Hauppauge HD-PVR support

[cartervt2k]

Nope, just watching live tv - not recording. It never happens when I watch over link. But when I watch on the server, even once the picture freezes, it continues to fill the recording buffer (it's just useless to me b/c it will only allow me to skip ahead in still images, though I suppose that recording buffer would still be available for watching from a link box by turning to that channel, though I haven't tried.) I only have my HD channels set up to use the hdpvr and only really use it to watch sports (and surfing around between games most of the time anyway), so it's really only annoying if I'm watching just one channel (game).

[cartervt2k]

So, I put it through its paces again last night on the 1.0.5.3 drivers. It is definitely more stable than the 1.5.7 drivers and will go for a lot longer before the picture freezes.

It looks like even after it freezes, if I hit the skip forward/reverse it will resume playback from the buffer but without sound. If I escape out to the guide and then into the channel again (clearing the buffer in the process), it will play normally again with sound (until the picture freezes again).

I'm going to try ventilating it a bit better, maybe put a fan on it as a test to see if that makes a difference in how long it will go before it freezes.

[Zogg]

I have seen this problem before, but it was in an odd configuration. I had my HDPVR (only one at the time) connected to one computer, and my BTV server could see it's recordings over a network share. If we started to watch the HDPVR recordings before they finished, we'd see the same thing, where BTV didn't recognize that the recording was still active. So if we started watching when only 45 mins of the show had been recorded, then we only saw 45 mins and had to exit, then restart watching.

Doesn't look like you have this type of non-standard configuration, so I'm not sure why you see this, but maybe it will give you a clue.

BTW I used the 1.0.5.3 driver forever, but on a testbed recently used the latest driver and it worked fine. I'm about to reload my BTV server so I think I'm going to try the newer driver for real and see what happens.

[carteriii]

The problem cartervt2k describes does not sound like the hardware lockups that the rest of us have been seeing and has dominated so much of this thread. cartervt2k's problem sound more like an issue with the codec during playback. I also have that problem, but it's distinctly different.

The HD-PVR seems to encode in a manner that causes problems with playback, particularly when skipping forward or back. Snapstream used to have a knowledgebase article saying, "The Transport Stream h.264 video output by the HD-PVR is a new file type that not all decoders correctly support. There are issues with seeking (like fast forward and skipping), resolution switching and channel changing." Unfortunately the link I had saved with that quote (http://snapstream.helpserve.com/inde...articleid=1518) no longer appears valid.

I believe, and most comments in the past seemed to agree, that the Arcsoft codec did a much better job of handling the playback, but it still isn't perfect. So my first question to cartervt2k is, are you using the default Snapstream h.264 codec or the Arcsoft one? Getting the Arcsoft codec to work in Beyond TV required manually registering some DLL's so it would even show up as a possible selection, and I recall another entry had to be made in an ASViD.log file for any hardware acceleration to work with the codec.

Often when I skip forward or back in HDPVR videos (whether watching live or from a previous recording), I end up with video that is completely frozen while the audio keeps going. Othertimes the audio & video both seem to just hang and I have to back out of the playback entirely and restart it. My playback often starts with some green at the top & bottom of the screen before the picture actually comes through. None of this ever happens with files recorded through my HDHomeRun or other tuners. Something about the files actually created by the HDPVR are different and cause problems with playback, especially when trying to skip forward or back.

[Wolfie351]

1.6.29207 has turned into a nightmare for me. I had about a 90% success rate with the HD-PVR (1 out of 10 recordings hanged) and after the driver update I'm lucky if even half my recordings are successful. The worst part is, now if there is a hang, all my other currently recording programs (qam) restart and none of my link machines will play any recordings until I fix the problem.

[ijourneaux]

Originally Posted by Wolfie351

1.6.29207 has turned into a nightmare for me. I had about a 90% success rate with the HD-PVR (1 out of 10 recordings hanged) and after the driver update I'm lucky if even half my recordings are successful. The worst part is, now if there is a hang, all my other currently recording programs (qam) restart and none of my link machines will play any recordings until I fix the problem.

It is amazing to me that changing the drivers produces such different results with different users. I changed to the latest drivers but I didn't see any change is number of hangs. Both were bad.

[carteriii]

Originally Posted by ijourneaux

It is amazing to me that changing the drivers produces such different results with different users. I changed to the latest drivers but I didn't see any change is number of hangs. Both were bad.

