Hauppauge PVR-350 Silver Remote conflicts with PVR-150MCE

[mayamaniac]

I have a PVR-350 and recently bought 2 PVR-150MCE's. Everything is working fine wiht SageTV 2.1 except for the 350's silver remote. The IR.exe program shows Failed to initialize infrared Remote Hardware at startup. I contacted Hauppauge support and they confirmed that the PVR-150 DOES conflict with the 350's silver remote even with the latest driver and software updates. They also said there's no guarantee that this will be fix in future driver/software updates.

So if you using the silver remote, you might want steer away from adding a PVR-150 as an additional tuner.

I'm using the ATI remote wonder now, but if anyone knows a fix around this, please post. Thanks.

[Opus4]

I've spoken with an engineer at Hauppauge and he indicates that you _should_ be able to get the 250/350's remote to work with 150s also installed. There is a registry entry to tell the IR software which card to prefer when it starts:

Check "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\hauppauge\ir" for a DWORD "I2CType" entry. So far, I know of 2 decimal values:

1. 19: prefer 250/350
2. 18: prefer 150

Another user here posted that 23 can be used to prefer a PVR-USB2, but I'm waiting to confirm that from Hauppauge. Edit: The registry change doesn't work for 150/250/350/500 detection, but '23' does work for preferring the PVR-USB2.

See if setting it to 19 helps. He used the phrase "should work", so I'm not sure what that means regarding how certain this will be to fix things.

He does say that there is no way to use more than one IR blaster from multiple 150s currently.

Also, I don't believe that you can specify which 250/350 is to be used if there are multiples, just like you can't specify which 150 to use if you have more than one of those.

- Andy

[mls]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Another user here posted that 23 can be used to prefer a PVR-USB2, but I'm waiting to confirm that from Hauppauge.

Just to fill you in what that was about... I had 2 PVR-250's and a USB2. Normally it would use the remote with the USB2 (which is as I wanted, since it seemed to have better range).

Later, after I added a Roslyn I lost all remote functionallity. There was a post about using 19 to get a PVR-350 remote working again with a Roslyn so I tried that. Sure enough, the remote would work from one of my PVR-250's with that.

However, I wanted it back on the USB2 and nobody seemed to a solution for that, so I just decided to start plugging numbers in with regedit starting at 1 and working my way up until the remote worked from the USB2. That's where I came up with 23.

I too would like some "official" word from Hauppauge about this, so I'll be waiting to see what info you do get from them. For now, all I can say is that I am happy I did manage to at least get my remote working again from the USB2 (even if it may not have be technically correct the way I'm doing it).

Of course, after a while, depending if others don't report any real problems with a 500MCE... Then I plan to replace that blasted Roslyn with a 500MCE.

[Opus4]

Yeah, I figured that's what you meant by trial & error and it is probably correct... after all, it works for you! But, since I said the other numbers came from Hauppauge, I couldn't include that number as having come from them. I would like to add it to my list, thus my request to Hauppauge for confirmation.

Edit: Nevermind -- I found other, older documentation I had forgotten about that shows that 23 is, indeed, the one for the USB2. (I just wanted to see confirmation like that just in case it really meant something else but still happened to do the trick for you.)

- Andy

[mayamaniac]

Opus,

Thanks for the tip, but it did not work for me.

I did what you suggested, changed the I2Ctype decimal value to 19, which auto changed the hexadecimal to 13, then rebooted and upon startup, I still get the same error as before. What a bummer..

The remote worked before I installed the PVR-150, and it does work if I disable the 150 in the Device Manager, so nothing is physically damaged. I'm using all the latest drivers from the Hauppauge sites and also the latest version of the IR program. Any other ideas?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

changed the 12Ctype decimal value to 19

Um... that should be I2CType, where the first character is the letter I, not the number 1. (i2ctype; don't know if it is case-sensitive, but I doubt it.)

- Andy

[mayamaniac]

yeah, thats just a typo. I didn't make a new entry, it was already there. I just changed the decimal value. But the point is it didn't work. Any ideas why?

[Opus4]

I was about to ask if you had rebooted, but then I noticed you said you already did that. As I mentioned above, the phrase mentioned to me was that it "should work", so maybe that means there could still be problems with it. I'll send a link to this thread & see what happens. Both tuners work, though, right?

- Andy

[broderp]

Are these problems present when you just have 2 PVR 150's?

Can I use one IR with remote and one without, can I still control SAGE with this setup?


Are these issues present with the PVR-500 and a PVR-250? As the new 500 does not have remote capability, then my system should work just fine with 2 cards (3 tuners total)

Or I guess I could simplify things by pulling the PVR-250 out of my system and going with 2 PVR-150's, as the PVR-500 has no remote. This should be OK as the two PVR's play "nice" with each other ..No?

[Opus4]

My guess is that there shouldn't be a problem using the remote w/2 of the exact same cards, since that is the case with multiple 250s now. BUT, note that 2 of the 150's IR blasters cannot currently be used at the same time -- it only supports 1 blaster, just like 1 receiver, as far as I know.

There might be a problem with a 150 & 150MCE, just like some people have had trouble getting the remote to work with a 250 & a 250MCE. It might come down to which slot each card is in & which one gets recognized by Windows first.

Some of these issues are still being worked out with mixing & matching these cards, obviously. (And I'm only going on what others have said, since I don't have a problem with my 250 + pvr-usb2.)

