Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR

[TechBill]

Last night I removed all traces of old drivers from old tuner cards and deleted SageTV

Then did a fresh install SageTV that only thing I kept was wiz.bin but no plugin

Today this morning I woke up to see server had crashed which require a reboot to get it back.

I probably will go back to my old analog cards until solution is found for Colossus or SageTV beta, I noticed the more channels jumping I do the longer it take to tune in on the next channel and the most likehood of server crashing.


Bill

[rjudge]

Anyone got 3 or 4 cards working in your server?

RJ

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by rjudge

Anyone got 3 or 4 cards working in your server?

RJ

I had two Colossus cards in my server but server keep crashing after several hours of usage if I am surfing or switching lots of channels.

Today I took out one Colossus card and now trying it with only one to see if that stops my issue I am having.

Again I do not know if reason of my crashes is because I have two Colossus in my server but just seeing if taking one out would stops it or not.


Bill

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by spacecadet

Still no Colossus love. Sage locked up and I had to remove the Colossus (from Sage) and restart. Setting hdpvr_magic to false did not change the behavior for me.

Awhile back, Slugger had mentioned having success w/ Colossus + HDPVR by locking his STBs at 720p.

My boxes had been locked at 1080i, so I gave this configuration a shot today (I locked the boxes at 720p and set hdpvr_magic=false). Unfortunately, the result was the same: within a few hours Sage was hung.

Grabbed some logs this time and submitted a bug report to SageTV.

Hopefully there are some answers coming soon...

[tvmaster2]

anyone have the remote that came with the Colossus working with it? The only key that does anything is the menu key.
HD PVR remote worked great (for me) with the HD PVR.
I re-installed the IR blaster drivers from the Colossus disk - is this likely a Sage-not-being-ready yet problem?

[jptheripper]

tv master. Remember the hauppauge ir program (both blaster and receiver) only support one device. And, depending on which devices you have installed, there is no gauarantee that the colossus is that device.

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by spacecadet

Awhile back, Slugger had mentioned having success w/ Colossus + HDPVR by locking his STBs at 720p.

My boxes had been locked at 1080i, so I gave this configuration a shot today (I locked the boxes at 720p and set hdpvr_magic=false). Unfortunately, the result was the same: within a few hours Sage was hung.

Grabbed some logs this time and submitted a bug report to SageTV.

Hopefully there are some answers coming soon...

I'm afraid to mention it, but Colossus + HDPVR has "just worked" since day 1. What I thought was choppy recordings, etc. was me just trying to watch 1080i recordings over Placeshifter while testing in the office during hardware installation. I've been running this setup for over a week now and haven't had an issue. Both are happily recording for hours on end simultaneously.

WinXP 32bit SP3 + Java 1.6.0_23 + Sage 7.1.2 + 1 Colossus + 1 HDPVR + 2 PVR-250s. The PVR-250s are installed, but disabled in Sage because I don't have enough satellite receivers to enable all four inputs on the server.

The HD tuners are fed with Shaw Direct DSR505 HD receivers via component + stereo sound. Both STBs are locked at 720p. Recording at 1080i on either device works fine as well (only limited testing with Colossus), but I lock at 720p for Placeshifter - Placeshifter does not handle 1080i recordings at all.

Unlike most, I never really had any issues with the HDPVR prior to this. It locked up on me exactly 3 times over 2+ years.

I'm not posting to rub it in, but just rather to testify that HDPVR + Colossus is possible and after a week or so I'm able to say it's a rather stable combo for me (so far). Obviously, I'll keep everyone posted if something changes.

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by TechBill

I had two Colossus cards in my server but server keep crashing after several hours of usage if I am surfing or switching lots of channels.

Today I took out one Colossus card and now trying it with only one to see if that stops my issue I am having.

Again I do not know if reason of my crashes is because I have two Colossus in my server but just seeing if taking one out would stops it or not.


Bill

After couple of hours the same issue come back with only one Colossus installed.


Guess they need to work on the drivers some more or SageTV wasn't really ready for Colossus yet.


Bill

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

tv master. Remember the hauppauge ir program (both blaster and receiver) only support one device. And, depending on which devices you have installed, there is no gauarantee that the colossus is that device.

hi, yeah, I remember that. I assumed the installation of the Colossus IR Blaster would blow away the irremote.ini from the HD PVR.
As it stands, I can pause, play, all the transport controls, but NO menu functions.

