Stumbled on a great solution for using Colossus HDMI input?

[dcardellini]

If you want to handle the possible closing of the A-hole, yet keep the stability of your HD-PVR analog, then it seems the HD Fury is the best bet.

HDMI>Component converter, that supposedly presents as a compliant device.

[wayner]

I have thought of that but the HDFury3, which is what I think would be the product to buy, is $250 apiece. For that much I could buy two of the HDMI-DVI adapters and a Collossus card.

edit - I am also in Canada where we have been allowed to buy cable boxes. I have some SA3250HD boxes, which I bought from the cable company, that don't have HDMI outputs (they do have DVI). So it would be hard for the cable co to shut off those without giving me a free box.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Set your wait to record delay to a higher number (I think mine is 5000 or 6000) that eliminated the AAC audio issue. HBO2 does broadcast dolby digital so it should record dolby digital. I've found that when it flags as AAC it was because the stream before was stereo pcm or the colossus had an issue locking on to the dolby digital stream. Letting the stb sit for a few seconds after the channel change seems to have fixed that for me.

Well, I stopped the service, and changed the delay_to_wait_after_tuning property from 4000 to 9000. Restarted the service, and I'm still getting the rapid-fire clicking noises. Stopped the service, upped it to 20000, restarted the service, same clicking noises. Sage is still displaying AAC@48kHz Stereo for shows on HBO2. Any other suggestions?

p.s. fwiw, I'm running the 30079 driver version.

[BobPhoenix]

Not that this will probably help. But I'm recording "Game of Thrones" on HBO2HD currently - HDMI from DirectTV currently (7:00PM CDT 06/01/2012) with Dolby Digital sound. Of course that could be because DirectTV hasn't shut me off yet too.

Not sure how I managed this but my drivers are:
Colossus Capture Device 1.0.29111.0
Colossus Encoder Device 1.2.29192.0

[dcardellini]

Originally Posted by wayner

I have thought of that but the HDFury3, which is what I think would be the product to buy, is $250 apiece. For that much I could buy two of the HDMI-DVI adapters and a Collossus card.

edit - I am also in Canada where we have been allowed to buy cable boxes. I have some SA3250HD boxes, which I bought from the cable company, that don't have HDMI outputs (they do have DVI). So it would be hard for the cable co to shut off those without giving me a free box.

Yep....and that is the reason for my interest in this thread.......I was about to pull the trigger on one (for test) then two more HD Fury III's for use with the HD-PVR. Haven't look hard into Colossus. Saw this thread, light bulb goes off on low cost solution.

I then visit the Colossus thread. Doesn't look pretty on stability. Hope someone pops up to defend or set perspective on the Colossus.

[patja]

I still record DirecTV HBO HD/Dolby Digital over HDMI to my Colossus just fine. I suspect they stopped or delayed the HDCP rollout after all of the complaints.

[Beefcake550]

Good to know Patja.....both of my receivers have the update and whenever I tune those channels, I just get the message.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

Well, I stopped the service, and changed the delay_to_wait_after_tuning property from 4000 to 9000. Restarted the service, and I'm still getting the rapid-fire clicking noises. Stopped the service, upped it to 20000, restarted the service, same clicking noises. Sage is still displaying AAC@48kHz Stereo for shows on HBO2. Any other suggestions?

p.s. fwiw, I'm running the 30079 driver version.

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Colossus Encoder Device 1.2.29192.0

I've been on the above driver version since I got my colossus and haven't had that issue. I'd try that driver and see what happens.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by SprDtyF350

Just curious how much difference there is between HDMI, and Component? I use the component output from my Comcast STB to my Colossus because I didn't realize there was a way to use HDMI.

Having gone from hdmi to component + optical I can say I see no difference in quality. Granted my TV is an old interlaced CRT so I can't really tell, but when viewing them on my 1080p plasma they still look the same as the HDMI recordings I've got. The quality of the stream DTV gives you isn't all that great to begin with, so I wouldn't notice a difference unless it was from a MUCH higher quality source.

[Beefcake550]

well, the real point of this discussion was so that you can still record some premium channels on DirecTV, like HBO, if your receiver got the HDCP "upgrade". You can get it via component, but it's downgraded in quality

[KryptoNyte]

You guys have probably already checked this, if it exists on the Colossus, but thought I'd mention it with regard to the AAC issue. On my old fashioned HD-PVR, I have to enter the TME2 software and then pretend like I want to "record" to get to the HD-PVR settings, maybe there is a better way, but I could never find it.

Anyways, in the "Format Settings" there is a setting in there for how to handle the 2 Channel Audio sources, radio buttons for either;

use ac3 audio encoder
or
use aac audio encoder

If you have a similar setting on the Colossus, is it possible that changing it may resolve the strange audio behavior?

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

You guys have probably already checked this, if it exists on the Colossus, but thought I'd mention it with regard to the AAC issue. On my old fashioned HD-PVR, I have to enter the TME2 software and then pretend like I want to "record" to get to the HD-PVR settings, maybe there is a better way, but I could never find it.

