new anomoly with 7.1.7 and Colossus

[The Truth]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

The audio cancellation problem seems to be gone with the latest release.
Yeah Sage!
But....
Now, pre-programmed recordings are now replacing video with a blue screen. NOT a Windows blue screen, just full-raster blue replacing video.
Audio is uneffected, ironically.

anyone else having this problem? I also have an HD-PVR, and it may be this happens when a HD-PVR recording is in progress.

PS... the only way to restore video on the Colossus is to stop the recording and change the channel.

OK, I have done more testing . . . the only thing that seems to reproduce the problem is when BOTH the HD-PVR and Colossus begin recordings at exactly the same time, which happens quite often.

I get the Blue Screen on all 3 of my Colossus cards, sometimes. mostly only on the 1st one used. i have 3 colossus in that server and a hvr-1600...

EDIT: When i get the blue screen i still get audio, which i am using rca. and i am Using Sage 7.1.5.... the blue screens started when i updated the colossus drivers... a while back. Hauppauge said its a bad card and to RMA it, but i believe its just the 1st card used to tune channels so it sees most of the blue screens, i havent had a blue screen on a different card in a long time. i have now disabled that one card and will be testing the other 2.

Also, I have automatic restart turned off right now. although i do restart the server every few days.


EDIT2: I just confirmed blue screen on a different colossus card.....no audio 1st blue screen, 2nd blue screen I got audio...
EDIT3: I also notice interlacing blur on panning.


EDIT5: I HAVE EVEN NOW GOTTEN A 1080I Blue Screen... going from 1080i to 480i the blue screen is 1080i on a 480i channel... I have also got video with no sound (This looks like it is an issue with 1 channel)... many many issues... I am going to restart and see if they go away...

RESTART DID NOTHING

[KeithAbbott]

As far as I can tell, you have two choices to get rid of the blue screen problem that you are having:

A) Lock your STB to output a fixed resolution (either 720p or 1080i)
B) Buy one of these (http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2) for each of your Colossus cards, and use the HDMI input on the Colossus card instead of the component input

[The Truth]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

The audio cancellation problem seems to be gone with the latest release.
Yeah Sage!
But....
Now, pre-programmed recordings are now replacing video with a blue screen. NOT a Windows blue screen, just full-raster blue replacing video.
Audio is uneffected, ironically.

anyone else having this problem? I also have an HD-PVR, and it may be this happens when a HD-PVR recording is in progress.

PS... the only way to restore video on the Colossus is to stop the recording and change the channel.

OK, I have done more testing . . . the only thing that seems to reproduce the problem is when BOTH the HD-PVR and Colossus begin recordings at exactly the same time, which happens quite often.

Oh the reason i replied to this is because this doesnt have to do with the new version of sage or the HD-PVRs, i use 7.1.5 and have no HDPVRs, just 3 colossus cards and have the same issue. it has to do with the updated drivers from colossus. I am thinking of reverting back the the older ones actually. I will let you know how it goes.

[The Truth]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

As far as I can tell, you have two choices to get rid of the blue screen problem that you are having:

A) Lock your STB to output a fixed resolution (either 720p or 1080i)
B) Buy one of these (http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2) for each of your Colossus cards, and use the HDMI input on the Colossus card instead of the component input

Thanks for the Suggestions, unfortunately my STB wont let me lock a fixed output resolution. I think it i go back to the old drivers and do my daily restarts I might be ok.

Are you really having great success with the HDMI input thing? because i would have just stuck with the HD-PVRs since it will end up being the same cost, and now i will have these external converters sitting around, but thats out of the question now. So if they really work 100% please let me know.

I really appreciate the feedback.


ALSO - Does using those help the interlacing? or make the picture look better? and does HDMI support 1080p?

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by The Truth

Are you really having great success with the HDMI input thing? because i would have just stuck with the HD-PVRs since it will end up being the same cost, and now i will have these external converters sitting around, but thats out of the question now. So if they really work 100% please let me know.

I've only used the converter since Monday evening, not much experience with it yet. I went in with pretty low expectations, since it only costs $40. So far, I've been pleasantly surprised. I only have one Colossus card at this point, so it's hard for me to compare and contrast. You might want to order one, connect it up to one of your STBs, and do a PQ comparison for component vs. HDMI, since you have multiple Colossus (Colossi?).

Originally Posted by The Truth

ALSO - Does using those help the interlacing? or make the picture look better? and does HDMI support 1080p?

I did notice some of the "interlacing blur on panning" last night, although it seems no worse than what I had using the Colossus component inputs. I want to try the fixed bit-rate, instead of the variable bit-rate that I currently have it set to, and see if that makes a difference. As far as picture quality, it seems pretty comparable to the PQ using the Colossus component inputs. And no, the Colossus card does not support 1080p.

[damonbrodie]

For the past two weeks on 7.1.7 and the latest published Colossus drivers (4/22/2011) with a daily reboot and locked resolution on the STB I've been completely stable.

I just upgraded to 7.1.8 last night and meanwhile I had been emailing Hauppauge. First of all they've been quite responsive to trying to get the solution to the BSOD. I sent them my minidumps from Win 7, and they come back asking for complete crash reports - so I've enabled full crash dumps in Win 7 and removed the daily reboot. My previous experience tells me that within 2 days I should have a BSOD. It might be sooner though - I've added a lot more recordings to sage lately.

