HD video capture cards - recommendations?

[KeithAbbott]

Anybody got any tips or tricks on an easy way to determine whether HDCP is enabled or disabled for the HDMI output on a given STB? I mean, without the hassle of setting up a test machine with a Colossus in it, which would probably take an hour or two...

[panteragstk]

That's really the only way to find out. Unless you have an TV with DVI with no HDCP...or a computer monitor with no HDCP.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

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

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

Well, consider yourself lucky. My Motorola DCX3200 shows that HDCP is enabled in the diagnostic menus. I just tried connecting it via HDMI to my Colossus, and sure enough, I am unable to receive a signal from the STB. Component works fine though, so at least I have that.

[CADweasel]

Thank goodness for the analog hole. And yes, I do consider myself lucky. I was not expecting the HDMI to work. But I was pleasantly surprised.

[CADweasel]

It's been about a week of spectacular HD recording with the Colossus. It was working flawlessly...until yesterday. Starting to get the same errors in Sage that the Colossus stopped sending data and that Sage would try to reset the device. Rebooting temporarily restored it. Looks like I am going to have to RMA it again. Thank goodness Amazon doesn't mess around, they send a replacement immediately. I have never had 2 Hauppauge capture cards fail one after the other. I have had failures in the past, but not like this. Looks like it might be HD-PVR time after all. Any suggestions?

[Beefcake550]

I'd hate to suggest this, but perhaps an OS re-install might be in order? I've had weird things that no one could explain happen. I bit the bullet and formatted, reinstalled and voila, problem solved.

[panteragstk]

Quite a few people have had similar issues with the colossus. Trying specific driver versions, and restarting daily resolves the issue for most. At least that's something to try before a complete re-install.

[CADweasel]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

I'd hate to suggest this, but perhaps an OS re-install might be in order?

I think that will be a last resort solution for me. My server OS is just 2 weeks old. Windows 7, 64 bit. All I have installed is SageTV 7.1.9 and the AntiPack codec pack.

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Trying specific driver versions, and restarting daily resolves the issue for most. At least that's something to try before a complete re-install.

Which driver version do you recommend? I have an auto reboot application that I have been using for the past week for a fresh system reboot. That doesn't seem to be fixing the problem. I have also restarted Sage itself, not just rebooting and that seems to clear the problem with the Colossus. AS some have suggested, I have stayed away from Channel Surfing with the colossus. Another annoying problem is that some recordings are recorded at double speed (recorded with the Colossus and the PVR-1600) and are truncated at the end. I am starting to think the problem might be the SageTV software or a codec or bad RAM or even a failing hard drive. Not really sure at this point. I suppose I have some trouble shooting to do this weekend. Going to be process of elimination. If all else fails a OS reload would be in order.

[Olias]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

It's been about a week of spectacular HD recording with the Colossus. It was working flawlessly...until yesterday. Starting to get the same errors in Sage that the Colossus stopped sending data and that Sage would try to reset the device. Rebooting temporarily restored it. Looks like I am going to have to RMA it again. Thank goodness Amazon doesn't mess around, they send a replacement immediately. I have never had 2 Hauppauge capture cards fail one after the other. I have had failures in the past, but not like this. Looks like it might be HD-PVR time after all. Any suggestions?

How much air is flowing inside of the PC? Is it possible that things are getting a bit too hot in there? Several years ago, before the Hauppauge devices were released, I used a Black Magic card to record HD. I had to install an additional case fan to keep things cool and stable.

[CADweasel]

Originally Posted by Olias

How much air is flowing inside of the PC? Is it possible that things are getting a bit too hot in there?

The server is housed in an Antec Three Hundred case. I have a 120mm case fan in the back, a 140mm case fan on top, a 120mm case fan in front cooling the hard drives and a 120mm case fan in the side blowing air over the video/peripheral cards. I checked the CPU temp and its just above room temperature (80 degrees). By the way, if you want a super silent case with lots of cooling, I highly recommend the Antec Three Hundred.

I checked Hauppauge's website and found a new driver for the Colossus, version 30079. I have installed it and so far I haven't had any errors in the past 12 hours. But that doesn't mean there wont be, still keeping my fingers crossed.

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor..._colossus.html

Update: 24 hours in with the new Colossus driver and still no errors.

[Olias]

Sounds like plenty of cooling to me! Including CPU and power supplies, I have a total of nine fans inside my highly modified Antec tower case. Some components, esp. Hard drives are much happier when kept cool. And we all like a happy Sage server, don't we?

Glad it appears that software fixed it.

[CADweasel]

Update:
Four days in and no errors at all, Looks like the driver version 30079 has solved my Colossus issues. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by CADweasel

Update:
Four days in and no errors at all, Looks like the driver version 30079 has solved my Colossus issues. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions.

Are you still restarting daily?

[CADweasel]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Are you still restarting daily?

Yes, still doing a daily server reboot.

[PeteCress]

Originally Posted by 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.

Bump!...

I'm getting ready to spring for a Colossus - to be run on my 24-07 SageTV box.

Too many bad reviews on the AVerMedia C027 and I'm too cheap to buy one of the more expensive offerings.


The Questions:

Are you still happy with the Colossus replacement?

Do you still have to re-boot every day?

[tvmaster2]

my Colossus has been running fine since the day they released them. Also, I run an older driver version, which hasn't given me any grief. I seem to remember updating the driver a couple of years ago, it caused problems, so I went backwards and left it. I reboot a couple of times per week, just for good measure. I also run a HD PVR on the same system, so it's hard to know which is more troublesome, or less so.

[CADweasel]

"Are you still happy with the Colossus replacement?

Do you still have to re-boot every day?"

Yes on both.