HD-PVR Stops Responding ~Once/Day

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by jerryt

Updated list

Updated list again

1. Do a clean install of the drivers
2. Revert to 1.0.5.301 drivers after using hwclear
3. Keep the HD-PVR cool
4. Don’t use SPDIF for audio, use RCA
5. Don’t use hardware versions earlier than E1
6. Defragment your hard drives
7. Lock component output to 720p or 1080
8. Use a NEC PCIe USB card or USB 3.0 ports
9. Filter power through a UPS
10. Increase Java memory
11. Isolate the HDPVR on its own physical USB controller
12. Use ferrite beads on the USB cables
13. Upgrade firmware running HcwDriverInstall.exe separately for each HD-PVR
14. Tape over the HD-PVR IR port
15. Enable "Tell me if this device can perform faster" for all your USB ports.
16. Rebuild your sageproperty file by; deleting it, restarting sage and going through setup again.
17. Use DVBlogic to control the HDPVR's.
18. Disable "power saving" on your USB ports.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I know this really isn't helpful and I can't completely explain why but I have zero problems with the 1.5.7 driver and I have a revision C2 HDPVR. The one thing that did make a difference though was getting a NEC based USB PCI adapter and putting my HDPVR on that. I haven't had an issue since.

What model is your STB box ( your service provider and HD box ). What output is it set to and is it fixed? (1080i, 720p, 720i, etc).

I think this also has a lot to do with it as well.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by joe123

What model is your STB box ( your service provider and HD box ). What output is it set to and is it fixed? (1080i, 720p, 720i, etc).

I think this also has a lot to do with it as well.

I'm with Cox Cable and it's a Scientific Atlanta 4240HDC. The output resolution is variable between 480i, 720p, or 1080i. I also record the AC3 audio from the optical out.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I know this really isn't helpful and I can't completely explain why but I have zero problems with the 1.5.7 driver and I have a revision C2 HDPVR. The one thing that did make a difference though was getting a NEC based USB PCI adapter and putting my HDPVR on that. I haven't had an issue since.

Originally Posted by joe123

What model is your STB box ( your service provider and HD box ). What output is it set to and is it fixed? (1080i, 720p, 720i, etc).

I think this also has a lot to do with it as well.

I haven't had any problems either since using a NEC based card. DirectTV H21 & H23 (I think) resolution is NOT locked.

[les_bloom]

I know this is a pretty old thread, but it sounds like it's still relevant because I have been having HDPVR problems also.

I have narrowed mine down to a very specific cause though. Every morning at 4am my Dish Network 211k STB does a daily update. That update screws up my HDPVR.

Before the update occurs, my HDPVR will be recording at 1080i@29.97fps. After the update, the HDPVR will record at 1080i@30fps. Any file that is recorded at 29.97fps plays correctly and any file that is recorded at 30fps plays back with problems.

I find that a power cycle will reset my HDPVR and cause it to work properly. Until the next 4am update that is.

Does anyone else in this thread have a scenario like mine?
Has anyone found a way to work around this problem?

Even if there was some way to automatically power cycle my HDPVR at 4:30am. That would be fine with me at this point

Thanks
Les

[Flash69]

Very interesting information. How did you figure this out?

My HDPVRs (2) have been acting up really bad lately. I have the older versions of the vip211.

What version of firmware/driver are you running on the HDPVR? I tried 1.629207 but I could barely watch TV. So far the only half way stable version for me has been 1.05.3.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by les_bloom

Even if there was some way to automatically power cycle my HDPVR at 4:30am. That would be fine with me at this point

Have you tried rebooting your computer every day at 4:30AM? That doesn't power cycle the HD-PVR, but it does seem to reset it to some extent.

[gambitpvr]

The easiest way to daily power cycle our HD-PVR would be to get a timer, like you plug a lamp into. Plug your HD-PVR into that and set the 'Off' to 4:29 and the 'On' to 4:31, or some similar window. I did that for awhile until I figured out my HD-PVR issues were caused by overheating, which I then fixed with a cooling fan.

