HD PVR Model 2 1512

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by Telecore

... I max'ed out the quality setting within SageTV ...

When you say max'ed out, did you mean this?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33407

[Evil_Attorney]

Originally Posted by Telecore

Thanks for the suggestions - I was able to easily set up my old HD-PVR 1212 and USB-UIRT with one STB. Now I have all the channels that I am paying for on FIOS in SageTV. Picture looks good. I'll put the 1512 on the back burner for a while and probably pick up a 2nd HD-PVR 1212 on ebay.

One question: I only installed the latest drivers (dowloaded from hauppauge.com) to set this up. I max'ed out the quality setting within SageTV - Is there a method to further increase the picture quality (outside of SageTV?)?? I don't have the original installer CD that came with the HD-PVR.

If the bitrate is maxed, there isn't much else you can do with the 1212 itself. I found that if I set my cable box to output in native resolution (i.e., 720p and 1080i) the quality improved, but I have an old Directv tuner that is not so good at converting resolution.

Slightly off topic, I just dramatically improved the picture on my system. Vizio has some ridiculously cheap 4k/UHD TVs, so I picked up one of their 70" M series. I can't over emphasize how amazing the upscaling is. Sage and my Xbox 360/One have never looked better. I have not even watched anything in 4k, but don't care. I highly recommend an upgrade for the upscaling alone.

[Telecore]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

When you say max'ed out, did you mean this?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33407

No, actually I meant that I selected the max quality/bitrate within SageTV. (Best h.264) - I was looking for another means of bumping up the quality/bitrate but I did read in the forums where someone said that there wasn't a noticeable difference between best h.264 vs. changing sage.properties (or however that works).

Unfortunately, I didn't see a native option on the Motorola QIP7100 for Verizon FIOS, only 1080i/720p - that would be preferable.

[KryptoNyte]

One of the users in that thread claimed that it made a substantial difference, but wasn't sure which Sage UI setting he was using initially.

Just out of curiosity, what does MediaInfo tell you the video bitrate is currently?

[Telecore]

I checked two files: video bitrate = 11.7 Mbps, overall 12.7 Mbps - all recordings at 1080i.

[Evil_Attorney]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

One of the users in that thread claimed that it made a substantial difference, but wasn't sure which Sage UI setting he was using initially.

Just out of curiosity, what does MediaInfo tell you the video bitrate is currently?

For the record, I didn't really see much of a difference between the max and the modified max. I did see a difference between the 1212 and the 1512. The 1512 seemed to do a better job with the encoding. The picture looked sharper and you could see more detail (also more flaws on some channels).

[Telecore]

I ended up trying this:

mmc/python2_encoding/HDPVRMax=videobitrate\=14155776|vbr

\=1|outputstreamtype\=1

This may appear to improve the picture quality but not by much (it's hard to tell). Picture is kind of soft with HD-PVR.

Can the drivers for the HD-PVR 1212 co-exist with the HD-PVR 2 1512?

Right now, I have one HD-PVR 1212 working, I bought a 2nd one on ebay that may not be working, but I have a 1512 presently unused. I understand there are audio issues, just wanted to see if it is even possible as I recall reading in here that someone had a problem with this.

[KryptoNyte]

I just set mine to 19 million. I also [supposedly] have it locked in to CBR, but MediaInfo claims it's VBR with a bitrate of 13.1mbps and a max bitrate of 20mbps, so who knows. Maybe the most recent drivers won't allow CBR.

My opinion is that I would be hard pressed to see a difference between 12 and 13mbps. I'm not sure I can tell the difference between 13 and 20 (between the HD-PVR and the original Colossus).

[theflashguy]

I am new to this. I just got the HD PVR2 and have problem. I saw on this forum that there is a process to fix it. But the link was not working. Can anyone post the document? Thanks.

[SHS]

Originally Posted by theflashguy

I am new to this. I just got the HD PVR2 and have problem. I saw on this forum that there is a process to fix it. But the link was not working. Can anyone post the document? Thanks.

What document or did you mean the hdpvr2_sagetv_fix.zip ? if so I update the link here on SageTV as SHSPVR web is close

[golf7]

Is anyone able to interact with the IR Blaster that came with the 1512 and be able to send a custom IR ?

I have a U-Verse STB, and I want to schedule a simple command line program to send the "OK" Button every 4 hours to keep it alive.

I was not able to even "teach" the IR Blaster software anything. I am however able to use codeset 130 (built in) to change the channels using WinTV or NextPVR. The issue is that every 4 hours the STB will go into standby mode and require a button press of "OK" to continue.

I am able to use HaupBlast.exe that came with NextPVR in order to send simple numbers to the STB, but I am not able to find any program that will send the "OK" button using the 1512's built in IR Blaster.

I looked and winlirc, but it only supports the older Hauppauge IR Blaster (irreceiver.dll). The 1512 uses hcwutl32.dll as its main driver.

Anyone out here have a suggestion ?

[KryptoNyte]

There are methods to do what you are asking, but as I recall, most sane folks purchase the USB-UIRT and then use STBkeepalive to get it done.

[KryptoNyte]

http://www.usbuirt.com/order.htm

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35228

[Denali]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

There are methods to do what you are asking, but as I recall, most sane folks purchase the USB-UIRT and then use STBkeepalive to get it done.

Using USB-UIRT you can assign the OK key to the prefix code for the channel change thereby waking up the STB. Works great for my Dish Network STB.

[golf7]

Thanks for all of the help.

I finally was able to get it to work with the built in IR Receiver/Sender built into the HDPVR2 1512 with the default software (BlastCfg).

I have attached my HCWBlast.ini, which is placed in C:/Windows/ for anyone who has a U-Verse STB and would like to have this setup.

I was able to "teach" the commands into the BlastCfg.exe, but the remote had to be touching the learning end of the IR Receiver. Once I had the codes taught (which took way longer than it should), I was able to configure the timings to correctly send the channels without losing any digits. Finally I taught the "OK" button into the "On" config in BlastCfg.exe. With the "Send Power On Before Channel Change" box checked, the IR sender always sends the OK button, then waits some time, then sends the channel change.

Now I can schedule a recording knowing that the box will "Wake Up" before sending the channel change. If the box is already awake it will just show a brief info box at the bottom of the screen for 3-4 seconds, which if you start your recording 1 minute before, you are good to go

[Denali]

Originally Posted by golf7

I finally was able to get it to work with the built in IR Receiver/Sender built into the HDPVR2 1512 with the default software (BlastCfg).

Congratulations.