- Andy

[Opus4]

For anyone trying to use the remote while mixing 250/350 cards with the new 150/500 cards...

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Thanks for the tip, but it did not work for me.

Originally Posted by Opus4

As I mentioned above, the phrase mentioned to me was that it "should work", so maybe that means there could still be problems with it.

Yup... I've been told there are still problems after this was looked into more due to the reports of a couple threads here. If I understand things correctly, the 150 looks the same as the 250/350 to the drivers, at least regarding IR support, so this registry trick fails.

From past discussions I've seen of trying to get the IR problem solved when using something like a 250 (has IR port) and 250MCE (no IR port), it can be difficult to get the IR port working, since when it sees the cards as being the same, the first one is used. About the only thing that _might_ work at the moment is to try installing their drivers in a different order and/or swapping their PCI slots. If anyone has a definite installation solution for this, I'm sure others would like to hear it.

If the drivers can be fixed to make this work, I'm sure they will be, but you should be aware of the situation as it currently stands.

- Andy

[mayamaniac]

Like I said in my original post, the hauppauge folks confirmed that there's a conflict that may or may not be resolved in future updates.

I think if I play around with the order of the PCI slots and drivers, then maybe I can get the IR app to detect the remote. But I'm fine with the ATI remote wonder now so I'm not gonna bother with it. I'm just trying to warn people who do uses the hauppauge remote to beware of the problem incase they want to get dual hauppauge tuners or more.

[mls]

I wonder if it would have made any difference if you had not gotten the MCE model?

Anyway, I've been waiting for sometime now to see what results others have had mixing the 150 and especially the 500 with the 250's. So, from this thread I gather that there would be a problem with the remote when trying to mix a 150MCE with a 250.

Now, have to wait and see what kind of problems other may have with other combinations before I decide if I want to get a 500MCE or not to add in with my 2 - 250's and a USB2.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by mls

I wonder if it would have made any difference if you had not gotten the MCE model?

I don't think so... as far as I know, the 150, 250, 350, 500 (and MCE varieties) all use the same driver, so the IR code can't tell them apart. The guy I emailed said the reg hacks were _supposed_ to fix the IR issue... but now he knows why it doesn't work. Hopefully, that means they can fix it.

Now, have to wait and see what kind of problems other may have with other combinations before I decide if I want to get a 500MCE or not to add in with my 2 - 250's and a USB2.

Since the USB2 uses a different driver, the IR code _should_ be able to tell the difference if you want to use the USB2... but if you mix a 150 w/those 250s, you will still run into the same issue if you want to use the 150's blaster. (Again, I don't have all the cards to try that; I'm sort-of reading between the lines on that.)

- Andy

[broderp]

My search found this post with the appearant answer to my question. Any new news on this specific issue?

I just bought and installed a PVR-150MCE in my system with a PVR-250 (retail white box). I use the Hauppauge remote and IR.

I thought that since the 150 does not have an IR port, this would be no problem, and a few other seem to have felt this way as well. Now I see that another possible reason is that the IR software "thinks" the 150 is a 250 and can't tell them apart.

Here is what I have done to try and fix the problem:

1. Try to re-initialize the IR....
2. Tried the reg modification (I had to ADD the "I2CType" DWORD since it was not on my system.)
3. Moved my 150 to slot #2 and #3 (the 250 is in PCI#1)

Is there another work around I can try? Or should I return it for an PVR-250 retail (MCE will have same issue no?)? Those are hard to find!

Thanks for any help.

Raymond

[Opus4]

To update this entire topic: a couple weeks ago, I asked Hauppauge if there had been any changes to fix this and was told that there is no solution for this problem yet.

In short: the IR software still can't tell the difference between a 150/250/350/500 and the MCE variations.

1. If there are cards with a remote port (150/250/350) in the same system as cards w/o the IR port (150mce/250mce/500mce), you may not be able to use the remote at all.
   
   
2. If there are both a 250/350 (no blaster) and a 150 (has blaster), the software may see the 250/350 first and you won't be able to use the 150's blaster.

A few people seem to be lucky & the remote is seen & works, but I have no idea what made it work for them.

- Andy

[broderp]

Looks like I need to find a Retail 250, so maybe I can select which ever port comes active, or start looking into a UART and a new remote control.

If I get the UART, may a well get a PVR-500MCE instead of the 150...

Thanks for the update.

Raymond

[Wrx4me]

Broderp, I have this same problem with my 250mce and retail 150 not playing nice with regards to the IR software. The way I have gotten them to co-exist is via the peek-a-boo method. I go into device manager and disable the 250mce then I start the IR software and then go back and re-enable the 250mce and everything works thereafter. Of course if you re-boot which I rarely do, you would have to go through the above steps again. I hope that helps .

[rbarr110]

I have the same IR initialization problem with my 350 w/remote and my new (non-MCE) 150.

I also get around teh problem by disabling the 150 in the device manager, restart IR32, enable 150.

For me though, that is a major task since I use Sage as a dedicated PVR where I never see WinXP. I have to do some major cord shuffling to get WinXP desktop on my tv since I use the 350's S-video out for Sage.

Does anyone know if there is 3rd party software "macro" that can automatically run on Windows bootup that disables hardware, start a program, then re-anable the hardware. That would be a slick work around.

[Opus4]

rbarr110: If both your 350 + 150 have IR ports (non-MCE 150, so you mean it has an IR port, right?), simply plug the IR receiver into the card that the IR software recognizes and don't worry about forcing it to use a specific card.

- Andy