Just got the HD-PVR - advice needed

[david zero]

I hooked up the HDPVR to the S-Video of my Dish box, loaded the drivers and applications from the CD. But when I rebooted and look at Device Manager, the HDPVR has that yellow triangle with "!" in it. When I push the on/off button on the HDPVR, the triangle goes away. Then when I start up SageTV (ver. 5), and watch live TV, I get the "No Signal" message - no video feed from the Dish box.

My WinTV 350 was working perfectly. But I'm trying to move up to HD. But I'm beginning to wonder if I should have been happy with what I had.

And advice from someone who's got their HD-PVR running appreciated.


David

[gplasky]

#1-SageTV ver 5 probably won't support the HD-PVR. It wasn't around then.
#2-You will need to solve the "!" problem with the HD-PVR and your PC. This indicates a device conflict somewhere. Make sure you are plugged into a USB 2.0 port on the mb and see if it is the only device on that channel. All windows updates and directx updates should probably also be installed. If you really want to move to HD you should consider using the latest SageTV 6.6.2.
#3-s-Video isn't HD. If you are moving to HD you should plug into the component out of your DishTV.
#4-Start with analog out for HD-PVR.

Gerry

[david zero]

57519426
Thanks gplasky.

When the "!" goes away, the HDPVR shows up as a source in SageTV 5.

I do have the HDPVR with supplied USB2 bacle plugged into the MoBo's USB2 port. Everything else USB works without a problem. Will look into SageTV 6.6.2.. Thanks for that tip.

I"m currently plugging into S-Video because that's all my current Dish receiver has. I'm planning on upgrading the Dish receiver next.

I"m not sure what you mean by "Start with analog out for HD-PVR". I'm plugged into S-Video which is analog. Beyond that I"m not sure what you mean. Is there some configuration somewhere I need to do?

[gplasky]

You also have the option of connecting to your satellite/cable box over optical out. Some people seem to have more issues with that. As long as you get the "!" you have a fundemental issue with your PC and the HD-PVR. You need to solve that before it will work consistently with Sage. Even though it shows up as a source does the source present the option of component, component + spdif, s-video in Sage as a tuner? If not then it won't work in SageTV 5.

Gerry

[david zero]

I uninstalled SageTV 5 and installed the trial SageTV 6.6. The picture came right up. But the picture looks like CRAP compared to with the WinTV 350 PCI card. I adjusted the video to highest quality with no improvement.

I'm beginning to think about trading it in for the new Hauppauge 1850 HD PCIE card, which is what I was about to get when I decided to try the HDPVR. I'm thinking the internal may integrate into the system better and avoid the pitfalls of an external USB device.

Also, the remote IR blaster doesn't seem to be working now. I'm working on that too. If I can get a decent picture I'll keep it. If this is as good as it gets, back it goes. The PCI WinTV 350 gave me an excellent picture through S-Video.

[gplasky]

The PVR350 gave that picture thru its own hardware I believe. The closest you will come to that (or better) is with a HD200 extender. If you're using the s-video of the HD-PVR it's really designed to be used with the component inputs. Also I don't know what video card you're using or what you're viewing it on but you'll either want a high end video card attached to a HDTV or an HD200 extender connected to a HDTV to get the best picture and full effect. For the IR blaster you'll want to install all the IR software BEFORE installing Sage. If Sage is installed then uninstall it, install the IR software and then install Sage. If you have more than one Hauppague device in your PC you may have issues getting the IR to work. Pull out any other cards and just set up the HD-PVR for now.

Gerry

[david zero]

I'm afraid if I uninstall the trial SageTV, it won't let me reinstall it.

My understanding is the way my PVR350 setup worked is the PVR just encoded to MP2 and recorded the mpg file to hard drive. Playback was through the same system that plays video files - same as MS Media Player etc. work - through the system's video output system, not the PVR card. I'm just unpleasantly surprised with the "quality" of the video. I would have thought a "HD capable" unit would produce better, not worse video display. The PVR350's video was crystal sharp - and through S-Video. I considered perhaps the HDPVR is optimized for component video and may not do well with S-Video. The fact the composite and S-Video ports are next to one another suggests they may both go through the same circuitry. So maybe the S-Video input actually comes out like composite - yech. That is what it looks like.

