HD-PVR Setup Stories

[canadaneedsmusi]

Ok, so last night I had my video in Sage Running the best I've had it. Using Overlay, and the Arcsoft for the decoding. And DirectShow for the playback.

SD is working 95%, and HD maybe 80%. The HD looks good and seems to be over the "stuttering" but whenever there is movement it's not smooth. Any suggestions on that? I still don't think my hardware acceleration is working correctly, I'm still running at about 35%-45% CPU Usage when in SageTV. But I can't find any information on how to check or how to fix it.

Now I just have to work on configuring Sage a bit more... like having it change the channels on the STB, haha.

Also, when I play HD in the Arcsoft program it runs pretty much perfectly. But in SageTV not nearly as good. Any suggestions on that?

Thanks.

[azcoyote]

I just installed the latest SageTV beta on my 2GHz Duo Core HTPC where I have my HD PVR set up. I'm pretty new to SageTV and thought I'd give it a try for a couple weeks before deciding if I want to permanently replace VMC with it. So far I'm pretty happy with SageTV. Playback of my recorded HD programs is pretty smooth and excellent quality. However when watching an HD channel with the Watch Live TV option, the video stutters. If I delay playback by hitting pause on my remote and then play, the stuttering goes away. Is anyone else with a HD PVR experiencing this? I also get the stuttery video when watching Live TV on my other PC through the SageTV client. On my HTPC I have SageTV configured to use the Arcsoft video and audio decoders. My video card is an nvidia 8800GT. When I record HD programming with the supplied Arcsoft software, I don't experience any stuttering in the preview window. So I wouldn't expect to see any stuttering in SageTV when viewing live tv.

[gtdave]

Friends in the infinite struggle, I believe I am 95% there with the following setup:

SageTV Server (P4, 1GB RAM, GeForce 6600LE): ArcSoft Video Decoder for h.264, Nvidia PureVideo Decoder for mpeg-2, and latest DivX Decoder for avi. AC3Filter for all audio, had to unregister ArcSoft Audio Decoders (Effect, HD, and the standard one) to get audio playback to work correctly, so I'm now using Mainconcept AAC decoder in the properties file. Everything plays PERFECTLY, including, HD-PVR ts files, mkv files with h.264 content, and OTA HD mpeg transport streams. In Overlay mode on this machine, no FSE. Stereo audio only.

SageTV Client #1 (Athlon XP, 512MB RAM, GeForce 6600LE): Same decoder setup, stereo audio only. Plays everything perfectly in Overlay, no FSE.

SageTV Client #2 (identical to Client #1 but with Radeon HD 2600 XT): Same decoder setup, but using SPDIF out to Yamaha receiver. Get some frame dropping/skipping/chopping when I use AC3Filter to process and encode stereo audio to 5.1 AC3 over SPDIF. If I uncheck the "Encode AC3" box, the skipping is reduced to a minimum...still quite annoying. (CPU usage is minimal--15-20% for the video and another 7-10% for the audio with AC3 encode on, 3-4% with AC3 encode off...don't know what the deal is!) This only occurs with the HD-PVR ts files or live TV from the HD-PVR...OTA HD and other media files play perfectly. This one I have to use VMR9 and no FSE to minimize the skipping, which I assume has something to do with hardware acceleration on this ATI video card.

Any thoughts on how to get AC3Filter to play well with others? Any alternatives to AC3Filter out there?

Thanks!
Dave

[Reefkeeper]

After building a new AMD Phenom Quad Core based machine I went thru the stuttering playback issues and found that I had to disable AMD's "Cool & Quiet" feature. This feature tries to throttle the CPU to match the system load but it did not work well with Sagetv. After disabling it the recordings play great.

[Qusix]

Received my HD PVR yesterday.

OS: Windows XP
Server: AMD XP 3000+ 1GB Ram
Current Tuners: Hd Homerun, Win TV PVR 150
Clients: 1 Extender

Install about 3 hours. Most of the time was devoted to installing the IR Blaster. I didn't know you had to place it on the cable box. I had it about 5 feet away and it was not working. Once placed on the box it worked like a charm.


1. First Installed only the Drivers. Sage TV locked up when trying to setup the tuner.
2. Ran HWClear program and installed everything from CD.
3. Tested with included software and I was able to see video. The blinker would blink but channels would not change.
4. Second Try to install tuner in Sage. Everything Ran Fine. Another Rookie Mistake on my part. I used the same lineup that i use for the HD Homerun. I set all the channels to enable thinking sage would know which channels were for the hd homerun and which were for the hd pvr.
5. Tested Video on my Extender. Video and Audio were fine however I could not change channels.
6. Called Tech Support. Discovered blaster needed to be directly on the box. Placed on Box and the channels started changing.
7. Tested Channel Change on Extender. It worked for some channels not for all. This is were i noticed that it was trying to use the HD Homerun to tune the channels.
8. Searched online. Discovered I need to setup different lineups for the hd home run and the hd pvr.
9. Setup Different Guides. Everything works now. It has been recording for a bout 12 hours straight now.



