Two PVR250's - Different Versions

sshapiro63 · #1 07-29-2003, 01:02 PM

You might run into some conflicts. I had a combination of the older boards running with the newer boards and sometimes SageTV would give me errors that it could not detect my capture hardware.

I think the best thing to do is go with all the same model encoder chip. I guess you could always go back to Circuit City and pick up a 3rd unit. At that point you will have 2 boards with the same encoder and one odd board. Just return the odd board to Circuit City. They won't know if the board you return is the exact one you picked up from them, or your original. The board will just go back to Hauppauge. Hauppauge should stop shipping both versions, or at least identify the encoder on the label of the box.

By the way, the newer version runs much cooler. Only difference I know of is that the new chip dropped the video output circuits that are not used with the PVR250 anyway.

Steve

JasonJoel · #2 07-29-2003, 01:06 PM

Ok, picked up another PVR250 at circuit city this week. Now I have two.

UNFORTUNATELY, the new one is a version 16 and my old one is a version 15.

Is there anything special that needs to be done to get them to work in the same machine? Special driver version, etc?

So far they seem to be coexisting, but I haven't done much testing - unfortunately my power supply went out about 2 hours after putting the new card in. Tested with another PS I had around and nothing got fried, but haven't had time to permanently replace the PS yet (will tonight).

Just wanted to know if there was anything special to look out for before I go too much further.

Jason

edmc · #3 07-29-2003, 01:54 PM

I, too, have a dual PVR-250 setup with different versions. I did have a few issues getting the proper drivers loaded - I had to use SHS's technique to completely clean out the v.15 driver 1st. After that, the two cards worked just great! I have contemplated upgrading the older card, however, as that one runs quite a bit hotter than the v.16 card. But so far I'm very happy with my 2 card setup...

binyan · #4 07-29-2003, 02:27 PM

I'm not at home to check, but does this mean that it is possible to get my pvr-350 and my pvr-250 working in the same box, if I completely clean out the drivers from the pvr-350 install? If so, I'd rather do that than buy a 2nd pvr-250 (which would be my 3rd Happauge card) or spend more to get a 2nd 350 which again might be from different chipsets.

edmc · #5 07-29-2003, 05:28 PM

Don't know if a 250/350 combination can be controlled by a single driver or if the two boards/chips appear different enough to actually use distinct drivers (in the latter case I'd expect no problems whatsoever). Again, doing the SHS steps to get the cleanest possible install of the most recent/functional driver is recommended. With my dual 250 (different versions) setup, I have absolutely no problems...

JasonJoel · #6 08-03-2003, 05:41 PM

Well, just to close this out...

I had absolutely no problems getting my two different cards to work in the same machine. I am using the last RELEASED drivers (21062 I believe), didn't even try the beta drivers.

Been working fine for about a week now, and I've recorded many shows using both tuners at the same time. Good stuff!

Just thought I would share.

Jason

aglennon · #7 08-04-2003, 06:55 PM

Thanks for keeping us updated. I too took advantage of the $99 card at Circuit City. Since I got the older model I was very concerned about problems. Now I feel better and will be installing it tomorrow.

insomniac · #8 08-04-2003, 11:21 PM

I just picked up a new 250 and it ended up being a 16. Of course, my old one is a 15..

I have tried all the new beta drivers out there without luck. The best setup I have ended up with so far is both cards installed without crash, but only one card works correctly ( the new one). The other cards video and sound are all jacked.

I have completely uninstalled all drivers many times (using the unreg...bat file and the hauppauge hardware cleaner app).

Any ideas? Order of uninstall, reinstall?

I.

binyan · #9 08-05-2003, 03:39 AM

I have verified that a 250 (encoder-16) and a 350 (encoder/decoder) do not work with any combination of drivers that I have come up with. However I replaced my 250 (encoder-16, no heatsink) with a 250 (encoder, with heatsink) and I have both cards working fine in Windows XP Home.

JasonJoel · #10 08-05-2003, 07:13 AM

Only word of advice I have is this:

I could NOT get both cards to work together no matter what I did on my Soyo Dragon KT333 Ultra Motherboard. (VIA KT333 chipset). I even tried a clean install of Windows + any driver combination. I also tried EVERY combination of PCI slot usage too - to make sure it simply did not need to be in a different PCI slot. Simply would not work. Either it would lock up windows, or only one card would work.

So I swapped motherboards with my old and trusty ECS K75SA (SIS chipset) and everything worked first try. And both cards work beautifully together (both cards at same time or only using one card).

