Hauppauge doesn't support its products???

[Dark_Man]

Three yrs ago I purchased a SageTV PVR-250MCE bundle. I just recently upgraded my OS to Vista premium on a x64 AMD chip. Aparently there are NO drivers for this. I email Hauppauge and Bill seems to think my solution is to buy a PVR-150 because its supported. Umm does anyone here think its a good idea to buy another product from the people who CLEARLY refuse to support the product I already have?

What other card manufacturers should I look into?

[Dark_Man]

I should add that if he told me it might be a long wait to get x64 drivers I wouldn't be happy but I'd have to deal with it. I was told there are NO plans to EVER make an x64 driver.

--- billv@hauppauge.com wrote:

This product is not support on a 64 bit OS.
Currently, there is no planned time frame from our
developers if there will
be 64 bit drivers for this product.

Regards,

Bill V.
BillV@Hauppauge.com
Technical Support
Hauppauge Computer Works
New York

[paulbeers]

That's bad for you. Unfortunately I am not the most sympathetic person....64-bit OS's are still not mainstream and probably won't be for some time. By the time they are, most likely all PVR250's will be dead. I have 4 rigs at my house that are capable of 64-bit OS's but none have it. Why? Because I did my research before and found that some of my hard ware is "too old" for the companies that made it to add 64-bit support. You got 3 years out of it. You probably paid $150 for it / 3 years / 365 days = $.13 a day. Either drop it or move "back" to a 32-bit OS.

Sorry. Just not much sympathy here (as previously stated). This is precisely why 64-bit OS's haven't been recommended here in these forums.

[CollinR]

Agreed Paul, if they don't claim Vista support, 64 bit support or whatever they have done no wrong. They won't be up on 64 bit because by the time it's needed analog will be close to dead and they won't be functional.

Hauppauge does support their products when they are properly installed.

When you live on the bleeding edge of technology sometimes it's going to be your blood.

[Dark_Man]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

That sucks for you. Unfortunately I am not the most sympathetic person....64-bit OS's are still not mainstream and probably won't be for some time. By the time they are, most likely all PVR250's will be dead. I have 4 rigs at my house that are capable of 64-bit OS's but none have it. Why? Because I did my research before and found that some of my hard ware is "too old" for the companies that made it to add 64-bit support. You got 3 years out of it. You probably paid $150 for it / 3 years / 365 days = $.13 a day. Either drop it or move "back" to a 32-bit OS.

Sorry. Just not much sympathy here (as previously stated). This is precisely why 64-bit OS's haven't been recommended here in these forums.

Ok so let me get this striat... you have x64 processors but you won't upgrade to x64 OS's because there is no driver support for them, BUT there is no driver support for them because noone uses them yet... LOL Which came first the chicken or the egg...

Lets face facts guys they are not making 64 bit drivers because they are cheep. Call a spade a spade don't sugar coat it. You and I BOTH know that within a yr or so everyone will be upgrading to Vista. Heck 99% of the advantage of Vista is its 64 bit.

For the record I can't go back to 32 bit. My XP was completely corrupted with malware etc. Not going through that agian. I probibly can biuld a secound box x32 just for the TV card. Doesn't change the fact that hauppauge should support its product better. Why would anyone want to buy anything from them if they won't support it. I don't care if 'm the only person on the planet with this problem. We all know I'm NOT!

[Dark_Man]

Let me add to this... its not about what Hauppauge claims to support. When I bought this card Vista didn't even exsist. Heck at the time I didn't even have a x64 proc. The point is the MOMENT Microsnot put Vista x64 on a retail shelf it became main stream. Its a hardware manufacturers job to update their drivers to the latest OS's. If they are not going to do so AT ALL then why should anyone buy there products. If nVidia or ATI did this they would be run out of buisness by all the people moving to the one that DID add support.

Bottom line Hauppauge is more worried about there fat pockets than my satisfation with their product. So lets see how fat there pockets are when people stop buying them.

[Polypro]

Maybe if I were in your shoes I'd be ticked, but Hauppauge took care of me twice...for problems that I caused myself.

P

[ybrew]

Hauppauge sold a card certified for compatibility with Windows XP. You're asking them to change the product they sold you to suit you?
They support the product just fine. It works under XP, doesn't it?

Your angst shouldn't be directed at Hauppauge.