[coryking]

Resolution switching definitly turns into a blue-screen recording.

It is fairly easy to repro on my Motorola DCH3200.

1) Watch live-tv using the capture card hooked up to the STB.
2) Go into the service menu (power off, then hit menu).
3) Go to the resolution menu and change resolutions. Bam. The live TV recording instantly turns to a blue-screen recording.

I've just set the STB so it always pushes out 1080i. I did this by turning the "4:3 Override" to "Off" in the service menu.

After looking at my recordings, I've noticed one more thing about blue-screen recordings. If you have back-to-back recordings on the same channel, both will be blue-screened. For example:

1:00pm - SD Channel 1
1:30pm - HD Channel 1 (Blue Screen)
2:00pm - HD Channel 1 (Blue Screen)
2:30pm - SD Channel 40 (no blue screen, maybe).

For what it is worth, the manual for my STB is here: http://media2.comcast.net/anon.comca...User_Guide.pdf

Who knows, maybe this will stop the BSOD's to :-)

[coryking]

Update:

I'm pleased to say that forcing the STB to 1080i has eliminated all blue-screen recordings. It has now been a full day and I have seen zero blue-screen recordings.

Of course, now SD recordings eat up significantly more disk space than before but oh well, I can deal with that.

Did it fix the BSOD's? We will just have to wait a day to find that out...

[damonbrodie]

I managed to go about 32 hours without a BSOD after removing the daily reboot. Full crash dump sent to Hauppauge. Hopefully a new driver will be forthcoming.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by damonbrodie

I managed to go about 32 hours without a BSOD after removing the daily reboot. Full crash dump sent to Hauppauge. Hopefully a new driver will be forthcoming.

So which is the latest driver to 'Blue Screen' on a channel resolution change? And, did the new Sage driver help at all - .18 I believe?

[tvmaster2]

has anyone tried both the final Sage version and the just released Hauppauge drivers together - and if so . . . has blue-screening been fixed (when your STB changes from 1080 to 480 or visa versa).
I'm chicken lol

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

has anyone tried both the final Sage version and the just released Hauppauge drivers together - and if so . . . has blue-screening been fixed (when your STB changes from 1080 to 480 or visa versa).
I'm chicken lol

I'll be trying it this weekend on a clean install, on my test server. I'll update with my findings.

[sleonard]

I'm using both sage 7.1.9 and the new Colossus drivers. No blue screens yet but I've only ever had a small handful to begin with. None at all in the last 2-3 weeks (with the 29111 driver).

S

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by sleonard

I'm using both sage 7.1.9 and the new Colossus drivers. No blue screens yet but I've only ever had a small handful to begin with. None at all in the last 2-3 weeks (with the 29111 driver).

S

Are you talking about blue screens, or BSODs? I believe tvmaster2 is referring to blue screens, which is quite different than BSODs.

[sleonard]

Yes, blue screen recordings not BSOD's.

S

[sleonard]

Well, apparently I just jinxed myself. Just tried to tune a live TV channel and immediately got choppy, stuttering video and Sage was dragging badly. Went to another extender and Java heap was 449/779/779. Had to reboot the server.

Not a blue screen recording but my most significant issue with the Colossus memory leak/lockup that I was really hoping was gone in this driver. Oh, well. Same old, same old with Hauppauge.

S

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

I'll be trying it this weekend on a clean install, on my test server. I'll update with my findings.

hehe - thanks. I've lost me HTPC nerve

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

has anyone tried both the final Sage version and the just released Hauppauge drivers together - and if so . . . has blue-screening been fixed (when your STB changes from 1080 to 480 or visa versa).
I'm chicken lol

Good news: blue screen recordings (not to be confused with BSODs) due to source resolution changes seem to be fixed with the new driver. I haven't gotten a single one tonight.
Bad news: digital AAC audio still does not work for me, results in no audio and stuttering video. Also doesn't take much channel surfing before I get stuttering video, except now I also get stuttering (analog) audio. Server has crashed a couple of times tonight.

Overall: one step forward, one and a half steps back. Haven't decided yet if I will revert back to the previous driver or not, I'll try to live with this one for another day or so before I decide.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

Good news: blue screen recordings (not to be confused with BSODs) due to source resolution changes seem to be fixed with the new driver. I haven't gotten a single one tonight.
Bad news: digital AAC audio still does not work for me, results in no audio and stuttering video. Also doesn't take much channel surfing before I get stuttering video, except now I also get stuttering (analog) audio. Server has crashed a couple of times tonight.

Overall: one step forward, one and a half steps back. Haven't decided yet if I will revert back to the previous driver or not, I'll try to live with this one for another day or so before I decide.

are you also using the final Sage driver, 7.1.9?

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

are you also using the final Sage driver, 7.1.9?

Yes, I loaded the 7.1.9RC on my test box, and I overlaid the executables with the special ones that Jeff provided a couple of days ago (the ones with less restrictive licensing).

My son's watching Pokemon Black and White right now using the Colossus, I'll probably continue using the 29168 driver unless I run into a big issue. If I decide to revert back, I'll update this thread.