Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR

[michelkenny]

Originally Posted by SHS

to false rigth ?

Originally Posted by Rico66

I played around with hdpvr_magic some time ago as well (though I'm not sure to what it is set right now...). What exactly does this setting do, and when should it be used. Just saying it should be true or false is somewhat questionable.
Can anybody provide more information regarding this setting?
Thanks

Yes I set hdpvr_magic to false. See this post from the man himself (Narflex): http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55290

I had turned it on ages ago to see if it would help my HDPVR problems back when I had two HDPVRs. Narflex indicated they didn't have enough data to back up the hdpvr_magic, so they weren't sure if it even worked.

So I decided to turn it off a few days ago and no crashes or problems since, with the new driver as well...

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by michelkenny

Yes I set hdpvr_magic to false. See this post from the man himself (Narflex): http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55290

I had turned it on ages ago to see if it would help my HDPVR problems back when I had two HDPVRs. Narflex indicated they didn't have enough data to back up the hdpvr_magic, so they weren't sure if it even worked.

So I decided to turn it off a few days ago and no crashes or problems since, with the new driver as well...

OK, I'll check my setting, when I'm back home. And yes, I still do have occasional loss of audio at the start of Colossus recordings (even with the new driver).

[sleonard]

Last May/June when Sage introduced that magic setting I set it to true and immediately started getting tons of errors on my HD-PVR's so I set it back to false and that's the way it has stayed since. So, it does do something but that something was very bad for me.

S

[tvmaster2]

.... and this is why there is still a strong market for TiVo and Cable-co's DVR's

[texneus]

Looks like there are at least four of us with SPDIF audio sync issues:

Myself
Spacecadet
BMH
Metzz71

Questions:
Has anyone tried to reproduce the program with WinTV so we have definitive data to enlighten Hauppauge and/or Sage as appropriate? I assume this is a driver issue. I never even installed the app on my system so I have never tried.

Do all of us have FiOS and/or Dish Net? I ask because there have been a number of HDPVR drivers (including the most recent 1.5.7.0) that state "fixes A/V sync issues with some Dish Network and FIOS set top boxes" in the release notes. I have specifically noticed on FiOS when the local head office "injects" local commercials it looses sync (video falls behind) by about 1/4 second at each break, just enough to be noticeable, and gets progressively worse at each break. Maybe this is due to an audio format change? On a channel where local commercials are not shown, there is no loss of sync even after 2 hours.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

.... and this is why there is still a strong market for TiVo and Cable-co's DVR's

There being a strong market for STBs with HD DVR capability has nothing to do with the miniscule amount of HTPC users and their "problems". And I am saying this as a proud HTPC user.

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by texneus

Looks like there are at least four of us with SPDIF audio sync issues:

Myself
Spacecadet
BMH
Metzz71

Questions:
Has anyone tried to reproduce the program with WinTV so we have definitive data to enlighten Hauppauge and/or Sage as appropriate? I assume this is a driver issue. I never even installed the app on my system so I have never tried.

Do all of us have FiOS and/or Dish Net? I ask because there have been a number of HDPVR drivers (including the most recent 1.5.7.0) that state "fixes A/V sync issues with some Dish Network and FIOS set top boxes" in the release notes. I have specifically noticed on FiOS when the local head office "injects" local commercials it looses sync (video falls behind) by about 1/4 second at each break, just enough to be noticeable, and gets progressively worse at each break. Maybe this is due to an audio format change? On a channel where local commercials are not shown, there is no loss of sync even after 2 hours.

I have fios, but have not had a chance to upgrade to the newest driver. I will let you know. Does anyone know if this is happening with the HDMI?

[texneus]

Originally Posted by mistergq

I have fios, but have not had a chance to upgrade to the newest driver. I will let you know. Does anyone know if this is happening with the HDMI?

Driver version shouldn't matter, at least not in my case. It's been happening since the initial release. Try Discovery HD or History HD. I watch those channels quite a bit and these are definitely problematic channels due to the number of commercial breaks. Of course, your local head end might have a better handle on local commercials, or may not even inject any at all. I'll get one or two on just about every break, usually towards the end on both these channels.

P.S. Are you actually able to use HDMI? I assumed it wouldn't be possible as HDCP is definitely deployed to my TV.

