PVR250 and PVR150 Coexistence?

[ckolibab]

Guys - can this be tested. I am running

3ea. - PVR250's
2ea. - PVR150's

The 150's in this config are stuttering bad... Can we please get this tested and let us know, if supported, what the driver levels for all cards need to be.

I am feeling there may be challenges with this config working. Just looking fo verification. For now I've had to turn off the 150's.

Thx

[bob01]

Roger! Same here - I set a new pilot server box w/ 2 150mce's (1 to analog cable, one to digtal box) with hopes of getting more after these had proven themselves. The cards simply don't work reliably in my setup. The card connected to analog cable seem to have more issues than the other one. The analog card would record with stuttering (unwatchable 2 out of 5 times). There were other problems, see my earlier thread here...

BTV 3.5.1 + PVR-150MCE issues

I've tried the recommended drivers / reinstalling etc. - no go - problems described remain. Yesterday I picked up a pair of retail 250's on sale and installed them in place of the 150's - all the problems seen with the 150's are gone and the box seems just as stable as the box it will replace. I'll let it "burn in" for a couple weeks or so by shadowing the existing box before going any further.

There is also a slight but noticable improvement in PQ w/ the 250's over the 150's - text on screen (like ch24 - CityPluse) shimmers slightly with the 150's - looks great with the 250's.

I'm hoping that the 150 problems are driver or software related and will resolved soon. I've set mine aside for now because the "jerky record" / "corrupt file" / "start time = end time" problems make them pretty useless for me right now.

- Rob

[ckolibab]

Guys,

Major BUMP on this one for some help. A lot of detail exists on this one - could be drivers, could be BTV, but I added to the original thread and see an issue growing here for those adding 150's to 250 boxes for multi-tuner systems and links. Given the $ delta - makes sense.

To add, 500's are coming as well and can see them in the mix before long.

Thx guys....

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by ckolibab

Guys,

Major BUMP on this one for some help. A lot of detail exists on this one - could be drivers, could be BTV, but I added to the original thread and see an issue growing here for those adding 150's to 250 boxes for multi-tuner systems and links. Given the $ delta - makes sense.

To add, 500's are coming as well and can see them in the mix before long.

Thx guys....

Hmm,
I just installed/added a PVR-150mce to my system to go along with my already installed Pvr-250 and don't seem to have any of the problems that are being describe lately. I downloaded the latest drivers off the Hauppauge website for the pvr-150mce and just installed them during the setup. I did have a problem with the PVr-250 remote eye not being recognized but it came back after a full power shutdown.
In My system I have the PVR-250 hooked up to a direct Tv receiver using a serial interface between them for changing channels and the PVR-150mce is hooked up with a basic anolog cable input. I recorded a couple of shows form each using the duplicate programming on each but from different sources and I can hardly tell the difference. The Direct Tv inputs are just lightly better but not alot.
My system Specs are not nearly what some use but ever since I upgraded to BTV 3.5.1 its been rock steady. My CPu cycles are a little higher than I would like but max out at about 70% when recording on both tuners and playing back a recorded show. Its only about 10-20% when recording two shows at a time but no playback. I have an FX-5500 video card coming soon and hope that it will help off load some CPu cylces during live playback using its hardware assist/exceleration and better video proccing power. My existing GF-3 ti200 is getting pretty dated for HTPC use.

[ckolibab]

Please if you could provide the exact driver rev's for your

PVR250

and

PVR150

Links to those that you used as well if possible. I have tried this in several systems, many combinations - and on my life can confirm this is an issue. However, I have 5 tuners so am not sure if there is a perfect mix to getting this to work so would like the "exact" drivers you are using. Even if you could .zip up the INF directories that would be super.

I have spent several days on this with zero response back from the Snap crew so unless more people see it I will be SOL ... odd.

More tuners = more links = more licenses = more revenue for BTV to keep them going and is why I took the post serious. I am now halted and looking into PVR500's with extreme caution due to this challenge.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by ckolibab

Please if you could provide the exact driver rev's for your

PVR250

and

PVR150

Links to those that you used as well if possible. I have tried this in several systems, many combinations - and on my life can confirm this is an issue. However, I have 5 tuners so am not sure if there is a perfect mix to getting this to work so would like the "exact" drivers you are using. Even if you could .zip up the INF directories that would be super.

