"How To" set up the Hauppauge HD-PVR with blaster (Instructions Inside)

[sic0048]

I have a Hauppauge HD-PVR and use the built in IR blaster to control it via SageTV. I really struggled getting it all to work in Sage and constantly see others struggling with the same problems on the forum. Through my own trial and error and with the suggestions from other users, I've written a set of instructions that seems to work very reliably in getting the HD-PVR (even with the built in blaster) working effectively.

** Note #1 - this set of instructions will get the unit up and running inside Sage. It may not fix problems with freezing, overheating, etc or any type of playback issues (playback should be a whole separate thread) that have plagued some installations. However, if you did not install the HD-PVR using this method and you are experiencing problems, I would recommend that you try again using these instructions to see if they work for you. **

** Note #2 - Several users (thanks Mikel and Valerio) have noted that if you install more than one Hauppauge card, the Hauppauge IR blaster will assign itself to the last one installed. If you want to have the Hauppauge blaster work with the HD-PVR, please make sure you install the other cards prior to installing the HD-PVR. Valerio also started a good thread on how he got the system working with the Hauppauge IR remote control. **

** Note #3 - When using Vista or Windows 7, it is probably in your best interest to turn the UAC off (thanks Sportera for this suggestion). If you want to leave it on, you need research how that will affect your installation (by moving commonly used files to another folder location for example). The instructions that follow do not specifically touch on this subject but should work as written if you turn the UAC off prior to starting the steps below.

** Note #4 - Windows 7 seems to need a couple more steps to get it to work. Specifically, it seems that you need a Native Recording Patch. Please keep in mind that I have not personally tried installing the HD-PVR on Windows7, so I don't have any experience or advice. **

So let's get started!

Step 1. Work from a clean system. If you have attempted to install the Hauppauge software before and had troubles, then use the Hauppauge HCW Clear software to remove all the Hauppauge software and drivers from your system. Reboot your system before continuing if you used the HCW Clear program.

Step 2. Download Hauppauge Software. In this step we will download and unzip all the required software and drivers needed for the installtion. DO NOT install any of them yet. Just get everything ready.

For the Hauppage HD-PVR, you can download the newest drivers from the Hauppauge PVR support page. However, I would STRONGLY recommend that you start with the older 1.0.5.301 version drivers. I'm guessing about 90% of the stable systems are using this driver version. You can find the older drivers versions here. Just make sure you download the HDPVR 1.0.5.301_whql version. Download the file and unzip it to a temporary location.

If you want to use the built in IR blaster, you must download and unzip three additional files. They are listed under the "Accessories" tab of the HD-PVR support page. The three files are the "HD PVR Scheduler", the "IR Blaster Set Up", and the "IR Remote Control Application" files. Download and unzip these files but DO NOT install them yet.

Here is a picture of the three IR related programs that you need to download and unzip.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...ppaugePage.jpg

Step 3. Uninstall SageTV. Sage and Hauppauge indicate that the HD-PVR software must be installed PRIOR to installing the SageTV software. Obviously many of us are trying to add the HD-PVR to an existing system. This requires that we uninstall the SageTV software before we start installing the HD-PVR software.

As long as you don't manually delete the SageTV folder under the Program Files, you will not loose any settings, tunes, histories, etc. Simply uninstalling Sage does not delete that folder.

Step 4. Reboot. After uninstalling SageTV, I would recommend rebooting your computer to make sure everything Sage related is cleared from the system.

Step 4.5. (Optional) Install drivers for any other Hauppauge tuners you wish to use. The Hauppauge IR blaster will associate itself with the last tuner installed, so we want to install the other tuners prior to installing the HD-PVR if we want to use the blaster with the HD-PVR.

Step 5. Install HD-PVR software. If the "New Device Found" program pops up after the reboot, close it out. You need to use the setup program that comes with the Hauppauge drivers. Once the drivers are installed, if you want to use the built in blaster, then follow these additional steps. Otherwise skip to step 6.

To use the built in blaster, we must install the three IR related programs that we downloaded and unzipped in step 2. This includes the HD PVR Scheduler software which may seem unneccessary since we are going to be using SageTV to schedule recordings. But it actually includes some neccessary IR files - without them the IR Blaster will not work. Once the HD PVR Scheduler is installed, then install the IR Blaster Set Up application and then the IR Remote Control Application. Once all three of these programs are installed, continue to step 6.

Step 6. Reboot.

Step 7. (Optional) Configure the IR blaster Obviously this step if for those that want to use the built in IR blaster. Open the BlasterCfg program. Verify that the blaster is found by looking that the bottom right corner of the program. You should find something like what is shown below. If you see something like "Blaster HDware Not Found" then make sure all three IR related programs were really installed in step 5.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...BlasterCfg.jpg

If the blaster is found, then choose the STB you will be using. I have DishTV and have a VIP211k STB, it is not specifically listed in the program, but I use the DishNetwork 311 model just fine.

To test the blaster is working, press the "Send" command to change the channel of the STB. If it doesn't change the channel, then continue searching for a STB listed that does change the channel.

