Hauppauge WinTV HD PVR (H.264) screenshot and pre-order link

[Flash69]

From what Dorothy told me today. They are waiting on another shipment of HD-PVRs. I ordered yesterday (#352xx) and she told me HD-PVR should ship no later than Monday 6/9.

Just wanted to let everyone know.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by SHS

Well I got mine HDPVR today and upgrade my old out date GF6800 AGP to new Sapphire HD3850 AGP with new Corsair TX650W watt power supply
Bad news the dran thing is over heat with in frist few "3 min" ho man that just sinks so I pull it a apart and found that Ambarella A2 and Analog Devices ADV7401 maybe root of are problem is get so dran hot that why the it may stop working.

Sorry to hear your HD-PVR is overheating, of all people since you're the hauppauge beta driver guy. I was gonna order one, but now I'm reconsidering and probably wait a few months and hopefully the product is revised to take care of some of the initial flaws, also to wait for SageTV support for it to go final.

[gjvrieze]

Originally Posted by Flash69

From what Dorothy told me today. They are waiting on another shipment of HD-PVRs. I ordered yesterday (#352xx) and she told me HD-PVR should ship no later than Monday 6/9.

Just wanted to let everyone know.

I got the same email, hopefully the "second" shipment will work better then the first, as there are way to many issues at the moment!!

[timnelsonic]

Although I'm pretty sure the answer is "no" I'm going to ask anyway: has anyone gotten their hands on two of these devices and tried both at the same time (perhaps during beta testing)? I have one device up and working (see my installation comments) and want a second one, but am curious if any has tried it yet. Although comments from Hauppauge customer service have been conflicting, it appears as though this should work.

[SHS]

ATTN: to thoses that are have over problem over heating for now just use S-Video/Composite front input until I get a solution.

[jrog]

Originally Posted by timnelsonic

Although I'm pretty sure the answer is "no" I'm going to ask anyway: has anyone gotten their hands on two of these devices and tried both at the same time (perhaps during beta testing)? I have one device up and working (see my installation comments) and want a second one, but am curious if any has tried it yet. Although comments from Hauppauge customer service have been conflicting, it appears as though this should work.

My Boss got one in, and he doesn't have a Sage system yet. He's afraid that if he lets me borrow it, he won't see it again. I will see if I can get it this weekend and run some tests. I only have one HD Box from Comcast, but I can try it with a blu-ray or something just to see it record from both at the same time.

[jbellanca]

So, I got my Hauppauge HD-PVR this week, and have had very disappointing results. First, my machine is: Windows XP Home SP3, 2.8ghz Core2Duo Extreme, 2GB RAM, 1TB HD, ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO/256MB. I'm using drivers v.1.0.3.46, and recording 720p off a DirectTV box (but have tried other resolutions and sources as well).

What happened this morning is exactly what's happened to me every time I tried this device. After it had been off all night, I turned it on, and it recorded for 11:19 minutes, then froze up. I reset the unit, and it recorded for 2:33 before freezeing again. Now it's off again. It keeps recording less and less time after each freeze and reset, until it only records 1-2 seconds. Then I leave it off for a few hours and get the same issue all over again. It will never record more than a few minutes at most. This appears to me to be a hardware/heat issue, not software since rebooting the computer doesn't help, and is directly tied to the unit itself.

I called Hauppauge this morning, and they said a number of people have reported this issue and their engineers are looking into it, but they don't know yet if it's a hardware or software issue. Has anyone else had this issue and gotten a new unit from them that worked? They took my phone number and system information and said they'd call back when their engineers know more. I guess that's OK, but I had hoped for more, like an offer of a new unit or something, since it pretty obviously seems to be hardware problem. I'll keep following up with them I suppose, but I'm kind of disappointed right now. I'd rather they delayed it again than release it but have it not work.

EDIT: I called them back again to request an RMA, and they said that they've been instructed not to RMA any units back because the engineers say it's a firmware/driver issue, and they plan on releasing new drivers and firmware "within a week, two tops." I'm still skeptcal, but we'll see I guess.

[lobosrul]

Originally Posted by jbellanca

What happened this morning is exactly what's happened to me every time I tried this device. After it had been off all night, I turned it on, and it recorded for 11:19 minutes, then froze up. I reset the unit, and it recorded for 2:33 before freezeing again. Now it's off again. It keeps recording less and less time after each freeze and reset, until it only records 1-2 seconds. Then I leave it off for a few hours and get the same issue all over again. It will never record more than a few minutes at most. This appears to me to be a hardware/heat issue, not software since rebooting the computer doesn't help, and is directly tied to the unit itself.

The way you're describing the shorter up time on each reboot, sounds to me like its overheating. Try putting it into a well ventilated area, and maybe even running a fan on it. Does anyone know if the device ships with a fan inside it? If so, try and see if its stopped.

[morikaweb]

I just got my second unit today. Not too excited as I have yet to get the first unit working properly.

[jbellanca]

Originally Posted by lobosrul

The way you're describing the shorter up time on each reboot, sounds to me like its overheating. Try putting it into a well ventilated area, and maybe even running a fan on it. Does anyone know if the device ships with a fan inside it? If so, try and see if its stopped.

