HD-PVR Stops Responding ~Once/Day

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by gtd885a

What OS are you running? Does the HD-PVR work better on a certain OS/drivers, or is it purely a problem with the device itself?

I ask b/c I am going to build a new server, and I am trying to figure out which OS to load (Win 7 64/32, Win XP, WHS, Linux).

Just wanted to chime in here with my opinion. The issues with the HD-PVR (barring a bad unit) seem to be from certain hardware combinations or certain TV providers. Cable providers seem to be the most troublesome, followed by Dish. (That's my personal perception from reading these forums.) I don't believe I've seen many DirecTV users complaining. My own issues (I'm with DirecTV, BTW) in getting it working seemed to all be from either a bad HD-PVR or from not covering the IR receiver on the HD-PVR (it tends to act on IR signals even when its own IR receiver is not being used). I would strongly suggest getting a USB-UIRT instead and putting electrical tape over the IR receiver on the HD-PVR.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

I would strongly suggest getting a USB-UIRT instead and putting electrical tape over the IR receiver on the HD-PVR.

If the fix was the simple, I would be all over it.

There are people here with the USB-UIRT and STILL having HDPVR lock ups.

I have black tape over my IR read on the HDPVR. Has not done a single thing to fix or lesson the lock ups.

I believe as someone else pointed out that it's a file corruption issue. The only thing that explains why many here including myself have had the HDPVR working PERFECT for months after a clean OS install and then all of a sudden, BANG, HDPRVR lock ups.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by joe123

If the fix was the simple, I would be all over it.

There are people here with the USB-UIRT and STILL having HDPVR lock ups.

I have black tape over my IR read on the HDPVR. Has not done a single thing to fix or lesson the lock ups.

I believe as someone else pointed out that it's a file corruption issue. The only thing that explains why many here including myself have had the HDPVR working PERFECT for months after a clean OS install and then all of a sudden, BANG, HDPRVR lock ups.

EDIT: Try as I might, I couldn't figure out a way to get my point across without this seeming like the beginning of a p*ssing contest. All I can say is that wasn't my intention.

@joe123: For many people, it has been that simple, though. I did not say--or even hint--that this was the only thing which could need attention. I was very clear about saying:

The issues with the HD-PVR (barring a bad unit) seem to be from certain hardware combinations or certain TV providers.

That sentence does not mention the USB-UIRT and electrical tape does not count as hardware. I then went on to list the most common problem areas I've read about and experienced, which was the part you latched on to. I also see that you have Time Warner--a cable company--which would be the type of TV provider I mentioned as, from my reading, having more problems than people with DirecTV. How do you know that all your issues aren't due to TWC? To test that, I'd be happy to try out your problem HD-PVR in my setup.

I don't have faith in your file corruption theory, though. My recordings have lasted years and worked on numerous client HTPCs, under both XP and Windows 7. As I said elsewhere, one of my HD-PVRs worked for nearly a year (or more) and then starting locking up. The issue was a bad HD-PVR (sudden overheating issue), since I swapped it out with a backup and that one has been working just fine for months now.

Please don't try to sum up my entire post with FUD, as it does not do anything to further this thread. You've made it very clear through your many posts what issues you're having, but that doesn't help gtd885a, which is who I was trying to offer advice to.

[wesleydnc]

Just bought HD-PVR and the latest driver is 1.5.7
I finally, after 3 hard days of work and 23 pages of reading, got it working.
Having a few Halts, so still no joy with Hauppauge's latest effort.

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by wesleydnc

Having a few Halts, so still no joy with Hauppauge's latest effort.

You don't mention much about your set up -- e.g. USB UIRT blaster? Separate USB card/controller? Fixed output from STB? Analog or digital sound output from STB? etc

[najames]

Add me to the list of people getting HD-PVR lockups, also disappearing hardware and channel lineups.

HD-PVR is an "E version" purchased 3/8/10, in use starting May-June.
OS is WHS on an Asus P5E-VM HDMI board with Q6600, 4GB RAM
SageTV 6.6.? from 12/31/2009
USB-UIRT
Comcast Cisco RNG150
HDHomerun works perfectly 100% of the time for OTA recording.

