thinking of a HDPVR

[AJ Bertelson]

currently I am on a WHS system server/client setup

The WHS has the following
PVR150
PVR250
HDHR
500gb drive not in the WHS pool

Is it just plug and play with the 1212 or is there a lot of fiddling with it?

[Chriscic]

It's pretty plug and play when it works. If you have lock-ups you are in for a lot of pain. But the odds are in your favor.

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

It's pretty plug and play when it works. If you have lock-ups you are in for a lot of pain. But the odds are in your favor.

any idea what triggers the lockups? I have two other hauppage tuners on my system and I was kinda worried about it with all the drivers issues that hauppage has had in the past.

[Clift]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

any idea what triggers the lockups? I have two other hauppage tuners on my system and I was kinda worried about it with all the drivers issues that hauppage has had in the past.

The most popular culprits are:
1) Not being plugged into it's own USB header
2) Not using HCWclear to clear the drivers before install
3) Using the supplied IR blaster seems to be finnicky for some, but not all (generally it is recommended to use Firewire, Serial, or USB-UIRT)
4) Using S/PDIF output on the set top boxes has been known to cause lockups if your cable company switches between DD5.1 and 2channel stereo (i.e. during commercials). This isn't with everyone, but most seem to have more stability when using RCA stereo input.
5) Not having the HD PVR in a well ventilated area (i.e. in a cabinet, or on top of a set top box).

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally Posted by Clift

The most popular culprits are:
4) Using S/PDIF output on the set top boxes has been known to cause lockups if your cable company switches between DD5.1 and 2channel stereo (i.e. during commercials). This isn't with everyone, but most seem to have more stability when using RCA stereo input.

So can I run 5.1 with this thing then if not how do people get around this issue other than running the RCA stereo input?

Stereo input only gives us two channels correct?


Also in regards to plug in play, is it just install the drivers, plug in the cords to the HDPVR, plug the usb into the server and add the tuner in sage? Does hauppage provide a software package to set the bit rate for the video or audio?

[fidget]

I had a heck of a time with the default drivers (1.5.6) and wasn't until I downgraded to 1.0.5 that they went away. It has been bulletproof (crosses fingers) since the driver downgrade.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Clift

The most popular culprits are:
1) Not being plugged into it's own USB header
2) Not using HCWclear to clear the drivers before install
3) Using the supplied IR blaster seems to be finnicky for some, but not all (generally it is recommended to use Firewire, Serial, or USB-UIRT)
4) Using S/PDIF output on the set top boxes has been known to cause lockups if your cable company switches between DD5.1 and 2channel stereo (i.e. during commercials). This isn't with everyone, but most seem to have more stability when using RCA stereo input.
5) Not having the HD PVR in a well ventilated area (i.e. in a cabinet, or on top of a set top box).

Based on my experiece I don't believe any of those things is responsible. What fixed it for me was RMAing my unit (which was actually the third one I had to send back. Fourth unit was a charm).

[Clift]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

So can I run 5.1 with this thing then if not how do people get around this issue other than running the RCA stereo input?

Stereo input only gives us two channels correct?


Also in regards to plug in play, is it just install the drivers, plug in the cords to the HDPVR, plug the usb into the server and add the tuner in sage? Does hauppage provide a software package to set the bit rate for the video or audio?

Some people run optical 5.1 with no issues.

[Clift]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

Based on my experiece I don't believe any of those things is responsible. What fixed it for me was RMAing my unit (which was actually the third one I had to send back. Fourth unit was a charm).

I'm sorry but some of those are real issues. Some are just good suggestions, anyway. But keeping the HD PVR in a well ventilated area and running HCWclear are definitely required.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Clift

I'm sorry but some of those are real issues. Some are just good suggestions, anyway. But keeping the HD PVR in a well ventilated area and running HCWclear are definitely required.

Just saying based on my experience for what it's worth. Can't prove or disprove they never helped anyone. Just human nature to try and come up with some sort of explanation when an obvious one can't be found. I believe it's usually the HD-PVR hardware itself, a POV which might be helpful to someone although of course I could be wrong.

The one I agree with is don't overheat your HD-PVR (although that one is fairly obvious). I never once ran HCWclear and updated the drivers many times.

[Savage1701]

I put my HD-PVR on a fan blowing air up into it. The older drivers and TME see to work best. Newer versions of TME and Cyberlink hide the decoders and make them hard to find and register.

Use a DirectShow decoder - Arcsoft's TME, Cyberlink's, Core AVC's, Main Concept to name a few. Google "HD Pack" if you want some further help.

Get a USB-UIRT if you have any other Hauppauge devices that IR blast. They will fight for the single IR channel Hauppauge supports and you WILL lose. USB-UIRT is probably the best bang for the $60 bucks you will ever spend in your life for this sort of thing and you can control 3 blasters with it. Flawlessly.

I put my HD-PVR on an x1 PCI Express USB card.

[AJ Bertelson]

My two clients are

vista and windows 7, what is this h264 codec that the HDPVR uses? Will I have to download codecs?

