Hauppauge HD-PVR & Colossus Support (3 Viewers)

[GoldenEye]

Happy news from my side

To start I quote myself:

Tuning to channel 'Discovery HD' again. Picture and sound appears for about 1 second, then a blue picture appears w/o sound (NOT a BSOD!).

This issue has gone after I have changed a settop box setting allowing me to define the box' output format (720, 1080, automatic). The auto option resulted in a blue screen between channel changes not only on the MP client but also in Showbiz. But on the MP client, the result was worse because the blue screen only disappeared after pressing pause and returning to live TV after that. Sometimes, after returning, I could only hear the channel and I had to repeat the pause procedure again to actually see the TV picture.

I now have played with different codec settings on my client. In another thread, I found out that other users have issues with a combination of MS Codec / Intel i3 system. I am using the following settings - after installting SAF 6:

Mediaportal TV decoder settings:
- MPEG-2 Video decoder: Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD11)
- H.264 Video decoder: Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD11)
- MPEG/AC3 audio decoder: ffdshow Audio Decoder
- LATM AAC Audio decoder: DivX AAC Decoder
- DD+ Audio decoder: ffdshow Audio Decoder

In addition, I
- turned off PowerDVD's hardware acceleration in MP configuration resulting in a better picture than turning it on on my i3 (!);
- installed the most current version of dshowhelper.dll from the post you linked.

@<everyone>: Is anyone else experiencing the popping that shamus252 has mentioned?

Rather than a popping noise, I hear sometimes a crackling during channel changes - especially when changing to/from Discovery HD which is providing 5.1 sound.

Now, it's time to run the test on the MP installation on my client.

I *really* hope everything runs smoothly because I am out of my depth with streaming issues.

mm

Yes, I think everything is fine now. Consider my support case closed.

Thanks again for your much appreciated support!

G.

 

[mm1352000]

Happy news from my side

To start I quote myself:

Tuning to channel 'Discovery HD' again. Picture and sound appears for about 1 second, then a blue picture appears w/o sound (NOT a BSOD!).

This issue has gone after I have changed a settop box setting allowing me to define the box' output format (720, 1080, automatic). The auto option resulted in a blue screen between channel changes not only on the MP client but also in Showbiz. But on the MP client, the result was worse because the blue screen only disappeared after pressing pause and returning to live TV after that. Sometimes, after returning, I could only hear the channel and I had to repeat the pause procedure again to actually see the TV picture.

Very interesting - perhaps the Colossus is not able to negotiate with the STB over which resolution should be used...

I now have played with different codec settings on my client. In another thread, I found out that other users have issues with a combination of MS Codec / Intel i3 system. I am using the following settings - after installting SAF 6:

Mediaportal TV decoder settings:
- MPEG-2 Video decoder: Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD11)
- H.264 Video decoder: Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD11)
- MPEG/AC3 audio decoder: ffdshow Audio Decoder
- LATM AAC Audio decoder: DivX AAC Decoder
- DD+ Audio decoder: ffdshow Audio Decoder

In addition, I
- turned off PowerDVD's hardware acceleration in MP configuration resulting in a better picture than turning it on on my i3 (!);
- installed the most current version of dshowhelper.dll from the post you linked.

Yeah, I use the Cyberlink video codecs myself. Perhaps the onboard graphics can't do as good a job with deinterlacing quality and picture processing as can be done in software with support from the CPU. That is typical of lower end video processors. For example, some of the cheaper ATI video cards can't handle the best deinterlacing mode(s) when producing relatively high resolution output...

@<everyone>: Is anyone else experiencing the popping that shamus252 has mentioned?

Rather than a popping noise, I hear sometimes a crackling during channel changes - especially when changing to/from Discovery HD which is providing 5.1 sound.

Hmmm, okay. And correct me if I'm wrong - you're only using SPDIF aren't you?

Yes, I think everything is fine now. Consider my support case closed.

Thanks again for your much appreciated support!

You're most welcome - I appreciate your patience!

 

[GoldenEye]

Very interesting - perhaps the Colossus is not able to negotiate with the STB over which resolution should be used...

Probably yes - especially since I have a HDFury III installed between the STB and the Colossus.

Hmmm, okay. And correct me if I'm wrong - you're only using SPDIF aren't you?

Yes, the Fury sends all audio signals to the Colossus' SPDIF input.

G.

