initial support for Hauppuage HD-PVR (2 Viewers)

[John Galt]

As far as your SD is concerned, have you set up channel listings on the SD site? I forgot to do that when I first set up my account.

I live close to the Highhouse & Old Apex cross, about a 1/4 mile outside downtown Cary. We are probably less than 10 miles apart if your by NC State...

No, didn't realize you had to set it up there. I've gone ahead and done that, but still don't have any channel listings. Where do I go in the Server Config to set this up? Do I need to do something under "TV Channels"?

And what do I need to do to get the picture working? Or should I just read through the thread again and look at the settings everyone is posting?

Know exactly where you're at. That area sure has blown up since I was in HS, and that was only 10 years ago.

 

[WileECoyote]

If you don't mind me asking WileE, what are your settings in the TV section of MP Config for all your decoder settings, etc? For some reason, ArcSoft is the only one working, and I even just installed CoreAVC and all I'm getting is a bar of the picture on the right hand side of the screen, or on other channels, it's super zoomed in to the top left(?). I really suck at all this decoder crap. I'm the type that installs K-Lite on a PC and calls it good. LOL. Any settings / changes you could suggest would be great. Thanks!

Here you go....

Television Tab...
MPEG-2 - Arcsoft Vided Decoder
H.264 - Arcsoft Video Decoder
MPEG/AC3 Audio Decoder - Arcsoft Audio Decoder
AAC - Monogram AAC Decoder
Audio Renderer - Default Direct Sound Device
Fallback de-interlace mode - None
Default Zoom Mode - (no selection)

TV Client Tab...
General Settings, Audio Settings, Subtitle Setting and Notifier are all set to the defaults.

Tv Post Processing Tab...
None

Teletext Tab..
None

Under DirectShow Filter Control...
Video Renderer Settings - EVR
All other settings are default.

Your system specs show your using XP, is that true? The only reason I ask is if your using Vista make sure you have Aero Installed. The other thing is if you use the Arcsoft video decoder, be sure to disable hardware accelleration.

 

[chesh]

John, in the TV3 Server Config, in your SD plugin -> Advanced Options -> Checkmark Automatically add new digital/satellite channels, & Force guide update on next TVService startup and then save your changes and either reboot or restart the TV service via services.msc. Once the channel lineup downloads you'll have to go into the TV Server config again -> TV Channels -> TV Mapping and map all the newfound channels to your HD-PVR. Once you've done that you should be able to at least see whatever channel you're currently tuned to in MP -> My TV. Then ya just gotta get your channel changing figured out.

If you don't mind me asking WileE, what are your settings in the TV section of MP Config for all your decoder settings, etc? For some reason, ArcSoft is the only one working, and I even just installed CoreAVC and all I'm getting is a bar of the picture on the right hand side of the screen, or on other channels, it's super zoomed in to the top left(?). I really suck at all this decoder crap. I'm the type that installs K-Lite on a PC and calls it good. LOL. Any settings / changes you could suggest would be great. Thanks!

Here you go....

Television Tab...
MPEG-2 - Arcsoft Vided Decoder
H.264 - Arcsoft Video Decoder
MPEG/AC3 Audio Decoder - Arcsoft Audio Decoder
AAC - Monogram AAC Decoder
Audio Renderer - Default Direct Sound Device
Fallback de-interlace mode - None
Default Zoom Mode - (no selection)

TV Client Tab...
General Settings, Audio Settings, Subtitle Setting and Notifier are all set to the defaults.

Tv Post Processing Tab...
None

Teletext Tab..
None

Under DirectShow Filter Control...
Video Renderer Settings - EVR
All other settings are default.

Your system specs show your using XP, is that true? The only reason I ask is if your using Vista make sure you have Aero Installed. The other thing is if you use the Arcsoft video decoder, be sure to disable hardware accelleration.

Yep, running XP Pro w/SP3. Where do I find the Arcsoft Video Decoder settings in order to disable hardware accelleration?

 

[WileECoyote]

John,
If you look in the ScheduleDirect plugin in the TV Server, there is a checkbox to download channels on next TV Service restart. Check that box and restart your TV service. That will force the channels to be pulled in.

After your channels show up in MP, you have to assign them to your tuners. You will find those settings under the TV Channel settings.

Once you do this, your channels will show up in the guide.

Yes, even in this recession the area is still growing... I can't complain though, Im an implant as well

chesh,
Open the Arcsoft Total Theater, right click and go to configuration. Click on the video tab and you can disable it there...

 

[chesh]

Ok, I just set all my settings to the same as yours and tried doing a manual test recording on a SD and a HD channel. Deal is, both look like crap on the screen while I'm watching them in My TV, but when I played them in ArcSoft, they played fine, looked ok, but there was a little bit of tearing. So, then I tried PowerDVD 8 and it warned me to turn off Smart-Deinterlace, etc. on HD content and I went ahead and let it do it's thing and it looks just as it should if I was watching it on TV. What settings could be causing my issues in My TV though? Thanks again WileE for hanging out and helping John and I w/ our problems tonight. You rock.

