Dual PVR250's with different tuners

[waynedunham]

I picked up one of the PVR-250's on sale at CompUSA to go with my old PVR-250. Well, they don't like each other one danged bit.

The old one is one with the heat sink and tuner NTSC 48011 Rev G726, and the new one has tuner NTSC/NTSC-J 2062 Rev B185.

I plugged the new one in and everything installed fine, but I had the problem with scrambled video and mangled audio (a slight chipmunk shift).

So after reading everything I could find here I saw that Frey had been working with Hauppauge and released some drivers for the newer tuner just recently. I tried installing those and depending on how I installed the cards (remove both cards and install one first and then the other) I would either get NO cards recognized, only the new card recognized (still no video and mangled sound), or both cards with only the old card working.

Has anyone figured out a way to get these cards working together? I'm on an old machine running 98SE and the 2.0x version of Sage.

I want to buy a new MOBO/CPU/MEM because the machine is pretty outdated, but want to be sure I can get the cards working together first. Then I can migrate to XP and the latest Beta of Sage, and also get the Sage Client installed on my Media MVP.

Alternatively it may be easier to find someone with a similar problem and arrange an exchange so we both end up with compatible cards.

[kny3twalker]

the cards should run together
first shut down SageTV and make sure it is set to run at start up
then goto the device manager
and under sound, video, game controllers uninstall the drivers for both PVR 250s
then run HCW.clear.exe and add a check to the search for conflicting infs
get the newest CD from shspvr.com/forum for the pvr 250

and then reboot

then at reboot install the drivers for both cards

if you are using the hauppauge remote
install the pvr48xxx.exe(aka pvr update) and install the remote software

then one more thing
go to the properties file in the SageTV folder and check the line mmc encoders ignore=

if anything is listed remove it and save the properties file

use notepad to open it

and then start SageTV and you should be fine

and for the exact method of installing drivers from shspvr.com/forum
check out the FAQs

[waynedunham]

Thanks kny3twalker I'll give that a try, but I swear that I've tried that method already and it resulted in nothing being recognized by either Sage or WinTv.

Then again at some point running HWclear, on about try #20, it hosed something because every time I tried it after that I would get warnings about a missing DLL when I tried to run WinTv, or the decoder installation.

Thanks, again. I'll try it in the morning.

[waynedunham]

<sigh>

No dice. I tried every combination I could think of folllowing both the directiions you gave here and some in the driver cd thread over on SHSPVR.

Now anytime I have the new 250 in the machine everything says it's ok in device manager, but neither the old or new show up in Sage (yes I checked the ignore setting in Sage properties), nor will any of the install programs off the Cd work. They say that no board is found.

I even tried uninstalling everything and putting just the new card in and same problem (strange that it worked initially).

Any other ideas?

[SHS]

Is it me or did you miss a number you say NTSC/NTSC-J 2062 but should that say on the tuner 32062?.
Just idea to try make back of copy Sage.properties, Wiz.bak and Wiz.bin, Then del Sage.properties, Sage.properties.autobackup, Wiz.bak and Wiz.bin then try reset it up clean.
One of the PVR card should with WinTV2000 just wonder but have tested the new card by it self to in sure it working rigth?.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by SHS

Is it me or did you miss a number you say NTSC/NTSC-J 2062 but should that say on the tuner 32062?.
Just idea to try make back of copy Sage.properties, Wiz.bak and Wiz.bin, Then del Sage.properties, Sage.properties.autobackup, Wiz.bak and Wiz.bin then try reset it up clean.
One of the PVR card should with WinTV2000 just wonder but have tested the new card by it self to in sure it working rigth?.

Yes, you're right it was 32062, flying fingers fumbled that one.

I am pulling my hair out like mad. So far it seems if I try to install any of the "current" drivers on Hauppauge or that file from SHSPVR with the old card in the machine I end up with an "Ivac driver not found" message when trying to install the hauppauge decoder and "WinTV Initiailzation Error hTV=0" error when trying to run WinTv2000. And naturally when I fire up Sage it doesn't find any cards.

If I install the original software for the old 250 the old board works.

I haven't tried installing just the new board with the software that came with it yet. Will try that later today. Right now I've got to get outside and take care of the leaves before the rain hits later today.

[kny3twalker]

try removing both cards run hcw.clear.exe
and reg.bat cleaning tool from shspvr
then add the new tuner
install drivers
add old tuner install drivers
uninstall SageTV
move the frey folder to your desktop from the program folder
install SageTV
run SageTV and see if they are recognized
if so
then you can just replace the correct files from the old frey folder on your desktop

and then rerun SageTV and see if it still works right

[waynedunham]

I tried removing both cards and running HCWCLEAR many, many times.

Reg.bat (do you mean HCW_unregister.bat? that's what I have) is broken on my system. All I get is "Bad Command or Filename" on every command in it. That could be because I'm on W98SE and not XP so regsvr32 may be different, and/or it's because my path has spaces in it?

Not sure yet, because I still haven't tried only the new card yet. However ANY attempt at the latest drivers on Hauppauge, or the files from SHSPVR with the old card in the system and nothing (Sage, or the Hauppauge apps) will see ANY cards in the system. They show up as working properly in DevManager but nothing can see the cards.

If I install the original 250 drivers that came with the old card it works fine. I'm sure there are later ones that work, but I'll have to go to a backup dir and find them since I deleted them when I got the "latest and greatest".

