Hauppauge HD-PVR support

[RiderFan]

Originally Posted by Joe The Dude

By the way, I was wondering...
For multi HD-PVR Setups, how is the order determined?
By serial number?
By the order in witch you plugged them in?
By the Device ID of the USB Port?

Beyond TV determines the order. In web admin, go to settings-->basic settings-->audio and video inputs

When you set up each of your HD-PVR's, give them each a unique friendly name, then you can tell them apart. I usually give a friendly name assosiating it with which STB I am using it with. Then you can easily tell which HD-PVR uses which STB.

[Joe The Dude]

Originally Posted by RiderFan

Beyond TV determines the order. In web admin, go to settings-->basic settings-->audio and video inputs

When you set up each of your HD-PVR's, give them each a unique friendly name, then you can tell them apart.
I usually give a friendly name assosiating it with which STB I am using it with.
Then you can easily tell which HD-PVR uses which STB.

That's a good idea!
After reading your post, I made some numbered stickers using my PC & printer, and put them on my HD Cable Boxes
and HD-PVRs, using my 'Timmoore's Firewire Channel Changer' settings as a basis for the numbering system.

Originally Posted by gobo

I would definitely use the 1.0.5.3 drivers. Most people seem to have problems with the newest ones.
I'm rock solid with these.

I'm taking note of this.
If my current HD-PVR mod messes up again, I'm going to give those drivers a try.

What mod did I make? One that doesn't viod the warranty (I Hope)!
1. I used TME to disable the 'Bling Lights' on each HD-PVR. (Recording settings)
2. I carefully removed the rubber feet from all 4 of my HD-PVR boxes
3. Opened em up (carefully unpluging the blue leds from the motherboard)
4. Separated the top plate from the top section
5. Then I put the top plates back in the boxes the HDPVR came in
6. Reattached the top section to the bottom section (using the feets & screws that came with the HD-PVR)
7. I positioned the HD-PVR boxes sideways on the top of my shelves.

Now, when live TV is active, or a recording is taking place, I can feel no heat (well, just barely) coming from
the HD-PVR boxes, and all appears to be stable. I think it's because the hardware is open to air, and can
convect it's heat away easily, instead of trapping it in the box (or trapping it underneath the box).

I've been thinking about contacting some fabrication companies that advertise they can make just about anything,
and asking them to make a new plastic top section for the HD-PVR.
I'm thinking it should have:
~ Some vent slits all the way around the outer top perimeter
~ A fan mount in the middle for a 120mm or 80mm fan (intake)
~ A washable fan filter that can be accessed without opening the box
~ A pass-through plug of some kind on the top lid, and interior mount points,
...so you can zip tie the fan wiring inside the box to it, and have a nice, clean look from outside.
~ A removable rubber plug for the fan's electrical pass-through plug, like the ones used on cell phones, for people who want passive venting, and don't want to use a fan.

Perhaps a raised 3-pin fan plug on the ouside of the top lid, near the rear of the unit, would be best, just like a standard one on a motherboard, and instead of a rubber plug, include a snap on cap of some kind for people who want to take the passive route...
Maybe have it angled so it points toward the back of the HD-PVR. This way people could use their own fan controllers.
Could include two six-foot fan wires, and a metal bracket with 4 or 6 pass through connectors you can put in your PC, to allow connection to a third party fan controller...
Could also include a Y splitter for the fan wiring, and a 3 to 4 pin adapter...
Not sure if i should also ask them to make a power brick too, or if i should leave getting one up to the individual...

I wonder how much all this is gonna cost!
Probably more than the price for a single HD-PVR...

[ijourneaux]

Although my E1 HD PVR is not as stable as I would like it to be, I don't think the problem is heat (as was the case with earlier versions of the HD-PVR).

I have run mine with and without the cover. The only thing I have done that dramaticalyl improved reliabiltiy was to power cycle the HD-PVR once per day.

In my mind, that seems to point to an issue with the encoding processes used by the HD-PVR.

[Cal]

wow. post pics. I'd like to see how you have it all together and kept cool. I've moved my system from in a cabinet beside the TV to under the stairs with cable going though the wall to the TV. Everything is now hidden behind a closed door but but its all just loosely strung. I've got to go in there sometime and tie it all up neat.