[david zero]

Regarding the infrared blaster. When I change channels, I can see the blaster's light blinking. So some kind of signal is being sent to the LED. But the Dish Network receiver it's attached to does not respond correspondingly. I have run the IR setup and selected my receiver model. But when I run the little remote control icon program running in the lower-right corner, it brings up a box that's empty except for an "exit" and "close" button. I recall with my PVR350, there were other things in that box. Now it's a big, white, empty box. I'd like to know what that means.

[sleonard]

I use the component inputs on my HD-PVRs but have used the s-vid during testing and troubleshooting. The recorded video from the HD-PVRs s-vid looks at least as good as if not better than the the same input on my previous PVR250s. (Still no comparison to HD recorded from component. An order of magnitude better!)

I agree with those above who suggested you straighten out the driver issue in Device Manager before anything else. You should never see the yellow !triangle regardless of the power button. If on then it should be listed, if off it should not be listed at all.

Make sure your USB ports are in fact 2.0. My previous system advertised USB 2.0 but when I examined closely in the BIOS most were showing as 1.1. Upgrading to a MB that really did have 2.0 solved most of my issues.

Does your 350 have an IR blaster? If so the IR might still be trying to go thru that. The Hauppage drivers don't allow a way to control or predict which Hauppage blaster will be chosen if there is more than one.

I would start by removing the 350 from the system and then running hcwclear to remove all hauppage drivers and then start fresh with the HD-PVR.

S

[david zero]

That's encouraging about component over s-video. I may be picking up a HD Dish receiver that has component and dish tomorrow. Correction: My old card was a WinTV 150,not the 350. Not much difference. But the driver issue with the HDPVR has resolved itself somehow. I even upgraded the driver with no apparent ill effects. My motherboard is a pretty nice Asus with Intel Core Duo 2 CPU which I'm sure is running USB2 since I've downloaded large photo files pretty speedily. My WinTV 150 did have the IR blaster. And there was t time I was having fits getting it to work right. But once I did, it has worked over two years pretty much trouble free. I removed the WinTV card and uninstalled all associated software and running hwclear prior to installing the HDPVR.

Now, however, another problem has emerged. I uninstalled the IR blaster apps, then rebooted, then reinstalled IRBlast.exe. Upon rebooting however, when I go to configure IR Blaster, the boxes to select receiver model are all inactive - I can't select anything - no pull-downs. The install CD has two IR Blaster apps: It's not clear whether IR32.exe or IRBlast.exe - or both should be installed. IRBlast.exe alone doesn't seem to have done it, so maybe I'll try IR32. Hauppauge has just about the most ALMOST perfect product on earth. Unfortunately it's these little, not so well documented, gotchas and somewhat lagging tech support that keeps them from attaining perfection.

[Savage1701]

David:

Sorry to hear of all your problems. I'll offer a few FWIW's and you can take or leave whatever you want.

1. I'm not sure the 150 has hardware decoding. I think that's only the 250 or 350.

2. IR issues are a frequently a problem with more than one Hauppauge product, especially since they make white box versions and different models of the same card with/without IR blasters. Hauppauge can only handle one IR channel. Get a $60 USB-UIRT and you can solve 99.99999% of your IR problems in seconds.

3. You may need to put the HD-PVR on a seperate USB card in your computer IF you start adding more USB tuners or HD-PVR's. You know how USB ports are usually side by side or on top of each other on the back of a MB - try not to put anything else, especially another USB-based tuner, above or next to your HD-PVR port. If you go the seperate card route, try to get a USB card with the NEC USB chipset and, this is just me personally, I recommend an x1 card over a PCI card for bandwidth reasons.

4. S-Video out on a HD-PVR I don't know about that. I think you are smart to upgrade. Component is gorgeous. If you are recording HD stuff, set your quality as high as you can (I think 5.9GB/hour is max). I usually install all the stuff a Hauppauge card/box comes with. WintV, IR receiver, IR blaster, and Total Media Extreme with HD-PVR. Their can be some stuff your card/box needs that can be in those apps, even if you never use them.

5. You may need to experiment with H.264 decoders to find the best one for you. Careful with TME and HD-PVR updating - TME hides its decoder in its newer versions. You can also buy H.264 decoder packs from Cyberlink, Core, and Main Concepts. They will usually let you demo them as well.