Regardless of why, many hardware manufacturers don't have drivers for every OS. Try and install an HP All-in-One Printer in Win2k3.
Sometimes they want you to buy the more expensive product. Sometimes they just want you to buy a newer product. But as long as the product works for the OS(es) it was designed for, I don't see any issue.

[bhyman1]

Aren't the PVR-250's ancient now anyways?

[bcjenkins]

From what I understand, I think they have a better encoder chip than the 150s

[CollinR]

Yes and yes, however you should still RTFM. If you don't read it you'll wind up with troubles just like this. This guy obviously has no clue if this is a hardware restriction or not.

Toyota sucks! They claim they won't support hybrid technology in my Avalon!!! Once one Toyota hybrid hit the lot they are required to "support" it, or I can gripe on the net. LOL

There are much bigger fish to fry, like why only dual encoders? Why not 5-10 on one card? I would much rather that over 64 bit support.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

Its a hardware manufacturers job to update their drivers to the latest OS's. If they are not going to do so AT ALL then why should anyone buy there products. .

Heck, even Microsoft didin't even release updated drivers for all the hardware that they made in the past for Vista. It its what it is. I've got clients that use the Microsoft Office Keyboard, and they won't even think about upgrading to VIsta until I can find a replacement keyboard with the functionality of the Office Keyboard.

[Dark_Man]

Originally Posted by CollinR

Yes and yes, however you should still RTFM. If you don't read it you'll wind up with troubles just like this. This guy obviously has no clue if this is a hardware restriction or not.

Toyota sucks! They claim they won't support hybrid technology in my Avalon!!! Once one Toyota hybrid hit the lot they are required to "support" it, or I can gripe on the net. LOL

There are much bigger fish to fry, like why only dual encoders? Why not 5-10 on one card? I would much rather that over 64 bit support.

You say I have no clue yet you compair cars to computers? whatever...

Look I'm a unix / network admin. I'm a complete amature at it but I can write C code, can you? I doubt it VERY seriously.

This isn't about me RTFMing. Sense your obviously not going to be satisfied with anything else but the full storey I'll explian. I had a 2nd box that is x32 with XP. I had a problem with it and when I tried to fix it it exploded. Its a hardware problem. So simple solution move the TV card to my main box. Which has been Vista for 2 months now. So I go looking for drivers. Accept x32 Vista is supported but x64 is not.

So now I'm not only down my 2nd computer, but now the TV card i have that works PERFECTLY fine is useless. Why is it useless? Because some executive at Hauppage doesn't want to spend a few thousand dollars (if that much) to have someone code even beta "unsupported" drivers that will work with the x64 platform.

I'm suprised that people on here are so quick to defend them. The only way to motivate them to do there job is for people to tell them what they want. Instead you make excuses for them. Pretty sad if you asked me. Consumers actually helping company's screw them. That is certainly a new one.

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

I'm suprised that people on here are so quick to defend them. The only way to motivate them to do there job is for people to tell them what they want. Instead you make excuses for them. Pretty sad if you asked me. Consumers actually helping company's screw them. That is certainly a new one.

Hey I may not be an ace coder in C, given... I can read the requirements for the hardware I desire to use. Everything Hauppauge claims that old product will do, it will if properly installed. You need to start doing that ASAP or you will bleed cash like nobody's business.

No complaints for Windows for your XP troubles? Let me guess you got a Via northbridge in that sucker too.

You gotta research, or laught off the $150 card.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

Look I'm a unix / network admin. I'm a complete amature at it but I can write C code, can you? I doubt it VERY seriously.

And I run my own small to medium business networking company (along with anything else my clients want) and the first thing I do before dropping off a piece of hardware/software is check to make sure it is compatible/has drivers/etc. If it isn't compatible, I find something else or don't do it. Plain and simple.

And yes I am not going to a 64-bit operating system because drivers don't exist. When I was in college and had time to tinker and wanted to run multiple OS's, I can guarentee I would be running a 64-bit OS if for no other reason than "just because"...but to be honest I have a family, a full time job, a company, and many other things that take my time and so I am not going to mess around with an OS that can't do what I want it to.

[Dark_Man]

Heh actually I was considering putting Linux or FreeBSD on that machine sense Windows crashed from all the malware. Just wasn't sure about the compatability issues etc etc. It was all pointless because when I took it apart to fix the hardware problem it completely died. The MB won't even post.

