HD video capture cards - recommendations?

[CADweasel]

I recently purchased a new Colossus to capture HD content. Unfortunately it only works sporadically and locks up Sage on a daily basis. Only when the Colossus is removed from Sage, does Sage work as it should. I have given up on getting it to work with Sage for more than a few minutes at a time, I tried the latest drivers from Hauppauge as well as older drivers. The card itself works fine with the WinTV software and captures fantastic HD video but I have given up on using it with Sage for now.

I am looking for a HD capture card alternative to Colossus. I am aware of the external HD-PVR from Hauppauge but would prefer an internal capture card if possible. Recommendations with your experiences would be appreciated.

My setup is as follows:
Windows 7 SP1, Sage 7.1
Core 2 Duo E8400, 4GB Ram
(2) 1TB Internal for recordings
2TB External for video storage
PVR-150 PCI
PVR-1600 PCI
Colossus PCI-E (To be replaced with alternative)
(2) SageTV Client licenses
(1) HD-300 SageTV Extender

[KeithAbbott]

You didn't list what your content source is. If your HD content is coming from a cable provider, you might have a cablecard option like the Ceton if your cable provider flags the shows/channels as copy freely.

Please give as much information as you can about your content source(s), that will help to narrow down options.

[CADweasel]

Using a USB-UIRT and cable box from Bright House Networks, Tampa, FL. I was able to use the Component out and HDMI with success on the Colossus. I don't subscribe to any premium pay channels. I have the standard digital package with HD.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

Using a USB-UIRT and cable box from Bright House Networks, Tampa, FL. I was able to use the Component out and HDMI with success on the Colossus. I don't subscribe to any premium pay channels. I have the standard digital package with HD.

You're in pretty much the same boat that I am. I have Bright House Networks in Michigan. All of the analog channels (2-80'ish) are readily accessible via ClearQAM, I am able to connect the cable directly up to my HVR-2250 with no problem. Thru that connection, I am also able to get all of the HD "OTA broadcast" stations (Fox, NBC, ABC, etc). All of the rest of the HD stations (i.e. the channels that are only available on cable) is where the problem lies. Brighthouse seems especially agressive in their copy-protection, all of these channels are flagged copy-once. So, a cablecard tuner will not work for Bright House, at least not with Sage. It would probably work with WMC. AFAIK, your only option outside of switching to WMC is the HD-PVR or Colossus.

This is one time where I would love to be proven wrong.

[CADweasel]

Thanks for the info. I am also looking at the AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR MTVHDDVRR as a possible replacement for the Colossus. Do you have any experience with it?

Here's the link on Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815100049

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

All of the analog channels (2-80'ish) are readily accessible via ClearQAM,

Just a minor clarification here: "QAM" is digital only so while you're getting those channels, they're either analog or digital/QAM, but not both

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

Thanks for the info. I am also looking at the AVerMedia AVerTV HD DVR MTVHDDVRR as a possible replacement for the Colossus. Do you have any experience with it?

Nope. But you might want to check out this link: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ight=MTVHDDVRR

Originally Posted by darcilicious

Just a minor clarification here: "QAM" is digital only so while you're getting those channels, they're either analog or digital/QAM, but not both

Good catch. You're right, the HVR-2250 is tuning the analog channels via the built-in analog tuners, not the digital tuners. Thanks for keeping me honest...

[CADweasel]

Thanks, that's very useful information. Guess its going to be the HD-PVR then. My experience with software encoders has not been positive. Your help is much appreciated.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

Thanks, that's very useful information. Guess its going to be the HD-PVR then. My experience with software encoders has not been positive. Your help is much appreciated.

Well, I hope your experience with the HD-PVR is better than your Colossus experience. The HD-PVR has not been without it's problems, also.

[CADweasel]

Are there any issues I should be aware of? I have read of some SPDIF problems with syncing. I don't plan on using the digital audio part of it. Going to stick to using component.

