Hauppauge HD-PVR & Colossus Support (6 Viewers)

[WileECoyote]

First off I'd like to thank you for your efforts, however compiling from the SVN isn't viable for most people. It's not a big deal for me, but there are going to be just as many redirected from Hauppauge's website looking for a media center solution that don't have a clue where to start. You aren't going to pull many people from Sage by requiring them to build from the SVN.

Hey RunningBlind,
Thanks for the input, I will modify the first post to reflect more information about when the 1.2 Beta.

If the HD-PVR & Colossus updates are not in the 1.2 Beta (for some reason), I plan to post a full build so folks dont have to build it themselves. I would post it now, but there are many updates in progress plus its taboo to post an SVN build.

As far as the Hauppauge web site goes, I had no idea they would post the information so quickly. I figured it would take them a few weeks to get the information on the web site, if they even posted it. I'm happy they did, but like you it is a little premature to the 1.2 build (that is my fault.)

Thanks again!
Wile E.


@SJeffrey,
I posted the patch files on the first post, so you can play with different SVN's.

@Dev's,
Please do not pick up this patch. After mm1352000 commits his HD-PVR changes I will create a patch specific for the Colossus.

 

[sjeffrey]

Yes, currently I have one HD-PVR & one Colossus, and unfortunately I have had many recordings at the same time (usually around prime time.) I just recently plugged my Time Warener Cable into my HVR-1600 to get QAM locals, that helps with most of the recordings, freeing up one STB.

I created new classes for the Colossus in the project. The Crossbar, Encoder & Capture devices are all specific to the Colossus, so it shouldn't have anything to do with the HD-PVR & Colossus running at the same time (keyword shouldnt ) This is what I want to do more investigating.

BTW, are you able to capture graphs from the Tv Server? I can only capture graphs from the Client, so I cant see the Crossbar, etc... Which graphing tool are you using? I use Graphedit from Shark007...

I'm using Graphstudio, I find the interface a little better than Graphedit but it's essentially the same.
I also can only see the graph from client. I never investigated on how to get the graph for TVServer, although I assume one could check the log file and find the info there. What I did to find the issue on my end was to launch Graphstudio and add the Crossbar filter. Checking the properties I was able to change the input to line in and when my recording started brigning the properties back up they were switched back to SPDIF.

As for RunningBlind's comment, I agree it isn't practical for regular users. Perhaps we could post the binaries on a site like mediafire or something like that. At least people could just download and install. The only concern would be that beta means "beta" so even if the Colossus works, there are plenty of issues with MediaPortal itself mostly around plugin compatibility.

 

[WileECoyote]

What I did to find the issue on my end was to launch Graphstudio and add the Crossbar filter. Checking the properties I was able to change the input to line in and when my recording started brigning the properties back up they were switched back to SPDIF.

Yep, I tried that last night and got DD to work via SPDIF. I'm looking into why it is not picking up the correct audio pin...

As for RunningBlind's comment, I agree it isn't practical for regular users. Perhaps we could post the binaries on a site like mediafire or something like that. At least people could just download and install. The only concern would be that beta means "beta" so even if the Colossus works, there are plenty of issues with MediaPortal itself mostly around plugin compatibility.

That sounds good as long as we have the blessing from MP to do so. Can someone from the MP team comment on this?

Also, I posted the patch files for you on the first post...

 

[sjeffrey]

That sounds good as long as we have the blessing from MP to do so. Can someone from the MP team comment on this?
Also, I posted the patch files for you on the first post...

Yeah, sorry I forgot to comment on that. I'll have a look later this week.
Although I do have a working build finally Not sure how much I want to mess with it, LOL

 

[WileECoyote]

Yeah, sorry I forgot to comment on that. I'll have a look later this week.
Although I do have a working build finally Not sure how much I want to mess with it, LOL

I understand

FYI, When I was playing with DD last night, I noticed a lot of 'drift' I'm wondering if it is a Hauppauge issue or MP issue. Whats also got me wondering, is mine defaults to RCA, while yours is defaulting to SPDIF...

 

[WileECoyote]

Yesterday I switched from AT&T Uverse to Dish Network, and I think I feel the pain you guys have had with the HD-PVR. For some reason Dish HATES my HD-PVR. While I was on AT&T I had both HD-PVR's set to 1080i & stereo sound (through SPDIF cable), but after the switch over I had to bump the resolution down to 720p and run an RCA cable for both (It took me over 4 hours to get the right combination.) The Colossus doesnt have an issue with SPDIF or 1080i.

The channel changes are much more reliable on Dish than AT&T, the box seems much less sensative and I can blast much faster. The only downside I can tell so far is the channel changes take a few seconds. On AT&T the channel change was instantaneous. That is a product of Dish, not MP so that will be something I will learn to live with.

After much playing last night, I did notice that DD is much more stable on Dish than from AT&T. It drifted on AT&T but in all my playing with Dish yesterday it didnt drift once. I also found that if I changed the audio channel properties (in TV Server Setup) from Automatic to SPDIF In #1 it would automatically switch from the RCA to the SPDIF. Unfortunately it didnt work on all channels so Im still searching for the proper solution...

