Hauppauge HVR-1850 install? (1 Viewer)

[vogelap]

I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. I have a Hauppauge HVR-1850 card. I subscribe to DirecTV satellite (Standard Definition) as my STB and have a USB connection from the PC to the STB for channel changing. The STB is connected to my computer via coax on the TV IN on the back of the HVR-1850. My television stays tuned to channel 3, and all tuning is done via STB/USB from the PC.

Additionally, I've got an OTA HD antenna connected to the HVR-1850 via the card's ANT IN coax connection. I've also got a SchedulesDirect subscription.

I am trying to configure MP & TV Server, but keep getting stuck at the configuration of the TV Server... I cannot figure out how to get TV Server to work with my configuration. I've read the wikis and documentation, but I am still baffled, and asking for help!

My eventual goal is to use Argus-TV as the scheduling backend.

 

[mm1352000]

Hello vogelap

I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. I have a Hauppauge HVR-1850 card. I subscribe to DirecTV satellite (Standard Definition) as my STB and have a USB connection from the PC to the STB for channel changing. The STB is connected to my computer via coax on the TV IN on the back of the HVR-1850. My television stays tuned to channel 3, and all tuning is done via STB/USB from the PC.

Additionally, I've got an OTA HD antenna connected to the HVR-1850 via the card's ANT IN coax connection. I've also got a SchedulesDirect subscription.

Okay.

I am trying to configure MP & TV Server, but keep getting stuck at the configuration of the TV Server... I cannot figure out how to get TV Server to work with my configuration. I've read the wikis and documentation, but I am still baffled, and asking for help!

Okay. I recommend you start with the easy stuff.

Install MP 1.5.

Before anything else, group the two 1850 tuners into a hybrid card:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...er_Configuration/02_TV_Servers/1_Hybrid_Cards

Next step is to get OTA HD (digital ATSC) working. That should be as simple as doing a "digital terrestrial" scan as described here:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...rver_Configuration/02_TV_Servers/7b_Scan_ATSC

Getting EPG for those channels would be the next objective. Install the SchedulesDirect plugin using the MP Extension Installer (link on your desktop or in the Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal folder in your start menu). If you already have a subscription with lineup configured then configuration should be as simple as entering your username and password. I've heard that getting the guide data linked to the channels is tougher. You may find you have to rename the channels in TV Server to match the call sign in the SchedulesDirect lineup.

After you get to that point we can try the DirecTV stuff. "Try" being the operative word. Expect it to be really difficult if it is possible at all. MP/TV Server weren't designed to support blasting. Some people manage to get it working [with difficulty]; many more fail.

On that note, merry Christmas!

mm

 

[vogelap]

@mm... Thank you very much for your quick, thorough, and easy-to-follow reply. I appreciate it!

I am not enthusiastic about the potential difficulty of getting MP/TV Server to work with my DirecTV. What makes it difficult? The fact that it is a STB? The blasting (doesn't IRSS assist in that?). Actually, I am not blasting... I have a USB connection from my PC to the STB that Beyond TV (it has also worked with NextPVR) uses to control channel changes. Does that impact the difficulty?

If it is a card issue, can you recommend a card that could replace my HVR-1850?

If it is something else that makes this difficult (at least), please comment...

Thank you again for your reply. I look forward to continuing the conversation. Happy Holidays!

 

[FreakyJ]

I am not enthusiastic about the potential difficulty of getting MP/TV Server to work with my DirecTV. What makes it difficult? The fact that it is a STB? The blasting (doesn't IRSS assist in that?). Actually, I am not blasting... I have a USB connection from my PC to the STB that Beyond TV (it has also worked with NextPVR) uses to control channel changes. Does that impact the difficulty?

With blasting mm probably also means the channel changing via USB.
MP wasn't designed for that so you can get some problems while you want to record two programs right after another on the same channel.
One user had the problem that MP switched the channel at the time the second recording started and as a consequence you had the OSD from the settopbox in your first recording also it was still the same channel.

I don't know if anyone has plans to improve STB support, but maybe you just try it and test your self if it fits your needs or not

IRSS should assist for this as far as I know, but I'm by no means an expert with all this blasting stuff. Mm has some more knowledge than me, also he is not an expert in that area, too (at least he mentioned it once^^).

 

[mm1352000]

@mm... Thank you very much for your quick, thorough, and easy-to-follow reply. I appreciate it!

No problem.

I am not enthusiastic about the potential difficulty of getting MP/TV Server to work with my DirecTV. What makes it difficult? The fact that it is a STB? The blasting (doesn't IRSS assist in that?).

As I said already: MP/TV Server weren't designed to support blasting. I was trying to avoid getting into the nitty gritty detail so early. Since you asked, a range of things could or will make it difficult or time consuming. The things I'm specifically think of:

1. Creating channels (because you can't scan).
2. Getting USB STB control working with IRSS (don't assume it will work... unless you've used IRSS before that is).
3. Configuring frequency overrides so you can use the RF input (technical detail - I'll mention this at the bottom).
4. Configuring EPG (getting SchedulesDirect to handle the two sources and potentially create channels only for DirecTV could be tricky).