I have spent several days on this with zero response back from the Snap crew so unless more people see it I will be SOL ... odd.

More tuners = more links = more licenses = more revenue for BTV to keep them going and is why I took the post serious. I am now halted and looking into PVR500's with extreme caution due to this challenge.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I am using the drivers that are on the Hauppage suport pages.
Pvr-150_22_22292 & Pvr-250_22_22292
I downloaded them directly off there website + Hwclr. I then installed the PVR250 and made sure it was working with its drivers and remote and the installed my PVR-150mce and its driver. I so not knowwhat else to tell you exept that I know my PVR-250 has the #16 processor and I so not know about the PVr-150MCE processor. There may be some magic sequence that you must install the cards in or something but for me it worked right out of the gate. Maybe you are having some PCI slot conflics or something but I know at least for me you can mix at least 1ea. 150mce an 250 std.

[ckolibab]

Here is the framework for this issue:

1 - Completely cleaned fresh system
2 - 3ea. PVR250's - 2ea. PVR 150's
3 - HWCLEAR for the heck of it
4 - Super clean BTV Install
5 - Hauppauge Driver CD dloaded (as noted in this thread)
6 - PVR250's recognize and install clean (no issues)
7 - PVR 150's are recognized in the installer, but even there the stutter is seen.
8 - I proceed with the 150's, but they stutter extremely bad.

Given I see this in the Install Wizard, it seems like code - driver interaction.

Help on this one guys
Thanks

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by ckolibab

Here is the framework for this issue:

1 - Completely cleaned fresh system
2 - 3ea. PVR250's - 2ea. PVR 150's
3 - HWCLEAR for the heck of it
4 - Super clean BTV Install
5 - Hauppauge Driver CD dloaded (as noted in this thread)
6 - PVR250's recognize and install clean (no issues)
7 - PVR 150's are recognized in the installer, but even there the stutter is seen.
8 - I proceed with the 150's, but they stutter extremely bad.

Given I see this in the Install Wizard, it seems like code - driver interaction.

Help on this one guys
Thanks

I would help if you listed your complete sytem specs. Motherboard/Cpu ,Ram,Video Operating sytem, Harddrives, Everything so we can see what your working with. Maybe you posted this somewhere else but I dont see anything in this thread. Most problems like this are either from bad/conflicting drivers or hardware issues. It is very frustrating for the average pc user to figure all this out but given enough information most of the time someone on these boards will have some answers. You mite PM Brett or Rkuo on these boards as I believe they actually are part of the Snapstream team.
Good luck, Dave

[ckolibab]

About 10 systems like this one... These are heavy duty core PVR towers. Add several dozen links. Every single one of these systems and their link counterparts are tested in a sterile environment.

I normally work these thru PM and the crew, but not getting much action and before I start cutting more orders for 150's and or 500's which I will be ordering "many of" - I neede this looked into.

P4 3.0ghz Hyperthreading
XP Pro SP1
Ver.2.55 Nvida-Decoder
Soundblaster Audigy
OS - Maxtor 70Gb (OS/BTV)
VIDEO - 2.5TB
FX5200 SVGA (TV-Tool-FullScreen)
1 - PVR-250 COAX
2 - PVR-250 COAX
3 - PVR-250 COAX
4 - PVR-150 COAX
5 - PVR-150 COAX

Good luck (-: This in reality is the only issue of this sort I've had in several (many years) with my BTV buildouts and am tossing a flag up as there are no Beta's in session now - and many tuners are hitting the markets + people are adding more which is when you'd likely see this issue.

[cbb77]

Hmm, I also have a similar setup and am NOT experiencing any issues. However, I do see one common difference here. I see davefred99 mentions he installed a PVR-150MCE. I also am running a PVR-150MCE along side a PVR-250MCE with no issues. I'm wondering if the issue is a difference btw the standard 150 vs. the MCE version. In my configuration, I recently reinstalled my OS and installed 3.5 then upgraded to 3.5.1. I used the latest PVR-250 drivers from Hauppage's site but used the drivers on the CD that came with the 150. I believe those were version 2.0. System has been rock solid and specificlly test simultaneous recordings with no issues. My config is as follows:

Intel 2.4Ghz
Intel D845GERG2 MB
ATI AIW 8500DV w/Component Dongle
Hauppage PVR-250MCE
Hauppage PVR-150MCE
Soundblaster Audigy
Windows XP SP2

[ckolibab]

I would not disagree at all with your comments here - ..... Neither of mine are MCE's - none.

