Colossus users. What OS?

[panteragstk]

What os are you guys using as a server with your colossus? Also what driver version?

EDIT: If you could also give the issues you have (if any) and how stable your current setup is that would also help.

I'm using xp with driver 29192. 97% good recordings with the bad being marked as AAC audio incorrectly.

RE-EDIT: I'm also looking for the STB (att, directv, fios, TWS, comcast, etc) HDMI or component. Spdif or rca. Dolby digital or no. Sorry for the inconsistency. If a mod wants to fix my poll I'd appreciate it.

[SHS]

Me using Windows 7 64x
I have Colossus Driver 1.0.29046 as my main drivers but other then that experiencing choppy, stuttering recordings after 4 hours if I do 30min back to back recordings with some newer drivers I think after 1.0.29073 or 29111 I don't recall off hand.

[KeithAbbott]

I'm not sure I understand what you are looking to accomplish with this survey. If you are looking to figure out what OS/driver combination delivers the best results, shouldn't responders also mention what problems, if any, they are experiencing with their setup? What percentage of the time they get good recordings vs. bad? Also, it seems like there is a lot of other data that would be needed in addition to the OS/driver combination. What workarounds (daily reboot, etc.) do they have in place with their current setup? Do they have their STB locked to a specific resolution, or set to native source? Are they using HDMI or component input? Are they using analog or digital audio? etc, etc.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I'm just not sure what the benefit is of knowing what OS/driver combination people are using. I think the Colossus issues are far more complicated than that.

p.s. Windows 7 64x, Colossus Driver 1.0.29111

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

I'm not sure I understand what you are looking to accomplish with this survey. If you are looking to figure out what OS/driver combination delivers the best results, shouldn't responders also mention what problems, if any, they are experiencing with their setup? What percentage of the time they get good recordings vs. bad? Also, it seems like there is a lot of other data that would be needed in addition to the OS/driver combination. What workarounds (daily reboot, etc.) do they have in place with their current setup? Do they have their STB locked to a specific resolution, or set to native source? Are they using HDMI or component input? Are they using analog or digital audio? etc, etc.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I'm just not sure what the benefit is of knowing what OS/driver combination people are using. I think the Colossus issues are far more complicated than that.

p.s. Windows 7 64x, Colossus Driver 1.0.29111

True enough. I'm really just wondering what OS and driver version. People can say what success they either have had or haven't as that will be helpful. I guess I should add that to my first post.

[BobPhoenix]

Win7 x64 ultimate
Hauppauge 29192 (will correct tonight)
DirectTV HDMI 5.1 sound fixed resolution 1080i

My problems are listed here. However with nightly reboots and changing the "delay_to_wait" I'm up to 80% good recordings.
Of the 20% bad here is the new breakdown:

1. 15% signal problems causing recording hickups (pixelation, black screen, audio drop outs ect...) not hauppauge problem but trees surrounding my house most likely.
2. 5% record with AAC audio when it is actually dolby digital. When checked with DVDFab I see two audio tracks AAC and dolby digital. This causes no audio in the playback. When I use DVDFab to remove the AAC audio at the begining it then plays back with sound but is horribly out of sink. Still haven't tried to adjust the sound back into sync on one yet but DO have a candidate now (The last listed recording of Clockwork Orange the other night).

[Wrx4me]

I am using Win 7 32bit with the 29111 driver and stereo sound. So far everything is working alright with 2 HD-PVR's on the same box including a nightly service restart. However, if I use Digital audio, the whole server slows down and eventually locks up.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Win7 x64 ultimate
Hauppauge 29192 (will correct tonight)
DirectTV HDMI 5.1 sound fixed resolution 1080i

My problems are listed here. However with nightly reboots and changing the "delay_to_wait" I'm up to 80% good recordings.
Of the 20% bad here is the new breakdown:

1. 15% signal problems causing recording hickups (pixelation, black screen, audio drop outs ect...) not hauppauge problem but trees surrounding my house most likely.
2. 5% record with AAC audio when it is actually dolby digital. When checked with DVDFab I see two audio tracks AAC and dolby digital. This causes no audio in the playback. When I use DVDFab to remove the AAC audio at the begining it then plays back with sound but is horribly out of sink. Still haven't tried to adjust the sound back into sync on one yet but DO have a candidate now (The last listed recording of Clockwork Orange the other night).

Other than your signal issues you have the same issue that I do with the same driver on win 7 64 rather than xp. You do have fixed resolution and mine is set to native. I have a lower percentage of recordings with the AAC issue than you though.

I gave up trying to get the audio to resync on my bad recordings. I just record an alternate airing.

Thanks for the info so far guys.

[elefante]

I'm using w7-32bit 3 GB, 2vCPU in ESX 4.1u1. Driver is 29192 (latest).