Hope some of this helps.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by david zero

Now, however, another problem has emerged. I uninstalled the IR blaster apps, then rebooted, then reinstalled IRBlast.exe. Upon rebooting however, when I go to configure IR Blaster, the boxes to select receiver model are all inactive - I can't select anything - no pull-downs. The install CD has two IR Blaster apps: It's not clear whether IR32.exe or IRBlast.exe - or both should be installed. IRBlast.exe alone doesn't seem to have done it, so maybe I'll try IR32. Hauppauge has just about the most ALMOST perfect product on earth. Unfortunately it's these little, not so well documented, gotchas and somewhat lagging tech support that keeps them from attaining perfection.

Check out my thread about installing the HD-PVR and the built in IR software. The fact is that you must install three different Hauppauge IR related software programs in order to get the IR blaster to work. It sounds like when you tried to redo the IR software, you only installed 1 or 2 of the required programs.

FYI - when I pull up the little IR remote icon, I only see the "exit" and "close" button as well and my system works just fine.

[david zero]

Thanks Savage1701

I know the 150 has hardware encoding. Maybe not decoding.

Strange thing now is, the box always needs to be turned on/off after bootup to be recognized. The IR started working. And though I'd gone th rough the source setup process, when I checked the programs today, it had reverted back to my previous (uninstalled) version 5's selection of channels. They were working by IR blaster. This just seems to have sorted itself overnight. One nagging problem is jerky video. I'm going to assume this is lag between input and writing to disk via USB. It seems to be curable by pausing a few seconds to let that catch up.

sic0048

I will definitely check your post. I seem to be getting it together with the help of the forum. But I think I just have one IR blaster program running now (IRBlast.exe) and it seems to be working. I had to experiment around with the config though. My Dish receiver is a 4700 echostar. But when I just selected that one (code 130) it didn't work to change channels, but received the "1,2,3" test sequence signal.. But when I changed the code to 174, it would change channels by IR blaster.

I went through something similar with my WinTV 150. Then, just when was about to give up, everything worked almost perfectly and stayed working for a couple of years. But I'm about to redo my system with Windows 7 and am upgrading everything to HD so it's a bit of a project and I sure appreciate all the advice from this forum.

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by david zero

Thanks Savage1701

I know the 150 has hardware encoding. Maybe not decoding.

Strange thing now is, the box always needs to be turned on/off after bootup to be recognized. The IR started working. And though I'd gone th rough the source setup process, when I checked the programs today, it had reverted back to my previous (uninstalled) version 5's selection of channels. They were working by IR blaster. This just seems to have sorted itself overnight. One nagging problem is jerky video. I'm going to assume this is lag between input and writing to disk via USB. It seems to be curable by pausing a few seconds to let that catch up.

sic0048

I will definitely check your post. I seem to be getting it together with the help of the forum. But I think I just have one IR blaster program running now (IRBlast.exe) and it seems to be working. I had to experiment around with the config though. My Dish receiver is a 4700 echostar. But when I just selected that one (code 130) it didn't work to change channels, but received the "1,2,3" test sequence signal.. But when I changed the code to 174, it would change channels by IR blaster.

I went through something similar with my WinTV 150. Then, just when was about to give up, everything worked almost perfectly and stayed working for a couple of years. But I'm about to redo my system with Windows 7 and am upgrading everything to HD so it's a bit of a project and I sure appreciate all the advice from this forum.

If I am understanding you, and your have a storage drive attached via USB, you are asking for a lot of trouble. Just an FWIW. I'd only consider an external with FireWire or Esata, never USB 2.0 or only as a last resort or if I needed an emergency backup.

[david zero]

No. I don't have an external hard drive or NAT of any kind. I know better than that.

The wierd thing is how I setup a whole lineup of channels in the source setup. Then, that lineup disappeared and was replaced by the lineup of the SageTV ver. 5 I had uninstalled prior to installing the Ver. 6 trial. And at the same time the old lineup resurrected, the IR Blaster started working to change channels. As usual, SageTV and Hauppauge work in mysterious ways. I could almost believe some wizard at Hauppauge or SageTV hacked into my system while I slept last night and straightened it all out. I only hope the benevolent gnome comes back after I've blown Vista away and started from scratch again with Windows 7 in about a week and fixes me up again.