HD-PVR Setup Stories

[thenuma]

OK, so now, once it locks after flickering I leave sage running, unplug hdpvr, stop sage service, plug hdpvr back in , pause, start sage service.

[thenuma]

OK, so suspecting heat releated problems.... I opened the case, put a bigass fan on it, and now, it's been recording for 24 hours straight. who the hell designed this thing with no vent holes?

[chubb]

Hi all... new SageTV user here (about 1 month). I just got an HD-PVR to augment my previous setup of (2) PVR-250s and (1) HDHR. I have not experienced any of the "heat" issues yet (fingers crossed), but I am experiencing a slightly annoying "stutter" at random times during playback of shows recorded using the HD-PVR. This affects both SD and HD shows that were recorded on the HD-PVR (and of course Live TV). I am almost certain it is a problem during the encoding stage because when I rewind and watch closely, the stutters happen at the same points every time. This is when viewing via an STX-100 extender, which many people have verified is "flawless" in playing back recordings made via HD-PVR. So, my first few steps in trying to resolve the problem have been:

1. Disable all unnecessary memory-resident programs (including anti-virus).
2. Load most recent drivers for HD-PVR (actually tried both 1.0b and 1.0.3.46).
3. Plug the HD-PVR into different USB ports on my PC.

Any other suggestions? I would hate to go down the path of "hwclear.exe" and reinstall all drivers, since all the tuners seem to be recognized right now and are being controlled perfectly using the USB-UIRT 3-zone IR blaster setup.

Here is my setup:

Intel E4500 dual-core cpu
1GB RAM
(2) PVR-250s encoding (2) Motorola QIP-2500 boxes (Verizon FiOS)
(1) HD-PVR encoding a Motorola 6200 HD receiver (FiOS)
(1) HDHR with both tuners recording ATSC
(2) 750GB SATA Seagate hard drives
(1) Nvidia 7600GS AGP video card
All ports are USB 2.0 on my motherboard.

I think the weak link in my setup is the Video Card, however, since I am not using the PC for playback, I haven't had an issue with it. I playback almost exclusively on the STX-100 and have had great results until the addition of this HD-PVR into the mix.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks.

[bcjenkins]

The current firmware of the HDPVR has a known issue with progressive content. Try setting your cable/sat box to output 480i or 1080i.

B

[chubb]

Thanks for the suggestion. I did that just before I left for work this morning and it seemed to help somewhat in the stuttering. However, it's still not perfectly smooth, and sometimes I see tearing now. Is there a new firmware (not driver) available for the HD-PVR that I should maybe try?

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by chubb

Thanks for the suggestion. I did that just before I left for work this morning and it seemed to help somewhat in the stuttering. However, it's still not perfectly smooth, and sometimes I see tearing now. Is there a new firmware (not driver) available for the HD-PVR that I should maybe try?

Rumor is on Sept 12 according to a post I saw here a few days ago.

B

[chubb]

Thanks... I will be on the lookout. Hopefully it gets updated on this thread since I am subscribed to this one.

[Evil_Attorney]

I finally got my butt in gear...picked up two HD-pvr's and two Directv HD receivers. I followed the instructions in this post and I didn't have any problems with the HD-PVRs (but I did have some issues with my USBUIRT disappearing). Anyway, my server seems to record everything fine and my client plays back ok.

I have some sync issues like many others have reported but haven't played around with this much to figure out what works best. Is the consensus 720p or 1080i addresses this best?

Has anyone experimented with alternative codecs to play these files back?

[bhyman1]

I just did a big upgrade for my dad down in Florida. Two HD-PVR's added with SA 3250HD cable boxes.

Much like my setup, and his up here in Maine, I plugged the two HD-PVR's direct into USB ports mounted physically on the motherboard.

I'm not sure if this really makes a difference, but I had zero problems with his new setup.

