Problems with Trial and PVR 150 MCE

[Anzxio]

I have a PVR 150 MCE and cannot get it to work with SageTV (works with other software though).

I get this error when i try to 'Scan for available channels':

'There was a Playback Error in playback: Details:
sage.PlaybackException: ERROR(-3,0x80040243):
There was a problem accessing the filesystem for playback'

When i click 'ok' i get:
'There was a capture error in playback. Details:
ERROR(-4,0x8007048f): There was an problem using the capture device. Please be sure you have the latest drivers installed for your capture device, and that they are installed correctly'

Any ideas at all? As it works with all the other programs i've tried, and it is meant to be supported!

I'm in the UK (if that makes any difference).


Thanks

[koelec]

I'm a registered user of sagetv and I'm running sagetv with a PVR-250
since the beginning of this year without any problems.
Last week I decided it was time to get rid of the recording conflicts by ordering a 2nd capture card.
I received my PVR-150MCE (PAL version, called Amicity 2 in Europe) yesterday and have exactly the same problem as described in the previous post. It works fine with WINTV2000 but with sagetv 2.1 I get this capture error.
I've tried all different driver versions out there. But no luck.
Seems the support for this card has not been tested very well.
This afternoon I emailed my problem to sage support, hoping
they come up with a solution for this.
I'll share their response in this thread.

[bigskeels]

I just received the pvr-150mce in the mail today and had the exact same problem. I fixed it by changing the video display settings in sage to 'overlay' instead of the default vm9 something-or-other directx. hope the same works for you.

After that, my problem seems to now be that the audio is way out of sync on several different channels when viewing live tv (but not on other channels), so i'm still searching the forums for a solution to that. Reclock seemed to not help so far, but i havent messed with reclock settings yet.

[koelec]

I just received the pvr-150mce in the mail today and had the exact same problem. I fixed it by changing the video display settings in sage to 'overlay' instead of the default vm9 something-or-other directx. hope the same works for you.

Bigskeels, thanks for your help. But I don't think our capture error has
anything to do with rendering.
I checked the video setting, but it was already set to overlay.

Maybe the problem is only with PAL boards.
Bigskeels, are you a PAL user (like me) or NTSC?

[koelec]

Ok,
The beta 2.2.1 doesn't fix the problem. But I've got new information. Because I think it has something to do with how sagetv initializes the capture device.
Normally after installing the hauppauge drivers I run the WinTV2000 app
to see if it is working and it always works fine. After that I start Sagetv and no luck I get the error. Then today I skipped the wintv2000 step and tried
to run Sagetv directly and voila, I got it working with the PVR150-MCE !!
After exiting Sagetv and restarting it again, no luck it hangs on tv preview and needs to be killed from the task manager. When I choose view
from the channel setup menu I get the capture error.
Starting Wintv2000 always works, even after a hang in sagetv. Obviously wintv2000 initializes the capture device properly when it starts.
Now when I reboot the system and start Sagetv it works. Restarting Sagetv again -> hang/capture error.
From all this you can safely conclude that sagetv 2.1.10 (and 2.2.1 beta) doesn't initialize the capture device properly. It only works after a hardware reset.

[Sten3danny]

Same problem here,

I also added a 150MCE to the 250 I already had and get the same capture error. But if I only install the 150MCE and take out the 250, everything works fine.
Just the 250 also works without problems, but adding the second pvr messes up things for me. So in my case it seems like the drivers are interfering or something.

At the moment I have it working somehow, but I don't know for how long...

Have you tried using just the 150mce?

[koelec]

Have you tried using just the 150mce?

Yes, the 150mce without the 250 works with WINTV2000 flawlessly.
With sagetv it only works right after reboot. Closing sage and restarting it will
give me the capture error.

Just the 250 also works without problems, but adding the second pvr messes up things for me. So in my case it seems like the drivers are interfering or something.

Exactly the same here.

At the moment I have it working somehow, but I don't know for how long...

Do you remember which drivers you installed to get it working in the end and in what order you installed these?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by koelec

The beta 2.2.1 doesn't fix the problem.

Just checking... if updated drivers aren't fixing it, you've filed a bug report on it, right? Things can't get fixed if they aren't reported.

- Andy

[Sten3danny]

koelec,

at the moment I have the "2.0.18.22280" driver version installed for the 150mce. I believe I installed the 150mce first and then added the 250.

[koelec]

Sten3danny,

Have you got the 250's remote working in your 150mce/250 setup?
Because seems to give trouble as well. (IR Remote failed to initialize)
See also the other threads (like 8579) on this subject.

[lengou]

Has anyone seen this error with the 150MCE?

There was a Playback Error in playback. Details:
sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80040217):
There was a problem rendering the video portion of
the content for playback.

I can't get the latest drivers (mce_cd_23c.zip) to work with SageTV. I've clean installed like 5 times, using different versions of the hauppauge drivers. I can't even get WinTV2000 to work. Help please?

BTW, using Windows XP Pro.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by lengou

There was a Playback Error in playback. Details:
sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80040217):
There was a problem rendering the video portion of
the content for playback.

That error doesn't have anything to do with the 150 (or at least it shouldn't), that's a playback error. Do you have any MPEG decoders installed? If so, which ones are selected in Detailed Setup -> Video, also what Renderer do you have selected?

[lengou]

Originally Posted by stanger89

That error doesn't have anything to do with the 150 (or at least it shouldn't), that's a playback error. Do you have any MPEG decoders installed? If so, which ones are selected in Detailed Setup -> Video, also what Renderer do you have selected?

I don't know if I have any decoders installed, how do I check? For Video Renderer I've tried all three options available (default video, video overlay, and VRM9), and still get the same error.

[Sten3danny]

Lengou,

I've seen that playback error as well and it definitely has something to do with the 150, as it first appeared after I installed it. I think the error is still there for me, but I'm using a server/client setup and don't watch anything on the server, so I've let it be.

koelec,

I've also seen that error message regarding the 250's remote, but like I said, I'm only using that machine as a server, so I didn't bother to investigate.

It seems to me that Sage is just not happy with the 150 and it's drivers or something, I don't know...

[Lucas]

I had a similar issue moving from 2.0.20 to 2.1 where because the shows I tried to watch had Greek(Unicode) chars as the title.
I reported it to support a month ago appox. They will provide a fix.
Maybe 2.2.2 fixes it, I am testing it tonite.

Where do you get your XMLTV data from. What's the encoding?

Are the show titles ansi-latin (ie no accents etc)?

[Lucas]

Also, From memory I had the exact -4 error when doing a fresh install of 2,1 which by default sets the Recording Dir in frey.../SageTV/Videos ie the C: Drive....
I only had 300Mb on that drive....

If you don't have lots of space then you may get this error...

Try setting the Recordings folder to a drive that has lots of space.

[amdcursed]

anyone news on the exact problem and or solution to this?

[koelec]

I reported the problem to the beta test team on and they asked me to run some tests like going to suspend mode and see if the error persists. They also gave me a new DShowCapture.dll to see if that fixes the problem. After that no news, guess they're working on it. I would be disappointed when the new beta (when it comes out) does not address this problem.

[Methius]

Hello, I have the exact same problem as described in the past posts.

This still is with the latest beta.
I also can't go to suspend, or I get the recording error (as described in the past posts).

Can someone help me?

[wmustudent99]

I am having the same problem as well.

I have contacted Frey but I haven't received a response. I received the PVR150 as a christmas gift and I haven't been able to get it working