Wile E.

 

[ajp8164]

Guys,

I still have audio sync problems with my setup. Do you see any audio drift?

Using on board hd3200 with 512mb allocated. Input is 720p from directv. Audio is ac3 over RCA audio with component video. Using the ffdshows codec at the moment. Audio drifts very slowly over time.

As understand things, it is the input video frame rate that may be mis-matched with the converter in the hdpvr??

Anyone else have this issue?

Hey, Andy,
Which version of MP are you using? Have you looked at the graphs on the Shift-1 page? That page should tell you if the frame rates are mismached...

I am using the SVN 27643 (The last version before the plugin-version-checker.) I'm not using the latest because most plugins are not compatible just yet. Version 27643 is working fine for me, but most of my tv watching/recordings are done either through the Colossus or my HVR-1600 QAM.

Wile E.

Hi Wile E.,

Sorry for the late reply to your note (and thanks for responding). I am using 27564 with the "patched" TvLibrary.dll. I checked the grpahs (Shift-1) and not really sure how to interpret much of the data. I do notice that I am dropping lots of frames though, fairly continuously. I am starting to wonder if it's simply a challenge for the HD3200 to keep up (especially since it shares main RAM for it's video memory). I looked around and I can pick up a decent card for under $50; perhaps I'll try that. How do I best interpret what I see using Shift-1 (always wondered about that).

I'll track down the pieces for a more recent svn build, update, and report back.

By the way - Directv recently (end of Feb.) made public software changes to their HD STBs that enable the LAN port and provide support for controlling the STB over http. This enables them to offer the Directv iPad/iPhone app. I obtained the (beta) developers guide from dvbforum and reimplemented my channel changing to use the http path instead of the (my previous setup) serial/COM path. I find two major improvements; speed and reliability. Changing channels over http is instantaneous (at least twice as fast). Reliability - in the past the serial port on the Directv box would stop responding and I had to restart the box (big pain) probably a few times a month. I have a HR-21-200 Directv box (not a DVR box). IR blasting is so 2010! ;-)

In the mean time, I've been working on some enhancements to the tv guide (coloring by genre mostly). This will be included in 1.3 time frame...

 

[bodiroga]

Sorry for the late reply to your note (and thanks for responding). I am using 27564 with the "patched" TvLibrary.dll. I checked the grpahs (Shift-1) and not really sure how to interpret much of the data. I do notice that I am dropping lots of frames though, fairly continuously. I am starting to wonder if it's simply a challenge for the HD3200 to keep up (especially since it shares main RAM for it's video memory). I looked around and I can pick up a decent card for under $50; perhaps I'll try that. How do I best interpret what I see using Shift-1 (always wondered about that).

Hi ajp8164!

I don't know anything about all this Hauppauge stuff, but to solve your dropping frames problem you can check out this thread and try the different files that Owlsroost provide:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...nter-dshowhelper-community-development-81148/

Best regards,

Aitor

 

[WileECoyote]

Sorry for the late reply to your note (and thanks for responding). I am using 27564 with the "patched" TvLibrary.dll. I checked the grpahs (Shift-1) and not really sure how to interpret much of the data. I do notice that I am dropping lots of frames though, fairly continuously. I am starting to wonder if it's simply a challenge for the HD3200 to keep up (especially since it shares main RAM for it's video memory). I looked around and I can pick up a decent card for under $50; perhaps I'll try that. How do I best interpret what I see using Shift-1 (always wondered about that).

Yea, Im not an expert on that either, I just know that the lines should be straight and not bouncing around If they do, I adjust the refresh rates & codecs to try to get a good combination.

By the way - Directv recently (end of Feb.) made public software changes to their HD STBs that enable the LAN port and provide support for controlling the STB over http. This enables them to offer the Directv iPad/iPhone app. I obtained the (beta) developers guide from dvbforum and reimplemented my channel changing to use the http path instead of the (my previous setup) serial/COM path. I find two major improvements; speed and reliability. Changing channels over http is instantaneous (at least twice as fast). Reliability - in the past the serial port on the Directv box would stop responding and I had to restart the box (big pain) probably a few times a month. I have a HR-21-200 Directv box (not a DVR box). IR blasting is so 2010! ;-)

That would be nice, if I still had Directv I have Dish Network now...

In the mean time, I've been working on some enhancements to the tv guide (coloring by genre mostly). This will be included in 1.3 time frame...

Nice! Keep up the good work!

 

[sjeffrey]

I noticed that pausing issue my wife was telling me about last night. It seems to be on playback and not recording because skipping back and playing the same sequence was working fine after, so that is kind of good news.
I'm using Win7 codecs with ffdshow for audio so maybe I'll need to tweak the codecs a little bit.
I also don't have a clue on how to interpret the data from shift-1 screen. So I can't help on that.
Has anyone ever tried the MediaPortal Audio renderer ? https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/general-development-no-feature-request-here-48/mediaportal-audio-renderer-better-video-playback-quality-84441/
I wonder if that could help with the stutter and audio drift.