Once the BlasterCfg program can control the STB, simply close it out. There is nothing to save.

Also, verify that the IR program started automatically when you rebooted in Step 6 by looking for the IR icon in the system menu. There should be a black and red icon in the lower right system menu of the start menu. It looks similar to an iPhone.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...topCutaway.jpg

Step 8. Reinstall SageTV. Reinstall SageTV using the normal installation method. Everthing will load back in from the original installation if needed.

Step 9. Configure the HD-PVR in SageTV. I'll add these steps later, but I believe these steps are already pretty well documented in the Sage manuals.

Step 10. Reboot. I like to reboot once just to make sure everything is working. The SageTV service should start if you are using it, and the IR program should start (the small black and red icon in the systems tray) if applicable. Sage should find and be able to control the HD-PVR.

Congratulations! If you followed the directions, at this point, you should have a fully working HD-PVR (even with the built in IR blaster).

I'll update this how to with some pictures to help illustrate the process. But I wanted to get this first cut out ASAP. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it off within the next week.

Please let me know if there are problems with the directions or if something isn't clear enough. I am not an expert, simply a user that had to figure a lot of this out on my own. I can update the process if needed.

Thanks!

[sic0048]

(Reserved)

[alisonnic]

Thanks for putting this together, sic0048! This is a great guide, and it should help a lot of new HD PVR owners avoid going through the hassles I went through getting my Hauppauge IR Blaster to work.

You might also want to mention the trick of setting a Timer in the VIP211k to wake it up after its nightly Update and also disabling its auto shutoff. I don't know if other STB's have this quirk, but without doing this the HD PVR and IR Blaster won't be able to reliably make recordings from the VIP211k.

Thanks again, sic! Great work!

Is there any way you can make this thread a sticky?

[AJ Bertelson]

I could never get the IR software to install correctly with WHS, for some reason I think my WHS runs in a limited admin mode. I can't figure it out but there is a ton of layered security in there that I just can't seem to bypass with some stuff.

When I tried to install the IR blast software but it was missing a file and gave me some errors.
ODBC mircosoft Access Driver Login failed
could not find file \WinTV\hcwChanDB_5.mdb

[sic0048]

I actually run WHS and these instructions worked perfectly for me. Did you install the three IR programs in the order that I listed? Perhaps the missing files are actually found in one of the other IR programs. That being said, I probably was logged into the WHS servers as the Administrator when I followed my directions. If you have tried under a different user, perhaps you should try again as the Admin.

I know I am grasping at straws here. But it is probably something weird like this.

[qanzark]

Hi, I just want to say first of all your Post on how to get the irRemote working was extremely helpful. I was scratching my head for a while trying to figure out what I was missing to have it work inside SageTV.

Only issue I have now is i'm unable to have SageTV send channel changing commands out the blaster.
The test from within the Blasterconf works well.
Any help on where I should look next would be very appreciated.

I should note I'm using Windows 7 and am trying this with the latest hauppauge drivers.

Thanks again for the tutorial.

[sic0048]

I'm going to guess that in the HD-PVR Sage set up menu, the IR file selected is probably "Stub Device."

If this file is located in the SageTV/Common/IR devices folder, move it to the SageTV/Common/IR Devices/Hauppauge folder. Stop the Sage service before moving the file and then restart it. See if this makes a difference.

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally Posted by sic0048

I actually run WHS and these instructions worked perfectly for me. Did you install the three IR programs in the order that I listed? Perhaps the missing files are actually found in one of the other IR programs. That being said, I probably was logged into the WHS servers as the Administrator when I followed my directions. If you have tried under a different user, perhaps you should try again as the Admin.

I know I am grasping at straws here. But it is probably something weird like this.

I actually do all my work with WHS under admin and I still run into some permissions issues with it.

If I load up the HDPVR disc it crashes out and says it can't install it do to the incorrect permissions of the account, and I am logged in under admin.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

I actually do all my work with WHS under admin and I still run into some permissions issues with it.

If I load up the HDPVR disc it crashes out and says it can't install it do to the incorrect permissions of the account, and I am logged in under admin.

You should never run into permissions issues logged in as Administrator. Double-check and make sure that ID is also in the Administrators group. If you are stilled denied access either reapply the NTFS permissions and make sure you "Allow inheritable permissions from parent to propagate to this object" check box and apply these changes. Also you may have to take ownership of that folder as a last resort. Especially if the folder was copied from another machine.

Gerry

[AJ Bertelson]

So where can I set up global permissions? When I right click on a folder to set permissions for that said folder most of the permissions are greyed out.

I will check to make certain that the admin is in the admin group.

[gplasky]

If it is shared folders you're looking at do it through the WHS console and give Full to the folder based on the user. If you right-click on a folder go to Properties and then the Security tab or Sharing and Security gets you to the same place. When you choose administrator all the boxes should be gray with a dark gray check box. Gray means the permissions are inherited. Go to your C drive and do the same thing as above. The checkboxes should now be white with a black checkbox and you can change it from there. Administrators (the group) should have all permissions execpt Special. This is why you should not be having permission issues with Administrator. The default security policy in Windows XP Professional and Windows 2003 restricts the use of accounts which have a blank password. SO you may want to make sure your Administrator account has a password.