3 HD200 extenders

My HD-PVR box's IR didn't work, got a USB-UIRT and it seemed to work great with the Comcast Cisco RNG150. The USB-UIRT is held in place/covered with green electrical tape. It ran fine for a couple months then "disappeared" from the SageTV system. I moved it to another onboard USB port, restarted everything, reinstalled the latest driver, and it worked again for about a week before pulling the same disappearing act. I again restarted everything and it worked for a day or so then locked up. I tried changing channels a couple times got a -10 SageTV error, then channels vanished again from SageTV listings. I restarted it again last night, channels returned, made sure I could tune cable and went to bed, told my wife to try it again today.

Does SageTV 7 make a difference? Some people are mentioning using a USB card instead of onboard, does this make a difference? If so which card/chip? The HD-PVR doesn't seem to get hot, the left rear corner of the box is warm at best.

[personalt]

Can you get the exact model number of the motherboard you are refering to?

Originally Posted by joe123

For whatever it is worth, I found the fix for my setup.

Let me first say that I tried EVERYTHING listed here, including buying the NEC USB PCI card and connecting my HD-PVR to it, sitting the HD-PVR on it's side, black tape over the HD-PVR, the plastic chicken over my system, all to no avail.

I upgraded my system to a quad AMD Phenom II, MSI motherboard and DD3 memory and ALL OF MY HD-PVR recording Skips and the rare but occasional HD-PVR stops producing data (Red SageTV Ico) HAVE ALL GONE AWAY!

NO MORE HD-PVR skips/pauses during the recordings nor any other problems.

Before the upgrade, simply watching a recording and stopping it would make the HD-PVR stop recording for around a second - producing skips/pauses in the recordings.

With my new setup, I tried EVERYTHING and I cannot get the HD-PVR to lock up NOR to skip during the recordings. I can run several ShowAnalyzers all doing around ~300 MB/Sec and all 4 cores at 100% CPU and I CANNOT get my HD-PVR to lock up nor experience any recording skips.

I should also mentioned that I re-installed XP OS fresh ( formatting C: drive). I also did this about a year ago (Fresh OS install) with my old setup trying to fix the HD-PVR problems to no avail.

With my new setup, I kept all of the same disks. I upgrade the motherboard, cpu, memory. Same power supply, same disks, same case.

It's amazing how well the HD-PVR now works and flawless recordings.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by personalt

Can you get the exact model number of the motherboard you are refering to?

I just added a note to my original post.

My system Ran ROCK Solid for 2-3 months. Not a single lock-up like before the upgrade.

Then all of a sudden after some 2-3 months, BANG Lock-ups again.

I now believe as someone here pointed out that it's a file corruption issues. Why would it run fine and then go back to having at least 1 lock per day?

[sportera]

Originally Posted by joe123

I just added a note to my original post.

My system Ran ROCK Solid for 2-3 months. Not a single lock-up like before the upgrade.

Then all of a sudden after some 2-3 months, BANG Lock-ups again.

I now believe as someone here pointed out that it's a file corruption issues. Why would it run fine and then go back to having at least 1 lock per day?

Joe123,

What upgrade are you referring to; last HDPVR upgrade?, Sagev7 v? upgrade? And what file corruption?

I ask because mine became more reliable right after I upgraded from Sage v6 to v7 first beta. Since upgrading to each beta as it came out I've had more lockups but they are so random with no rhime or reason that I can put my finger on.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by sportera

Joe123,

What upgrade are you referring to; last HDPVR upgrade?, Sagev7 v? upgrade? And what file corruption?

I ask because mine became more reliable right after I upgraded from Sage v6 to v7 first beta. Since upgrading to each beta as it came out I've had more lockups but they are so random with no rhime or reason that I can put my finger on.

I upgraded my hardware PC: Motherboard, CPU, memory. Kept everything else the same, disks and power supply.

