16 + 250-16 ) ?

[sudipto]

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NOTE: There are no version 16 350 cards. See the post below for details. The best bet for a a multi tuner setup right now is to go with all version 16 or all version 15 cards.

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(original post - retained to maintain the context of this thread only, even though it miscorrectly assumes a version 16 350 card)

I have built a new PC for the sole purpose of using it as a dual tuner PVR. I am using SageTV v1.4.10 with a WinTV PVR 350 (v.15 chip) and WinTV PVR 250 (v.16 chip).

The ver 16 250 is not at all working well with the ver 15 350. I won't repeat all the details here, but for anyone interested, please check out the following threads.

thread 1
thread 2
thread 3

I currently have one old ver 15 350 card, one brand new ver 15 350 card and one brand new ver 16 250 card. I can replace the new 350 or the new 250 with another new card, but I need to do it soon before my 30 day replacement window expires. If I get a new replacement card now, it will most likely be a version 16 card. So I am trying to find out which of the following setups work perfectly with the current software and drivers. I understand that future releases of software and/or drivers may make ver 15 and 16 cards work seamlessly, but I really want to have something that works now !


I would very much appreciate feedback from anyone who is using one of the following setups.

1) SageTV with one WinTV PVR ver 16 350 card and one ver 16 250 card
2) SageTV with two WinTV PVR ver 16 250 cards


If either of these setups is working perfectly for you, please let me know some more details about it, e.g. what version of the drivers you are using, what kind of signal input (cable thru tuner or s-video etc.) you are using etc.

I have already tried using two of my version 15 350's in this system and the result was horrible. Sage would peg the CPU at 100% pretty much all the time and will reboot the system most of the time ... so I am fairly vertain a 350-15 + 350-15 will not work.

Any suggestion to get this multi tuner system working will be extremely helpful !

Thanks !

[carlgar]

When I disable my 350 card, my two ver 16 250 cards come up fine, so I recommend choice two. However I have not done much recording with just the 250 cards, I prefer having 3 tuners so I also use my 350. BTW: from my testing I seem to have a choice between all 3 cards recording properly or having TV out with the 350 and very bad recording on the 250's. With this limitation I see no value for the 350 currently with Sage TV but very interested in other post I hope you get.

[fidget]

I have never had any problems with multiple PVR-250s (but mine were always the same revision, -16) with any version of the drivers. I have had nothing but problems when I add the 350 into the mix. I would recommend option #2 as well. At some point in the future (i.e., when the OSD gets released for the 350) I would look into getting a dedicated PC for the TV set and put a 350 into that one. Or, wait until they get a version of SageTV for the Hauppauge MVP

[sudipto]

Thanks carlgar and fidget !

Sage with two ver 16 PVR-250 cards seems to be a safe choice.

Also, there is some confusion as to whether there actual IS a version 16 PVR-350 card yet ... dvsing is looking into that in another post

I think I will return my new 350 card for now and go with a version 16 PVR-250.

[sudipto]

An update for anyone who has not read the following post --

is my hauppage 350 a 15 or 16

As confirmed by Hauppauge tech support, Dan and SHS, ALL the WinTV PVR 350 in distribution right now, AND for the foreseeable future uses the Connexant 23415 chip only ... i.e. all 350 cards right now and in the near future (at least) are going to be version 15 only. There are NO version 16 350 cards right now, nor will be in the near future ... and the short reason for that is that the Connexant 23416 chip does NOT do decoding (unlike the 23415 chip, which is an encoder+decoder).

So for a multi tuner setup, the safest bet right now is to go with all version 16 250 cards (or all version 15 250 cards ... if you can still find them).

[mogrinz]

So would I also be OK if I did multi-tuner w/ 2 350's? I have an extra 350 that I bought from a friend who decided to go w/ Tivo, but I haven't installed it yet. Just wondering if I should expect problems...

[dkardatzke]

I would do a search on the forums regarding multiple 350s in one machine. I believe there's been some issues surrounding this.

[sudipto]

mogrinz: Dan is right. As mentioned in my first post in this thread, 2 350's don't seem to work at all. I have already tried that and it would make my machine extremely unstable with Sage pegging the CPU at 100%. There may be some solutions for this, but I haven't spent any time on trying to fix this.

I have returned my new 350 and planning to get another version 16 250 instead, so that I will have 2 x ver 16 250 cards in my PC now.