Is there support for Hauppauge HVR-2250 for SageTV running on Windows Home Server?

[monkeydooh]

Does anyone know if there is support for Hauppauge HVR-2250 running Windows Home Server for SageTV?

[psklenar]

I installed one Wednesday night. No problems other than the Hauppauge CD autorun installer won't run under WHS (the HD-PVR's CD auto-installer didn't work either tho). Driver installer alone works fine however. Yesterday I got both tuners setup for Analog and Digital. Wednesday night I wasn't happy with live Digital picture quality (lots of dropouts). But yesterday I did a "stress" test of having a mix of recordings on each tuner simultaniously (two HDHR inputs and two 2250 inputs, my HD-PVR is in for service) and all recordings looked "okay" on the extenders. Today I've setup a 2nd stres test for this afternoon to record four HD shows simultaiously. I'll judge the recording quality this evening. It may have just been an issue of viewing "live" on the server (during channel lineup setup) with it's very low end video card.

Oh yeah, I used the "beta" or "pre=-release" driver from the Hauppauge site. My system config is below in my .sig block.

pat----

[psklenar]

Monkeydooh,

Hold up if you haven't ordered the 2250 yet. I removed mine from the active tuners in Sage for now. I'm hoping it's the pre-release Hauppauge drivers, but I was seeing BSOD's (WHS would automatically reboot and everything would come back up just fine) when ever the a recording would initially try to start on the 2250. After WHS comes back up, the recording planned for the 2250 seemed to always fire up and work fine, albeit with the first minute or two missing (due to the BSOD/reboot).

Since I removed the 2250 from the tuners list, Sage/WHS has been rock solid.

I'm not giving up on the 2250, not by a long shot, but ... I think I'm going to wait until they release an updated, non-beta, driver.

Sorry,
pat----

[mcaron1234]

I'm expecting a 2250 to arrive today. After I get it installed on my WHS I'll post if I'm seeing BSOD.

Matt

[psklenar]

Thanks Matt. I'm very interested ... hopefully it's not a basic WHS incompatability and hopefully it's not a hardware incompatability in my server.

I'm also curious if you'll be able to execute the main (autorun) setup on the Hauppauge CD. I never could, although I could navigate to the driver folder and run that setup.exe w/o problem. The only reason I'd like to have been able to run the main setup is to get WinTV6 installed for testing purposes. When I run the setup from it's folder, it runs to completion, but then WinTV6 won't run, claiming some DLL is missing. I'm suspecting it's something the main setup would have installed. And since I just wanted it for testing (like TME for the HD-PVR & HDHR Config for the HDHR's), I figured since I seemed to have the 2250 working in Sage ... there was no need to go nuts trying to get WinTV6 working. <shrug>

pat----

[mcaron1234]

Ok, after a promising start things don't look so good for this card and WHS. I configured only the analog tuners and sort of got them going. I could only record using one tuner at a time though. Running both tuners would cause audio to stop a severe studdering and freezes in the video.

On top of that, when a show was scheduled to begin recording....bang BSOD. Manual recordings seem to be working ok. I sent support requests to both hauppauge and Sage. Hopefully someone can help us get these cards working in WHS.

Sorry Pat but I don't currently have a cd/dvd drive in the homeserver so I can't test the autorun for you.

Regards.

[psklenar]

mcaron123,

Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't submitted tickets to Sage/Haupauge yet because I was assuming it was "my problem". Since I'm not the only one having this problem ... I'll submit tickets today.

Two quick questions ... 1) which Hauppauge drivers did you install? and 2) Do you have any other tuners installed, and if so, which?

Thanks!
pat----

[mcaron1234]

Late last night I tried switching from the prerelease driver shspvr provided on his forums to the latest release version from the hauppauge site and successfully recorded three shows without any BSOD. WOOT. I did not get a chance to test if simultaneous recordings are working though. I will look further at that tonight.

The HVR-2250 replaced my two pvr-150s (tired of the damn driver bug preventing 4 gigs of memory with those cards). Only other tuner is my HDHR.

Matt

[psklenar]

mcaron1234,

Most interesting!! Thanks for the report. Not sure if I can try & test that this evening (I have a CERT briefing tonight), but if not ... will definitely try it tomorrow night. <fiongers crossed>

I find it interesting that you have an HDHR too ... did you notice whether it was locked with both tuners active but not accessible from within Sage after the BSOD?