Anyways, in the "Format Settings" there is a setting in there for how to handle the 2 Channel Audio sources, radio buttons for either;

use ac3 audio encoder
or
use aac audio encoder

If you have a similar setting on the Colossus, is it possible that changing it may resolve the strange audio behavior?

Thanks KryptoNyte, I'll definitely keep this in mind. I may have already found a solution to my problem though. I have been aware of the DCX3200 setup screens since I acquired the box. What I was not aware of, until recently, is that Bright House has it's own setup screens, and they are pretty buried and difficult to find. Anyhow, one of the setup items is the audio compression level, which has three settings: None, Light, and Heavy. The default setting was Light; I changed it to None. So far, that seems to have eliminated the problem, my recordings no longer get flagged as AAC@48kHz Stereo. I'm not quite ready to declare victory yet, but my results so far have been promising. At the moment, my Colossus has been performing the best I have ever seen. Which is definitely saying something, since I have owned it for over a year now and have still yet to put it on my production box.

One additional piece of knowledge for others viewing this post. In the process of troubleshooting this problem, I ordered the companion to the DVI->HDMI converter that the OP spoke of. The primary difference based on the description on Monoprice was a stereo analog input instead of an SPDIF digital input. I assumed that the internal circuitry was similar, but apparently it is not. Although it works fine connected directly to an HDCP-compliant television, it does not work connected to the Colossus. It appears that the SPDIF version has it's own unique HDCP-compliant EDID that it provides to the STB, whereas the stereo analog version passes thru the EDID from the Colossus to the STB, which then determines that it is not HDCP-compliant.

Fortunately, it makes a terrific door stop.

[dcardellini]

I'm a little confused by the above post. So the Monoprice DVI+Toslink >> HDMI converter DOES work connected to the Colossus, and reflects back HDCP goodness to the STB?

....And the AAC problem may be fixed be ensuring that the STB doesn't attempt to muck with the audio stream?

thx in advance! Maybe it is time I try this out...future-proofing.

Anyone have three Colossi plugged into HTPC, and get three separate IR blasters to the STB's?

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by dcardellini

I'm a little confused by the above post. So the Monoprice DVI+Toslink >> HDMI converter DOES work connected to the Colossus, and reflects back HDCP goodness to the STB?

Yes.

Originally Posted by dcardellini

....And the AAC problem may be fixed be ensuring that the STB doesn't attempt to muck with the audio stream?

I'm only a couple of days into testing this out. As I said, so far it looks promising.

Originally Posted by dcardellini

thx in advance! Maybe it is time I try this out...future-proofing.

I wouldn't go out and buy anything yet based on my last couple days of success. Remember, there was a year of frustration prior to this. Wait a week or two, I promise I'll post some follow-ups and then if you still want to take the plunge, go ahead...

Originally Posted by dcardellini

Anyone have three Colossi plugged into HTPC, and get three separate IR blasters to the STB's?

Nope, but hopefully soon. I currently have a USB-UIRT, but I might try one of these.

[dcardellini]

Great. Will stand by.

Concerning the IR device...nice.

Not sure how the Colossus interfaces to SageTV today....does it present as a bidirectional BDA device for both channel change and video feed? How would you interject the commands to the IR device if this is the interface?

..or are you interfacing as a network encoder, and using a custom command line program with arguments to make channel change calls to the IR device? Is that program available?

thx again for your determination and sharing!

[KeithAbbott]

I thought I would post an update regarding my level of success with the Colossus paired with the Monoprice DVI->HDMI converter. First, I must say that when the recording works, the picture quality and audio are outstanding! Also, setting the STB to no audio compression seems to have taken care of the problem with the Colossus incorrectly interpreting the audio stream as AAC@48kHz Stereo.

However, I am still having problems with the overall reliability of the Colossus. My latest recording was perfect for the first 2/3, then the picture froze for the remaining 1/3. And where the picture froze was no where near a commercial.

I intentionally did not set up an daily reboot (to see if maybe Hauppauge had fixed the driver so that it was no longer necessary). I'll be setting it up this evening, I'll report back next week sometime with my results.

p.s. Still running the 30079 driver version.

[Beefcake550]

I am having a similar issue with the Colossus. After a few recordings, the Colossus likes to stutter the video and audio and I most of the time just need to restart the Sage process, but sometimes need to reboot the machine. I also have an HD-PVR in the system, so I've been thinking about removing that from the system to see how it goes.

I am also still on 30079 driver, but I'm going to give the later one over at SHS a try to see what happens.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

I am having a similar issue with the Colossus. After a few recordings, the Colossus likes to stutter the video and audio and I most of the time just need to restart the Sage process, but sometimes need to reboot the machine. I also have an HD-PVR in the system, so I've been thinking about removing that from the system to see how it goes.

I am also still on 30079 driver, but I'm going to give the later one over at SHS a try to see what happens.

Let us know how the new one works.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

I am also still on 30079 driver, but I'm going to give the later one over at SHS a try to see what happens.

Curious how the Hauppauge website shows the latest Colossus driver as 30079 and no beta driver, yet SHS has version 30142 on his site. Anyone know what was addressed in version 30142?

[Beefcake550]

I installed the new driver last night. It will take 2 days to figure out if it did anything. Will post an update then.