[les_bloom]

Originally Posted by Flash69

Very interesting information. How did you figure this out?

About 4 months of trial and error. I purchased my HDPVRs (2) in February and have yet to get anything stable. But, I am getting closer at least

Originally Posted by Flash69

My HDPVRs (2) have been acting up really bad lately. I have the older versions of the vip211.

What version of firmware/driver are you running on the HDPVR? I tried 1.629207 but I could barely watch TV. So far the only half way stable version for me has been 1.05.3.

I am using the latest drivers (1.5.7.0) and have the TME software installed.

I tried various audio hook ups (RCA or spdif), it didn't seem to make a difference.

[les_bloom]

Originally Posted by gambitpvr

The easiest way to daily power cycle our HD-PVR would be to get a timer, like you plug a lamp into. Plug your HD-PVR into that and set the 'Off' to 4:29 and the 'On' to 4:31, or some similar window. I did that for awhile until I figured out my HD-PVR issues were caused by overheating, which I then fixed with a cooling fan.

I didn't realize such things existed, but that sounds like something I need

Thanks for the info

[les_bloom]

Originally Posted by les_bloom

I find that a power cycle will reset my HDPVR and cause it to work properly. Until the next 4am update that is.

I have yet to get any automated setup implemented. However, my fix has been to just do a manual power cycle of my HDPVRs every morning. This worked for a few days, but for some reason this trick does not 'fixed' my boxes anymore =/

I am not sure exactly what is going on at this point.

Maybe I didn't leave them unplugged long enough? Maybe there was something else happening that I was not aware of? Not sure ...

[Fallen Kell]

Sorry to hear that you are still having problems. Mine works fine, but I have Comcast. I even just re-installed the OS (upgraded the motherboard/CPU/RAM/OS Drive), and had to get a new STB because the one I had stopped being able to display HD channels (they would break up/freeze/pixelate). After getting the right drivers on it, things have been rock solid. Only 2 hic-ups in recoding, but that was due to me as I have the STB also connected to a TV via HDMI and if I turn on or off the TV while a recording is in progress the recording gets screwed up. I'm even using S/PDIF for the audio and get DD/DTS surround when available.

[les_bloom]

I appear to have found a better solution to my audio sync issues.

I tried locking my STB to 720p instead of 1080i. After doing this, I found that about half of my recordings worked perfectly and the other half were out of sync.

The recordings at 720p are captured at 60fps, and that works fine. It's only the 1080i recordings that need to be 29.97fps. More importantly, the HDPVR defaults to recording at 60fps with 720p, so there is no required trickery to get the HDPVR to stay recording at the correct fps.

Eventually I noticed that the half that were out of sync were also recording 5.1 audio, and the half that worked were recording stereo audio. So I set my HDPVRs to use RCA instead of SPDIF.

Now all my recordings are in sync.

The best part is that I have not had to do any daily power cycling. When the STB does its 4am update, my HDPVR keeps recording at 720@60fps.

I have had this setup this way for about 3 days, and have had no problems yet.

It sort of sucks that I must give up the 5.1 recording, but at this point I will take what I can get

/fingers crossed

Thanks
Les

[sdsean]

Interestingly, all of my HD-PVRs that do work are hardware rev D1. . .the one that I have that's F1 DOES NOT work at all. . .on any machine i try to install it on. . .

I also use 5.1 in, and its always worked fine for me. . .however I do have both plugged in, and I never ever ever plug-in the pass through.

And curious how do I do this:
>>15. Enable "Tell me if this device can perform faster" for all your USB ports.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by sdsean

curious how do I do this:
>>15. Enable "Tell me if this device can perform faster" for all your USB ports.

Control Panel > Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers (each of them), right click > Properties > Advanced tab > Check mark "Tell me if this device can perform faster".