[glyph]

oh yeah, I forgot about the tuner priority list.

Joe, the one thing I'm curious about is whether you lock out any of the channels by "hiding" them in your channel listing. I personally have my HDPVR only for HD recordings, and my MCE500 for standard, and a couple other tuners for others. I put my HDPVR last as I want them only used for what I WANT them to be used for, and channels that get added/changed via the program guide can end up with the first listed tuner recording the given channel. Just an FYI

As for quad core, when you have multiple recordings going on at once, (hopefully you have multiple hard drives in a pool, as well) with smartskip doing it's thing plus Link pulling data, it's a very good idea to have multiple cores. I have a dual core that's working hard on a regular basis. Of course, this requirement is more important if you use the machine for viewing and decoding the recordings as well (especially HD)

[Cal]

Personally I have 2 SD cards with the SD channels and the HD ones hidden. They are at the top of the priority list. Then the HDPVR is at the bottom of the list but has the full chan list.

That way the 2 rock solid pvr250 cards always kick in if its a SD chan but it allows the HDPVR to record SD if both the others are busy.

This also ensures that only the HDPVR attempts to record HD. The others are hooked to sat boxes that cant tune them in anyway so this prevents them from trying.

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by Joe The Dude

That's a good idea!
After reading your post, I made some numbered stickers using my PC & printer, and put them on my HD Cable Boxes
and HD-PVRs, using my 'Timmoore's Firewire Channel Changer' settings as a basis for the numbering system.

I did the same thing, putting my friendly tuner names, the STB number, and the firewire numbers on the labels. It really helped when I was setting things up, and now when an issue occurs and I need to reset something.

[Octavean]

Anyone try the new beta Hauppauge HD PVR drivers "hdpvr-mce-beta-28145"? I know this is for official Windows 7 Media Center support but I was wondering how well they might work with BeyondTV.

[derfel]

Here what's in the INF file: DriverVer=05/12/2010,1.5.6.2

hmmmmm

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by derfel

Here what's in the INF file: DriverVer=05/12/2010,1.5.6.2

hmmmmm

Mine work great so I'll let someone else be the guinea pig.

[glyph]

I might give them a shot, as I'm hoping to get a new comp once I go back to work, and then my old desktop will take over as the new HTPC and I'll have to rebuild anyway.

So, am I crazy? I'm considering buying a second HDPVR as I'm tired of all the conflicts...

[bigasssuperstar]

Very interesting! I just read through the threads at SHS and Missing Remote ... of course, it's all focused on Windows Media Center ... I'm curious to learn whether the new drivers (minus the MC/blaster stuff) will offer any improvement to the BTV experience.

But, like most, I assume, I'm squeamish about being the guinea pig. It's not so much "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" ... more "if it's broke, don't make it broker." Broker. More broken. You understand.

[bforejt]

My HD-PVR went from basically stable to totally unstable very suddenly a couple of weeks ago, so it was worth a try to go with the new drivers. I did a week ago, and haven't had a lockup since. No other changes to the system. When I first built the system I went over a month without a lockup, so I'm not saying these drivers are a fix, but it is recording a lot of stuff and having no issues at present. Which is nice.

Some of the people at the Sage forums think the HD-PVR firmware might get corrupted somehow, and so simply reinstalling a driver might fix the HDPVR for a while until the next corruption "event". Not sure about the exact mechanism; and honestly I have my doubts that it is possible to truly corrupt the firmware given that it seems to be loaded by the driver every time the box is fired up. (There would normally not be a write lock on the firmware file that loads, plus no reason to write to it even if there was. But what do I know, eh?) Regardless, I thought it was an interesting observation worth sharing.

To answer the actual question and cease rambling: yes, the MCE drivers work just fine with BTV.

[glyph]

very interesting indeed. I'll try them out tomorrow, then, and see if it all goes well.

[tmar89]

I'm having A/V drift issues with the HD-PVR under Windows XP SP3 and BTV but no drift issues with Sage. Should I try upgrading to Windows 7 now and use these drivers? Will it fix my problem?