Again, thanks!
pat----

[azsndvl]

Sounds like I am having a similiar issue. I am also running WHS with (2) 2250's installed. I am able to record multiple analog channels with no issues, with the 4.7 released drivers. I am not able to add the Digital QAM channels however, with the 4.7 drivers. (I think it is not supported in the 4.7 release?)

Once I upgraded to the latest pre-release drivers on hauppauge ftp site (1-16-09), I started having issues. I added the digital QAM channels along with the analog channels, and the signal quality is choppy and the audio stutters. My system locks up eventually, and gets BSOD, like you guys mentioned..

I reverted back to the 4.7 drivers, and I am just using the analog channels on both 2250's, with no issues for the time being. Hopefully it is just the pre-release driver issue.

[heffe2001]

Talk about scaring someone, I am in the process of rebuilding my Sage server on a WHS platform, and ordered 2 of these cards to replace my PVR500's (ordered them on the 23rd after reading that someone was using them on WHS). Got the machine put together last night, but haven't configured Sage yet (installed and set it up, but haven't connected the receivers & USB cables yet), and read the postings from the 28th, and got that old 'Oh Crap, it's not going to work, the wife is going to shoot me' feeling. Then I read the post from azsndvl about using 2 of them on analog and it working, but not on QAM (I'm only going to be using them for analog recording, as I use DirecTv), and feel much better now (I'm using the drivers supplied on the install CD)... I'm also going to be throwing a Saber2020 in the mix (although it may very well get replaced by a 3rd 2250 if I have any issues with it), but at least I know I can get 4 analog tuners out of the 2250's on WHS...

[mcaron1234]

Sorry for the scare! If it makes you feel any better I had the same "wife is going to shoot me" feeling when I got that first blue screen.

So far I am not having any problems with the 4.7 release drivers. Last night I set up one of the qam tuners, and am happy to report at at least initial success. I'm not going to commit to full success until i have a few recordings with it.

Matt

[psklenar]

Originally Posted by mcaron1234

Late last night I tried switching from the prerelease driver shspvr provided on his forums to the latest release version from the hauppauge site and successfully recorded three shows without any BSOD. WOOT. ...

Matt,

Did you "uninstall" the pre-release driver somehow before installing the current "release" version? Or merely install the "release" over the "pre-release"?

I've got recordings starting at 8pm and running until well after bedtime tonight, so I plan to try this tomorrow morning.

Thanks!
pat----

[mcaron1234]

I ran the hcwclear.exe included with the full release driver. I had that program remove the prerelease driver and then I rebooted the computer and installed 4.7 release driver.

I wll also say that doing the qam mappings is a complete PITA with this card. Kinda like the old days of HDHR.

Good luck!

Matt

[psklenar]

Okay. Uninstalled HD-PVR (release driver) & HVR-2250 (pre-release driver). Installed HD-PVR again. Tested it. All looked good. Installed HVR-2250 release driver (as on the install CD). Added an analog 2250 tuner. Tested. Looked good. Setup four simultanious recordings (2 HDHR, 1 HD-PVR, 1 2205 analog). Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Added 2nd 2250 analog tuner. Setup five simultanious recordings (2 HDHR, 1HD-PVR, 2 2250 analog). Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Added 1st 2250 QAM tuner. Setup five simultanious recordings (2 HDHR, 1HD-PVR, 1 2250 analog, 1 2250 digital). Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Now the big test. Setup 2 HDHR and an HD-PVR recordings to tie up those tuners. Then setup a short 2250 analog and a short 2250 digital recordings. Followed by the opposite. For example:

HDHR1 - QAM 2:00 to 2:20
HDHR2 - QAM 2:00 to 2:20
HDPVR - QAM 2:00 to 2:20
2250a - analog 2:00 to 2:10
2250a - QAM 2:10 to 2:20
2250b - QAM 2:00 to 2:10
2250b - analog 2:20 to 2:20

Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Final opinion (everyone has one, this one is mine ) ... Stick with the release drivers and the HVR-2250 works with WHS just fine!