Actually, I am not blasting... I have a USB connection from my PC to the STB that Beyond TV (it has also worked with NextPVR) uses to control channel changes. Does that impact the difficulty?

No, you're not IR blasting... but same principle. Maybe I should have said TV Server was not designed to support controlling external tuners (ie. STBs). In other words, it doesn't matter that you're not blasting. It is the fact that you want to control an external tuner. The USB connection is a big unknown at least for me. Unless IRSS knows how to control your STB via that connection, your plans are pooped.

If it is a card issue, can you recommend a card that could replace my HVR-1850?

No, not at all. In fact I was counting my lucky stars that you don't have a cheaper card which requires software encoders. Your card is one thing we shouldn't have to worry about.

If it is something else that makes this difficult (at least), please comment...

In relation to point 3 above: is there a reason you're using RF instead of the s-video/RCA and stereo audio input?
In most cases RF is the worst possible connection in terms of picture and sound quality.
From the perspective of setting up an external tuner, it could also be quite a pain for you. Reason being: in Windows, analog tuners are tuned by [country] + [channel number]. The Windows tuner support framework translates those inputs to an input frequency using a lookup table. Your DirecTV STB generates a fixed frequency channel on the RF output. Country = USA, channel number = 3. The problem is that in TV Server, the channel number used for tuning is also the channel number sent to the STB. In other words, in normal circumstances you'd only get to watch channel 3. There is a workaround for this problem but I don't consider it very reliable. Particularly on 64 bit versions of Windows.

Maybe the above comment doesn't make a whole lot of sense to you. Please trust me when I say that unless you're an SQL expert (or even if you are) switching to the s-video or RCA input would be highly recommended.

mm

 

[vogelap]

@mm... Thank you again for your thoughtful and thorough reply. My delay in replying does not demonstrate how appreciative I am of your assistance.

I am going to follow the steps of your messages above carefully and will report back on my findings. First part of my plan is to convert from COAX to S-Video from the STB to the computer. After that, I will follow the steps you suggested.

Are there any plans to make MP more "blasting friendly"?

 

[vogelap]

Last night, I was able to Group my tuner as mm1352000 suggested above, perform a scan for the ATSC channels, and download channels and information from SchedulesDirect. I also installed IRSS and TV3 Blaster Plugin which I believe works with my connection (which is seen by Windows as a Serial port, though it's USB).

However, in reading the IRSS documentation for the TV3 Blaster Plugin, I am instructed to "You will need to create channels for the Set Top Box channels you want the plugin to handle. They must be marked as "External" and given a channel number to be used by the plugin. This can be done in TV Server Configuration > TV Channels." When I go to TV Server Configuration-->TV Channels, it is not apparent to me how I "mark [the channels] as External".

Can anyone advise?

 

[mm1352000]

Hello again Drew

Last night, I was able to Group my tuner as mm1352000 suggested above, perform a scan for the ATSC channels, and download channels and information from SchedulesDirect. I also installed IRSS and TV3 Blaster Plugin which I believe works with my connection (which is seen by Windows as a Serial port, though it's USB).

That sounds like progress.
Just to clarify: at this point all your ATSC channels have been found. You can timeshift or record them from MP, and you can see their guide data in MP. Is that correct? If not, please do not proceed with the STB/IRSS/blaster setup. We need to get the ATSC channels sorted before we can move on.

However, in reading the IRSS documentation for the TV3 Blaster Plugin, I am instructed to "You will need to create channels for the Set Top Box channels you want the plugin to handle. They must be marked as "External" and given a channel number to be used by the plugin. This can be done in TV Server Configuration > TV Channels." When I go to TV Server Configuration-->TV Channels, it is not apparent to me how I "mark [the channels] as External".

Can anyone advise?

To directly answer your question: there is no way to mark a channel as "external".

Before you dive too deeply into that documentation, I'd like to point out that it isn't aware that the SchedulesDirect plugin can create channels for you. In other words, when it says "you will need to create channels...", that isn't necessarily the case for you.

I would suggest you do the following... (don't be put off by the amount of text I've written below - it is actually quite straightforward for now, I'm just being really specific so you don't get lost).

First, convert from coax (RF) to s-video.

The next step is to figure out which inputs in TV Server correspond with the inputs you've actually connected. The easiest way to do this is probably to do the following:

1. Open TV Server configuration.
2. Navigate to the scan page for the analog tuner: http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...ver_Configuration/02_TV_Servers/5_Scan_Analog
3. Click "add s-video channels".
   
4. Go to the "TV Channels" section.
5. You should expect to see a bunch of channels named like "CVBS#X on Y" or "S-Video#X on Y" (other tuners/cards might show "RGB#X on Y", "YRYBY#X on Y" if they have component inputs, and/or "HDMI#X on Y" if they have HDMI inputs). The X is the input number; the Y is the card/tuner ID. For an HVR-1850, I think you may see two "S-Video..." channels - one for the external connector and one for the white internal connector on the board/PCB/card.
   
