Hauppauge HD-PVR support

[hdtvman-2]

Could someone help me? How does one go about restricting the channels listed in the BeyondTV program guide when using DirecTV? I usually use OTA recording and I ususally limit the channels based on what the tuner actually sees in the setup.

However, when you select the DirecTV option, you get hundreds of channels in the program guide, most of which I will never ever watch let alone record via HD PVR.

Also, I can't seem to get BeyondTV to change the channels on the DirecTV HR20 box. I've set the code set to 199 in the IR blaster config program and that program changes the channels as tested, but when I get to BeyondTV and select "Watch Live" from the program guide, the channel does not change and the window that appears shows the channel that was on before the selection.

Thanks in advance for help offered.

[Zogg]

Use the web admin to hide the channels you don't want to show up in the guide.

If the channel isn't changing on your STB then re-run the BTV setup wizard and change the tuner type to another one. Keep trying until it works reliably. One of the D11 types should work for you.

Z

[hdtvman-2]

OK, I've got the channels changing OK. For some reason I had to run the IR blaster config program in "administrator mode" for any of its changes to have any effect in Beyond TV.

I made one recording but the next recording failed. Any one know what that is all about? Also when I use the arcsoft TME software that came with the HD PVR to manually record, the HD PVR has a blue LED light and a small red LED at the power switch that stays on.

However, when Beyond TV is recording, these lights are not on. What is the problem here?

I'm still looking for a good program to edit out the commercials because VideoReDo does not support H.264 yet. So far the PS3 fast forward skips the commercials quickly.

Are there any recommendations for an h.264 video editor?

[Terminal]

Check out the second post in this thread by Zetavu, he has a link to a freeware program for editing H264 files. It's not the easiest to use, but it works. I have used it to trim a few movies. Editing out commercials would be quite a task but doable.

My HD-PVR locks up after about every third recording. I have to unplug it and plug it back in to get it working again. I have also seen the behavior on teh lights. I have seen it record with none of the lights and with them lit in BTV.

[sdsalsero]

Originally Posted by hdtvman-2

Are there any recommendations for an h.264 video editor?

search for TSPE it's a new beta program. The GUI is rudimentary but the editing seems good. The author has said he's focused by the editing engine for now.

[kaylano]

hey guys, i see a lot of you stating that your hd-pvr hangs up. when
mine has hung i've seen this message in the log...

PVSRecorder is restarting the recording because no data was received
from Satellite - Hauppauge HD PVR Capture Device for 30 seconds. This is
restart 1 of 3 allowed restarts

turning the pvr off then on seems to fix it.

do you see a message in the log when yours "hangs up"? and if so, what
is it?

also, have you run cables from the hd-pvr video loop out jacks to your tv?
if so, while the pvr is hung, what do you see when you view via this tv
input ? i see a flickering no input message..

one last note, i've had 4.9 6073 installed for a few weeks now and
have seen no problems...

[ddennerline]

I purchased a HD-PVR because Comcast in Atlanta is getting rid of NTSC SD television stations. Recently they removed the History channel, so I cannot record without a STB. Several Customer Support Representative stated to me that all Expanded Basic subscribers will be migrated to equivelent Digital Service.

In order to record additional HD channels and encoded clear-QAM channels, I thought I would give HD-PVR a shot. Unfortunately, I am experencing all sorts of instability problems with the HD-PVR setup.

Here are is the setup:
AMD 4850e, 2.5GHz
4GB of memory
HD-PVR Rev D1
HD-PVR Driver 1.0.5.3 11/18/2008
ATI Catalyst 2008.1028.2134.36851
Windows XP SP2 (with latest patches)
MSI TheaterPro 650
PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra
Comcast DCH-3200
Firewire Channel Changer

First, I can only record a few programs before shows stop recording without rebooting entire computer. If I use the Web Admin and disable HD PVR, then Live TV works correctly. I am seeing messages in the log such as:

[2008/12/3 08:04:49] COHauppaugeHDPVRCardBuilder::ConfigureFilter - Failed to configure video bitrate. err = 0x80004005

[2008/12/14 19:28:30] Unable to set desired video bitrate. Video bitrate set to 0.
[2008/12/14 19:28:31] COHauppaugeHDPVRCardBuilder::ConfigureFilter - Failed to configure video bitrate. err = 0x80004005

Many times while viewing Live TV, BeyondTV hangs. If I can get to the task manager and kill ViewScape, then there's a strong possibility in this case that I don't have to reboot the whole computer. Starting and stopping BeyondTV seems to do the trick.

Second, there are problems with the playback where the color outlines of objects becomes rainbow like. Sometimes changing the MPEG 4 playback decoder may but not in all cases. The playback looks like someone has throw big splotches of color on the screen.