[uberpixel]

I'm still seeing video stutter with my Colossus.

It seems to happen for every basketball game I try to record.

I reported it as a bug to SageTV. They responded and said it was likely a capture issue and that I should take up this issue with Hauppauge.

Does anyone know how to log a bug with Hauppauge? All I can find is a Facebook page for support. Is that it? No forum?

As far as this being a Hauppauge bug, I've noticed general instability with my Sage setup ever since I installed the Colossus. This would obviously point to the Colossus being a problem, but I couldn't say which end of the setup needs to be fixed.

I've also had 2 server lock-ups (I assume BSOD but it's headless so I'm not really sure - had to power cycle) since I installed this card. Before this my server was rock solid. I can't remember 1 crash in over 2 years of operation on WHS v1.

For the time being, I cannot trust my Colossus. Bummer.

-uberpixel

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by Slugger

I'm afraid to mention it, but Colossus + HDPVR has "just worked" since day 1. What I thought was choppy recordings, etc. was me just trying to watch 1080i recordings over Placeshifter while testing in the office during hardware installation. I've been running this setup for over a week now and haven't had an issue. Both are happily recording for hours on end simultaneously.

WinXP 32bit SP3 + Java 1.6.0_23 + Sage 7.1.2 + 1 Colossus + 1 HDPVR + 2 PVR-250s. The PVR-250s are installed, but disabled in Sage because I don't have enough satellite receivers to enable all four inputs on the server.

The HD tuners are fed with Shaw Direct DSR505 HD receivers via component + stereo sound. Both STBs are locked at 720p. Recording at 1080i on either device works fine as well (only limited testing with Colossus), but I lock at 720p for Placeshifter - Placeshifter does not handle 1080i recordings at all.

Unlike most, I never really had any issues with the HDPVR prior to this. It locked up on me exactly 3 times over 2+ years.

I'm not posting to rub it in, but just rather to testify that HDPVR + Colossus is possible and after a week or so I'm able to say it's a rather stable combo for me (so far). Obviously, I'll keep everyone posted if something changes.

Did you ever try recording SD shows not in HD resolutions? I don't have any problems recording in 1080i (with SPDIF), but I used to record SD shows in 480p with my old HD PVR (I also record from a DSR 505). This causes now problems with the Colossus, at least on the playback side within Sage (playing the recordings outside of Sage works fine).
I might temporary record all in 1080i as a workaround, but that's kind of a waste of disk space.

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by Rico66

Did you ever try recording SD shows not in HD resolutions? I don't have any problems recording in 1080i (with SPDIF), but I used to record SD shows in 480p with my old HD PVR (I also record from a DSR 505). This causes now problems with the Colossus, at least on the playback side within Sage (playing the recordings outside of Sage works fine).
I might temporary record all in 1080i as a workaround, but that's kind of a waste of disk space.

You mean set the DSR505 to native output so it records SD in 480p and HD in 720p or 1080i? I never tried it for any length of time because when I got the HDPVR the consensus on the forums at that time was to just lock your STB on 1080i or 720p. I've had success with that approach and haven't bothered changing it.

[bits]

It has been 6 days since my PC with the Colosuss installed in it BSOD'd and so far no more system crashes or audio drop outs. I think the main reasons my system is not crashing or producing audio drop outs due to the Colosuss, is that I stop/start the Sage server each day and I do not use the Colosuss for viewing live TV. Neither of these work arounds is much of a sacrifice for me because I rarely use Sage for live viewing and the stop/restart is scheduled.

The other problem I was having with audio hum was solved by using a ground loop insulater.

My opinion is that either the Colosuss itself, its driver and or Sage's drivers is the cause of the BSOD and system crashes and seems to be strongly tied to the viewing of live TV and possibly the max'ing out of java heap. The frustration is that it is like the chicken and the egg. Contact Hauppauge and they feel it is a Sage issue, contact Sage and they feel it is a Hauppauge issue. I have yet to read that either acknowledges or is working on any of the Colussus/Sage issues. However, this is not totally unexpected given the newness of the product and my experience so far with both companies support is quite good.

SHS,

Is anything at Hauppauge in the works in terms of the Colosuss?

[SHS]

Originally Posted by jalyst

Not necessarily.
Are we sure it doesn't support 8ch LPCM it out-of-the-box already?*
I had a look at their product page the other day & it isn't very clear.