The HDPVR is the same. I installed XP 32bit fresh (formated hard drive). HDPVR drivers where the older one, the stable ones. SageTV 6.2.

Basically, I re-installed all of the same software but fresh and on a new system.

The system RAN PERFECT for 2-3 months. Not a single lock up and I was beating the hell out of it, some weeks recording 24/7 as a test and NOT A SINGLE LOCKUP.

All was wonderful and then all of suddend, I started getting HDPVR lock ups up until today, I still get them.

[atchoo]

Originally Posted by joe123

All was wonderful and then all of suddend, I started getting HDPVR lock ups up until today, I still get them.

Same thing for me. Stable for 1 year ! Upgraded the HD-PVR driver + Sage TV to version 7 and I now have lock up problems.

[jerryt]

Lastest Hauppauge drivers 1.5.7 with Sage 7.0.17 and the HDPVR is perfect for days on end...

then 30 some capture error trying to record one show. WTF

Recycling everything (Computer and HDPVR's) seems to get everything working normal again.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by jerryt

Lastest Hauppauge drivers 1.5.7 with Sage 7.0.17 and the HDPVR is perfect for days on end...

then 30 some capture error trying to record one show. WTF

Recycling everything (Computer and HDPVR's) seems to get everything working normal again.

Sounds like either a bad signal (cable/satellite) or the hard drive was being overwhelmed. Those are the only times I've seen that happen.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Sounds like either a bad signal (cable/satellite) or the hard drive was being overwhelmed. Those are the only times I've seen that happen.

So what do I do?
Bad signal = Verify fixed output resolution? or drop dishnet? or go back to 1.0.5.301 drivers?
Hard drive overwhelm = Run HDtach and verify read/write speeds? (Running windows mirrored drives)

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by jerryt

So what do I do?
Bad signal = Verify fixed output resolution? or drop dishnet? or go back to 1.0.5.301 drivers?
Hard drive overwhelm = Run HDtach and verify read/write speeds? (Running windows mirrored drives)

If it only happened once, then I wouldn't worry about the signal issue. If it continues, you may want to have a way to watch the output live to see if there actually is any issue coming off the dish or to rule it out.

Again, if it only happened once, check Windows event viewer to see if anything weird was going on at the time. What time did it happen? Any scheduled tasks/updates for that timeframe? Were you downloading big files? Torrents? Was there a rebuild going on, due to a mirroring issue? Anything which could have put a burden on the drive? This could also be the beginning of a failing drive, but these occurrences are likely to increase as the drive gets worse, so it's something to watch for.

[joe123]

I should mention that I had my Time Warner HD STB box set to output in 480i, 720p and 1080i.

After setting my STB box to ONLY output in 1080i, my HDPVR lock ups have gone away. I used to get HDPVR lock ups one or more times per day. After the change, it has been weeks without a single lock up.

So maybe the HDPVR cannot handle changes in recording quality correctly and thus locks up?

Anyone else here with similar results?

[gplasky]

From this poll HD-PVR Poll back in 2008 that was one of the conclusions. Set your settop box to only output one resolution and the lockups are gone or signifcantly reduced.

Gerry

[joe123]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Set your settop box to only output one resolution and the lockups are gone or signifcantly reduced.

Gerry

I vaugely remember that. The other "solutions" posted here were 10-to-1. For every fixed resolution entry, there were about 10 entrys about black tape over the IR, fan, etc. So I think I missed this.

This should be #1 thing to try in my opinion when having HDPVR lock-ups.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by joe123

I vaugely remember that. The other "solutions" posted here were 10-to-1. For every fixed resolution entry, there were about 10 entrys about black tape over the IR, fan, etc. So I think I missed this.

This should be #1 thing to try in my opinion when having HDPVR lock-ups.

Things that fix the HD-PVR

Put those in the appropriate order.

Gerry

[joe123]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Things that fix the HD-PVR

Put those in the appropriate order.

Gerry

Ah! But on that listing, it says to lock output to 720p. For me, locking it to 1080i did the trick.

Maybe it should say to lock it to either 720p or 1080i.