Gerry

[AJ Bertelson]

Yeah this is what I am seeing


When I go to login as administrator I have to enter a password, yet I still have a permissions problem.
Tonight I will follow the instructions to the letter. My system currently has a two other PVR's in it, a 150 and 250 so I haven't run HW clear on it. So how do I get the HDPVR, the 150 and the 250 to co-operate?

If I uninstall sage, do I also need to delete the directory? I know I need to preseve some files, one being the properties file and the other being the wiz.bin I believe.

[gplasky]

Are those your permissions from your C: drive? (Not a folder on the C drive but the actual C drive.) Don't delete the SageTV directory if you want to keep your settings/favorites. (All you really need is the wiz.bin if you want to do a clean install.) And just to make sure you are installing/unistalling the SageTV add-on thru the WHS console? (Don't run the .msi) You might want to take this one step at a one step at a time. Run hwclear and remove the PVR150 and PVR250 from your system and just set it up for your HD-PVR. Also if any of the 150/250 also comes with the blaster you're going to have an issue setting that up and will probably want to get a USB-UIRT. (That's what I use on WHS.) Hauppague drivers have an issue with multiple IR on different boards and it may not work or the one you want to work won't.

Gerry

[pawn]

Originally Posted by sic0048

Step 3. Uninstall SageTV. Sage and Hauppauge indicate that the HD-PVR software must be installed PRIOR to installing the SageTV software.

Wait, what? I don't ever recall reading this anywhere.

[sic0048]

I know.... that is why I wanted to write this "How To"

But that came directly from Sage support and it makes sense to me that there could be some interaction with SageTV and the Hauppauge drivers during the SageTV installation.

[qanzark]

I just wanted to thankyou for helping me out with getting my IRBlaster working.

One thing I should add to the list items I had to do to get it to working was remove the HD-PVR from the list of devices and then add it again, to get the IRBlaster to pickup.
Not sure if the Permission change helped, but i did it anyways, just incase.

Thanks for the HowTo. Definitely should be made a sticky

[AJ Bertelson]

It worked then it didn't. Ran all the necessary steps, IR worked, went to install the 4.6b software and then bam. No more IR. No amount of regedit will fix it either. Back to 1394 tonight.

Also the blaster has to be rite on the sensor, and I mean rite one. I figured since I followed all the steps it should work so I moved the blaster all around until I was rite ontop of the sensor and the great thing about it is that it looks like nodata is back with my epg and the forced epg isn't working.



Edit-After some late night reworking of the software, following the exact instructions in the OP I was able to determine what breaks the IR blaster software on my system. Its the PVR-150 drivers. After doing all the necessary steps and getting the IR to work I install my 150 drivers and the IR no longer works. Running blastCFG gives me a statement that it can not find any IR hardware.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by qanzark

One thing I should add to the list items I had to do to get it to working was remove the HD-PVR from the list of devices and then add it again, to get the IRBlaster to pickup.

Do you mean removing the HD-PVR as a source in SageTV and then adding it back in as a source in SageTV? I'm just trying to figure out exactly what you are referring too.

Thanks,

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

Edit-After some late night reworking of the software, following the exact instructions in the OP I was able to determine what breaks the IR blaster software on my system. Its the PVR-150 drivers. After doing all the necessary steps and getting the IR to work I install my 150 drivers and the IR no longer works. Running blastCFG gives me a statement that it can not find any IR hardware.

Yeah, it is pretty well known that the Hauppauge IR blaster will only work if you have a single Hauppauge tuner device installed. I should add that to the "How To" however to make it clearer. Thanks for the heads up!

[UgaData]

Yeah, it is pretty well known that the Hauppauge IR blaster will only work if you have a single Hauppauge tuner device installed. I should add that to the "How To" however to make it clearer.

I found this thread looking for something about istalling the HD-PVR and another Hauppauge tuner and was still able to use the IR Blaster.

I have 2 Motorola DCH-3200s, one uses firewire for tuning and capture, the other has an HD-PVR using the Hauppauge IR Blaster.

I ran into problems when I added an HVR-1600 for QAM. Everything seemed to work OK until I tried tuning a channel on the HD-PVR. It would record just fine but it wouldn't change the channel.

My solution was to follow the directions in this thread. Uninstall SageTV, uninstall the IR Blaster, WinTV scheduler, and HD-PVR driver. I then ran the HCW Clear and rebooted.

I loaded the latest driver for the HVR-1600 first. I loaded the latest driver for the HD-PVR next, followed by the scheduler, IR Blaster setup, IR remote programs. Last I reloaded SageTV. (basically, I loaded any/all other tuners before loading the HD-PVR and the IR Blaster software.)

All 3 sources are currently working as expected. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something from the quote. It could also be that I got lucky and the Blaster won't continue working after a day or so.