How To Setup HD-PVR with HVR-1600 and Hauppage IR Blaster

[valerio]

Yesterday I banged my head against the wall when trying to install a HD-PVR in a PC that already has two Hauppauge HVR-1600 cards in it. I found two main problems:

1. The IR remote and IR blaster would not work properly or from the correct card
2. Audio Issues with the HD-PVR

The issues related to the IR blaster and IR remote were mostly the IR blaster not being recognized and the IR remote not working from the HD-PVR. Either the IR blaster would work from the HD-PVR and not the remote, or, depending at which stage I tested after my several installs/uninstalls, any and all possible combinations, all not really working right.

The audio issues are basically the widely reported sync issues but also an additional problem I found using either the CD drivers (1.5.6.0) or the newer drivers from the site (1.5.6.1): Switching from a channel with stereo audio to a 5.1 Dolby channel would result in the HD-PVR producing no audio.

To make a long story short, and after spending hours installing/uninstalling and reading through the forum postings, I was able to find an installation sequence that made it all work (for now) for me.

First the premise about how my My System Setup:

• Windows 7 Home Premium
• HD-PVR > Audio connected to SPDIF and video to Component Inputs
• Two HVR-1600 Used mostly for SD channels (since the HD capture more often than not results in a No Signal error)
• One SiliconDust HDHR Tuner (Two HD Tuners)
• Hauppauge IR Remote
• Hauppauge IR Blaster

Please note that based on my testing, connecting the IR Remote to one of the HVR-1600 cards produced a better response than connecting it to the HD-PVR, so in my installation I opted to have the IR Remote and Blaster operate from there. If you prefer to have the HD-PVR being the one interfacing the remote and blaster, then reverse the installation order below and install it after the HVR-1600.

INSTALLATION UPGRADE SEQUENCE

1. Run hcwclear.exe from the Hauppauge CD to clear ALL Hauppauge drivers and applications
2. In the SageTV Setup>Detailed Setup disable Sage TV from starting on Windows startup
3. Stop the SageTV service and disable it
4. Browse to your c:\Windows folder and make a copy of the file called irremote.cfg
5. Reboot
6. Install the HD-PVR 1.0.5.3 Driver Alone (I found it by Googling it, if anybody else has a more permanent link to it, it would be great)
7. Reboot
8. Run a Windows Update to install the HVR-1600 Windows 7 Hauppauge Drivers (I preferred this way instead of downloading them from Hauppauge since they seem more stable)
9. Reboot
10. Install the latest IR32 install program from the Hauppauge website, under Accessories in the HVR-1600 Support
11. Connect the remote sensor/blaster sensor cable to one of the HVR1600 cards (you may need to switch this during testing to find out which card interface is being used by the remote/blaster software)
12. Reboot
13. Run the Blast Configuration utility for the Hauppauge IR Blaster and set it up based on your STB
14. Reboot
15. Copy the irremote.cfg to the c:\windows folder and overwrite the existing one
16. Restart the IR Remote utility
17. Start Sage Service and reset it to start automatically, and start SageTV and restore the Startup option as you wish

Now this installation sequence worked for me and rolling back to the HD-PVR 1.0.5.3 driver solved the 5.1 SPDIF audio issues (for now, crossing fingers). So far I noticed that the HD-PVR seems to halt recording every once in a while and restart itself. This results in a few seconds or a minute of recording being lost in the middle of a show. Not sure what to do about that.

[sic0048]

Thanks for the information. It has confirmed what some other users have said. I added a link to this thread and given credit in my "How To Install the HD-PVR" thread since it is very related.