Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR

[elefante]

Originally Posted by gplasky

But you are also running Sage in a VM. Other users also have the Colossus working perfectly in Sage on a physical machine. So maybe WMC plays better in a VM than Sage and java. It is just like the USB HD-PVR. Some have no issues whatsoever and others do.

Gerry

Sage has been running in a VM for 2+ years (hdhomerun) without fail. When the colossus was recording, I am getting no more than 12% vCPU usage. I even loaded the diagnostic modules (I used to work for VMW) and there is no interrupt contention, no scheduling contention, etc. It still works perfectly w/out colossus (just HDHR). The test I ran was running WMC in the same VM WITH WMC and SageTV running in the same VM. The WMC version worked perfectly, while Sage was happy with HDhomerun recording at the same time. So with WMC and Sage recording 3 shows at the same time, I was getting 12% vCPU (2vCPU) utilization.

Yesterday I even connected an xbox extender, and usage was still under 15%, with no hiccup in sage while watching LIVE TV on the colossus and still recording w/ sage in the Same VM.

Maybe there is some Java or config issue w/ my sage. The problem is the product is dead, so its not going to get fixed. The intention of my post was to let people know that most likely the Colossus drivers are now stable, and they should look @ the Sage config, or there is a bug that is not getting fixed. It has been absolutely stable for almost 3 weeks in WMC inside a VM.

I am not too happy w/ Hauppague products SOFTWARE ( I have had tuner cards in the past), and it seems that their driver development is sorely lacking so I will probably look hard and fast at HDHR Prime, because my HDHR has been 100% stable for almost 4 years. The only hardware product that I have had in the past w/ such stability is my ex-Tivo. I seriously considered scrapping the WMC for tivo but I'm not going to drop a few grand for 4 TV's (they should have come up w/ an extender) and then have Verizon enforce some copy flags to break my chops. If they did that I would simply drop cable. I just picked up two BRAND NEW xbox slim for under $300 from college students that had this buy a laptop get an xbox for free. Gotta love CL. They do idle at 60W which is obnoxious, but the extender boxes may only get 1-2 hr/day max usage. It will also allow me to ditch my Roku players (going on CL). The latest gen of Roku players sucks..I mean who puts out a product that only works in the 2GHz spectrum for streaming video? I have to pay $100 for Enet. Idiots. My neighborhood is flooded at almost every channel.

In any case, I have decided to move into WMC and put Google TV in front of it, when that becomes prime time.

The best part is that I will be moving WMC to phys (because I can run graphics directly) where I cant in a VM, w/ a shiny new Intel G620 for 30-40W. If Google ever gets its act together, I can simply sell off my extenders (xbox) and either use the revue or whatever new hardware emerges. WMC isnt that bad, (it's not Sage) but happily my Xbox play all of my hi-def MKV and mp4 without issue (I was worried) and passes through DD no problem. Pandora, check Netflix, check. I'm happy.


I dont know why it is so hard to have DVR, Video, Music, Browsing in the same platform. I think GTV has a shot (JUST MISSING DVR), and if google does something w/ Sage I will be back on the train, but for now I have to go w/ WAF and what works.

I have 2 HD200 ready to go, and I have 3 client licenses (1 with wireless) so PM me.

[impro]

I would gladly get rid of my SageTV stuff but there is no alternative.
I have installed sage in 9 households assuring them that SageTV has a rock solid support.
Suddenly they disappear right after I upgraded everybody with colossus.

I feel betrayed and believe that nothing good will come from Google!!!

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by impro

I would gladly get rid of my SageTV stuff but there is no alternative.
I have installed sage in 9 households assuring them that SageTV has a rock solid support.
Suddenly they disappear right after I upgraded everybody with colossus.

I feel betrayed and believe that nothing good will come from Google!!!

Those 9 households do have support. You!

[impro]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Those 9 households do have support. You!

I know.
The only thing I need is Sage and Hauppauge to make colossus stable.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by impro

I know.
The only thing I need is Sage and Hauppauge to make colossus stable.

Yeah. Mine is stable on everything but SD. It does strange things with SD. I may just not use it for that and get some cheapo composite input for SD stuff.

[impro]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Yeah. Mine is stable on everything but SD. It does strange things with SD. I may just not use it for that and get some cheapo composite input for SD stuff.

So you do not get the audio out of sync once in a while?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by impro

So you do not get the audio out of sync once in a while?

Nope. SD audio is sometimes too slow, but it's SD so the picture quality is WAY more annoying that the lack of audio quality. I'm using HDMI in, Dolby Digital on, and native resolution and haven't had any issues that I know of. I haven't watched everything I've recorded so I won't know for sure until I do.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Nope. SD audio is sometimes too slow, but it's SD so the picture quality is WAY more annoying that the lack of audio quality. I'm using HDMI in, Dolby Digital on, and native resolution and haven't had any issues that I know of. I haven't watched everything I've recorded so I won't know for sure until I do.

Wish I could say the same I had my Colossus with HDMI Dolby Digital and native then changed to 1080i fixed but still get the following problems:

1. Recording with no sound at all - 15%
2. Recording that has no sound and will not advance unless I press one of the skip buttons 5%
3. Recording with sound that breaks occasionally but picture is a slide show 5%
4. Recording with perfect sound and slide show for a picture 5%
5. Recording with hiccup because of bad broadcast signal 15%
6. Recording that works perfectly 55%

So as long as the last one remains above 50% I am keeping it with HDMI 5.1. Driver:1.2.29192.0

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Yeah. Mine is stable on everything but SD. It does strange things with SD. I may just not use it for that and get some cheapo composite input for SD stuff.