So I don't know if it is just a VIA chipset thing, or what. But they work PERFECTLY at the same time on my SIS chipsaet motherboard.

As far as I'm concerned it is not a PVR-250 issue, nor a Hauppage driver issue - but a motherboard/chipset/chipset driver issue.

Jason

Quote:

Originally posted by insomniac
I just picked up a new 250 and it ended up being a 16. Of course, my old one is a 15..

I have tried all the new beta drivers out there without luck. The best setup I have ended up with so far is both cards installed without crash, but only one card works correctly ( the new one). The other cards video and sound are all jacked.

I have completely uninstalled all drivers many times (using the unreg...bat file and the hauppauge hardware cleaner app).

Any ideas? Order of uninstall, reinstall?

I.

insomniac · #11 08-05-2003, 07:16 AM

Ugh,..VIA chipset here too. Ive been looking for an excuse to upgrade my machine anyway i guess..

I.

Quote:

Originally posted by JasonJoel
Only word of advice I have is this:

I could NOT get both cards to work together no matter what I did on my Soyo Dragon KT333 Ultra Motherboard. (VIA KT333 chipset). I even tried a clean install of Windows + any driver combination. I also tried EVERY combination of PCI slot usage too - to make sure it simply did not need to be in a different PCI slot. Simply would not work. Either it would lock up windows, or only one card would work.

So I swapped motherboards with my old and trusty ECS K75SA (SIS chipset) and everything worked first try. And both cards work beautifully together (both cards at same time or only using one card).

So I don't know if it is just a VIA chipset thing, or what. But they work PERFECTLY at the same time on my SIS chipsaet motherboard.

As far as I'm concerned it is not a PVR-250 issue, nor a Hauppage driver issue - but a motherboard/chipset/chipset driver issue.

Jason

SHS · #12 08-05-2003, 08:55 AM

It been my under standing that you need both cards with same chip in order for the firmware to work rigth.
Also there is small diff in Reg Parameters 15 vs 16

StopCaptureBeforeChannelChange
The I5 need it on where 16 dosen't

DisableEventNotification
The 16 need this on where 15 dosen't

EnableVIMProtection
The 16 need this on where 15 dosen't

but then agine a motherboard/chipset/chipset driver are issue most with VIA but you know what really funny here VIA Mini motherboard thoses EPIA series board go figer.

edmc · #13 08-05-2003, 11:12 AM

SHS> It been my under standing that you need both cards with same chip in order for the firmware to work rigth.

I think the problem folks are having is particular to chipset/slot/etc, and not specifically to mixing PVR-250 versions. As I posted earlier, on my Soyo Dragon (P4 w/ Intel chipset) I have 2 cards working great - one is v15 while the other is v16). The only challenge I had was getting the driver(s) loaded. My method involved a clean uninstall (thanks to your [SHS's] direction), then I installed the v15 card and did an install. Shutdown and installed the v16 card and did the install again. Voila!

SHS · #14 08-05-2003, 01:40 PM

You most like got lucky edmc

JasonJoel · #15 08-05-2003, 03:48 PM

Guess I got lucky too...

On both my SIS chipset machine and my Nvidia Nforce 2 machine, but not on my VIA chipset motherboard...

I don't think getting it to work on two completely different machines is getting lucky. I think it is supposed to work.

Probably works on VIA chipsets under the right conditions too (maybe a particular version of the Hyperion drivers, certain bios, etc?).

Jason

Quote:

Originally posted by SHS
You most like got lucky edmc

insomniac · #16 08-05-2003, 03:56 PM

In any case, Im glad to hear that someone has a working config.

I was looking for an excuse to upgrade my mobo and processor anyway

I.

salsbst · #17 08-05-2003, 04:53 PM

When I ended up with a -15 and a -16 and suffered "the problem", I called Hauppauge and arranged a trade-in, specifically requesting that they send me a -16 to replace the -15 I was returning. They put up no fight did just that for me.

JasonJoel · #18 08-05-2003, 05:22 PM

Wow. That is good to know too!

Really cool of them.

Jason

Quote:

Originally posted by salsbst
When I ended up with a -15 and a -16 and suffered "the problem", I called Hauppauge and arranged a trade-in, specifically requesting that they send me a -16 to replace the -15 I was returning. They put up no fight did just that for me.

malore · #19 08-07-2003, 02:09 PM

Do the winTV apps still work for anyone with multiple pvr cards installed?

salsbst · #20 08-07-2003, 06:01 PM

WinTV didn't even work for me with one card..... but no, I'm pretty sure WinTV doesn't support more than one card.

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