I'm going over to the machine now to try pulling the old card out, uninstalling the drivers, running HCWclear and then rebooting with the new card. I'll first try installing the drivers that came with it and if those work with the new card I'll try putting the old card back in.

One thing I noticed during these travails is that (at least under W98) If I update the drivers on either card then both cards show the same driver files even though I only changed them on one card. Not sure if that happens under XP or not.

I'm about at the end of my rope. If I can get the new card working then I'll compare the two and put the best one in the machine and then decide what to do with the other one. Either sell it or put it in another machine if I can't get them working in the same machine.

[waynedunham]

I think I've found the problem. Somewhere along the line the new board may have crapped out partially (yes I was "static safe"). The system recognizes it, will install drivers and shows in DevManager as "working properly". However any attempt at using the board, or even trying to run Setup.exe to install the Hauppauge software (WinTv 2000, Scheduler, etc) will either show "Ivac driver not found" or something about the WinTv board not being found depending on what you're trying to run.

I tried installing the old 250 drivers, the drivers that came with it, the latest drivers on Hauppauge and the SHSPvr drivers. All had the exact same resulting errors. I ran HCWclear between each attempt and even tried other installs where I just overwrote the drivers.

Now the question is how do I return the board? Do I send it back to CompUsa (bought it online since they didn't have any in the stores), or Hauppauge?

For now it's back to the old original 250 which still hum's along fine by itself.

Anyone know if Sage is going to be able to recognize multiple PVR-500 MCE's? (at least 2 which is what I'm thinking of). That would give me 4 tuners, 5 if it can co-exist with my old PVR-250.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

Now the question is how do I return the board? Do I send it back to CompUsa (bought it online since they didn't have any in the stores), or Hauppauge?

CompUSA for sure, if it's like BestBuy, they'll take stuff back for no reason at all. and FWIW:

Originally Posted by CompUSA Online Return Policy

Purchases can be returned for refund within 14 days from date of receipt. Most items purchased online can be returned to CompUSA retail locations. Please review your packing slip to determine return procedures for your purchase.

Anyone know if Sage is going to be able to recognize multiple PVR-500 MCE's? (at least 2 which is what I'm thinking of). That would give me 4 tuners, 5 if it can co-exist with my old PVR-250.

Nothing official, but AFAIK Frey intends to support the 500, and if the 500 drivers support multiple cards, then I'm sure Sage will too.

[waynedunham]

Good news on the CompUsa return. I'll have to check out the packing slip to see if I can indeed return it to the store.

Now as long as they'll either credit my card, or at the least give me store credit I'll be all set. I'm almost definitely going to wait for the PVR-500's. I didn't realize they were going to be as cheap as the prelim prices showing on places like buy.com,etc. A definite bargain as long as the dual tuners work well and they record as well as my old 250 does.

[kny3twalker]

CompUSA has a 10% restocking fee

so glad I did not have to buy my video card from them

Frey's no restocking fee and with them price matching no mail in rebate

[kny3twalker]

also that is just a error during install
it does not mean the card is bad

this is from Hauppauge's FAQs

WinTV-PVR-250/350 Troubleshooting notes


IVAC not found error

Indicates that the hardware is not being seen correctly by the system. Try reseating the WinTV Board into a different PCI slot(s) in the system, and confirm that the board is firmly in place.

[waynedunham]

Frey's as in Frey Technology, or Frey's the store? We don't have any Frey's anywhere near here. It's Best Buy, CompUsa, or "Circus S**ty".

[kny3twalker]

http://www.frys.com/

Fry's Electronics

sorry you know how it is when typing something
forget which Fry's/ Frey's is which

[kny3twalker]

and huh Circuit City has always done my ok

CompUSA have always been a pain with their 10 % restocking BS

and here is all the FAQs from hauppauge

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/suppo...vr250-350.html

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by kny3twalker

also that is just a error during install
it does not mean the card is bad

this is from Hauppauge's FAQs

Well I tried it in 2 different PCI slots, both of which worked fine with my old 250. Maybe it's got a bum connector where it plugs into the PCI slot, although they looked fine to the naked eye. (I checked)

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow when I can pull the box down and lay it on its side so I can see if the board is seating all the way down. Maybe the slot cover is bottoming out and not letting the board sit all the way down, although that's doubtful since the part where the lockdown screw goes was flush with the case.
Hmmm then again it wouldn't be the first time that I had a board where the slot cover didn't line up properly and allow the board to fully seat. That's rare though, usually either a cheapo card, or a cheapo case that didn't line up properly. neither of those should be the case here.

[Opus4]

I haven't had a problem with any restocking fee at CompUSA when I told them the hardware doesn't work when I returned defective products. I usually have a choice of a replacement or refund at that point.

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

Yeah has not quite been the same experience here
for myself and my friends
usually have to speak to a manager

always fun for non working hardware

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by kny3twalker

and huh Circuit City has always done my ok

Sorry, I had really bad luck with them on a laptop I bought there. I figured with the fragile nature of LCD's that I'd get the "super warranty" package which the salesman assured me would fix or replace ANYTHING on the computer including the LCD.
Well about halfway through the warranty the hinge on the screen went bad (common on that model) and they wouldn't cover it. So here I spent a couple hundred bucks on a "super duper warranty" which didn't warranty SQUAT!!!
<sigh> My blood pressure just went up about 30 points remembering that whole fiasco!