Have PVR 350 Issues been Worked Out?

[RobDMB]

I remember reading the past that some people were having issues with the pvr 350 especially with the OSD. Is this still a problematic configuration or are things running pretty smoothly now with the latest drivers. Also does this card display the OSD in full color unlike the xcard (i know not supported but is limited to 256 colors anyway)?

[SFX Group]

PVR350 Windows 2000 and Sage 2.1, no OSD, locks the card and software up. Shows for maybe 1 second and thats its. II think this is VERY bad show for v2.x software....

Many Thanks
Ashley

[RobDMB]

Is it conceivably to be able to run sagetv through the 350 tv out and watch shows on my tv while still using my desktop for other tasks?

[Crashless]

Originally Posted by RobDMB

Is it conceivably to be able to run sagetv through the 350 tv out and watch shows on my tv while still using my desktop for other tasks?

This is exactly how I use my computer. Sage runs dedicated on the 350 out, and I have Meedio running on the desktop. My Harmony remote allows me to switch between them based on what I want to do. It's totally seemless and a great way to get more functionality out of your system.

As far as issues, the biggest for me is the 'end-of-file' crash. It's fairly well discussed around here, and seems to happen about 1 out of every 5 shows I let go all the way to the end of the file. No fix currently, no one seems to be able to track it down.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by SFX Group

PVR350 Windows 2000 and Sage 2.1, no OSD, locks the card and software up. Shows for maybe 1 second and thats its. II think this is VERY bad show for v2.x software....

Many Thanks
Ashley

SageTVClient 2.1 PVR350 TVOUT and OSD - works great - no problems here.

BobP.

Now that I'm at home: Driver 1.18.21.22254, Asus A7N8X-E DLX, ATI 9800 Pro.
I do stop the recordings before they finish - skip the credits etc... so haven't seen the end of file problem. The only thing I do wish is that I didn't have to start a video up on the PC desktop before the PVR-350 TVOUT will display the SageTV OSD properly. Course I only have to do this one time after the PC boots so it's not that big an inconvience.

[teedublu]

Isn't the driver version a rather important item to mention?

TW

[jphhughes]

I agree that supplying the driver version on this issue is important. I am still using the 1.22162 beta drivers and have minimal problems with the 350 OSD. Minimal meaning 98% uptime. I still get an a solid lockup which requires a xp restart.

I too would like to know if there has been any update/improvements on this issue. I know from having read other posts here that some folks are using different drivers with success. I did not see anything indicating that the current release 2.1 had solved this problem.

[pjwerdna]

My 350 used to work perfectly with 2.02 using 1.17.390.22029 drivers on XP. (driver version from Device manager)

Then I put the SageTV licence key in. SInce then the OSD simply disappears when I wake SageTV up from sleeping about 60% of the time.

I tried SageTV 2.1 with the same drivers and after a struggle (Upgrade, reboot, remove, power off, reinstall etc) I got everything working except sound which was intermittant and crackly on recording.

I went back to 2.02 and everythings working again with the exception of the disappearing OSD.

I have found that the PVR350 seems to be rather temparature sensitive though. In trying to cool the hard drive below 55C I reduced the air flow round the 350 card and started to get crashes after 15 minutes of playing.

[RobDMB]

Is it possible to use the OSD of the 350 without actually opening up the program on the desktop. For example could I leave sagetv in sleep mode and still use the tv out?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by RobDMB

Is it possible to use the OSD of the 350 without actually opening up the program on the desktop. For example could I leave sagetv in sleep mode and still use the tv out?

Unless v2.1 changed things: Yes - a few people have mentioned doing that in the past.

- Andy

[RobDMB]

Should I just use the newest drivesr posted on shs's site or is there a specific set that other people recommend.

[Hector]

Originally Posted by RobDMB

Is it possible to use the OSD of the 350 without actually opening up the program on the desktop. For example could I leave sagetv in sleep mode and still use the tv out?

Yes, the desktop and the 350's output are not related. Sleep mode, minimized, it matters not.

peace . . .

[SFX Group]

Where are the drivers located for the PVR350 that people are using (will check later on mine, there the ones from www.sage.tv main site as listed as "latest". I also note no Output on the PVR250 intil something is done on the desktop (liek play a movie). When it works as the OVERSCAN setting was stopping mine from working but it does seem shacky at the best, (some menus not updating the screen until i move the pointer).

I have SAGE as a service, if this is runing should this be enough for the Output to work or do i still need the TV 2.1 client working? if so whats the point of the Service?

Ashley

[SFX Group]

PVR350 driver = 1.17.390.21219 OSD (UI) SUPER shacky at its best and moves output image up and down about 3-4 timesin an hours play.

[mayamaniac]

Tried the PVR-350 TV-Out with Sage 2.0, that didn't go well. OSD worked but Sage crashed and locked up the computer after an hour of use, and crashed in less time after continued use. Uninstall Sage after that.

Now that SageTV 2.1 is out, I decided to get the trial and try it again. This time, with Hauppauge driver 1.18.21.22254, there are no crashes so far. I've been running Live TV for 3 hours and no lock ups. I run the OSD on top of video in the background, looks really nice.

As for the "End of File OSD crash" issue, I don't have this problem with a recorded show. After the video ends, the last frame just stays until the next show is selected to play. BUT! I do get the dreaded color bars at the end of a Live TV show. Then I have to go to the computer and fix it there, usually starting another show will fix it. I also get the the color bars if I stop the Live TV recording. Don't know why it doesn't just display the last frame like with the recorded shows.

As for OSD and the PVR-350, its great only for the TV feature of SageTV. If you use Sage for DVD and Music playback, it wont work with the PVR-350 TV-out. Once you play a DVD or song in Sage, you get the color bars on the TV, no more OSD, nothing. I think if you use Sage just for playing back recorded TV shows and show slide shows of your pictures, then the PVR-350 is great for it.

I like the fact that with the PVR-350 TV-Out, it frees your PC up for other uses. Since both encoding and decoding are done in hardware, you have more power to run other applications at the same time. I also use the audio out on the PVR-350, this is great because only the audio from the TV recordings are output to the TV, your OS sounds do not. This is bad for music playback though, it doesn't output to the TV either, but then again, you also lose OSD on the TV anyway. I think this is fixable and not sure why the Frey folks can't get music playback working through the PVR-350 TV-out.

Anyway, I can live without the Music feature for now. Will come back and update if I find anything else worht mentioning.

EDIT:

Just played with some settings and getting better results. When I set the Video Menu Options (under Detailed Setup / Multimedia) to Display Video on Menus to "If Active," that fixes the LiveTV/OSD stopping problem and also Music OSD problem.

DVD playback is still a problem though, it still does not work through the PVR-350 TV out. But no big deal though, I got a regular DVD deck player.

[SFX Group]

Where did you get the driver version "1.18.21.22254"

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by SFX Group

Where did you get the driver version "1.18.21.22254"

From the snapstream folks of course

http://www.snapstream.com/Download/h...stallation.asp

[Pumpkinhead]

I was using that driver at first, but I didnt get it from snapstream.

I'm now using the newer 1.18.21.22266 which I got from shs.

I have to say I'm glad I went with the PVR250 and output to TV using my component output after reading about all these problems with the PRV350. 98% uptime would be unacceptable to me.

[SFX Group]

Tried "1.18.21.22254", still no joy on the UI output, same as before (works FINE with no UI out the PVR card after disabling and restart). Will try other driver (22266), thing is i dont think its a driver issue, i think its deeper in the software than that.....

Will let you know.

[SFX Group]

URL for SHS please????

Ashley