Hauppauge HD-PVR support

[Terminal]

I have always suspected that some of my HD-PVR lockups are usage related. If I am recording with the HD-PVR and one or both of my HD-Homerun tuners and then I start watching something else, I would say 2 of 10 times I will hear my HD-PVR reboot. I have a script that power cycles my HD-PVR whenever it locks. So I hear the USB disconnect sound from my PC. Doesn't happen every time but I think there is a correlation.

[Zogg]

I've never noticed that correlation on my system, not that I am discounting it though. My HDHomeRuns get used pretty much every night, really even more than the HDPVR's, so there is a good chance that at least one of each is running at the same time.

But, I don't watch live TV on the HDPVR's all that often, I reboot every night, AND I have separate recording drives for each tuner type, so my system is probably set up a bit differently.

cartertv2k, I have a WD Velociraptor drive for my HDHR recordings, so even with 4 recordings, playback to Link, and 2 Comskips running at the same time, the drive can handle it and we don't see playback hiccups. I have another drive that my HDPVR recordings go to, and BTV Smartchapters run on those recordings. I've found that separating the load and using the Velociraptor drive for the busiest part really helps the system. Then, in the middle of the night, the recordings all get moved to my recordings pool. There are a few quirks, but for the most part it just rocks along now.

Since I rebuilt my system a few months ago on WHS v1 and implemented this system, I have seen only about 3 HDPVR hangs. And on one of them, Terminal's script cycled the power on the HDPVR's and BTV kept working and rescheduled the botched recording.

[Terminal]

Originally Posted by bigasssuperstar

New driver, new error::

Error 41.

"Beyond TV detected a hang in "External Cable Box - Hauppauge HD PVR Capture Device" and could not terminate the process hosting the device when attempting to recover. This is a serious error that is usually caused by malfunctioning hardware or improperly written drivers."

Feh!

Do you still get this error? I just got another one today.

Error Code: 41
1/16/2012 6:02:10 AM
Beyond TV detected a hang in "HD PVR" and could not terminate the process hosting the device when attempting to recover. This is a serious error that is usually caused by malfunctioning hardware or improperly written drivers.

I don't get it very often and the file that is created will show that it is 0 secs in the viewscape. It will not play as is, it will say it is corrupt. However if you look at the file on the disk it is there and will be using about the correct amount of disk space.

When I run MPEG2Repair on the file when it gets to the end you will get a error message from MPEG2Repair saying the sync byte is missing and the rest is being discarded, or somethign to that effect. The file will then play fine. I can open up the web admin copy the episode description and any pertinent info I want included from the 0 sec file and then delete the 0 sec file.

Also if I shut down BTV and restart it will delete the 0 sec file. So I have to make sure I don't restart BTV or the file will be lost. Just wondered if this is somethign only I am still seeing. I can't recall anyone posting about it recently

[tscales]

This error is driving me nuts. For the last month, it happens every 24-36 hours. I've tried reinstalling. Two different HD PVRs. Different drivers. Different power supplies.

All on XP SP3, so bland.

When it works it is great, but this is FRUSTRATING.

[Terminal]

Originally Posted by tscales

This error is driving me nuts. For the last month, it happens every 24-36 hours. I've tried reinstalling. Two different HD PVRs. Different drivers. Different power supplies.

All on XP SP3, so bland.

When it works it is great, but this is FRUSTRATING.

Not just me then, glad it's not happening that often to me, that would be frustrating.

[mpp_mpp]

I was getting that error every other recording when I was on the HD PVR driver version 1.6.29353. My system was a lot more stable when I was on the previous beta version of the driver 1.6.29333 so I backed my system back to that driver. This driver version seamed to be the most stable version that I have found in my system.

http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/softw..._1.6.29333.zip

I still received the error 41 once while on the my server but it does not happen as frequently and as long as I keep my sever restarted every 5 days.

[mits]

Just thought I'd post a quick status of how my system has been running since the beginning of Oct 2011. In a rather lengthy post I did in early October last year, I described some very interesting power issues I had with different models of HDPVRs and the wall wart power bricks.

Basically, I replaced all wall warts with new regulated 3A wall warts. Since then, I've been up running continously without a single lockup or any other problems. "I J W" - It Just Works!