[KeithAbbott]

My best advice would be to search these forums for "HD-PVR", and plan to spend some time reading. Using analog audio should help greatly; although there are other settings that may matter also (e.g. whether you lock the output of your STB to a specific screen resolution, or set it to pass the native resolution). There are many people who maintain that using a specific manufacturer of USB port (I believe it's NEC) is key to stability. Along with the latest driver, there is a slew of older drivers that you can try to see which one works best with your system. Not everyone finds that the latest driver works the best in their setup. So it's definately not a straightforward as it should be, and even though I have both a HD-PVR and a Colossus, neither of them are in my production server at this point due to issues I have run into. However, that will be changing this month, as I need a way to record the new season of True Blood for the spousal unit.

[equalize]

I’ve been running a Colossus for over a year with only a few issues. I need to reboot every couple of days because the system gets slow although I suspect the Streamzap remote drivers are part of the problem.
I say give it another shot. If you can, move the Colossus another slot to force Windows to reapply the drivers. Don’t use the optical audio output. Looking at your hardware configuration I would also remove the PVR-150 & PVR-1600 only as a troubleshooting measure and try to get Colossus working as the only tuner in the system. If the Colossus works after all these changes, add the other tuners one at a time. Yeah, it’s a lot of work but the payoff is worth it.

[CADweasel]

My best advice would be to search these forums for "HD-PVR", and plan to spend some time reading. Using analog audio should help greatly

Thanks Keith, that's good to know. Would love to get the Colossus to work. The HD quality is fantastic using the HDMI. Perhaps I should stick to the Component output without the Digital output.

If you can, move the Colossus another slot to force Windows to reapply the drivers. Don’t use the optical audio output. Looking at your hardware configuration I would also remove the PVR-150 & PVR-1600 only as a troubleshooting measure and try to get Colossus working as the only tuner in the system.

Thanks equalize, I will definitely do that this weekend and post my results here. I dont mind doing my due dilligence if the payoff is HD content and a high WAR (Wife Approval Rating) and KAR (Kid Approval Rating).

[CADweasel]

Last night I removed all expansion cards except the Colossus. I removed all drivers using the Hauppauge removal tool then re-installed the Colossus driver. I connected the component cables and had the exact same results as last time with Sage. This time though the component signal was not coming through. I kept getting a warning message from Sage that the Colossus has stopped sending data and had to be reset. I loaded up WinTV and decided to record some test footage. It did record for about 5 minutes off the HDMI input but did not get a signal from the component or svideo inputs. When I tried to record more footage a second time, I kept getting the "no signal" error message and had to reboot to restore the signal. I suspect I have a bad Colossus capture card. I will be boxing it up and getting a replacement. I am hoping that is the source of all the malfunctions because I am out of ideas otherwise. My only other option is to replicate the Sage and Colossus setup on a spare computer. Any ideas would be welcomed.

[panteragstk]

Yeah, I would call that a bad card. Like you said though, test it in another system. Something else in your current setup could be messing with it. I've never had that issue with the colossus. Mine has been solid since day 1 (once I tweaked the settings) and now I don't have any issues with component w/spdif or HDMI. I wonder why some people are having great luck with them, and others are having so many issues? I wonder if there are good and bad revisions like with the hd-pvr?

[CADweasel]

Received my replacement Colossus and installed in my SageTV server today. Now it all works beautifully. The Video captured from the HDMI is fantastic. Hopefully that was the only issue. Thanks to everyone for your advice, it is much appreciated.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

The Video captured from the HDMI is fantastic.

So your Bright House cable box connects up to the HDMI input on the Colossus? I would have thought that HDCP would have gotten in the way. What channels are you able to record?

[CADweasel]

Yes, HDMI plugs directly into the Colossus from the cable box. So far I am able to record all analog and digital channels including HD. I don't subscribe to any premium channels, so I don't know if it will work for those. Video is being captured at 720P & 60fps.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

Yes, HDMI plugs directly into the Colossus from the cable box. So far I am able to record all analog and digital channels including HD. I don't subscribe to any premium channels, so I don't know if it will work for those. Video is being captured at 720P & 60fps.

Which STB are you using?

[CADweasel]

Using a Bright House Networks supplied Pace DC-551P.

Here's the link:
https://www.pace.com/universal/support/pace-dc551p