New Hauppauge DCR-2650 CableCard Success

[jptheripper]

Hey all, just wanted to share my experience. I recently received my pre-order Hauppauge 2-tuner cablecard Usb device, the wintv-dcr-2650. The steps to success were:

1. Go to Comcast and get the self-install kit.
2. Plug in the dcr-2650 and manually install drivers from included CD
3. Go to hauppauge.com and load latest firmware for device
4. Download and run Digital Cable Advisor in WMC 7 (home premium 64bit).
a. Fail due to headless server with crap graphics card.
5. Go to missingremote.com and download dca override .cmd file to trick it into passing
6. Rerun DCA in passed state.
7. Run Tv setup per hauppauge quick guide. Hang on scanning tv tuners.
8. Read forum postings about using default country (US). Rerun tv setup using Canada, pass, then run again using US, and pass setup.
9. Choose manual setup to only setup cablecard tuner (I have 4 other hauppauge devices in the server).
10. Call comcast to activate card, pull card out of device to get serial number b/c it isnt listed on the setup screen.
11. Install Sagedct.
12. Scan for devices
13. generate config files
14. Run test on pbshd, works great.
15. Stop sagetv service, paste in 2 saved encoder profiles into sage.properties
16. Restart service
17. Go to setup video sources, remove new tuners, and do new tuner setup.
18. Preview channels and realize ONLY locals and basic cable work
19. Call comcast back, and after 20 minutes of back and forth with very nice rep, have them realize the card was missing codes. Add all codes to card.
20. Preview, every channel works !!!! (including NFLHD, ESPNHD, SYFYHD).
21. kiss babgvant's *** for making sagedct!!!!

All in all, was very painless. Added $8.50 a month to account b/c with HD a cablecard counts as a whole outlet (without HD would have been like 1.50).

BTW, channel changing is wicked fast, like under 2 seconds.
Hauppauge is local to server running as localhost for the network tuner.
Check sig for specs.

[sTVb]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear it works!

Please keep us updated on how stable it is. My wife can't wait until I can replace the collossus with something more reliable.

Also, if you have a chance can you confirm if closed captioning works?

[jptheripper]

Currently Watching college football on espn2hd. CC1 works!!

Since i dont do HBO, and all channels seem to show up perfectly, i am thinking about ditching the colossus/usb-uirt/cable box and getting a second one. Only have been using for a few hours, so I havent done a scheduled record yet. If stability is good, i think i will be heading to ebay.

[sTVb]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

Currently Watching college football on espn2hd. CC1 works!!

Since i dont do HBO, and all channels seem to show up perfectly, i am thinking about ditching the colossus/usb-uirt/cable box and getting a second one. Only have been using for a few hours, so I havent done a scheduled record yet. If stability is good, i think i will be heading to ebay.

Great news about the CC1. We've really missed captions.

You may be better off Ebay/CLing the colossus and 2650 and getting a Ceton or Prime3. That way you could avoid the extra outlet fee.

[jptheripper]

Definately not interested in the ceton (price) or prime (price). Plus, I am a hauppauge only guy.

Regardless, yes cc1 seemed to work great. I will try to test other channels.

[sscumming]

Could you share with us the picture quality you are experiencing? The Hauppauge site does not say the picture quality level whether it be 720P, 1080i, or 1080P. Also, does it work with the hauppauge remote (45 button)? I also have a 1600 and want to know if another remote is necessary.

Thanks for your time...

[jptheripper]

Since it is digital, the picture quality is perfect (Only broadcast in 720p and 1080i, with dd audio). Channel changes are nearly instant (you can almost channel surf).

I use the hauppauge 45 button remote for sage, and it works just like any other tuner (in fact, i also have a 1600 in my system). They work perfectly.

You dont need a blaster or anything, all you do is set up the tuner in media center, then sagedct works to communicate with the encoder to manipulate the recorded files (very simplified explanation).

