Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by bits

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.

I change data rates depending on available HD space and the kind of programming. Usually I leave it alone, but this is a testing process. When I say manually, I mean the screen has frozen, and I need to wake it via mouse or remote, usually by selecting a recorded program. If you tell me how to check Java heap size, I'd be glad to.

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

I change data rates depending on available HD space and the kind of programming. Usually I leave it alone, but this is a testing process. When I say manually, I mean the screen has frozen, and I need to wake it via mouse or remote, usually by selecting a recorded program. If you tell me how to check Java heap size, I'd be glad to.

Java Heap size can be found under "Setup -> System Information"


Bill

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by TechBill

Java Heap size can be found under "Setup -> System Information"


Bill

what would be appropriate, and if it isn't, where and how do I change it?

[TechBill]

Today I decided to make some changes to the server.

With the previous server setup, I only had one harddrive with 2 partitions on it. First partition was for XP OS and second partition was for the recordings.

I happened to have a second harddrive laying around so I thought I would just add a second harddrive and do a fresh OS install on it own drive.

So far it been running all day recordings some shows here and there but haven't spiral downward to a slowness choppy video yet.

At first it would tune into channel within 20 seconds or so then later in the day it would take longer to tune into a channel like a good minute or when I am watching LiveTV

One strange thing is that it start recording as soon it start tuning into channel and I am watching show a minute behind the actual recording so I really don't lose anything other than the annoying long tuning wait when switching channels.

I don't know why it would be tuning quick then later take longer to tune into channels but at least it haven't gotten to slowness choppy video yet where I have to reboot the server.

But this doesn't mean it fixed or anything like that and I still don't have much faith in the Colossus or my server yet.


Bill

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by TechBill

Today I decided to make some changes to the server.

With the previous server setup, I only had one harddrive with 2 partitions on it. First partition was for XP OS and second partition was for the recordings.

I happened to have a second harddrive laying around so I thought I would just add a second harddrive and do a fresh OS install on it own drive.

So far it been running all day recordings some shows here and there but haven't spiral downward to a slowness choppy video yet.

At first it would tune into channel within 20 seconds or so then later in the day it would take longer to tune into a channel like a good minute or when I am watching LiveTV

One strange thing is that it start recording as soon it start tuning into channel and I am watching show a minute behind the actual recording so I really don't lose anything other than the annoying long tuning wait when switching channels.

I don't know why it would be tuning quick then later take longer to tune into channels but at least it haven't gotten to slowness choppy video yet where I have to reboot the server.

But this doesn't mean it fixed or anything like that and I still don't have much faith in the Colossus or my server yet.


Bill

Sigh ....... it just crashed ...

Going back to PVR-500 until then ........


Bill

[jalyst]

Originally Posted by SHS

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

Thank-you could you please address:

Originally Posted by jalyst

Oh really? Sweet!
Are you likely to get any response from them about it, or will you just be stonewalled?

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.

Thanks again.

[SHS]

jalyst what do maen by could you please address

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

what would be appropriate, and if it isn't, where and how do I change it?

Try this thread - it is a registry edit. I went up to 768MB due to someone telling me the HD-200 taking a lot of Heap RAM. You will know if it works because for one thing, things will happen quicker and smoother and you won't see the spinning wheel nearly as long. 512MB is probably fine for most situations. I think if you have a client on a PC it needs its own reg edit on the client CPU as it does not borrow RAM from the Sage server.

You can also install the little Java Heap Monitor plug-in. If it goes above about 80% you are getting low. 90% is pretty critical. Mine might jump up into the 80% range every now and then, but usually sits at 40% or so, on average, with an HD-200 and the Server running.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39829

[SWKerr]

Setup: Sage 7.1.2 on Win7-64 – 1xHDHR(OTA), 2x HD-PVR, Colossus\HDMI (DirecTV)

I had been using the SageTV 7.1.2 beta all week with the HDHR and 2x HD-PVR and DirecTV with serial tuning. I have not had any issues all week with this setup. The Colossus has been installed but I deleted the tuner in SageTV and disabled the driver as well.

On Saturday morning I deleted one of the HD-PVRs in Sage and physically turned it off. I then added back the Colossus as a tuner to one of the DirecTV H20s via HDMI. I recorded a few shows simultaneously with the Colossus and the HD-PVR. There were no errors reported but there were problems with the recordings. The HD-PVR was fine but the Colossus files had problems. They started out fine but after a minute or two the output looked misaligned. In addition to other issues the left side would start in the middle of the screen and wrap around back to the middle. Generally unwatchable. This happened with two recording at different times before I changed the setup.