 

[WileECoyote]

Ok, I just set all my settings to the same as yours and tried doing a manual test recording on a SD and a HD channel. Deal is, both look like crap on the screen while I'm watching them in My TV, but when I played them in ArcSoft, they played fine, looked ok, but there was a little bit of tearing. So, then I tried PowerDVD 8 and it warned me to turn off Smart-Deinterlace, etc. on HD content and I went ahead and let it do it's thing and it looks just as it should if I was watching it on TV. What settings could be causing my issues in My TV though? Thanks again WileE for hanging out and helping John and I w/ our problems tonight. You rock.

If the files play back okay in Arcsoft & PDVD, then it seems the TV server is working okay, it just playback is having a hard time keeping up. How do you have your audio hooked up? If your using SPDIF, is Dolby Digital turned on on your STB? If so try turning it off to see if the tv playback is smoother. The other thing to try is to go to start the tuner with the Arcsoft software, and go to the Format settings. Reduce the quality from 8 to 5 or so and then see if tv playback is any smoother. (The point of these excercises is to see if reducing the filesize improves live tv or playback)

Your welcome for the help... This is a great community, Im glad to help when I can...

 

[chesh]

Getting closer!! In the ArcSoft software, the picture looks fine. I went ahead and switched my Directshow Filter Control -> Video Renderer settings to VMR9 as I think the EVR setting was causing some issues. Anyway, I also noticed that when I first open My TV now, that the picture looks fine. Only when I change the channel does it seem to go to crap. If I turn off the TV and turn it back on again though, it goes back to normal. In the Arcsoft software under Format settings I have Average set to 9Mbps and the Peak to 13.5. Do you still think these options have something to do with it, or is it stemming from somewhere else?

 

[John Galt]

John, in the TV3 Server Config, in your SD plugin -> Advanced Options -> Checkmark Automatically add new digital/satellite channels, & Force guide update on next TVService startup and then save your changes and either reboot or restart the TV service via services.msc. Once the channel lineup downloads you'll have to go into the TV Server config again -> TV Channels -> TV Mapping and map all the newfound channels to your HD-PVR. Once you've done that you should be able to at least see whatever channel you're currently tuned to in MP -> My TV. Then ya just gotta get your channel changing figured out.

OK, got the channel listings now, but still no picture. Are there any settings I need to change for the PVR to display? I did pull up TME and it displays fine there, so connections are all good.

 

[WileECoyote]

chesh,
Im glad your getting closer! I have only used XP on one machine, but I didnt have it on there long enough to really test the EVR vs VMR9... Come to think of it there is a message there that says something about XP.... Good find!

The other settings are worth a shot, if you dont notice any changes you can always set them back. The biggest change for me is when I turn off DD.

John,
It sounds like you are where Chesh was a few hours ago. You might look back over the thread to see the ground we covered to see if it may help. You might start by recording a small snippet, and seeing if it plays back in Arcsoft like Chesh did, just to make sure the TV server is working okay.

Have fun guys! Im out for the night

Wile E.

 

[chesh]

John, in the TV3 Server Config, in your SD plugin -> Advanced Options -> Checkmark Automatically add new digital/satellite channels, & Force guide update on next TVService startup and then save your changes and either reboot or restart the TV service via services.msc. Once the channel lineup downloads you'll have to go into the TV Server config again -> TV Channels -> TV Mapping and map all the newfound channels to your HD-PVR. Once you've done that you should be able to at least see whatever channel you're currently tuned to in MP -> My TV. Then ya just gotta get your channel changing figured out.

OK, got the channel listings now, but still no picture. Are there any settings I need to change for the PVR to display? I did pull up TME and it displays fine there, so connections are all good.

Did you remember to map your channels? How are you blasting your STB or are you just hand changing channels at the moment? Can you preview a channel in the TV Server Config window on the channels tab and hand change the channels and see anything? You may have to change your decoders under Television in MP Config if you can see in the TV Server config, but not MP.

WileE, you're the man. I played w/ the quality settings in ArcSoft and brought it down to 5 at first, but honestly, it looked like crap. But, I did notice there was just a slight stutter now when switching channels while the buffer was starting, but after about 2 secs it was fine. So, I upped it to 7.1, turned on Variable Peak for the bitrating and tried it again....This time quality was damn near perfect and there was about a 3 sec delay when a channel first gets changed to. I can deal with that. Between that setting and setting the 64k block size, it's just about perfect. BTW: I haven't played with any of the sound settings yet, as I'm setting up this whole HTPC in my bedroom w/ a 720p 32" TV as to not piss off the misses with having it all hooked up to my amp and whatnot on the main 42" 1080p TV. LOL. Sound is the last thing I have left to configure before this is pretty much setup w/ very few issues left. Thank you for all the help.