I agree. Something about these drivers is very odd to produce such wildly different results. For me, the latest beta driver does appear to have reduced my lock ups. I used to lock up more than once per week, and I haven't had a lock up in ~3 weeks now. I was hoping they "just fixed" everyone's problems, but obviously not.

Having said that, I encourage everyone to get on the phone and call Hauppauge support. I managed to get to a support manager one time who was at least sympathetic that their developers hadn't done anything in a long time and keep just blaming the customers. Obviously they aren't going to support BeyondTV, so you need to avoid that part of the conversation and give as many details as possible related to TME. If we don't complain directly to Hauppauge, they obviously won't do anything more and will simply assume everything is fine. I just wish Snapstream was in a position to help us.

Is anyone else here lurking on any Sage or MythTV or other non-Snapstream forums to know how the beta drivers have been received there? That might help our pleas for help.

[ijourneaux]

Originally Posted by carteriii

If we don't complain directly to Hauppauge, they obviously won't do anything more and will simply assume everything is fine. I just wish Snapstream was in a position to help us.

Is anyone else here lurking on any Sage or MythTV or other non-Snapstream forums to know how the beta drivers have been received there? That might help our pleas for help.

I have been lurking in the SageTV, MediaPortal and NPVR forums for a while as I consider options for migrating from BTV. SageTV since to echo the experience here. Although some make grandious claims that SageTV is more stable with the HD-PVR. There are enough people raising the issue that it is much the same as here. Some are lucky and it works. Others aren't and the HD-PVR is less stable.

I have been running DebugView continously for several days to try and collect more info for SnapStream tech support but haven't heard anything back yet. It would be nice to collect enough concise failure details to help Hauppauge. TO be honest, I am not sure what to look for in the DebugView log files.

[Terminal]

I mentioned this in another thread but about 1 month ago, my HDPVR died and I got a new one. It has been rock solid. I have not had a lock up with it yet. My old unit was pretty good but I would get a lockup every couple of weeks at least. The lockups usually occurred when I recorded three or more hours in one go without a re-boot of the unit. I am not going to switch drivers, my system is rock solid right now and I am not going to play with it.

I kind of miss the old days of putting a new version on every month or two and testing the new features, now I will just settle for not touching it.

[mits]

Hi all, first of all, sorry for this long post I'm about to do, but it might be very useful to all who have had weird and very intermittent behavior with your HD-PVR units. I wanted to share my experience and make sure to get this information to you all, if it hasn't already been posted somewhere here before.
Please, take a very close look at your HD-PVR label on the bottom, especially take note of the "Rev". I too had long time problems with intermittent intermittent problems with the HD-PVR getting into a bad state and would have to power them off and on again to get things running solid again.
I have been running with 4 HD-PVRs on a server in my garage, and over the past several months, I had three out of four wall warts die and the fourth on just died a week ago. Hauppauge was very responsive in helping with replacing them and wanted to take a look at them. It turns out at least some of them had been from a bad batch of components. In addition, it looks like at least one of my HD-PVRs had been packaged with an incorrect wall wart, and here is where things get interesting.
All "Rev C" units require a 3-Amp wall wart, but all other Rev units operate off of a 2-Amp wall wart. It turns out, the first unit that had died was a Rev C. I just moved my fourth units wall wart to unit 1 so that I wouldn't have to reconfigure the system and was just going to live without the fourth unit until I got a new wall wart. Then the number two unit's wall wart died, moved unit three's wall wart to unit two...and so on. It turns out that my units three(RevC4) and four(RevE1) both had only 2-Amp wall warts, and units 1 and 2 had 3-Amp warts. So, a valid 3-Amp supply failed on unit one(which may have been made from a bad batch of capacitors) and then ended up having only a 2-Amp wart connected. Next, unit two's 3-Amp wart failed(another possible bad capacitor batch wart) and ended up with unit three's 2-Amp wart, which also eventually died. Then unit one's wall wart died again (only had a 2-Amp wart) with the swapped wart from unit four. Basically, after the first wart died, things rapidly went down hill from there. The final Rev C4 unit with only a 2-Amp wart also died.
Hauppauge replaced all of the warts for me, and things have been running rock solid since. I strongly suspect that the combination of possible bad capacitors on early 3-Amp warts, and then running Rev C units with only 2-Amp warts is what's been causing all of my intermittent lockup problems. I had been previously automatically cycling power every day at 3AM with a timer, which for the most part made things much more stable. However, there were still always some lockups happening. While my wall warts were all dead, and waiting for Hauppauge to look at them and send replacements, I had connected my 3-Amp desktop power supply to my number one HD-PVR. This power supply was not plugged into the timer that would reset the boxes every night, so it was always powered on with a stable power source. I never once had any kind of problem during the two and a half weeks straight with that unit while powered with the desktop supply. I can't remember a time over the past couple of years, before the implementing the auto-reset timer, that I ever had them run that long without having a lockup happen. Note that while monitoring the current on the supply when the unit kicked into record mode, that the current runs at 2.00 - 2.03 Amps. By the way, if you check the output voltage of the warts, you might find that the voltage output seems to be normal, but don't be fooled by this, as it's not under any load at that point. So if your unit is acting strange by locking up, or especially showing blinking led light(s), then you almost certainly have a suspect wall wart supply.
Also, note that in every case, just before the wall warts failed, I would get a lockup and noticed that the power led would be on and the record led would flash on and off. I think this is what I remember seeing anyway, but it could have been the power led that was flashing on and off, I'm not positive. Either way, it was obvious that something wasn't quite right. Switching in a new wart made the unit start working again. Swapping back in the original wart made the leds start doing their funky blinking again.
Bottom line is that you should all check to at least make sure that if you have any version of a Rev C unit, that it's got a 3-Amp wall wart connected to it, as I had at least one Rev C4 unit that must have came with a 2-Amp instead of a 3-Amp supply. Even if it has a 3-Amp wart, it could be from a batch that was made with suspect capacitors.
I also wonder if there isn't a problem where some of you may have had to send your units back for repair/replacements, but were told not to send your wall warts. Then when you get your unit back, it was a Rev C unit that needs a 3-Amp supply, but you may have only originally had a 2-Amp wall wart.
Anyway, I sincerely hope this information may help some of you, and I hope for myself that the units now continue to work well for me after having all of the warts replaced with new and correct ones. More time will tell. If this does help other, please pass the word on to all, and maybe we can all be up and running happily from here forward. Good luck, and again, sorry for the enormous post.