Issues
1. Channel Change is a little longer than I expected. I think it takes about 10 secs to change channels. After the channel change there prob is another 10 sec wait for the video and audio to play smoothly.
2. While watching ESPN, the video seems to have a little hiccup every once in a while. I don't think I have noticed it on other channels.

[viperdiablo]

"I think it takes about 10 secs to change channels. After the channel change there prob is another 10 sec wait for the video and audio to play smoothly."


Are you saying that it takes 20 seconds from the time you change channels on the extender to actually seeing video and hearing audio?

[othy]

Originally Posted by viperdiablo

Are you saying that it takes 20 seconds from the time you change channels on the extender to actually seeing video and hearing audio?

I wasn't the poster you're responding to, but I started with the IR Blaster then switched to the USB-UIRT. On the blaster, my channel changes were very slow, but not as long as 20 seconds. I didn't actually time it. Also, there were always a few seconds of video that stuttered just after tuning.

On my USB-IURT, channel changes seem to take about half the time (my impression only) and I don't get that few seconds of stuttering. And actually it would be quicker than that if I could get the device to send an "Enter" after the channel number. When I tune a one- or two-digit channel, the STB waits to see if more numbers are coming before it changes.

Also worth mentioning is that my USB-UIRT seems to emit a stronger signal than the blaster. I don't have to have it as close to my STB as with the Blaster.

YMMV of course.

Tim

[viperdiablo]

Othy thanks for the reply. Good to hear the time can be shorter then 20 seconds. If it was that slow I was thinking i should just stick to my cable companys pvr. One more thing can the usb-uirt controll two cable boxes with two hd pvrs?

[sleonard]

Originally Posted by viperdiablo

...
One more thing can the usb-uirt controll two cable boxes with two hd pvrs?

Look Here

S

[domc]

For me it's about 9 seconds and the screen goes black for that time, then you see about 1 second video of the channel before the channel you want to change too. I also sometimes but not all the time get a stutter on the channel changed to and then fixes itself.
I've got a revision 2 version of the box also.

USB-UIRT is on the way. We'll see if that helps.

Originally Posted by viperdiablo

"I think it takes about 10 secs to change channels. After the channel change there prob is another 10 sec wait for the video and audio to play smoothly."


Are you saying that it takes 20 seconds from the time you change channels on the extender to actually seeing video and hearing audio?

[amthar]

I've been waiting, patiently, for about 3 years for something like the HD-PVR to come along. The struggles people are mentioning are disconcerning, but the user base is so intelligent and the SageTV crew so responsive that I'm not afraid to jump into the HD-PVR festival of pain. I don't currently have SageTV, but have been reading anything and everything I can on the boards for the past year.

Two questions:

1 - How does SageTV interface with the HD-PVR for Live TV? From what I've read, I can get an HD100 extender, attach a TV to it, connect it to my GigE network, and a SageTV server with an HD-PVR can push Live TV to the extender, correct? I assume I can pause/rewind, etc as well. I'm hoping someone is going to say "SageTV simply sees it as an input device and makes it an available stream for clients on the network, including HD100 extenders"

2 - Has anyone used firewire on a cable STB for channel changing while using the HD PVR off of the STB component outputs for the video capture? Seems like this might solve the slow channel changing problem that the blaster and UIRT causes (if you use cable and have a firewire port)

[sleonard]

1- SageTV simply sees it as an input device and makes it an available stream for clients on the network, including HD100 extenders.

2- I gave up trying to get the Cox morons to enable FW on my STB's. My USB-UIRT works perfectly though.

S

[HTPCguy]

I finally managed to get the HDPVR working properly in Sage, thanks in large part to these forums & it's contributors. It was quite an experience though, with some challenges concerning codecs, splitters and like! It also took some time to become familiar with the Sage interface, but the learning experience that resulted was great. I've now said good riddance to the almost useless Vista Media Center, and am very impressed with Sage.

Unfortunately I had a bum unit from the first shipment, but I have to say, I was really impressed with Hauppauge's response. I live in Canada and had a replacement unit delivered to me within a few days of calling them, and it works 100%. I'm running Vista Home Premium (32) with an MCE remote (had to disable Windows Media Center services to avoid a conflict - see this post if interested in the how-to), and I have firewire working for channel changing on a SA8300HD stb.