Third, there seeems to be big differences between the three different MPEG 4 playback decoders.

1. The PowerDVD 7.2 decoder uses the least amount of CPU, but the video movement is not smooth - especially for sports and car chases. It also seems to hit this rainbow picture affect the often during fast forward.
2. The BeyondTV decoder uses the highest amount of CPU, but the color profile seems to track closest to original TV picture. Since nearly 80-90% of CPU is used, this leaves little amount of CPU left over for other tasks such as record other shows.
3. The ArcSoft decoder seems to use around 40-50% of CPU. The colors appear to not be as vivid as real TV. It doesn't suffer from panning and transition artifacts. I have settled on using this one because its the best compromise.

Lastly, when starting to watch live TV at the beginning, a delay for as long as minute may be required before the television picture clears itself up. You can hear the sound, but the picture in not decipherable. In small number of cases, the picture doesn't resynchronize and you have to exit show. A Haupage Sept 2008 letter included in box indicated, "You might see jerky video in the preview window...depending upon the speed of your PCs processor." A dual core 2.5GHz CPU should be plently powerful enough to avoid any of these problems. I don't think this applies for this situation.

What I need to understand, will or can all these problems be worked out? I did see the HD-PVR support is still beta. I still have some time to return HD-PVR; it wasn't cheap. I don't mind helping out if I know that there is strong committment to fix problems regardless of whether its a hardware or software problem. Some of the problems listed above where mentioned in original post from SnapStream. I am a little concerned because of the number of HD-PVR hardware revisions and number of problems I am having.

[ZetaVu]

A few comments:

Make sure you are on the latest btv - 4.9 or 4.9.1 in betas.

Make sure you have updated your video driver, but I've heard people having issues with ATI drivers, Nvidia works fine for me with the latest driver. I've heard that some ATI issues don't allow hardware decoding with Arcsoft, sounds like you are seeing this.

Use Arcsoft decoder, install TME, let it upgrade, then select the arcsoft H.264 decoder in btv. If that is not available there are issues with your initial version of TME, see this thread HD-PVR Arsoft decoder NOT showing up

I avoid antivirus and software firewalls on my htpc, if you have antivirus make sure it does not scan movie storage directories.

I don't watch livetv, only recordings (often when they are in progress). My current E1 does not lock up at all. I do all recordings with BTV exclusively. Use the default recording settings for H.264, least problems. You have the latest driver.

All else fails, try a clean install of XP, drivers and btv. sometimes there is so much crap in an install that you need to start over. Backup your btv settings so you can restore them on the new install. Defrag drives, run memtest, etc.

Forget livetv for now, see if you can get consistent recordings with the HD PVr without lockups. If not, try with TME rather than BTV. If it locks only with btv, then software, otherwise, RMA your HD PVR. If you have another computer you can also try that out. I suspect ATI is affecting some of your issues.

[ddennerline]

Thanks ZetaVu, I had already completed all the troubleshooting steps you outlined in previous post.

As I mentioned, I am getting thousands of the log file errors similar to what’s shown in original post. The timestamps coincide with period where my shows become corrupted or fail to record.

I also sent a request for hardware errata to Hauppage. What exactly are the differences between all the hardware revisions.

What I am looking for in this thread is hopefully a SnapStream representative will chime in with a stronger statement than, “We are providing data to Hauppauge to assist with identifying and fixing the problem.” I would like to see a superman commitment here – it will be fixed.

I have one week left to return box. I don’t want take a chance that this $230 appliance will be relegated to dusty shelf.

[ZetaVu]

hauppauge does not support other software, so for them to help you have to have the problem with TME. SS is treating this as beta because they cannot get all configurations to work properly, it works flawlessly in my system, but there are thousands of configurations out there, ATI drivers seem to be the worst. Truth it works with btv, but maybe not on your system, and SS cannot diagnose everything specific to your system.

Best advise, try it in TME and see if you have problems, you can also try Sagetv or Media Portal and see if that works better. If you commit to the HD PVR, you can still RMA for up to two years if it is not working properly.

[LandShark]

FYI, I can't use Arcsoft's decoder for smooth playback. sounds ok, but picture shutter, even tho CPU usage is low. with Snapstream's decoder, I got smooth playback (even in sports), even with 50-60% CPU usage.

in v4.8.2, the Arcsoft's decoder was fine and smooth.....

[geoffstewart]

Try running the arcsoft update... I had this problem too with a BTV 4.9 and the arcsoft update fixed it.

[ZetaVu]

And update video driver, my old driver caused reboots with the arcsoft.

[tscales]

The thread mentions Arcsoft updates. Where would I get those?

[ZetaVu]

The TME program will update itself, you have to install that (comes with your HD PVR)