mvp is unable to obtain an ip address

[nate33]

I'm using a wired MVP.

I just bought a new Trendnet router (not wireless) because MVP wasn't playing nice with my recently-purchased Netgear WNR2000 router. I'm still having trouble getting it set up.

The Router seems to works fine. My main computer, my PVR and my VOIP are all working properly and can access the internet. I can see the files stored on my PVR from my main computer.

However, I can't get my router to recognize the MVP. When I hook the MVP up and power on, I get a brief message stating "mvp is unable to obtain an ip address". That message appears for about 2 seconds, it then disappears and then goes into "no streaming server found" mode and remains there indefinitely.

When I use the router software to inventory all of the DHCP clients, it lists my main computer, my PVR and my VOIP, but not the MVP.

FWIW, I've tested all of the connections and have even moved the MVP right next to the router and changed ethernet cables. No matter what I do, the router won't recognize the MVP.

Also, my MVP worked fine for two years using my old Netgear WGT624 before the router finally crapped out.

[davephan]

If you have firewall software running on your SageTV computer, try disabling the software firewall to determine if the firewall is the problem. If the MVP boots up, then you know the firewall is the problem and you need to open up ports in the firewall software. If disabling the firewall software does not fix the problem, Keep the firewall software disabled until you finish checking your router.

Make sure the router has the ports open between the MVP and the SageTV computer. This might be a pain to do if the MVP IPs periodically float around because they use DHCP and you can't fix the MVP IP addresses. Some routers allow you to assign an IP to a MAC address, which might make the long term solution easier.

Page 234 of the SageTV 6.6 manual might help fix the problem. Check your router to make sure the following ports are open between the MVP and SageTV computer:
31100 (UDP) - For discovering the SageTV server after booting.
31099 (TCP) - For SageTV usage after fully booed and SageTV is loaded.

In addition, the following ports are also used by the Hauppauge MediaMVP Media Extender:
16867 (UDP) - For booting the MVP Media Extender.
16869 (UDP) - For booting the MVP Media Extender.
16881 (UDP) - Not defined in the manual

Another solution to the MVP problem involves spending some money, but is a better solution. If you replace the MVP extenders with HD-200 extenders, you will not have the connection problems. From time to time, I experienced connection problems that needed to be fixed with the MVP units. This type of problem never has occurred with the HD200 extenders. The HD-200 is far more reliable than the MVP. The audio is far superior on the HD-200 than the MVP. The video is also better on the HD-200. The HD-200 can also play a number of video formats, so your computer does not have to transcode compressed videos into mpeg2 on the fly, which reduces the SageTV CPU load (the MVP can only play mpeg2 format directly). You can also configure a HD-200 either DHCP or static IP.

Overall, the HD-200 is far superior to the MVP, and worth the cost to switch to the HD-200 extenders, at least on your main TVs.

Dave

[nate33]

Thanks for the feedback, Dave.

I have indeed disabled the firewall on my PVR, and I still have the problem. When I get a chance later, I'll try opening the ports as you suggested.

- Nate