To Amthar and anyone looking for info to incorporate firewire channel changing, I used instructions in this downwload. Also check out post #1496 by Opus4 in this thread. Channel changing with firewire is relatively fast and takes about 2-3 seconds from the moment I select a channel with my remote.

Originally Posted by canadaneedsmusi

Also, when I play HD in the Arcsoft program it runs pretty much perfectly. But in SageTV not nearly as good. Any suggestions on that?

Being a newbie to Sage, I had this question as well... if you haven't already, try adjusting the recording quality in the setup to best - this closely parallels the quality seen with higher bitrate settings in the Arcsoft application.

[canadaneedsmusi]

Ok, so I've atleast gotten the signal back in sage now. So I guess that's one step forward. But, guess what, things still don't work. It freezes upon opening about 80% of the time, resulting in me having to Crtl, Alt, Delete to get out of it. When I'm in the program it randomly starts recording things I don't want it to record. It randomly freezes while watching a show. When I try recording something it doesnt show up in my recordings section even though I made sure it's pointing to the right file. And I can't get the remote and IR blaster to get even close to working. Overall, I'm just fed up with the whole thing. When I got my HTPC originally the HDPVR wasnt out yet, so I bought a different tuner, hooked it up to VMC and it worked within 10mins, with the remote and everything. Since I've moved to Sage nothing works right. The HDPVR works great in the Arcsoft program, will record for hours without a problem. With Sage, nothing but problems.

I'm thinking about either trying to find a hack to play the HD-PVR in VMC, or just putting the HD-PVR away for now and going back to my old tuner. I just want to be able to enjoy watching TV, not having to struggle everytime.

Very dissapointed with the whole thing.

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by amthar

Two questions:

1 - How does SageTV interface with the HD-PVR for Live TV? From what I've read, I can get an HD100 extender, attach a TV to it, connect it to my GigE network, and a SageTV server with an HD-PVR can push Live TV to the extender, correct? I assume I can pause/rewind, etc as well. I'm hoping someone is going to say "SageTV simply sees it as an input device and makes it an available stream for clients on the network, including HD100 extenders"

2 - Has anyone used firewire on a cable STB for channel changing while using the HD PVR off of the STB component outputs for the video capture? Seems like this might solve the slow channel changing problem that the blaster and UIRT causes (if you use cable and have a firewire port)

Two answers:

1 - Yes, "SageTV simply sees it as an input device and makes it an available stream for clients on the network, including HD100 extenders". But SageTV doesn't really do "live" tv; everything is recorded first. I absolutely recommend the Sage HD extender for this. Other than doing a firmware update, it just worked. And luckily I got an HD PVR without the heat problem.

2 - I already had firewire channel changing set up prior to getting the HD PVR. When I got it I didn't even bother with trying to use their IR blaster. Short answer, it works great!

Wayne

[HTPCguy]

Originally Posted by canadaneedsmusi

I'm thinking about either trying to find a hack to play the HD-PVR in VMC, or just putting the HD-PVR away for now and going back to my old tuner. I just want to be able to enjoy watching TV, not having to struggle everytime.

Very dissapointed with the whole thing.

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles - believe me, I understand how frustrating it can be! As for an MCE hack, I don't believe it's possible at this point, given VMC's lack of h.264 support (the format used by the HDPVR to encode video). I understand Vista MCE support is expected at some point in the future, but I'll believe it when I see it. Microsoft seems to have abandoned most of its MCE development, and it seems so far behind Sage. I'd encourage you to keep trying with your setup - once you get it going, you'll be glad you did!

The problems you describe with unexpected & strange UI behavior sounds really bizarre, and I'd only be guessing at a cause. Maybe an uninstall / re-install might be in order. But I have a couple of suggestions first. Also, maybe it would help if you tackle one problem at a time - ie: getting proper audio & video with channel changing, before tackling the issue of your remote. You mentioned that everything is perfect with the Arcsoft TME application, so in theory, I would expect that your problems with Sage are only a matter of setup (and not, say, a lack of computing power).

You also mentioned problems getting video to fire up consistently, and problems getting channel changes to display properly without freezing - I went through some of these also. One thing I noticed is that if I used overlay for the video renderer (in detailed setup/ audio-video), I had all sorts of lock-ups, which I had to forcibly end via the task manager. When I use DirectX9 VMR9 instead, everything seems to work perfectly (including recently installed client software on my laptop, which streams HDPVR content smoothly). Additionally, in Sagetv's settings (detailed setup/ audio-video) I'm using Arcsoft for the MPEG2 video and audio decoders, with Directshow for MPEG4 playback.