 

[sjeffrey]

@mm,
I haven't tried the latest binary you have posted, I was out of town for 4 days.
I'll give it a try this week and post back.

About the popping when channel change, this has been the issue with HD-PVR since day 1 (I call it stuttering) and even with your attempts to fix this issue I still have it (sorry), although it happens not as often as before. Now I can watch Live TV as for before I could not.

I had tried SageTV before and as I mentioned before, they have a config setting to pause timeshifting with a channel change for 'x' seconds, I believe default is 7 seconds. This probably allows the hardware to resettle and then the stream is stable and no popping.

I might not have mentioned it before but thanks for all the work you put in. Being part of the original owners of the HD-PVR it's nice to get some help from the MP development team. Hopefully we'll get a 99% stable for 1.2 release

 

[WileECoyote]

@mm,
The only popping I hear is when I change from an AAC channel to a DD channel, but its just for a split second. I thought my receiver was just slow switching, but maybe there is something we could do to avoid it?

I am running only spdif from my receivers. I can post some logs later tonight if it will help.

Thanks!
Wile E.

 

[luci5r]

Question:

My MediaPortal/Hauppauge Colossus setup is working absolutely fine as a DVR; shows get recorded as scheduled & the STB Blasting works without a glitch. The only problem that I'm noticing is that if the Cable Box is turned Off, the blasting does not turn the box ON to record a show. As a practice I've started to leave the STB ON 24/7. But I was wondering -- is it possible for the IR blasting that switches channels on the STB to also TURN ON the STB in case it is off?

Thanks!!

 

[sjeffrey]

Question:

My MediaPortal/Hauppauge Colossus setup is working absolutely fine as a DVR; shows get recorded as scheduled & the STB Blasting works without a glitch. The only problem that I'm noticing is that if the Cable Box is turned Off, the blasting does not turn the box ON to record a show. As a practice I've started to leave the STB ON 24/7. But I was wondering -- is it possible for the IR blasting that switches channels on the STB to also TURN ON the STB in case it is off?

Thanks!!

If you are using IRSS this is quite easy. There is a pre channel change setting (don't quote me on the actual label). Typical STB can be turned on using the OK or Select button. Have IRSS send OK or Select pre-channel change and this should turn on the STB and set the right channel.

 

[luci5r]

Question:

My MediaPortal/Hauppauge Colossus setup is working absolutely fine as a DVR; shows get recorded as scheduled & the STB Blasting works without a glitch. The only problem that I'm noticing is that if the Cable Box is turned Off, the blasting does not turn the box ON to record a show. As a practice I've started to leave the STB ON 24/7. But I was wondering -- is it possible for the IR blasting that switches channels on the STB to also TURN ON the STB in case it is off?

Thanks!!

If you are using IRSS this is quite easy. There is a pre channel change setting (don't quote me on the actual label). Typical STB can be turned on using the OK or Select button. Have IRSS send OK or Select pre-channel change and this should turn on the STB and set the right channel.

The only way that I found I could get my Comcast STB working with Hauppauge Colossus/MediaPortal was by enabling "Hauppage" as Blaster Type under ServerBlaster; and using the BlastCFG (Blaster Configuration) that came with Hauppauge Colossus (See Below). AFAIK, there was really no way to get everything working using IRSS.

 

[R300]

luci5r, I am also using the Hauppauge blaster with my MCE remote and it works very well, never have an issue changing channels but I just leave the cable box on all the time. There is no 'smart' way for any blaster program to 'know' if the box is on or off. I think you would be just causing yourself some missed recordings if you want on on\off control with the blaster imo.

 

[luci5r]

luci5r, I am also using the Hauppauge blaster with my MCE remote and it works very well, never have an issue changing channels but I just leave the cable box on all the time. There is no 'smart' way for any blaster program to 'know' if the box is on or off. I think you would be just causing yourself some missed recordings if you want on on\off control with the blaster imo.

I'm beginning to realize you're correct. Seeing no easy way for the IR Blaster to handle STB on/off, I believe I'm only going to cause unnecessary anguish trying to get this to work.

Quite honestly I have no problems leaving the STB ON 24/7. Unfortunately we're creatures of habit; I have always turned off the STB when not in use; and inadvertently last week I turned off the STB and missed a scheduled recording - it is then that it occurred to me to find out if there was a way to control STB's on/off via the blaster.

As it turns out - there is no easy way for us hauppauge colossus/mediaportal users to do this; I will just have to work hard on reversing my habit.