HDPVR power cycle 'loses' the remote

[dead_ferrets]

My HDPVR is locking up... I know how shocked you must be...

So I power cycle the sucker, but now the remote (Hauppauge 45 button) doesn't work and I have to:

1. Close SageTV
2. Restart the IR.exe program
3. Restart SageTV

I have two questions:

1. Is this normal behaviour?
2. Is there some easier way to this?

I ask because I'm thinking of putting the HDPVR power bar on a timer to restart it regularly, but I'm thinking that will 'break' the remote-SageTV link every time and that will be a pain the butt.

[Peter_h]

I was having the same problem.

The HDPVR locks up and I lose the IR blaster. I power cycle and the HDPVR comes back but the IR blaster sometimes does not.

I got so frustrated that I ditched the IR blaster and now do firewire channel changing.

It is so much faster and now reliable.

[dead_ferrets]

Cool. I was gonna do the firewire thing... but then what are you doing for a SageTV remote?

[Peter_h]

The remote control never stopped working, only the IR blaster to the cable box.

As a side note, I use a harmony 550 for my remote control. I love it.

[dead_ferrets]

Ah, sorry for the confusion. When the box locks, the remote stops working for me. I have to restart SageTV, reboot the box and restart the IR.exe program to get the remote going again.

So when your box locks, your remote still works? Are you using the HDPVR box to pick up the Harmony IR signals? I'm also actually using the Harmony 550 but keyed to the 45 button Hauppauge remote (and neither work when the box locks). I love that remote too!

[Peter_h]

I'm not following.

I'm using a sage extender. The extender is solid. The harmony is mapped to the extender profile. When the HDPVR locks up I get a playback exception error and that is when I go and power cycle it. Extender and remote are still working fine.

Are you using a client PC?

[dead_ferrets]

Yes, more lack of details on my part. Apologies. Thanks for sticking with me.

I have my SageTV box connected directly to my TV. I use the IR on the HD-PVR to access SageTV to watch TV, movies etc. When the box locks, I can't access SageTV and have to go through the whole procedure I've outlined.

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by dead_ferrets

Yes, more lack of details on my part. Apologies. Thanks for sticking with me.

I have my SageTV box connected directly to my TV. I use the IR on the HD-PVR to access SageTV to watch TV, movies etc. When the box locks, I can't access SageTV and have to go through the whole procedure I've outlined.

I'm not sure what to tell you there. I don't have any experience with sage client pcs. I have a sage server in the closet and an extender at the TV.

[apschaefer]

I have the same problem as well (Peter_h's issue). I need to power cycle both my server and the HDPVR (power off server, unplug HDPVR, plugin HDPVR, power on server) to fix the issue and it happens almost daily. I have the same problem on two SageTV servers running on different hardware, this is an E1 HDPVR (I had the same problem on my older C1). If it were just a matter of powercycling the HDPVR it wouldn't be so bad, but having it come up and refuse to use the IR blaster for channel changes makes this particularly annoying.

It is frustrating to say the least, my DirecTV box doesn't have a firewire port to change channels either. I guess I am stuck with it until Hauppauge can figure something out.

I have experienced the problem on both Vista Home 64 and Vista Ultimate 32.

[Chriscic]

Same issue with both my D2's (so far, I've had only one hooked up at a time). Have to power cycle the HD-PVR and reboot the server once every day or two. Pathetic.

[profit]

What firewire system did you go with? I'm having an issue with the IR blaster with the hdpvr on Vista x64 Ultimate where it just stops working. Power cycle everything and move on. It is painful.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by apschaefer

I have the same problem as well (Peter_h's issue). I need to power cycle both my server and the HDPVR (power off server, unplug HDPVR, plugin HDPVR, power on server) to fix the issue and it happens almost daily. I have the same problem on two SageTV servers running on different hardware, this is an E1 HDPVR (I had the same problem on my older C1). If it were just a matter of powercycling the HDPVR it wouldn't be so bad, but having it come up and refuse to use the IR blaster for channel changes makes this particularly annoying.

It is frustrating to say the least, my DirecTV box doesn't have a firewire port to change channels either. I guess I am stuck with it until Hauppauge can figure something out.

I have experienced the problem on both Vista Home 64 and Vista Ultimate 32.

Did you reinstall Sage after installing the Hauppauge software? I use to have this same problem and sent in a support ticket to Sage. They replied that the SageTV software must be installed after the Hauppauge software. I first thought that they were crazy, but I followed their advice and the problem has gone away for me, so they obviously know what they are talking about.

So since you clearly have the Hauppauge software installed alrready, go ahead and uninstall SageTV using the Windows remove program feature. Don't worry - this will not mess up any channel guides, favorites, wiz.bin, etc, etc, etc as long as you don't actually delete the SageTV folder (which you do NOT want to do). Simply uninstall it and then run the installer again. I'm not sure why Sage needs to be installed overtop the Hauppauge software or why it won't work the other way around - which is obviously how most people end up installing it, but that seems to work.

[zabolots]

Man, threads like this keep swinging me away from SageTV/HDPVR back to a Tivo HD.

I like the flexibility that HDPVR gives you (can use with cable, satellite or IP-TV) rather than being locked into Comcast with cablecards but the stability (or lack thereof) just forces me to go with the much more stable Tivo HD.

It's a darn shame that Hauppage/Sage haven't been able to make this a more stable platform.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by zabolots

Man, threads like this keep swinging me away from SageTV/HDPVR back to a Tivo HD.

I like the flexibility that HDPVR gives you (can use with cable, satellite or IP-TV) rather than being locked into Comcast with cablecards but the stability (or lack thereof) just forces me to go with the much more stable Tivo HD.

It's a darn shame that Hauppage/Sage haven't been able to make this a more stable platform.

Keep in mind that you typically only read threads from people having trouble. While I agree that the HD-PVR hasn't been the smoothest rollout of a new device, it is truely a revolutionary device, so there is bound to be some tweaking required. It's one of the downsides to being on the bleeding edge of technology. That being said, once I got it set up correctly, it has been rock solid for me.

[Chriscic]

For some no amount of tweaking will work. I believe it's the hardware and there's a high defect rate. Good luck.. you may jump in and have zero problems.