Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR

[sacrament055]

I put in a ticket to sage and they said they cant guarantee when or if theyll be able to look into/fix this issue

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

In general I would agree with you. But I've had NO problems with my HD-PVRs for 5+ months now and some problems (1 a week to 1 every 2 months) with Colossus. My neighbor's trees lost much of their leaves about a month ago. About when my Colossus problems went away. At least as long as I reboot every day anyway. My HD-PVR server has only been rebooted when I've added hardware. I think the HD-PVR is better at handling signal problems than the Colossus and doesn't require a reboot.

Are you using hdmi or component for video? What about analog or optical audio? I'm speaking of both the colossus and the hd-pvr.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Are you using hdmi or component for video? What about analog or optical audio? I'm speaking of both the colossus and the hd-pvr.

Component and optical (5.1) on HD-PVR and HDMI (5.1) on Colossus.

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Who is your service provider? I'm really starting to think that the issues are the way the audio is presented to the colossus more than it being the colossus' fault that there are audio issues. I use DirecTV and have zero issues. I haven't had a bad recording in I don't know how long.

This seems to be quite true. All in all there are a number of issues, some seem to be driver related, whereas some are rather playback software problems.
- no audio (audio is presented as aac) when used with optical input
I can reproduce this with many driver versions, but not with 29168 (which I'm using)
- lipsync issues
This seems to be a combination with content/provider and the Colossus driver. I see this for commercials that are overlayed (local commercials), e.g. when switching between 2.0 and 5.1
- Video related problems (stuttering)
This looks like a Sage problem to me, as I cannot reproduce it outside of Sage (and this was the reason, why I don't use Sage anymore, as I simply don't believe that it gets fixed. And btw. I had filed a bug about this very early on, when Sage was still Sage)

I've been using Windows Media Center for a while, and it's working great for my single Colossus configuration. The only issue is the ocasional lipsync issue, which I can live with, as it's mainly during sports programming (where I won't consider this critical).

[TechBill]

Anyone using UVerse STBs with this Colossus? I got a couple of questions if you don't mind answering ...

Is HDMI in the clear or is it flagged?

Does UVerse play nicely with Colossus or you needed to do daily reboot or having some video shutter/audio problems?

Uverse just contacted us that they are finally offering it in our area right now I am using Directv with ethernet tuning so that will be one thing I would hate to lose.

Thank you

Bill

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by TechBill

Anyone using UVerse STBs with this Colossus? I got a couple of questions if you don't mind answering ...

Is HDMI in the clear or is it flagged?

Does UVerse play nicely with Colossus or you needed to do daily reboot or having some video shutter/audio problems?

Uverse just contacted us that they are finally offering it in our area right now I am using Directv with ethernet tuning so that will be one thing I would hate to lose.

Thank you

Bill

From what I know of u-verse hdmi is protected and daily reboots are still a must.

[BobPhoenix]

Went quite a while between bad recordings on my Colossus. Was recording "Back to the Future" on ThrillerMax (started 22 minutes ago). Video will not playback. Doesn't advance. Looks like it is paused. Audio shows AAC in details. It has been about a month and a half to two months since I had a bad recording. So maybe it wasn't the neighbors trees causing signal problems like I thought. Oh and yes I have it rebooting at 3:00am if nothing is recording. DirectTV HDMI input 5.1 sound.

[sacrament055]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Went quite a while between bad recordings on my Colossus. Was recording "Back to the Future" on ThrillerMax (started 22 minutes ago). Video will not playback. Doesn't advance. Looks like it is paused. Audio shows AAC in details. It has been about a month and a half to two months since I had a bad recording. So maybe it wasn't the neighbors trees causing signal problems like I thought. Oh and yes I have it rebooting at 3:00am if nothing is recording. DirectTV HDMI input 5.1 sound.

Thats the symptom I get after too many recordings. 10+..restart the sage service and all goes back to normal

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Thats the symptom I get after too many recordings. 10+..restart the sage service and all goes back to normal

That was the first recording (on the Colossus) in 4 days for me. I reboot each night at 3:00am if nothing is recording.

[equalize]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I reboot each night at 3:00am if nothing is recording.

How do you tell if a recording is in progress script-wise?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by equalize

How do you tell if a recording is in progress script-wise?

I wrote a java app that makes calls to the SageTV api to check if recording currently or will be within 15 minutes. A better solution (because my app doesn't work yet for connected client keeping it from rebooting) would be to use SJQ. I think Slugger or someone else wrote a script to stop and restart the service which should work the same way as a reboot. You could change the SJQ script if it doesn't do a reboot and you want it to instead of the service restart.

[heffneil]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Who is your service provider? I'm really starting to think that the issues are the way the audio is presented to the colossus more than it being the colossus' fault that there are audio issues. I use DirecTV and have zero issues. I haven't had a bad recording in I don't know how long.

I might have missed this but what are your settings? What resolution and are you using optical or HDMI audio? Are you using HDMI video or component?

Which directv box are you using? How are you tuning it.

Are you restarting Sage or the machine on a regular basis?

Thanks,

Neil

[texneus]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Anybody else seeing a slight tick with the latest drivers?

...

I'm not talking about the major stutter can't watch it stuff.. it's subtle but I can see if every so often

Just tried the 29291 drivers somewhat hopeful I could advance past 29111 drivers and the occasional blue screen recording.