[jptheripper]

Well a couple days in, dozens of hours of recordings (including long things, like hd football games).

All recordings perfect. Have only found one channel (trutvhd) so far that isnt copy freely.

[speck55]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

Have only found one channel (trutvhd) so far that isnt copy freely.

I'm already at the point where CableCard is out of the question, as Time Warner from what I have been able to gather, in WI, flags EVERYTHING copy-once or never-copy (can't remember which) -- even the locals. It would be nice if there were some sort of CableCard-to-Uverse bridge, or even a software implementation. But as AT&T has stagnated on rollouts and features, and I have only seen forward movement on compressing the HD channels into oblivion, I'm not holding my breath.

If I lived in a comcast area, I'd be afraid to shell out for something like the Ceton, or HDHR prime, because even though everything may be marked copy-freely today, doesn't mean that it won't be flagged in a fashion that prevents any real usefulness inside STV tomorrow.


With that said, even though I can't use it due to my market, kudos to the folks that made this possible/tested!

[jptheripper]

i am nervous well, but since my fallback is WMC, and the cablecard tuner is compatible, and resale is good, i figure no harm.

[will]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

Definitely not interested in... prime (price). Plus, I am a hauppauge only guy.

If I could use a cable card tuner in my area I would definitely go with the three-tuner prime. I love the idea of a network appliance that is OS agnostic which I think justifies the extra $100 (plus the additional tuner over the DCR-2650).

Alias, Time Warner is the only cable company in my city and from what I read everything is marked copy-once except for broadcast channels (doesn't surprise me because all QAM channels are encrypted except for broadcast channels). I guess I am stuck using my HD-PVRs.

[jptheripper]

well bad news. Hauppauge device is off to rma. tech support was very helpful.

as a side note, the hauppauge device appears to be a two tuner silicon dust device, it even shows up in the diagnostics as "application: wmdrm silicondust". No wonder they got through cablelabs cert so fast.

[phelme]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

well bad news. Hauppauge device is off to rma. tech support was very helpful.

So what happened to it which required the RMA?

Trying to decide between this and the Prime. $100 for an additional tuner seems a bit much so I'll probably take one of these for a spin (after I first upgrade everything to Windows 7).

[jptheripper]

Stopped working? lol

In the middle of watching a show screen went blank and to "no signal". The "signal" light on the front of the box starting blinking as if it was receiving no signal.

After hours of diagnostics with comcast (including a new cablecard) and hauppuage we determined that the while the box was receiving signal (anywhere from -3 to +4dbMv) it was not transferring that signal to the card (WMC reported a signal of -130db).

I should receive the RMA box today or tomorrow, hopefully it remedies the situation.

[phelme]

well, bummer. Maybe I'll wait to see what they find with your unit. Good luck with that BTW.

Just realized that the other difference between the 2650 and the Prime is USB vs. Ethernet. I'm already sucking down data via USB and an HD-PVR on the Sage server. Probably would be safe to add another thing on the bus, but for some reason the Ethernet solution sounds like there is less chance for problems (and it would be replacing an already networked HDHR).

[jptheripper]

Got rma, works great!

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

Got rma, works great!

ok, I'm confused (nothing new there) - what are you using to record with - WMC or Sage?

[jptheripper]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

ok, I'm confused (nothing new there) - what are you using to record with - WMC or Sage?

Um.. both?

You set up the tuner in WMC. SageDCT then makes into a network encoder. So all the recording and scheduling commands are issued from sage , via sagedct, to WMC.

It takes about a second to tune a channel. (my colossus takes about 10).

Once it is setup up in WMC you never have to open WMC ever again.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

Um.. both?

You set up the tuner in WMC. SageDCT then makes into a network encoder. So all the recording and scheduling commands are issued from sage , via sagedct, to WMC.

It takes about a second to tune a channel. (my colossus takes about 10).

Once it is setup up in WMC you never have to open WMC ever again.

and the file format is...?

[jptheripper]

ts