Funny you said this - that was going to be my next step. And... I put up a big (2 foot diameter, so BIG) fan on the unit so it's blowing directly on the bottom of the unit. It's been recording now for an hour with no issues. Take the fan away, and it freezes. Put the fan back, and it's OK indefinitely. So, it's definitely a heat issue. Since they claim it's software related, it could be that it's reporting temperature wrong, or the firmware is shutting the processor down prematurely. Maybe. Or a hardware issue. Since I have a workaround now with this big honkin' fan, I don't mind waiting it out until the next firmware version comes out in 1-2 weeks to see if it fixes this issue. Everyone else with this problem - go out to Walmart or Target and buy a big fan. (just trying to be upbeat here!)

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by jbellanca

Funny you said this - that was going to be my next step. And... I put up a big (2 foot diameter, so BIG) fan on the unit so it's blowing directly on the bottom of the unit. It's been recording now for an hour with no issues. Take the fan away, and it freezes. Put the fan back, and it's OK indefinitely. So, it's definitely a heat issue. Since they claim it's software related, it could be that it's reporting temperature wrong, or the firmware is shutting the processor down prematurely. Maybe. Or a hardware issue. Since I have a workaround now with this big honkin' fan, I don't mind waiting it out until the next firmware version comes out in 1-2 weeks to see if it fixes this issue. Everyone else with this problem - go out to Walmart or Target and buy a big fan. (just trying to be upbeat here!)

I tried that last night, with a deskfan, but could only get ~5 minutes out of it. I am thinking about butting a heatsink and fan against the bottom to see if it helps.

I emailed Hauppauge and told them like everybody else has at this point, but also asked them if they would let us open these things and put a heatsink on the chip without voiding the warranty, kinda as an exception to sending us devices which overheat and would come back to them anyways. Hopefully they write back soon......

[jbellanca]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

I emailed Hauppauge and told them like everybody else has at this point, but also asked them if they would let us open these things and put a heatsink on the chip without voiding the warranty, kinda as an exception to sending us devices which overheat and would come back to them anyways. Hopefully they write back soon......

Let us know what they say.

[Brent]

I've not experienced the heat problem thus far. I have back-to-back HD-PVR recordings running all day today while I'm at work so we'll see how it goes. If it continues to work for me and it doesn't melt the case while I'm away I'll guess that I'm safe from any overheating issues.

[dibs]

Does anyone know how to force the Beta drivers for the HD-PVR. Everytime I point the device manager to the Beta drivers folder, it looks in it and says there aren't any better drivers to install. I have some minor flickering that someone said earlier in the thread that is fixed with the beta drivers.

[sleonard]

I can actually feel the hotspot on my unit so I don't think it's something like the driver reporting an incorrect temp but it could be that something in the driver is overdriving the chip causing it to overheat. Personally I am hoping it is something like that since it is an easier and faster fix than a hardware redesign.

When I get home tonight I will disconnect the HD-PVR from the USB port removing the SW/driver from the equation and turn it on. If it still gets hot then the issue is HW, if not, it's the driver.

S

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by sleonard

I can actually feel the hotspot on my unit so I don't think it's something like the driver reporting an incorrect temp but it could be that something in the driver is overdriving the chip causing it to overheat. Personally I am hoping it is something like that since it is an easier and faster fix than a hardware redesign.

When I get home tonight I will disconnect the HD-PVR from the USB port removing the SW/driver from the equation and turn it on. If it still gets hot then the issue is HW, if not, it's the driver.

S

It doesn't get hot when recording "Standard Def" through the front.

Originally Posted by dibs

Does anyone know how to force the Beta drivers for the HD-PVR. Everytime I point the device manager to the Beta drivers folder, it looks in it and says there aren't any better drivers to install. I have some minor flickering that someone said earlier in the thread that is fixed with the beta drivers.

You're supposed to run the .exe in the folder you get when you extract the archive. That will do the drive update for you.

[SHS]

sleonard there is a build on what look like boot bios "flash memory" which I think automatic start the decive and to A your Q to that yes it dose get hot not being hook to the PC.
If there was not an on board boot bios "flash memory" and it still got hot then I would more likely to belive it was a HW issue and not the firmware/driver issue.

[timnelsonic]

Originally Posted by jrog

My Boss got one in, and he doesn't have a Sage system yet. He's afraid that if he lets me borrow it, he won't see it again. I will see if I can get it this weekend and run some tests. I only have one HD Box from Comcast, but I can try it with a blu-ray or something just to see it record from both at the same time.

This would be great. Tell him pretty please...it's for a good cause.

[KenFab]

FWIW, I've been running/recording on my unit via component nonstop for the past 1.5 days without issue. It is physically sitting on top of my sage server box, and getting plenty of ventilation (it is *not* in any cabinet/enclosure).

For you guys with the heat issue, are your units inside a cabinet/enclosure and/or near any other heat source (e.g. power brick, exhaust fan, etc)? How about ambient temperature around the HD-PVR unit?

[Deacon Crusher]

Mine hasn't crashed, but I have had the IR blaster die on me.

KenFab how are you doing channel changing?

thanks