6. Check if the preview function works. Do this by finding an ATSC channel that you've tested and works in MP. Select it and click "preview". If you see video and hear audio then you're good to go. If not stop and ask me what to do next. Assuming preview works, use it to check which of the two S-Video channels plays the video and audio from your STB.
7. Once you found the channel from step 6, click "edit", select the row in the bottom area, and click "edit" again. You should now be looking at a screen that looks something like this: http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/@api/deki/files/2582/=Tuning_detail_1_Analog-TV.png
8. In that screen, the key piece of information you need is the "video source". Make a note of this.

Next step is to get the SD plugin to create the channels you need. SD will save you a lot of time.

You need to have the channels that your STB receives in your SD lineup. I have no idea how you do that, but I'm assuming you know and can sort that out. If you already had those channels in your lineup when you configured SD for the ATSC channels, they may already have been created in the TV Server channel list. If that is the case, please go ahead and delete them all. Delete them because they have to be configured properly in order to work, (don't be afraid - recreating them should not be hard). You can identify the channels by the "mapped cardtype" column in the TV Channels section. They'll probably be unmapped at this point; otherwise, if you already mapped them, they'd be "analog".

Ready to move on to creating channels? Okay.

1. Open TV Server configuration and navigate to the SD plugin (under "plugins").
2. Go to the "advanced options" tab.
3. Ensure "automatically add new digital cable/satellite channels" is ticked.
4. Set the external video input setting as per the input you found in step 8 above.
5. Set the external audio input to automatic. I note: ideally you'd actually set this to the proper input. If you have problems with no audio later then we'll have to come back to this.
6. Tick "force guide update on next TV service startup".
7. Go to the "manual control" section of TV Server configuration.
8. Click "stop service"... then "start service".
9. Wait maybe 30 seconds in order to give the SD plugin time to download your guide data and create new channels.
10. Go to the "TV Channels" section and see if the channels have been created as expected.

Hopefully we're all good up to this point? Next (and final task for this post) is to map the channels to a tuner so you can test them.

1. Open TV Server configuration.
2. Expand the "TV Channels" node and select "TV Mapping".
3. Select the HVR-1850's analog tuner up the top. When you do that, all the channels we created in the previous task should pop up on the left hand side.
4. Select all the channels on the left hand side (ie. select the top channel, hold down shift, and press the end key).
5. Click ">>".

... and that's it. Now TV Server knows it can use your HVR-1850 to tune those channels. You should be able to close TV Server configuration and open MP. The MP EPG should list all your ATSC channels as well as your STB channels. When you select an ATSC channel MP should tune and show that channel. When you select an STB channel, MP should switch over to the STB. For now it won't show the correct channel because you haven't set up the blaster yet. That is the next step...

Please let me know once you get to this point.

 

[vogelap]

@mm1352000... Again, thank you for a thorough and informative post.

I have an question for you... Before I undertake the directions in your post, I think I should first reset my current TV-Server config back to a just-installed state. Do you think I should do that? And if so, how do I go about doing that?

If necessary, I am willing to uninstall/re-install ALL of MediaPortal, but if that can be avoided, I'd like to do so -- I've already got some other areas of MP configured. However, if starting fresh is the best route, I'm certainly willing to do that.

Thanks again. I'd like to send you a PM, but your profile is limited.

 

[mm1352000]

Again, thank you for a thorough and informative post.

No problem.

I have an question for you... Before I undertake the directions in your post, I think I should first reset my current TV-Server config back to a just-installed state. Do you think I should do that? And if so, how do I go about doing that?

Is there something specific that you've messed around with that you think might need to be reset?
My understanding is that you've currently got your ATSC channels setup and working. I don't know what else you've tweaked, but I feel it would be a step backwards to undo that.

If necessary, I am willing to uninstall/re-install ALL of MediaPortal, but if that can be avoided, I'd like to do so -- I've already got some other areas of MP configured. However, if starting fresh is the best route, I'm certainly willing to do that.

As above: at this point I don't understand why you'd think it would be helpful or necessary to reset. Despite what you may have read (and what you may think - I don't know), TV Server is not meant to be some complex and fragile piece of software that falls to pieces when you make too many changes.

If you'd feel better making a clean start then you're welcome to go ahead and do that if you want. TV Server can be uninstalled by itself. Getting it reinstalled with the MediaPortal TV plugin could be tricker... which is another reason why I wouldn't recommend this. At the end of the day it is up to you though.

Thanks again. I'd like to send you a PM, but your profile is limited.

Yes, I've configured my profile that way intentionally. Reason being: I'd prefer to help people on the open forum so that other people can learn from what I share. If you have a genuine private question or want to send me private information then just let me know and I'll be happy to open a conversation with you.

mm