I confirm the "tick" as seen by you and others, and I would not describe the problem as subtle. I'd say 2-3 frames every second are dropped which is obvious and completely unacceptable. I rolled back through each driver release and had "ticks" on 29287, 29263, and 29259 . I already know 29192 crashes my system on S3 resume, so I didn't revisit it . But that does mean I am once again back to 29111. The only reason I find the Colossus an acceptable solution at this point is because the blue screens happen far less often than HDPVR crashes .

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by texneus

Just tried the 29291 drivers somewhat hopeful I could advance past 29111 drivers and the occasional blue screen recording.

I confirm the "tick" as seen by you and others, and I would not describe the problem as subtle. I'd say 2-3 frames every second are dropped which is obvious and completely unacceptable. I rolled back through each driver release and had "ticks" on 29287, 29263, and 29259 . I already know 29192 crashes my system on S3 resume, so I didn't revisit it . But that does mean I am once again back to 29111. The only reason I find the Colossus an acceptable solution at this point is because the blue screens happen far less often than HDPVR crashes .

My server with HD-PVRs has been very stable. Only had one bad recording (just other day) that was bad on that server in more than 6 months. Went quite a while on my Colossus server without any bad recordings (almost 2 month) then got 3 bad recordings in the past week and a half. Using 29192 for Colossus server (don't put into S3 so don't have any problems that way) and 1.5.7.0 for HD-PVR server (doesn't do S3 sleep so use Hibernation (S4)).

[FlyingShawn]

I decided to switch to Sage from BTV and build a new server right around the time Google bought them out. I purchased all the hardware for the system (including an HDHR Dual and 2 Colossus cards), but as I was putting the system together, life got in the way and I had to sideline the project. Now I'm finally getting back to it and am hoping you might have some suggestions for how best to add the Colossus cards:

The server is an i5 rig running Win7x64 and is already set up for the HDHR. My cable provider is Verizon FiOS in Harrisburg, PA.

Other than just making sure that they work when I first got them (using the included software on another system), I have not done any testing with the Colossi.

My plan is to connect each Colossus to a Motorola QIP 7100 STB using component+optical and controlled via USB-UIRT. Has anyone had any luck with component+optical on FiOS?

What driver do you recommend I try first? Looking at the official support site (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor..._colossus.html), I only see the 29291 driver available for download, but have not done much digging for alternate versions.

I've downloaded SJQ, but have not had any time to learn it yet. Based on what I've read here, it seems my first task will be figuring out how to set it for daily restarts.

Any other tips/suggestions? Thanks!

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by FlyingShawn

My plan is to connect each Colossus to a Motorola QIP 7100 STB using component+optical and controlled via USB-UIRT. Has anyone had any luck with component+optical on FiOS?

FWIW, I have Verizon Fios in Boston, MA and have not had luck with component+optical using the Colossus (works fine with the HDPVR USB, though).

In my setup I have a Motorola QIP 7100 hooked up to my Colossus using component+analog stereo. I use Firewire for channel changing. I haven't had any issues with the Colossus in this configuration as long as I don't use it to "channel surf".

I highly recommend the firewire channel changing, but a USB-UIRT will also work if you don't want to go the firewire route.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by FlyingShawn

What driver do you recommend I try first? Looking at the official support site (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor..._colossus.html), I only see the 29291 driver available for download, but have not done much digging for alternate versions.

They're all available here. I would try the latest and work backwards if you see issues.

[FlyingShawn]

Originally Posted by spacecadet

FWIW, I have Verizon Fios in Boston, MA and have not had luck with component+optical using the Colossus (works fine with the HDPVR USB, though).

In my setup I have a Motorola QIP 7100 hooked up to my Colossus using component+analog stereo. I use Firewire for channel changing. I haven't had any issues with the Colossus in this configuration as long as I don't use it to "channel surf".

I highly recommend the firewire channel changing, but a USB-UIRT will also work if you don't want to go the firewire route.

Thanks SpaceCadet (nice handle, BTW). Couple of questions:

What driver are you using?

How easy is it to switch between RCA and Optical once the Colossus is set up in Sage? Is it just a simple toggle in the software? If it's relatively easy, I'm thinking of starting with RCA and then trying to switch to optical once I have it working (so I can try to sort out any other problems first).

Do you have your STB fixed at 1080? I'd like to use Firewire changing, but it isn't an option since I'm on x64.

[FlyingShawn]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

They're all available here. I would try the latest and work backwards if you see issues.

Thanks for the link Skirge! I'll probably do that, but figured it'd be worth asking in case anyone had already figured out what works best with FiOS.

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by FlyingShawn

Thanks SpaceCadet (nice handle, BTW). Couple of questions:

What driver are you using?

How easy is it to switch between RCA and Optical once the Colossus is set up in Sage? Is it just a simple toggle in the software? If it's relatively easy, I'm thinking of starting with RCA and then trying to switch to optical once I have it working (so I can try to sort out any other problems first).

Do you have your STB fixed at 1080? I'd like to use Firewire changing, but it isn't an option since I'm on x64.

* Driver version 29291 (the latest, I think)

* Toggling is easy. Switch from one set of cords to the other (don't leave both the optical and analog stereo plugged into the Colossus at the same time), then switch the source in the SageTV software. For me, it was instantly clear that optical wasn't going to work - it was not like the other problems that have been described, where the symptoms don't show for several minutes). Your plan sounds good... get everything working with analog, then tinker with the optical.

* My STB is fixed at 720p. For some reason, I recall that the SageTV Placeshifter likes 720p better than 1080. Other than that, I don't think there was any specific reason I chose 720.