[ijourneaux]

With power being brought up often as a route cause of HD-PVR issues, I wonder if a UPS ould help things at all. In desperation, I installed a large UPS on all of the HTPC equipment to see if I could reduce the number of hangs. Last night it didnt hang through 7 different recordings (for the past couple of months, I have been lucky if it went a few hours without hanging) but as always only time will tell.

If I wanted to try upgrading the power supply to the HD-PVR what is the correct tip dimensions?

Take Care

[bigasssuperstar]

Well, I took the plunge and installed the new drivers.

So far, no crash, but the color is yucky.

I followed the directions from earlier in the thread -- Brightness 50, Sat 25, Contrast 25, Hue 50 in BTV, base-255 equivalents in TME.

My reds are rather pink.

Now, were the bright/sat/cont/hue numbers cited earlier in the thread for example only, meant to be tweaked, or are those supposed to be what gets BTV/TME back to what it looked like before the driver upgrade?

If the former, then I have some painful eyeball-based tweaking to do ... if the latter, then it's old <> new and I'm not sure what to do next.

[myktek]

fyi, for people with TME2 that comes on the Hauppauge 3.0 driver disc.
You have to register the codec for it to show up in BTV.

http://www.snapstream.com/support/kb...g-in-beyond-tv

[Zogg]

FYI I had tested the latest HDPVR driver on a testbed, and just reloaded my BTV server last week and also used the latest driver. I was getting a lockup error every day with that driver. I rolled back to 1.0.5.3 about 4 days ago and haven't had a problem since.

Frustrating that Big H can't put out a decent driver.

[billqs]

I'm having the same issues with my HD-PVR, my 2250 internal card and BTV. I've had several issues while trying to capture but it seems most (but not all) errors are caused by the HDPVR not responding.

My HD-PVR is a D2 Rev, but I checked the wall wart anyway and it's a 3 amp. More amps shouldn't be a problem, should it? I didn't catch the volts. I'm willing to try a different wall wart if it would help.

The drivers for my HD-PVR are from 1/7/2009 and my drivers for my 2250 are from 2009 as well. I know the latest drivers cause problems for the 2250 with BTV, but my drivers are before the drivers people here are recommending. I would also gladly update my HDPVR drivers if I thought it would help... but my question is whether the drivers post early 2009 really help most users?

Basically, I'm getting a lot of resets- there were *8* while BTV was trying to record Mike and Molly Monday night, so something is not happy somewhere.