For the record i dispise MS but 90% of the software out there is only useable on Windows. Although that is slowly changing.

No matter which way you sugar coat it hardware manufacturers have to support there products. One simple question... can I still buy a PVR-250 off the shelf brand new? I just checked. The answer is yes. Thus its not "old hardware" and they need to support it.

If this was a 5 yr old card that hadn't been sold brand new for a year plus I'd understand them saying no we aren't going to mess with it. That isn't the case though. I have to wonder if they are still manufacturing them. If they are what they are doing is just plain wrong. They are selling people brand new hardware that out of the box is useless in cutting edge computers and 1-2 yrs from now will be useless with the OS that 60-80% of all computers will be running.

I find it interesting that everyone is willing to bash on me for my disaproval of Hauppauge but not one person had made a suggestion for what other hardware is better support or ideas on how to solve my problem???

I think I have found a solution wondering if anyone knows about this. I'm considering upgrading to a DVR setop box with comcast and using the firewire to copy videos to my PC. Opinions? I love SageTV but it might not be the best way for me to go now. I've never upgraded past 4.x anyway.

[Opus4]

Dark_Man, since you didn't seem to notice your PM: Regardless of what company you are discussing, please leave out the rude name calling of that company and its products.

- Andy

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

I'm suprised that people on here are so quick to defend them. The only way to motivate them to do there job is for people to tell them what they want. Instead you make excuses for them. Pretty sad if you asked me. Consumers actually helping company's screw them. That is certainly a new one.

What I always find interesting about posts like the previous one is that a) they're usually posted in USER forums, not in actual complaints to the company, and b) they're not even posted in the correct forum. This is a SageTV forum, not a Hauppauge one. What do you expect us to do for you?

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

No matter which way you sugar coat it hardware manufacturers have to support there products. One simple question... can I still buy a PVR-250 off the shelf brand new? I just checked. The answer is yes. Thus its not "old hardware" and they need to support it.

Just to be clear: they do support it; they just don't support it on your particular flavor of Windows. As a "unix" guy, I'm surprised that you are having difficulty understanding this; I'm sure you've encountered compatibility issues with unix variants before.

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

If this was a 5 yr old card that hadn't been sold brand new for a year plus I'd understand them saying no we aren't going to mess with it. That isn't the case though. I have to wonder if they are still manufacturing them. If they are what they are doing is just plain wrong. They are selling people brand new hardware that out of the box is useless in cutting edge computers and 1-2 yrs from now will be useless with the OS that 60-80% of all computers will be running.

Windows Vista 64 bit; I'd consider that bleeding-edge, rather than cutting edge. As others have pointed out, 64-bit OS's aren't exactly run-of-the-mill yet.

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

I find it interesting that everyone is willing to bash on me for my disaproval of Hauppauge but not one person had made a suggestion for what other hardware is better support or ideas on how to solve my problem???

According to the Hauppauge support FAQ, the PVR-150 has compatible drivers.

Originally Posted by Dark_Man

I think I have found a solution wondering if anyone knows about this. I'm considering upgrading to a DVR setop box with comcast and using the firewire to copy videos to my PC. Opinions? I love SageTV but it might not be the best way for me to go now. I've never upgraded past 4.x anyway.

Not sure about your solution; I do find it a bit funny that you're willing to live on the edge with Vista 64-bit, but are unwilling to upgrade Sage to version 6. Not sure what that all means; I just found it odd.

[PGPfan]

I have to ask why a 64-bit OS? What benefit does if currently provide you, that a 32-bit OS won't? All of the users of 64-bit that I've seen complain of the same thing - lack of driver support - but I've never read a good reason to use it over a 32-bit OS (at least for the next 4-5 years).

Easy solution to your problem, install Vista 32-bit. Get the benefits of Vista 'with drivers that will work'.

-PGPfan

[ybrew]

I've got an old 486 pc at home. I'm about to write a letter to Intel. Their stupid processor won't work with Vista 64bit! I bought this computer in 1995. You'd think they'd update the driver for this chip so I could install a mainstream OS on it! It's their responsibility!

I'm never buying anything intel again!

But i'm not sure what to get. My amd chip, circa 1997, also is having problems with Vista, and they refuse to provide updated drivers either.

And don't get me started with NexGen!