Help me figure out what dumb thing I am doing with the HD-PVR and HD Media Extender

[Chriscic]

The Sage HD-100 Extender seems to be working fine, but I can't watch TV on the extender... only blackness.

Below is the email I sent to Sage Tech support. Maybe someone in the community can help faster. I suspect stupidity on my part but can't determine what I might be missing.

Thanks,
-Chris
___________________________________
I've just connected my brand new HD-100 Sage Media Extender. It connects fine with my Sage Server. Movies play ok, but I can't get it to actually show live TV from the connected Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212. I can watch TV fine (with mild stuttering but beside the immediate point) on the client PC, so I know the PVR is working fine. But for some reason nothing but black when trying to watch TV from the Media Extender.

To be clear, all the menus, channel info. when I'm watching (or trying to), program guide etc. come up fine, but it's not getting the video from the PVR.

Both the Media Extender and SageTV client software are licensed, and I'm using the latest Beta 6.4.5.179.

Thanks,
-Chris

[Conejo]

You may want to update the HD100 to the latest beta: beta firmware "20080710 0"

Check the clock time on both devices
Check you firewall settings (or temporarily disable)

Can you Start a recording, wait a few minutes, then watch it while it's still recording?

[Brent]

Have you updated to the latest beta firmware for the HD100?
EDIT: conejo beat me to it

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Conejo

You may want to update the HD100 to the latest beta: beta firmware "20080710 0"

Check the clock time on both devices
Check you firewall settings (or temporarily disable)

Can you Start a recording, wait a few minutes, then watch it while it's still recording?

Thanks guys. I'll try the latest Beta firmware... if I can figure out how to install it, since no online update is found.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

Thanks guys. I'll try the latest Beta firmware... if I can figure out how to install it, since no online update is found.

All you have to do is go to the HD100 "firmware update menu" and then enter 2382 (stands for beta) with your remote. it will then say "beta firmware update" and then search for new update.
You should be able to update to the latest firmware after that.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

I'll try the latest Beta firmware... if I can figure out how to install it, since no online update is found.

See the link in the post you quoted -- it has instructions for updating to the beta firmware.

- Andy

[Chriscic]

Thanks all!

I managed to update the latest beta firmware and thing seem to be working well now! I'll have to play around a bit to make sure no glitches (I did get out of sync audio right at first but then it seemed to go away when I changed channels), but FINALLY working.

I just have to say, c'mon Sage, can you make it just a bit easier to get up and running? I guess they'd say it's all beta right now... I knew to download the beta software but it never occurred to be there might be beta firmware as well.

Cheers,
-Chris

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

I just have to say, c'mon Sage, can you make it just a bit easier to get up and running? I guess they'd say it's all beta right now... I knew to download the beta software but it never occurred to be there might be beta firmware as well.

Really?

The beta topic where you download the beta has a link to the firmware as part of the release notes in the first post and another link in the first reply. The release notes should always be read before trying a beta.

And, the beta progress report has links to the beta topic and to the firmware update in the post that announces the most recent beta.

- Andy

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Really?

The beta topic where you download the beta has a link to the firmware as part of the release notes in the first post and another link in the first reply. The release notes should always be read before trying a beta.

And, the beta progress report has links to the beta topic and to the firmware update in the post that announces the most recent beta.

- Andy

Andy - You can lead a horse to water...but you can't make him drink.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Really?

The beta topic where you download the beta has a link to the firmware as part of the release notes in the first post and another link in the first reply. The release notes should always be read before trying a beta.

And, the beta progress report has links to the beta topic and to the firmware update in the post that announces the most recent beta.

- Andy

Just goes to show what's obvious to someone who already knows the process might not be so obvious to someone new to the situation.

To download the SageTV beta software, I googled SageTV beta, and got the following website: http://sagetv.com/betadownload.html, where I downloaded the latest beta from. The words "firmware" do not appear on that page... although I see you are referring me to the release notes.

Release notes? Who reads those things : ) Especially when it says the reason is to "determine which bugs have been fixed." Actually, I may have scanned it but don't see anywhere where it tells you have to download the latest beta firmware to go with the latest beta software (also the existence of the beta firmware isn't even mentioned until the very end). I sure thought that updating the firmware on the box per instructions (I read those!) would be enough.

Finally... I'm not exactly trying to be a trailblazer here with beta software. It's the only way I was able to support Sage with my purchase since only the beta works with the HD-PVR.

But... I realize it's still a beta so I can't expect everything to go totally smoothly (which is what I was trying to acknowledge in my post), or everything to be efficiently communicated (as defined by me of course). I can see it was more or less in there somewhere.

Anyway, so far I love the SageTV software and extender

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

To download the SageTV beta software, I googled SageTV beta, and got the following website: http://sagetv.com/betadownload.html, where I downloaded the latest beta from. The words "firmware" do not appear on that page... although I see you are referring me to the release notes.

There is a beta section of the forum with the current beta info in sticky topics, so most users shouldn't need to use Google to find it.

Release notes? Who reads those things : )

Anyone who uses the beta ought to read them to prevent confusion about any changes or things that need to be done to make better use of the beta.

Actually, I may have scanned it but don't see anywhere where it tells you have to download the latest beta firmware to go with the latest beta software (also the existence of the beta firmware isn't even mentioned until the very end).

It is here, in bold text:

Originally Posted by Narflex

Extender Updates
1. HD Extender CRASH BUG IS FIXED!!! Update your firmware!!

Anyway, I'm not trying to argue with you, I was trying to determine where the confusion came from -- it is in the release notes, but not the beta download page, which is sort-of hidden anyway.

- Andy

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Anyway, I'm not trying to argue with you, I was trying to determine where the confusion came from -- it is in the release notes, but not the beta download page, which is sort-of hidden anyway.

- Andy

No worries... just explaining my confusion. Cheers,
-Chris

[MrD]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Andy - You can lead a horse to water...but you can't make him drink.

Wow, I've been saying that alot at work these days

[wazkaren]

Can someone help me figure out what dumb thing I'm doing? I just got my HD-100 Extender today and connected to my TV using an HDMI.

I configured the extender to use HDMI. I can see the sage menu and I can play DVDs that I ripped onto a local PC (not the sage server pc) but any of my HD recordings don't play. The screen is black and there is no audio. I can see the progress bar at the bottom and it is advancing normally but no video or audio. I upgraded the the firmware to the latest beta and I upgraded the sage server to 6.4.6. The sage server (running in service mode) has windows firewall turned off and there is no other firewall or virus software. I can run Sage Client on a different PC with no trouble so it's just the extender. Please help, I don't have that much hair left that I can pull out

Thanks,
Greg

Edit: this is total bizarre, I have two episodes of CSI on the same hard drive. One episode will play in the extender and one will not. Both will play on a Sage Client on a different PC. What is going on?

[Conejo]

What type of TV/Display do you have connected.
What resolutions and interlace types does it support.
What do you have the HD-100 set to output.

[wazkaren]

It looks like I had a corrupted wiz.bin file. I did a complete re-install of sage and now it's working. I tried to copy the old wiz.bin from when I was running 6.4.4 back into my current working sage install directory but that caused the failure again. I've lost all my wiz.bin data but I guess at least I've got the extender working.

Greg