I'm amazed that some DirecTV and Dish content uses "HD" audio?
If so that would create a much stronger argument as-to-why they should implement 8ch LPCM w/support for DD/DTS "HD" formats.

*Doubt it...
And if it supported "HD" DD/DTS that'd definitely be mentioned!

Yes I'm sure it dosen't support 8ch LPCM

[tvmaster2]

First thing I noticed about Colossus over HD PVR: faster channel changes.
HD PVR = 20 seconds. Colossus = 7 seconds

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

tv master. Remember the hauppauge ir program (both blaster and receiver) only support one device. And, depending on which devices you have installed, there is no gauarantee that the colossus is that device.

So, and you'll chuckle at this . . . I replaced the irremote.ini file from the Colossus install with the one that is included with the HD-PVR. Result: full remote control keypad operation restored.
Strange.
Whoever is in charge of IR Blasting at Hauppauge is having a bad career.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

So, and you'll chuckle at this . . . I replaced the irremote.ini file from the Colossus install with the one that is included with the HD-PVR. Result: full remote control keypad operation restored.
Strange.
Whoever is in charge of IR Blasting at Hauppauge is having a bad career.

The irremote.ini file you mentioned (found in the Windows directory), gets installed when you install the Hauppauge drivers. It contains entries for each app that you might want to use the remote with, plus a few defaults for undefined apps. Be default, it does not have any entries for SageTV.

When you install SageTV, there is a checkbox in the installation wizard that asks if you want support for Hauppauge remote. If you check this box, it will overwrite or modify the default irremote.ini file with some entries for SageTV. This is what allows it to work properly.

If you later re-install the Hauppauge drivers, it will overwrite the custom file that Sage created. Installing Sage last, or having a backup of that irremote.ini file that you can copy over are the solution to this problem.

By the way, you can also modify that ini file yourself to allow the Hauppauge remote to work with other applications (there are some old writeups on this topic floating around on the forums if you are interested).

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Tiki

The irremote.ini file you mentioned (found in the Windows directory), gets installed when you install the Hauppauge drivers. It contains entries for each app that you might want to use the remote with, plus a few defaults for undefined apps. Be default, it does not have any entries for SageTV.

When you install SageTV, there is a checkbox in the installation wizard that asks if you want support for Hauppauge remote. If you check this box, it will overwrite or modify the default irremote.ini file with some entries for SageTV. This is what allows it to work properly.

If you later re-install the Hauppauge drivers, it will overwrite the custom file that Sage created. Installing Sage last, or having a backup of that irremote.ini file that you can copy over are the solution to this problem.

By the way, you can also modify that ini file yourself to allow the Hauppauge remote to work with other applications (there are some old writeups on this topic floating around on the forums if you are interested).

All I know is, the only install that allows ALL the buttons to function on the 45 key remote is the HD PVR install. True, there is a "modified" irremote.ini that's floating around this site, but the only native version that works (and it seems to work for ALL Hauppauge products in my case) is the version that installed with the HD PVR, which was installed AFTER Sage I believe. I always check the Hauppauge box when setting up a tuner, but in the case of the Colossus, that didn't make many of the 45 keys operate with Sage.

[tvmaster2]

too good to be true I guess . . .
After half a day of flawless operation, the Colossus is now dropping recordings mid-stream, and unless you manually wake it up while it's in progress, it trashes the time from when it crashed until the wake-up.
If you don't manually wake it up, the recording is completely trashed from that point until completion.

No way to test why this is happening, since Sage doesn't "officially" support the card yet, so I guess bug reporting will be necessary.
This is Sage 7.1.2.249, using component and spdif

testing continues with different recording data rates

[bits]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

too good to be true I guess . . .
After half a day of flawless operation, the Colossus is now dropping recordings mid-stream, and unless you manually wake it up while it's in progress, it trashes the time from when it crashed until the wake-up.
If you don't manually wake it up, the recording is completely trashed from that point until completion.

No way to test why this is happening, since Sage doesn't "officially" support the card yet, so I guess bug reporting will be necessary.
This is Sage 7.1.2.249, using component and spdif

testing continues with different recording data rates

Out of curiosity what is your java heap size when the Colosuss crashes? This probably had nothing to do with the Colosuss's behavior but I am curious.

What do you mean when you say you manually wake up the Colosuss when it is recording?

Sorry for the all the questions but why are you changing the recording data rates? Seems like you are having enough issues without messing with that.