I then changed the HDPVR_MAGIC=false and tried it again. This time I did not have any issues recording two shows at once. The output of both was good. I set a bunch of stuff to record and pretty much left it recording for the day. I did watch a little NASCAR semi live but on a long delay. I did not have any problems all day. I recorded the SYFY Underworld movies on the Colossus and I have to say the picture quality was amazing on the one I watched. I have a scheduled reboot every night for the server and everything appeared normal on Sunday and I continued to record all day. At one point I had NASCAR on the HDHR while recording on the Colossus and HD-PVR. Again no known issues. Late last night I was prepared to call the weekend a success when I noticed some choppy playback on an old HD-PVR recording and that the Blue light on the HD-PVR started to cut off momentarily when Recording FireFly on the Science Channel. I checked the server and there was no major cpu usage or anything unusual that I could see. A reboot of the Client PC seemed to fix the playback issue and when I watched the FireFly recoding near where I think it went out there was only the slightest hiccup in playback. I did not get any other reports of flaky behavior and since it was a rainy day I know there was a lot of TV watching Sunday.

Overall I don’t have much negative to report. I was a little concerned about the HD-PVR hiccup late Sunday evening but I have had occasional dropouts with them from time to time and that may just be normal. I am not usually there to see the light go out so it may be semi common. The overall recording was Ok just a slight skip. The playback problem happened while I was recording with the Colossus and HD-PVR but I was watching a recording that was a year old and the issue was resolved after a reboot of the Client PC. This may be an issue with the new Diamond plugin or the beta. I did notice that the JVMMax setting was not changed on that client and I have since upped it to 768.

I still went back to the HD-PVR only setup for the week’s recordings but was still pretty happy with the weekends performance. Just not brave enough to make the full time switch.

[jalyst]

Originally Posted by SHS

jalyst what do maen by could you please address

Huh?
Address = respond to OR answer these two points/qns:

Originally Posted by jalyst

Oh really? Sweet!
Are you likely to get any response from them about it, or will you just be stonewalled?

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.

Thank-you.

[Taddeusz]

Somehow I doubt Dish or DirecTV use anything close to HD audio. Even if the satellite receivers support sending multi-channel PCM it makes no sense. Any HDMI capable surround sound receiver capable of playing multi-channel PCM is also capable of decoding the original Dolby Digial. Dolby Digital is THE standard for broadcast audio. I doubt any source is using anything other than the standard. So it makes no sense for the Colossus to support re-encoding of a multi-channel PCM source.

[tvmaster2]

Colossus rolls along for a day or so, makes some good recordings, and then just locks it up (under most current Sage beta).
Result: recordings that won't play back properly, and a reboot is required.
Upped the Java heap to 1024.
Anyone else having lock-ups?

[jptheripper]

dont want to jinx it, however

When I installed my colossus my HTPC , well, **** the bed. Oh, and my backups failed to mount. So I think i am enjoying the benefits of a bare metal clean install (OS, everything )

I have 0 crashes. 0 stalls, 0 problems. Recording at least 2-4 hours per day, simultaneous playback, timeshifting, comskipping, everything works.

I never had a HDPVR. My system is all internal cards.
2 1600s
1 1250
1 2250
1 colossus.

Vista 32bit

[SHS]

Just got word from Hauppauge that there will be an updated driver coming out in about 7 days which fixes the AC-3 audio on HDMI.

[reggie14]

Have you heard anything about the possibility of adding mpeg2 support in the drivers?

[metzz71]

7 days?!?!?!?!?! ahhhhhh!!!!

[maynardm]

I'm new to sage and Colossus HD-PVR. Overall my Colossus has been working good except the picture quality isn't quite as good as I expected. I notice some blotchy areas around text every few seconds. Especially on sports and news channels which always have text present. Since I've never used a hd-pvr before I was curious if this is normal, or do I have something wrong? The quality looks the same on both the pj hooked up to my sagetv pc and on a 50" plasma with an HD300. I've tried a couple things but nothing has helped. I have my directv box (h23) set to 720p. I've tried increasing bitrate as discussed here. I've tried different cables...both component and hdmi. I've tried different decoders. I have no problems with OTA stuff.

Edit: Nevermind... I locked the directv box to 1080i and text is crisp now. Thought I already had tried different res, but I guess not

[jalyst]

Originally Posted by SHS

Just got word from Hauppauge that there will be an updated driver coming out in about 7 days which fixes the AC-3 audio on HDMI.

That's great news & thanks for sharing, but what about this comment of yours...

Originally Posted by SHS

Yes bitstream mode, I ready sent note off to Hauppauge to see if this can be look at for us DirecTV and Dish user over HDMI and I ref to 8ch PCM encoded which would need a new Audio Licensing in order to do 5.1 or 7.1 encoding over AAC or AC3

Is there some reason why you haven't been able to answer my questions directed at this comment

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by SHS

Just got word from Hauppauge that there will be an updated driver coming out in about 7 days which fixes the AC-3 audio on HDMI.

SHS, any word on whether the updated driver will fix this problem?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54306

Has anyone who has contacted Hauppauge heard any news? Over the weekend, I opened tickets with both Sage and Hauppauge. Sage seems convinced that my issue is a driver problem. Hauppauge has not returned my email.

[SHS]

Originally Posted by spacecadet

SHS, any word on whether the updated driver will fix this problem?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54306

Has anyone who has contacted Hauppauge heard any news? Over the weekend, I opened tickets with both Sage and Hauppauge. Sage seems convinced that my issue is a driver problem. Hauppauge has not returned my email.

I all ready sent that one as well after all I have some problem spacecadet