An open letter to SageTV and Hauppauge management

[Skirge01]

Sorry, no. This is SageTV logging. I have it turned on for both the server and the client.

Also, I'm quite happy to say that I pretty much nailed the exact circumstances that caused a hiccup last night and have contacted Hauppauge about it. I'll keep everyone informed of what comes of this.

[Taddeusz]

I'm using the 1.5.6 beta drivers and just for giggles re-enabled AC3 output on my STB. Had an hour show record last night and at about 3/4 of the way through the audio went bad. I'm guessing there was a hiccup in the audio stream and the HD-PVR lost it. The HD-PVR really doesn't handle hiccups in the AC3 stream very well.

[sleonard]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Sorry, no. This is SageTV logging. I have it turned on for both the server and the client.

Also, I'm quite happy to say that I pretty much nailed the exact circumstances that caused a hiccup last night and have contacted Hauppauge about it. I'll keep everyone informed of what comes of this.

Do tell, please.

S

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Also, I'm quite happy to say that I pretty much nailed the exact circumstances that caused a hiccup last night and have contacted Hauppauge about it. I'll keep everyone informed of what comes of this.

To be clear, do you feel you have nailed down the "lock-up" issue or the hiccup in recordings issue? Hopefully though they are closely related.

[Skirge01]

For me, the hiccup. I haven't had lockups in months. Those stopped after a couple RMAs, shorter USB cables, separate USB channels, and the channel change delay setting. However, perhaps they are related, but I'll leave that up to Hauppauge to decide. I'd prefer not to share my findings until Hauppauge has had a chance to do some investigating. I don't want to start a conspiracy theory.

EDIT: Also, my lockups stopped--perhaps by coincidence--when I installed a quality UPS for the server and plugged the HD-PVRs into it as well. Basically, my entire server and associated recording hardware are on a single UPS: DirecTV boxes, HD-PVRs, server, gigabit switch. I'm not saying electrical anomalies were also affecting anything, but I did want to include everything that I've done to date.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

I'm not saying electrical anomalies were also affecting anything, but I did want to include everything that I've done to date.

Yea, unless the electrical anomalies are coincidentally happening at the excat same time as my channel changes, I don't think that's it

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

I'd prefer not to share my findings until Hauppauge has had a chance to do some investigating. I don't want to start a conspiracy theory.

well, we anxiously await feedback or clues...........

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

For me, the hiccup. I haven't had lockups in months. Those stopped after a couple RMAs, shorter USB cables, separate USB channels, and the channel change delay setting.

hi,
how do you check that units are on 'separate USB channels'?
thx

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by cat6man

hi,
how do you check that units are on 'separate USB channels'?
thx

Check the thread over here.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by cat6man

hi,
how do you check that units are on 'separate USB channels'?
thx

Also check out this post:
http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...34&postcount=4

[cat6man]

thanks.............M$ no longer has a download link for

UVCView.x86.exe

anyone know how to get a copy?

edit: googled around and found a copy, though M$ links no longer have it..........i'll try it at home tonight

[DarkBrew]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

That being said using 2 channel audio and firewire for channel changing has been working 100% of the time.

I'm on my 3rd HD-PVR. Everything works great except the Haup IR-Blaster. I was going to order a USB-UIRT, but I've be seeing the firewire blaster. What type and where did you get the firewire blaster?

Thanks!

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by DarkBrew

I'm on my 3rd HD-PVR. Everything works great except the Haup IR-Blaster. I was going to order a USB-UIRT, but I've be seeing the firewire blaster. What type and where did you get the firewire blaster?

Thanks!

There is no firewire device that blasts IR signals to your stb. It is a direct cable connection from the firewire port on your stb to your Sage box. It is faster changing channels and has 100% success rate in my experience; definitely the way to go if your stb is firewire capable.

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by cat6man

hi,
how do you check that units are on 'separate USB channels'?
thx

downloaded the usb viewing tool and found (of course) that both of my hdpvr units are on the same channel

but, before that i got both of my units off of beta drivers and back onto the last official release...........and everything has worked perfectly since then, so i haven't moved them onto separate usb channels yet

fyi.......both units are D2 (after RMAing my old C1)

does this make any sense at all? i previously had over 6 months of perfect recordings, then everything went south with no changes to h/w or drivers.
sounds like something somewhere occasionally causes corruption somewhere but who knows............