I have no issues with the first recording (using optical). After it starts changing channels the memory consumption of the JVM keeps going up until GC cant keep up and it locks up. I was going to rebuild my sage from the ground up, but I dont have time to tinker with a dead application so I just went back to basic cable and my HDHR which works 100%.

In the meantime I have been testing the Colossus on W7MC, and it is flawless, even with the new driver (I can swing the hardware in ESX). I'm going to put a PCIe ATI 5xxx card into my ESX server and try to get direct video out of it, so I dont have to use an xbox extender for my main TV. I have been hearing rumors that Verizon is considering letting customers run xbox as terminals, so maybe I will have options.

If W7MC integration testing goes well over the next few months, then I may get a HDHR prime and collapse everything into W7MC. It kills me that the FIOS Moto terminal uses 18W and it is on all the time. I dont blame Colossus, because realtime transcoding is a real pain, although it works in W7MC for now. I think the HDHR Prime is the way to go as I can just get one cablecard.


I have also been playing w/ a Logitech Revue, but until the software gets updated it's useless as my Roku does Amazon and Netflix better. Since google is dark on Sagetv, I will assume I need to ditch googletv for a while. Strangely enough the thing take 17W too, and there is no off switch.

I think a lot of the sync issues may have to do with your MSP. I have Verizon FIOS and I have never had any SAP, etc issues going on. When I had TWC occasionally (even in the old days) a SAP audio channel or funky DD to matrix would show up (someone speaking in Spanish, some narrator, some public access channel, some 5.1 some 2.0), so I think the TWC engineers were asleep. Verizon is gold compared to TWC.

[jptheripper]

I am using win7 64bit home premium (29192, which is no longer the latest).

optical/component fixed at 720p/dd5.1 . 0 issues with occasional reboot.

[PosterBoy]

I am using server 2008 R2 (64 bit)

I am using DirecTv tuners connected via component video and analog audio. after ~36 to 48 hours of up time the audio on recordings by my colussus start skipping roughly 50% no audio and 50% ok audio. When it gets in this condition the server is unstable and sage is using a LOT of memory (1 GB versus around 512 KB normall) Sometimes the machine locks up when I try to reboot it

Aside from that my system is very stable stable

I also have an HDHomerun and a hauppauge HVR1950 in my system. I have tried the 29192 and the beta 29263 drivers. I tried to load the 29111 but they did not see my colussus as a compatible device. My colossus is only a month or so old so it may be that my board is a newer revision?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

I am using win7 64bit home premium (29192, which is no longer the latest).

optical/component fixed at 720p/dd5.1 . 0 issues with occasional reboot.

Who is your TV service through?

[jptheripper]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Who is your TV service through?

Comcast (rng150 box)

[mtpudelko]

I've two systems in separate locations, each with DirecTV H24's feeding a single Colossus on Win7 x64 Ultimate. Each also has an HDHR3 with current drivers, and those things are bulletproof. It's been quite awhile since either Colossus has spit out an unusable recording. One system uses Component+Optical, the other HDMI (including audio) via an HDMI extender 50' away from the receiver (long story). The Component system has perfect sync; the HDMI one likes to be about 100ms out of sync, which is tolerable to deal with on the AVR. I leave neither on 24/7 most of the time, but when I do, there's a scheduled task to restart the service. That seemed to be the key for me. Leaving them up for days on end was always troublesome. Both are on 29192 drivers and I'm afraid to breath on them and won't be upgrading so long as the current setup remains happy .

Oh -- and both H24's are locked to 1080i. Native resolution was a nightmare, especially with SD content.

-Mike

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by mtpudelko

Oh -- and both H24's are locked to 1080i. Native resolution was a nightmare, especially with SD content.

-Mike

Yeah, the colossus doesn't handle SD very well. There were always some strange issues with audio and video. I just use my 1600's s-video input for sd directv.

[gambitpvr]

I'm running the following:

• Windows XP SP3
• SageTV running in 'Service Mode'
• Colossus driver v29192
• HD-PVR Driver v1.6.29207
• Cooling fan mod on HD-PVR
• Comcast Cable (Motorola HD boxes), with resolution locked at 1080i
• Component inputs for both HD-PVR and Colossus (NOT using Optical)

The Colossus just couldn't handle changes in resolution from one channel to another... I kept getting green screens several times a week that would require a restart to fix. After locking the video output of my cable boxes, I haven't had a single recording failure in over 2 months and I typically record 3-4 hours a day with it. My Colossus is set with a higher priority than my HD-PVR so, it does most of my recording. Usually I'll have a couple of back-to-back shows per day but last month, I recorded 6 shows back to back (each 1 hour long) without issues.

I also use a .bat file to stop/restart the SageTV service every night (around 4am). I originally did this to reset the card when the resolution change issue occurred but after I fixed this by locking the output of my cable boxes, I never bothered to remove the restart. A nightly restart isn't really needed but I'm too lazy to remove it and Sage needs a restart every now and then anyway, otherwise things tend to get unstable (which usually happens when I'm out of town).