PVR250 + PVR150-MCE success

[koelec]

This is how I got it working, hopefully it works for you too.

Prerequisites:
• PVR 250 encoder 16 (PAL) tuner input
• silver remote that comes with the PVR250 (don't know about black one)
• PVR 150-MCE (PAL) tuner input
• WIN XP SP2 (PVR150-MCE and SP1 and SageTV will not work ! -> gives capture device not initialized error all the time)
• Driver + apps distribution from this location: http://www.hauppauge.nu/pages/swe_20...0-250-350.html
• SageTV 2.1.10 or later.


1. run hwclear and shutdown system
2. insert pvr150-MCE only, you need two free pci slots for both cards,
3. choose slot the most far from the center of the motherboard for the 150- (I dont know if the position is of any influence)
4. boot and install driver from the location where you inzipped the driver distribution - if the wizard looks for hcwPP2.sys file and asks to insert a
CD ROM to access D:, choose browse and select this file from the driver
distribution folder on your harddisk
5. run setup from driver distribution folder and install everything (may show a failure on installing english help files, but continue).
6. run wintv2000 and verify the pvr150 mce and driver is working
7. shutdown system
8. insert PVR250 and boot system, install driver from the same location as with the 150
9. run the IR32.exe from the distribution location/remote to install infrared remote support for the PVR250
10. Here you may not see the failed to inialize remote popup message, but the remote icon should appear in the taskbar. If you do see the error message then you may have the wrong driver or boards in wrong order or maybe I was just lucky. I used to get this error with previous driver version though. I tried this configuration on two different machines and it work in both cases without swapping positions.
11. Don't run WINTV2000 (if you do you need to reboot afterwards – because sagetv doesn't like an already initialized PVR150 MCE and will show the famous cannot initialize device error : 'There was a capture error in playback. Details: ERROR(-4,0x8007048f):
12. optionally edit windows/irremote.ini to remove the semi colon before the beep=1 command to enable this nice beep when you press a remote button
13. reinstall sagetv and assure you select add hauppauge remote support
14. If you already had sagetv installed you now need to remove the sagetv from the control panel's add/remove programs. Don't worry your existing sagetv.properties and wiz.bin will stay in place, but your current recordings will have been moved to imported video after the reinstall, also the orginal stv will be selected instead of your own preference.
15. Install sagetv version 2.1.10 or 2.2.4 beta - I've had both working at some time. Versions prior to 2.1 will not work, because they don't support the pvr150.
16. run sagetv and start the setup wizard
17. remove any already configured capture devices by selecting it from the list and choosing remove add new source and configure them alike and verify that when the channel list appears choosing view will show live tv in a little window, which proves the capture source is working. (If you get the cannot initialize device exception be sure you are running SP2 and you did not exit sagetv and restart it without a reboot).
18. Now you can enjoy your dual-channel pvr system - no more conflicts, default stop padding ensures each show is recorded completely (needed because here in the Netherlands most stations don't take time too seriously).

Some notes about picture quality.
I was first a bit dissapointed by the degradation of picture quality with
the dual system. When I removed the cable from one of the tuners, suddenly
the quality improved (less interference and noise). Then I realised I had
in total four tuners connected to a passive cable splitter. I bought a
cheap CABLE TV signal amplifier and that did miracles for the picture
quality, for what concerns the interference and noise.
I cannot make a statement about how the 150 compares to the 250, because I
haven't looked into this yet. Using the DVD long play quality for both
cards as default and my own preference of overlay with the intervideo
noncss decoder and the registry hack , I see little difference between
direct TV or 150 /250. I've got no deinterlacing artefacts, tickertape
running smoothly and even soccer looks great.

One more note about this error:
'There was a capture error in playback. Details: ERROR(-4,0x8007048f): There was an problem using the capture device. Please be sure you have the latest drivers installed for your capture device, and that they are installed correctly'.
I came across this problem in November 2005 when I received by PVR150-MCE, posted problem reports, even had to do some tests for the beta test team, but it
not solved yet in 2.2.4 beta. The workaround for this is that you to ensure to
start sagetv only after a clean boot (don't run other application that use the card like
WINTV2000). If you exit sagetv, you have to reboot before you start it
again. This problem will probably also raise issues for systems that go to
sleep (suspend), I'm not using that feature right now.

Hopefully this will be of help to others trying to get a PVR 150-MCE running
with sagetv.