That's exactly why I dropped Sage a couple of months ago in favour of Media Center. My Colossus works flawless in WMC (component + spdif, using 1080i for HD and 480p for SD). Sage would stutter often when playing back these SD recordings, but they playback without problems elsewhere (in wmp, media center, mpc). I had filed a bug report about this (when Sage was still running a beta...), but the bug was basically ignored.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Rico66

That's exactly why I dropped Sage a couple of months ago in favour of Media Center. My Colossus works flawless in WMC (component + spdif, using 1080i for HD and 480p for SD). Sage would stutter often when playing back these SD recordings, but they playback without problems elsewhere (in wmp, media center, mpc). I had filed a bug report about this (when Sage was still running a beta...), but the bug was basically ignored.

I don't have that issue now that I've just put the sd DirecTV recordings into the composite input of hvr-1600. It doesn't take up a tuner so it works just fine.

[sacrament055]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Wish I could say the same I had my Colossus with HDMI Dolby Digital and native then changed to 1080i fixed but still get the following problems:

1. Recording with no sound at all - 15%
2. Recording that has no sound and will not advance unless I press one of the skip buttons 5%
3. Recording with sound that breaks occasionally but picture is a slide show 5%
4. Recording with perfect sound and slide show for a picture 5%
5. Recording with hiccup because of bad broadcast signal 15%
6. Recording that works perfectly 55%

So as long as the last one remains above 50% I am keeping it with HDMI 5.1. Driver:1.2.29192.0

Out of curiosity if you use a fixed 720P outpout do you see the same problems?
I don't have a Colossus but have been waiting for a known good driver/config before I take the plunge and it seems that there are still a lot of problems using this with Sage 7.1.9

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Out of curiosity if you use a fixed 720P outpout do you see the same problems?
I don't have a Colossus but have been waiting for a known good driver/config before I take the plunge and it seems that there are still a lot of problems using this with Sage 7.1.9

Didn't think that would make a difference so never tried it. May change to that this weekend and see what I get. Been having better luck lately when I remember to restart the server everyday.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Out of curiosity if you use a fixed 720P outpout do you see the same problems?
I don't have a Colossus but have been waiting for a known good driver/config before I take the plunge and it seems that there are still a lot of problems using this with Sage 7.1.9

I don't have any issues with the colossus and sage 7.1.9. I had issues with SD material, but have moved those to an alternate capture card. I have dolby digital enabled and have the resolution set to native output with hdmi capture. It works very well. The only thing left to do is get the donator version of comskip.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Been having better luck lately when I remember to restart the server everyday.

I use PSshutdown so I don't have to remember. The colossus really likes to be "refreshed" once a day. I just have to remember not to record anything around 6am.

[impro]

Originally Posted by mistergq

This is my fear as well. I sold my HD PVR to a friend when I got the colossus. I wish I did not do that now. I am debating about purchasing 2 HD PVRs again to go back to stablity.

I had 0 trouble with the HdPVrs..

[impro]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Out of curiosity if you use a fixed 720P outpout do you see the same problems?
I don't have a Colossus but have been waiting for a known good driver/config before I take the plunge and it seems that there are still a lot of problems using this with Sage 7.1.9

I use fixed 720P. Problems every few days.
One thing I noticed after the time fix is I do not have to restart the server just change the channel.

[impro]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I don't have any issues with the colossus and sage 7.1.9. I had issues with SD material, but have moved those to an alternate capture card. I have dolby digital enabled and have the resolution set to native output with hdmi capture. It works very well. The only thing left to do is get the donator version of comskip.

I use component cables. Hdmi is blocked on cox SAs.

[impro]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I use PSshutdown so I don't have to remember. The colossus really likes to be "refreshed" once a day. I just have to remember not to record anything around 6am.

No need for psshutdown CMD line .

1. Launch Task Scheduler.

2. Click Action and select Create Basic task.

3. Type AutoRestart (or others you want) in the Name box and click Next.

4. Select Daily and click Next

5. Type the time you want to restart the computer and click Next.

6. Select Start a program and click Next.

7. Click Brower and navigate to %SystemRoot%\System32 and select Shutdown.exe and click Open. Type –F –R in the Add arguments (optional) box and click Next.

8. Click Finish.




Also if there are problems :
1) Start Notepad,



2) type c:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe -F -R



save the the file as a bat or cmd file, ie restart.bat, and schedule this batch file to run.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I use PSshutdown so I don't have to remember. The colossus really likes to be "refreshed" once a day. I just have to remember not to record anything around 6am.

Will use that but what I want to do is write a jar that will be loaded in Sage.properties and will try to restart at a set time every day but checks to see if anything is recording first. If it is it would sleep for 15 minutes and try again. Repeating until nothing is recording or set to start within the next 15 minutes. Just haven't had time to write it. That does look like a much better option than shutdown.exe included with Windows.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by impro

No need for psshutdown CMD line .

1. Launch Task Scheduler.

2. Click Action and select Create Basic task.

3. Type AutoRestart (or others you want) in the Name box and click Next.

4. Select Daily and click Next

5. Type the time you want to restart the computer and click Next.

6. Select Start a program and click Next.

7. Click Brower and navigate to %SystemRoot%\System32 and select Shutdown.exe and click Open. Type –F –R in the Add arguments (optional) box and click Next.

8. Click Finish.




Also if there are problems :
1) Start Notepad,



2) type c:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe -F -R



save the the file as a bat or cmd file, ie restart.bat, and schedule this batch file to run.

True enough. PSShutdown does the exact same thing.