[SWKerr]

You get the codec with the HD-PVR. It comes with the TME software that is included with the device.

If you are running the HD-PVR on a remote server you may need to hook up the HD-PVR once to you client and install the driver in order to get it to update. It looks for the HD-PVR device before it will install. There are installers that just install the Arcsoft codecs but they do not come with the HD-PVR.

On Windows7 there is a way to get Sage to work with the native h.264 codec supplied with the OS but you may still get better results with Arcsoft. You will need a h.264 like the one installed with the TME software in order to run on Vista. There are several codec that will work. If you have Cyberlink for a Blu-Ray playback then you can use that as well.

[AJ Bertelson]

So now I have run into some issues I have two moto boxes(one for SD and one for HD). When I power the HD box off through the remote it powers off the SD box. I am using a USB uirt so I was figuring I would use that for the SD box and use the blaster that came with the HD PVR for the HD box and tape it to the front of it.

How can I utilize the blaster though through sage?


Got both clients working, had to do a re-install of sagetv

How change between 1080i and 720p? Do I have to do it at the cable box?

[toricred]

Instead of using the IR blaster that comes with the Hauppauge device you should check out the zone capability of the USB UIRT. You could probably even use the actual IR cable that comes with the HD-PVR with your USB-UIRT and tape it as you described.

[AJ Bertelson]

After much messing around last night I quit and went to sleep. I have two un-resolved issues with the HDPVR

1) The IR blaster has no codes in it, I installed the IR blaster stuff then uninstalled re-installed sage as suggested in a different post. When adding the HD PVR it can see the hauppage IR control but when I change channels nothing happens. I played around with it last night and there appears to be no IR codes in the video sources section. I checked the file out through windows explorer and nothing was found, so I copied over the DC2000 IR codes and placed them into the file and restarted sage. Nothing has happened.

2)No data and this one is frustrating the hell out of me. I have tried some of the things in the FAQ and it from what I have figured out is that the new source can not lock into the EPG. I have added the source, copied over the files, etc... and I eventually gave up and turned on the debugger. I don't want to remove all the sources at this point because my HDHR is working and there is a bunch of recordings that I have to do this week.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

After much messing around last night I quit and went to sleep. I have two un-resolved issues with the HDPVR

1) The IR blaster has no codes in it, I installed the IR blaster stuff then uninstalled re-installed sage as suggested in a different post. When adding the HD PVR it can see the hauppage IR control but when I change channels nothing happens. I played around with it last night and there appears to be no IR codes in the video sources section. I checked the file out through windows explorer and nothing was found, so I copied over the DC2000 IR codes and placed them into the file and restarted sage. Nothing has happened.

If you open the Hauppauge BlastCfg program, what you do see at the bottom right corner of the program? Is it something like "No Blaster HDFound" or does it list the blaster and some numbers?

It sounds like the Blaster is not being picked up in the hardware. I just reinstalled my entire setup last night on a different computer and this had me stumped for a few minutes. If the hardware is not found, then make sure all three programs from the Hauppage Support site under "Accessories" are installed. This includes the Scheduling software which seems counter intuitive since we are going to be using Sage. But there are some IR related stuff in that program that is required to make things work.

Let me know what you see and I'll try to help more.

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally Posted by sic0048

If you open the Hauppauge BlastCfg program, what you do see at the bottom right corner of the program? Is it something like "No Blaster HDFound" or does it list the blaster and some numbers?

It sounds like the Blaster is not being picked up in the hardware. I just reinstalled my entire setup last night on a different computer and this had me stumped for a few minutes. If the hardware is not found, then make sure all three programs from the Hauppage Support site under "Accessories" are installed. This includes the Scheduling software which seems counter intuitive since we are going to be using Sage. But there are some IR related stuff in that program that is required to make things work.

Let me know what you see and I'll try to help more.

I believe it found the hardware, in case it didn't this is the install process I should perform

uninstall sagetv->uninstall remote software->restart->install remote software (all three)->restart->install sagetv

correct?

Haven't been able to get much of this stuff to work, and when I load blastcfg in my whs I get this error
ODBC mircosoft Access Driver Login failed
could not find file \WinTV\hcwChanDB_5.mdb

[AJ Bertelson]

Last night was not fun,

I got the Blaster to blink but it doesn't work on the moto boxes. I moved it all around and it wouldn't work. Also I tried to get it to learn the channels but got an error when I attempted it.

The HD PVR locked up when recording a show last night. I was watching big bang on one of my clients and the client was saying that it was getting an error when recording "Choke". I didn't think much of it but it didn't record choke when I checked it this morning and I tried to get it to tune into a channel and it didn't tune into the channel and gave me an error. I checked it out and the blue recording light was on for the HD pvr so I ended up reseting it.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

Haven't been able to get much of this stuff to work, and when I load blastcfg in my whs I get this error
ODBC mircosoft Access Driver Login failed
could not find file \WinTV\hcwChanDB_5.mdb

I've got no suggestions for you, but this seems really bad, I'm guessing it's the root of your IR problems.