pat----

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by psklenar

Okay. Uninstalled HD-PVR (release driver) & HVR-2250 (pre-release driver). Installed HD-PVR again. Tested it. All looked good. Installed HVR-2250 release driver (as on the install CD). Added an analog 2250 tuner. Tested. Looked good. Setup four simultanious recordings (2 HDHR, 1 HD-PVR, 1 2205 analog). Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Added 2nd 2250 analog tuner. Setup five simultanious recordings (2 HDHR, 1HD-PVR, 2 2250 analog). Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Added 1st 2250 QAM tuner. Setup five simultanious recordings (2 HDHR, 1HD-PVR, 1 2250 analog, 1 2250 digital). Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Now the big test. Setup 2 HDHR and an HD-PVR recordings to tie up those tuners. Then setup a short 2250 analog and a short 2250 digital recordings. Followed by the opposite. For example:

HDHR1 - QAM 2:00 to 2:20
HDHR2 - QAM 2:00 to 2:20
HDPVR - QAM 2:00 to 2:20
2250a - analog 2:00 to 2:10
2250a - QAM 2:10 to 2:20
2250b - QAM 2:00 to 2:10
2250b - analog 2:20 to 2:20

Everything worked. Recordings looked fine. No BSOD.

Final opinion (everyone has one, this one is mine ) ... Stick with the release drivers and the HVR-2250 works with WHS just fine!

pat----

Been thinking about repalcing my 2 x nVidia DualTV tuners with a couple of these. When you said you uninstalled did you run hwclear? Or did you just uninstall from the Add/Remove or from Device Manager?

Gerry

[psklenar]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Been thinking about repalcing my 2 x nVidia DualTV tuners with a couple of these. When you said you uninstalled did you run hwclear? Or did you just uninstall from the Add/Remove or from Device Manager?

Gerry,

Removed the HVR-2250 tuners (but NOT the HD-PVR) from Sage, shutdown the Sage service, ran "hwclear.exe" & rebooted, hence the need to re-install the HD-PVR driver. Luckily Sage remembered the settings for it and that was not necessary to reinstall inside Sage. As for the HVR-2250, I did a completely new install, adding the tuners to Sage, configured, etc.

pat----

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by psklenar

Gerry,

Removed the HVR-2250 tuners (but NOT the HD-PVR) from Sage, shutdown the Sage service, ran "hwclear.exe" & rebooted, hence the need to re-install the HD-PVR driver. Luckily Sage remembered the settings for it and that was not necessary to reinstall inside Sage. As for the HVR-2250, I did a completely new install, adding the tuners to Sage, configured, etc.

pat----

Thanks for the info and keeping at it.

Gerry

[heffe2001]

I'm having the same issue as above (when recording something on one tuner, and using the 2nd tuner on that same board, I get stuttering and garbled video). I'm using the drivers supplied with the card (4.7), but I'm going to download the current released driver from the website and see if that fixes it.

Tried the beta drivers (same results as above, terrible stuttering), then cleaned with HWCLear and re-installed the 4.7 from the download, and it APPEARS to be working. Won't know until a few things are recording at once.

(2nd edit): At the same time I also switched to recording to a non-pooled drive. I'm wondering if that might have something to do with it also stuttering (it's definitely not now, in my tests with 3 tuners going at once). I need to see if I can get the system running with AHCI on the HD's, right now I'm forced to use IDE mode, and that could definitely be slowing me down enough to cause problems..

[heatvent]

Originally Posted by psklenar

I installed one Wednesday night. No problems other than the Hauppauge CD autorun installer won't run under WHS (the HD-PVR's CD auto-installer didn't work either tho). Driver installer alone works fine however. Yesterday I got both tuners setup for Analog and Digital. Wednesday night I wasn't happy with live Digital picture quality (lots of dropouts). But yesterday I did a "stress" test of having a mix of recordings on each tuner simultaniously (two HDHR inputs and two 2250 inputs, my HD-PVR is in for service) and all recordings looked "okay" on the extenders. Today I've setup a 2nd stres test for this afternoon to record four HD shows simultaiously. I'll judge the recording quality this evening. It may have just been an issue of viewing "live" on the server (during channel lineup setup) with it's very low end video card.

Oh yeah, I used the "beta" or "pre=-release" driver from the Hauppauge site. My system config is below in my .sig block.

pat----

Pat, which is it. You said use the release drivers then you said you used the beta ones?