I also locked the cable boxes to 1080i, and connected them via analog audio. People seem to still have a little trouble with the digital audio connection so I opted not to use it.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by bhyman1

Much like my setup, and his up here in Maine, I plugged the two HD-PVR's direct into USB ports mounted physically on the motherboard.

I'm not sure if this really makes a difference, but I had zero problems with his new setup.

I haven't heard this discussed very much but I assume that this is important as well. If you plug a HD-PVR into a USB hub then it is sharing the bandwidth of USB with all other devices on this hub. I have to think that this could cause problems, particularly if you tried to put multiple HD-PVRs through the same hub.

[Djc208]

Finally got around to installing mine. Got it two weeks ago but left for vacation and didn't want to chance problems while I was away.

Picked up the cable box last night (Motorola 6200), and got that installed and activated. I have a Hauppage HDR-1600 in the server but it doesn't use the blaster since I record analog and ClearQAM with it. So I RDC'd into the server and uninstalled the IR software for the 1600 first. Then downloaded and installed the 1.1 drivers (came with 1.0c and 2.0 are not up on the site anymore, and didn't inspire confidence anyway), and the Arcsoft software from the CD.

Setup the blaster software and it tested fine from the HD PVR. My STB has firewire but I couldn't find a cable locally so I figured I'd try the blaster and if it didn't work then order a cable.

Went into Sage from the extender and setup the source with no problems. Very easy, and the video preview worked fine. Channel setup kind of sucks though. I copied the digital setup from the 1600 but since it's QAM the digital channels were re-mapped, and came in that way. So I have to re-map re-mapped channels to get them to display correctly. That whole physical/logical remapping thing really needs work.

Otherwise everything is great. Watched some live TV for a little while with no obvious problems. Let it go for about 15~20 minutes to try and verify mine didn't lock up. So far so good.

Setup the cable box to do 1080i with 480 sources left alone. Changed the SPDIF output from PCM to bitstream, which caused the setup to hickup for a few seconds but then everything smoothed out and worked well.

Channel changing takes a little while. It's about 5 seconds till the picture changes, then everything is kind of jerky and rough for about another 5 or 10 seconds. After that it's smooth sailing.

Time will tell if this remains stable, but so far I can't complain. In all I've had a storybook time with Sage (knock on wood) Now if I can just stop messing with it. I've already got some new parts coming for my desktop which means the hand-me-downs get moved into the Server (dual core now too, )

[bulaman]

I am new to SageTV...software is great. Forums have been very helpful.

Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Intel core2 quad Q6600
4GB or Ram
couple of Western Digital 1TB Drives
Hauppauge HD PVR


I read mixed reports on doing this with 64 bit vista. It works with the current drivers with some minor issues. When I first installed the drives I got a BSOD. Not sure why or how I fixed it but I just reloaded it and it worked.

I had some issues with the ir blaster. Turns out that you need to put it on the STB ir receiver. It is apparently very weak. I had it an inch away and it was not working.

Originally, I had the optical sound coming in. After a few minutes the audio would get out of sync. I noticed the others also had this problem. I switched to analog and that did not help. While still analog, I switched to the arcsoft audio and video decoder. The result is that it takes longer before you notice the sync issues.

[HTPCguy]

I'd suggest revisiting your codec setup - I get different results depending on which ones I choose, and so far, the only solid audio option I've found is AC3 (which I use with the SPDIF connection). I've run into problems with others (including Arcsoft's, along with Cyberlink, Intervideo, etc) causing poor playback and many a crash. I'd also see if the debug log offers any clues. Good luck!

[antonehenry]

I have got video and audio coming in.... All I need is this usb>serial>null>serial>usb thing to work for my DirecTV STB

Anyone have a step by step that actually works? I'm going crazy.

[SWKerr]

My attempt at a guide. Let me know what is confusing or not working and I will attemt to revise it for future use.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...579#post323579

[HelenWeathers]

There is also a setting in SageTV under Detailed Setup Customize or Advanced (I forget which) where you can change the DirecTV serial channel change speed. I don't remember the default, but I had to set mine to fast for the receivers I use.