[The Truth]

Ok so I have installed the new drivers. With the new drivers, on my 3rd Colossus tuner I would occasionally get a blue screen as a recording, but The audio would be fine. I now have turned hdpvr-magic setting to false. I dont have any HD-PVRs in my system anymore. it was set to true by default i guess. I am not waiting to see if i still get any Blue Screen Recordings. The Blue Screen Recordings is a new thing, that I have only seen with the new drivers.

p.s. I have also turned off my automatic PC restarts, to see how the cards perform now.


I will keep everyone updated on my progress, but it seems as though 2 out of the 3 Colossus cards I have installed are working fine with the new drivers.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

There being a strong market for STBs with HD DVR capability has nothing to do with the miniscule amount of HTPC users and their "problems". And I am saying this as a proud HTPC user.

OK. But seriously - HTPC is a guy-thing-geek-hobby project with minimal WAF, not to mention PAF or GPAF.
Even the non-problem HTPC owners, proud or otherwise, are miniscule in numbers

[korben_dallas]

Well my Colossus was great for about 4-ish days with the new drivers and optical audio. But everything recorded in the last few days has been fubar. Out of sync audio, and one recording that quickly trailed off into total file corruption.

Guess that lends some cred to the memory leak theory.

I'm gonna do some server maintenance and reboot, see how things go for the next few days. Haven't had any simultaneous Colossus + HD PVR recordings yet, so unsure on that impact.

[The Truth]

FYI

I am Using FIOS with 2 QIP7100 boxes and 1 QIP7232.

Has anyone else had the Blue Screen on a Colossus recording?

[makutaku]

Originally Posted by The Truth

With the new drivers, on my 3rd Colossus tuner I would occasionally get a blue screen as a recording, but The audio would be fine.

For the record, I have one Colossus and one HVR-2250 (no HD-PVR), and after installing the new driver I also occasionally get a blue screen as a recording.

Fortunately, the new driver is an improvement, as I have higher percentage of good recordings.

[metzz71]

Yes, my audio sync issues are reproducible in ShowBiz. I have given up, I have called hauppauge, and they have not really helped much. I am using RCA audio until they get their act together.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

Well my Colossus was great for about 4-ish days with the new drivers and optical audio. But everything recorded in the last few days has been fubar. Out of sync audio, and one recording that quickly trailed off into total file corruption.

Guess that lends some cred to the memory leak theory.

I'm gonna do some server maintenance and reboot, see how things go for the next few days. Haven't had any simultaneous Colossus + HD PVR recordings yet, so unsure on that impact.

how do you check "memory leak", via the setup/information page/java heap numbers? I set my heap to 1024 I think; my machine's been on for a day or so, and the numbers are 214/313/1038mb

[PLUCKYHD]

Well still can't get 5.1 audio over hdmi, but with Dishnetwork, hdmi and the latest drivers I have had zero issues since installing the driver Friday night and I have not restarted the service nightly or manually since. All recordings and livetv have been fine so looks like they partially fixed something

[jptheripper]

Well i upgraded my drivers, and now I am seeing the pause and fastforward to catch up problem.

The problem is, its on QAM, not on colossus (although colossus was recording at the time).

got to clear logs and recreate and submit bug .

this is not good.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

Well i upgraded my drivers, and now I am seeing the pause and fastforward to catch up problem.

The problem is, its on QAM, not on colossus (although colossus was recording at the time).

got to clear logs and recreate and submit bug .

this is not good.

I think that is a problem in the latest beta version of the hd300. Rollback and it should go away. I would still submit logs don't know if they have fixed it yet.

[babgvant]

For those having issues with the Colossus, are you using a tuning delay? I've been running some extended stress tests and the vast majority of the issues I'm seeing are related to audio stream changes (i.e. PCM->AC3 or DD->ProLogic) at the beginning of the capture.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by babgvant

For those having issues with the Colossus, are you using a tuning delay? I've been running some extended stress tests and the vast majority of the issues I'm seeing are related to audio stream changes (i.e. PCM->AC3 or DD->ProLogic) at the beginning of the capture.

I haven't made in changes from the default SageTV configuration. Do you have a recommendation?