[Skirge01]

I sent my email to Hauppauge around the 14th, but never heard back. I sent them another email with all the details yesterday and received a response this morning. Sadly, they asked for the same thing they did last time: Does it happen when using the Arcsoft software? They also asked me to try the beta drivers. I will try the beta drivers, but I explained how difficult it is to begin using the Arcsoft program given my setup.

As ticked off as I was by their response, I attempted to nicely point out how much troubleshooting I've already done, as well as how many variables I've ruled out for them and simply asked them to meet me the rest of the way. I'll keep everyone posted.

[derringer]

I wanted to just poke in here and post that I managed to solve one problem with the HD-PVR that was alluded to earlier in the thread when someone talked about power and UPS's.

I had occasional blips in the audio for my recordings with the HDPVR, and through trial and error narrowed it to electrical noise on the power strip I was using... I wanted to let people know that the unit is extremely sensitive to electrical noise, and to try to get it as clean a power source as possible. This was about the 100th thing I tried, but it cured the problem completely. Note that the audio glitches I was having were randomly spread throughout the recording, so I'm sure most people don't have this problem, but it can't hurt for people to be mindful that the unit is not shielded well from electrical power noise...

[Skirge01]

Wow... when I mentioned that in one of my responses, I really didn't think that was the cause of any of my issues. But, I'm glad I took the time to bring it up.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

I sent my email to Hauppauge around the 14th, but never heard back. I sent them another email with all the details yesterday and received a response this morning. Sadly, they asked for the same thing they did last time: Does it happen when using the Arcsoft software? They also asked me to try the beta drivers. I will try the beta drivers, but I explained how difficult it is to begin using the Arcsoft program given my setup.

As ticked off as I was by their response, I attempted to nicely point out how much troubleshooting I've already done, as well as how many variables I've ruled out for them and simply asked them to meet me the rest of the way. I'll keep everyone posted.

I received a response from Hauppauge about my issue and the prognosis does not look good. The issue stems from a change in the audio stream going between stereo and Dolby Digital. The few times I've seen this first-hand have been during a commercial break on an "HD" channel that's being broadcast only in stereo. A commercial break will occur and one of the commercials will be in Dolby Digital. The HD-PVR apparently cannot handle this transition.

Hauppauge has stated that this is an issue with the chipset needing to be restarted when this occurs and there currently is not a fix for this. They are going to speak with ArcSoft about it, however.

Here's the kicker, though: They say that this is not a common issue. Technically, I suppose most broadcasts do not switch between audio streams, but I know that SPIKEHD and NICKHD both do this on DirecTV on some frequency. To date, I've seen it happen during commercials on Family Matters (NICKHD), George Lopez (NICKHD), and The Ultimate Fighter (SPIKEHD). So, if anyone else has experienced this or can determine if this is happening to them, please contact Hauppauge about this in order to let them know it's a bigger issue than they believe. I'm thinking that if we can find a few channels that do this during the actual show/movie, it will become a bigger issue, so the more people we have looking for this, the more likely we'll be to get a fix.

I'll update everyone if/when something else comes of this.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

A commercial break will occur and one of the commercials will be in Dolby Digital. The HD-PVR apparently cannot handle this transition.

Want to make sure I'm clear about the issue. When you say the HD-PVR can't handle it and the chip needs to be restarted, exactly what end-behavior are you referring to? Is this where the HD-PVR will briefly stop (you can see the blue-lights on top turn off) and then restart in the middle of a recording? I think you said previously this was not causing lock-ups for you, so I think you're talking only about the little glitches and skips within recordings.

If the issue happens only when the audio stream changes, why would this cause glitches within the recordings outside of going to/returning from commercials?

Thanks for all the legwork and reporting; trying to understand better.

-Chris

[Skirge01]

Exactly correct. I did recently have a lock up on my one HD-PVR using SPDIF, but they are very rare nowadays. The hiccup (precisely as you described) is still happening and could very well be the cause of those rare lockups. It may depend on how poor of an audio transition it is and whether or not it transitions several times in a short period.

As far as causing a glitch (aka hiccup) during the broadcast of a show, I know that I have seen OTA signals do this, but since the HD-PVR isn't used for OTA, it's not a direct correlation. I'm sure that channels which are in the transitioning stage to HD programming could very well broadcast a show using one audio stream and then realize the mistake and correct it. I can actually recall watching broadcasts (usually live shows, such as the news, WWE, or UFC events) which began the audio in the wrong language and transitioned during the show, rather than waiting for a commercial break. So, it is certainly possible.