Can u possibly grab the INF's from that CD and email them to me @ ckolibab@hotmail.com The 150 stuff is hit and miss on the Hauppauge site. The ones from the posted CD are all MCE. Since my last post - I completely gutted the BTV install and went back to 3.5, same issue there.

All I need is the INF directory where the 150 installer reads. I have so many of these cards I toss the CD's like frisbees and for the life of me don't have one. Getting the stuff for the 150 on the site is a tad tricky for the NON-MCE card. I am gonna look again.

However - I really need to find NON-MCE but am not sure where they are..... This stutter is very predictible, its like every 5 seconds hard. And to me driver issue. I am posting as more of a "watchout" than anything until we nail the perfect driver flavor combo.

Thanks for the reply.
Chris

[bob01]

I tried all versions of drivers listed with a pair of 150MCE's on a dedicated BTV server box - no luck. They stuttered and frequently produced 64KB corrupt recordings.

original post: BTV 3.5.1 + PVR-150MCE issues

I gave up on the 150's and replaced them with retail 250's and these problems immediately went away, so my conclusion is that the 150's are unsable for may application.

I'll try them again when the drivers mature a bit, but for now I find them to be a huge waste of time and regret every purchasing them.

Intel 2.4c cpu HT / asus p4p800 / 512MB / 2x WD 200GB SATA Intel ICH5R RAID 0 stripe (recordings) / 60GB Maxtor ATA (system) / 2x pvr-150's / usb-uirt extenal tuner (using zone 1) / xp pro sp1

- Rob

[ckolibab]

If my brain works correctly - I do think I had my config working correctly at one point - honest. The big issue is finding the dang driver.

The dload site is goofy for the 150 now - I need the INF's that came on the CD which is now melted plastic, as when I dload the CD with all the MCE drivers on it no-go....

Here is the snippet from the Hauppauge page....
"After Windows has loaded the base driver, run the PVR150_22 driver updater"

This is the problem - I can't seem to get the same flavor of base driver that was on that CD and would really like to test that flavor. As for now, I have shut down every single 250, trying to ONLY get 1ea. 150 in a PLAIN JANE config and I am ditto with the issue posted in the last post.

Brett - guys - can you please post a valid 150 driver you could make work. I will try it.

[bradpvr]

Hey,

I don't mean to put salt in your wounds, but I've gotten my PVR-250 and PVR-150 to work together, pretty much out of the box using the drivers posted in the SS forum.

My pvr cards aren't MCE versions either.

Sounds like a localized issue to me?

Thanks,
Brad

[ckolibab]

Localized to me or several other posters having the same issue - posts way before I even raised this as an issue? I typically would not even post here, usually only when betas are in action, as I always assume local issues first - test them thru - but then saw several others with identical symptoms.

In smaller Tuner config'd boxes I have been able to get them running together. In my test lab I have 5-10 systems usually all of the time, each of them have 5 tuners each. Much of this iron is different - but super clean as these are only HTPC boxes. I have had no choice but to back down the systems with 150's to only perhaps 2ea 150's - or 1 and 1. I wanted 500's before all of this - and am now convinced I will wait.

I don't like when I feel "uncozy"..... I make images of all of these systems in advance - steps along the way. I had the 5 tuners working with a mix of 2/3 and things seemed clean. I took about 5 of the boxes - stressed them - and then needed to do some reboots. Problems reocurred.

This is not a one-off, nor do I blame this on BTV as I truly believe it is Hauppauge driver sets and since my scenario is a little bulky I wanted my data out there. Several folks have passed this off as I am crazy (-: That is quite ok.... I am not offended. I think for starters we needed the BTV tested driver to start with - I am fine - and will survive.

More tuners, more drivers, more complexity. I want to keep it simple but the 150's came out, 500's were delayed, so went with 20 of them to get me going. Never again - price or no price. I will only do 250's or 500's.