Some units can get by on drawing right at 2A, while others require 3A. For anyone having problems with lockups, I would strongly recommend replacing your wall warts with solid reputable 3A minimum wall warts. It solved all my problems, no having to cycle power on the HDPVRs every night, no lockups, no anything. Everything just works without any problems. I'm running four of them continously.

I'm also running Win XP SP3 using HDPVR v1.5.6.1 dated Nov 2009 drivers. I see no reason to change them, as everything works great, including digital audio, and has been for almost four straight months now.

Hope this helps others.

[Terminal]

Interesting

[tscales]

Exactly which wall warts are you using and where can we get them?

[mits]

Mine were replaced by Hauppauge support. Bottom line was, I had intermittent lockups all the time, which finally got worse on two units, and finally one started having a flashing on and off power light. Shortly after, a second one started doing the same thing. Basically, they were continuously resetting. I contacted Hauppauge, and they sent me two new ones and had me send my two in for analysis. It turns out that they confirmed that they tied those power supplies back to a bad build batch which had bad capacitors. While they were diagnosing those two, I had third one fail. I did some research, and found that some of my boxes needed 3A supplies, while others only needed a 2A supply. My complete set only had one 3A supply, so one of them had been running on a 2A supply. Must have got an incorrect one shipped with one of my units. Anyway, I contacted Hauppauge again, explaining what I discovered, and they were very helpful replacing all the supplies with 3A supplies. As I mentioned earlier, I've been up and running solid for months without a single glitch now. I stongly suspect that there are some units out there running with under rated wall warts, or have ones that have the bad capacitor problem. I'd have to go back to my original post, but while I was running off my bench supply for a week or two, I monitored the current on them, and when the units first kick on to record, they push very close to/ or surge just over the wall wart rating. They quickly settle in just under the wall wart rating, but is a little concerning to me. That's why I'd suggest using a minimum of a 3A, 5V +/- 0.05 V regulated.
Hope this helps.

[gobo]

Hi Mits

Would this be a good Power Supply to Buy?:

http://www.junetrading.com/product_i...=21#googlebase


A family member has been having problems with her 2 HDPVRs for a while now. We switched them out with mine and they worked fine over here using my power supplys. We've tried everything else so this could be just the fix we need. She has 2 of the 2Amp ones while I have the 3 amps. Very interesting.


I was also looking at these but the plug size is slightly bigger:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A1XKPQQA6BPGCN


Thanks

[mits]

That first one should do the trick, as it's a regulated switched supply at 3A. However, be warned that Hauppauge will not cover any damage to the HDPVR if you use a third party supply. It might be a better idea to order new 3A supplies from Hauppauge directly. I think they're around $15, and they may even replace them for free, as this is a known problem that other people besides myself have experienced.

There are several others that I've read about who have had lots of lockups and intermittent functionality, and they've all seemed to have had those problems go away with new power supplies. I know it fixed all of my problems, and while troubleshooting my units, it's clear that at startup during a recording, even the 2A HDPVRs are pulling right at the 2A mark and even slightly over that for a very short period. The 3A versions I think pull around 2.5A to 2.7A at startup. That's why I'm recommending that everyone just go with the 3A supplies to be safe.

Good luck, and I hope this fixes your problems. It seems to have fixed many others as well.

[gobo]

Thanks for the reply. Seems like this may be the solution. Don't want to be a pest but would this one be better? If the tip is the wrong size would splicing the Hauppauge one onto this one cause any problems?

Thanks again!!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...hing_Mode.html

[Terminal]

Originally Posted by mits

It might be a better idea to order new 3A supplies from Hauppauge directly. I think they're around $15, and they may even replace them for free, as this is a known problem that other people besides myself have experienced.

Just out of curiosity I went and looked at the Hauppauge site. The replacement supply they list says it is a 2A.

Replacement power supply for HD PVR

[lsrracer]

I just looked. I have the 3A supply and always have, and yet have been fighting lock-ups for years, sometimes badly.

That said, a few days ago when I saw this info posted and looked at my adapter to see what I have, I moved the adapter over to a power strip I have that has line noise filtering. Haven't seen a lock-up since. Of course, every time in the past I've thought I had it solved, it was just messing with me, so I'm not ready to declare victory. I'll give it another week.