HD-PVR Check-In - How Well Is Yours Working w/SageTV 7?

[Brent]

I'm just curious how well your HD-PVR is working with SageTV 7. There were some improvements in SageTV 7 dealing with how it handled the HD-PVR so I'm just curious how everyones experience has been. Mine has been good for a long time - before SageTV 7.

I use firewire for tuning and optical audio connection.

[HelenWeathers]

I responded flawless - but I still shut my system down from 4AM to 8AM daily so some may not consider that flawless. I don't have the guts to try 24/7 uptime for my HD PVRs.

[darcilicious]

I marked "other problems" because I don't consider channel changing failure a lock up per se (especially since when SageTV can't change the channel, the Hauppauge IR config blaster can). I've done everything else (removed all USB devices other than the IR receiver, etc) but switch to USB UIRT which I may still do.

All my actual recording lock-ups for the past month or so I have been able to attribute directly to the STB so I would otherwise be able to vote "flawless".

[bhyman1]

Zero issues. I leave my server on 24x7 too.

[DeanONH]

I haven't been able to get 2 HD-PVRs running for more than a few minutes. I think it is a HD-PVR driver problem.

I have 1 HD-PVR running that needs to be reset about once a day.

My server runs 24/7. SageTv runs as a service. This server also hosts a low traffic website, ftp site, & uTorrent client. I have run as a dedicated SageTv non-service server, but it hasn't reduced the HD-PVR failure rate.

[cat6man]

i put it at tolerable for 24/7 use........i seem to get a problem once every couple of months that require power cycling the two units........i can live with that.......no difference from v6 for me

[trini0]

I can't give it a 100% uptime score.
Ever since upgrading to v7, I notice that every now and then, when I RDP into the server while it is recording, the HD-PVR will suddenly give up the ghost. Not sure how to start to debug it as it has been sporadic.
So as long as I stay out of the box it works great so far..

[davephan]

My HD-PVR locks up about every 2 -3 weeks. I've done most of the recommended things, except put a fan in the open top cover and setup automatic power resetting. I think I will do both to see if that stops the lockups.

Too bad that a more reliable product to replace the HD-PVR does not exist.

Dave

[stanger89]

I haven't had a bit of trouble, except when I was swapping it back and forth between my test VM and my production box

[rrhorer]

I responded "flawless" but I have never used optical audio that has given others problems.

[Peter_h]

I responded flawless. Not entirely but pretty close. I have 2 boxes, I run them 24x7, since v7 I have had one lockup on one box. The other has had no issues. That's perfect for me.

On V6, one box locked up every 6 weeks, the other maybe every couple of months. Every once in a while at the same time, that sucked.

[gtd885a]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

I responded flawless - but I still shut my system down from 4AM to 8AM daily so some may not consider that flawless. I don't have the guts to try 24/7 uptime for my HD PVRs.

That's an interesting solution. So far my setup stops working every few days, and rebooting is the only way to fix it, so I might be interested in trying this (for a while at least). Do you shut down everything (HD-PVR and STBs too)? If so, how do you tell them to shut down and restart?

[big poppa pump]

Absolutely flawless!!

Use 2xHD-PVR with my DirecTV H21 boxes with serial connection for channel changing and using optical cable for sound. Using driver version 1.5.6 and I haven't had a single lockup ever since I moved both my HD-PVR's to my WHS box. The server and the HD-PVR's are both up 24/7.

[vexhold]

No change from v6 to v7. I run mine 24/7 and it dissapears from my system about every 3 months or so (sometimes not). a quick reboot of both systems and its good to go.

I have no modifications, no extra fans... just stock.

[EnterNoEscape]

I would say there's been no change between v6 and v7. It's extremely stable when I'm only using one, but every time I add the 2nd one, I get a hiccup about once a week. I have a process to automatically power-cycle the unit that isn't working, so the failures might be annoying, but since I don't need go fix it manually it's tolerable.

[babgvant]

Using the TOSLINK I get a lockup every couple months, almost always traceable to something funky the STB did (firmware update, lockup, etc).

[sleonard]

In between lockups mine is 100% stable

S

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by gtd885a

Do you shut down everything (HD-PVR and STBs too)? If so, how do you tell them to shut down and restart?

I use a mechanical timer to turn off power to everything incl. STBs and turn back on at 8AM. I use software to shut down windows 15 minutes before the mechanical timer cuts off.

[Taddeusz]

Since the heat of the summer started my cable STB starts spitting out stereo PCM rather than AC3 about once a week. The HDPVR itself has been solid the whole time.

[mr_lore]

Just before v7 debuted, I setup a nightly reboot with a smart power strip that shuts down the HDPVR's along with the computer so from 5am to 530am my entire system is off along with the PVR's. This helped tremendously to the point where since then (April-ish) I have not had to reboot my server because of the PVR. I should say that before doing this with a 247 setup my HDPVRs only went down about 2-3 times a month.

Running the latest 1.5.7.1 drivers and sage 7.0.12 at the moment.