Another thing to mention is that I think some of my setup troubles that sound similar to yours could have been related to previously installed codec packs; on the advice of earlier posts in this thread, I removed them. Also, to correct choppy HD video, I removed Haali media splitter (again, something I had previously installed), and replaced it with the Matroska splitter (1.0.2.9 windows installer found here), which completely corrected the problem.

If the above suggestions fail, I'd try uninstalling everything (ensuring program file folders are deleted), uninstall anything codec or splitter related, and then running hcwclear.exe to ensure a clean install. Then re-install only the Arcsoft TME software and the Matroska splitter. If everything looks good within the TME app, install the latest Sage beta and try configuring with the above settings. Maybe others with more experience using Sage could offer other suggestions as well... Good luck!

[bhyman1]

I guess I'm fortunate that I havent had any issues with my HD-PVR (rev 2). It's getting its video from a DirecTV h21-200 hard set to 1080i. Also, I'm using the analog audio connection.

Mine is plugged into my dedicated Sage server which is a Pentium 4 3Ghz, 2 gigs ram, running Windows XP SP2. The server can't handle local playback from the HD PVR but thats fine.

My two HD extenders playback perfectly after updating to the beta firmware.

My main home theater HTPC is an E6600, 2 gigs ram, nVidia 7900gt, and Windws XP SP2. That works quite well. I'm using the Arcsoft codec from the HD PVR install disc (installed TME). I did have to set playback to Overlay instead of VMR9 to get smooth playback. I may upgrade the video card so I can use VMR 9 again, as I suspect thats the issue.

I have a Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop in my office that aso plays back from the HD PVR perfectly. It's a Core Duo T2600 @ 2.16Ghz, has 2 gigs of RAM, an nVidia Geforce Go 7900GS, and runs Windows XP SP2. I installed the TME software to get the Arcsft codec loaded. Again, once switching to overlay it's plays back fine.

I havent installed the TME software on another one of my clients to get the Arcsoft codec, but once I have the time I'll be giving it a try. It's an E4400, 2 gigs RAM, built in Intel GMA x3100 graphics and Windows XP SP2. It'll be interesting to see if it can handle the video from the HD PVR or if I need to get a video card for it.

I havent tried it out yet on my MacBook Pro.

[Qusix]

Originally Posted by Qusix

Received my HD PVR yesterday.
......

Issues
1. Channel Change is a little longer than I expected. I think it takes about 10 secs to change channels. After the channel change there prob is another 10 sec wait for the video and audio to play smoothly.
2. While watching ESPN, the video seems to have a little hiccup every once in a while. I don't think I have noticed it on other channels.

Just wanted to add about the issues above. I have upgrade to using the usbirt. They channel change is now much faster and the video is smooth after the channel change. It takes < 5 secs for channel change for me now.

I also dont have the hiccup anymore. I switched my cable box to output 1080i and it seems everything is fine.

[mayamaniac]

I cannot get the HD-PVR IR Blaster to work consistently with SageTV. It works perfectly with the Hauppauge IR app, but it is erratic with SageTV. It works initially when the server starts, but stops working after a few channel changes. The IR blaster stops flashing the red light to my DCH3200 STB. I don't know what is going on but have submitted a bug report.

Other than that, the Rev C2 unit works well. I have no heat issues so far. Picture is not as great as the HDHR, but it is good enough. What would be awesome is Hauppauge drop the price on these units, or put two encoders like the HDHR for around $300.

[IVB]

Well, i've been taking my setup in baby steps. Step 1 was to install the HD-PVR and hook up the DirecTV STB, leaving it on USA-HD. Step 2 was going to be to enable the HD-PVR IRBlaster, but after this thread I may wait another week when I won't need the USB-UIRT anymore on my other PC, and move it to the server room.

My issues were entirely user-error. Once I realized that all I have to do is:
1) Plug in cables tightly
2) Install all software, not just the drivers
3) Upgrade SageTV to latest Beta
4) Upgrade Extenders to beta firmware (that one took me a few hours to remember)

It recorded fine today with several hours of Law & Order, but there was no channel changing needed.

It plays back *almost* fine on one of my extenders, there's a slight judder perhaps every 7-10 seconds, enough to be annoying. It outputs optical to my Denon, i'll try again later tonight on the HDExtender that is hooked up via analog to my TV.

All in all, pretty decent for baby step #1, now I just need to get the channel changing and the judder eliminated.