initial support for Hauppuage HD-PVR (2 Viewers)

[WileECoyote]

Sirc,
A few questions.

Is your cable box capable of outputting Composite and Component at the same time? (Sometimes it will default to the lowest resolution if both are hooked up.) You might try unhooking all other cables except the component and SPDIF (or other audio) cables.

What resolution are you running out of your cable box? I find that my Directv box works best running at 720P. At 1080i I see tearing and the picture is overall grany.

What H.264 codec are you using?

WileE

Thanks for the input WileE.

Whenever I've been testing I have only been using one cable connection, I just thought I would try the other inputs in case it was noise inside the box.

I'm running it at 1080i, but when I get a chance tomorrow I'll give it a try at 720p. I should have tried that sooner I suppose, don't know why I didn't think about it.

I'm using the Arcsoft codec as well as ffdshow. The distortions appear using both. Hopefully changing the resolution will yield some positive results!

A few other things to try is using the Arcsoft codec without the ffdshow or try out the CoreAVC codec. If you like the CoreAVC codec I think its around $15.00 to purchase.

Have fun...

 

[Sirc]

I tried out 720p tonight, it definitely looks a lot better, looking more like HD than it used to. It's definitely given me more hope for this unit. The bars of distortion on the top/bottom seem to be gone, and the horizontal waves are harder to see now. I'm still going to have to try it in different rooms to see if there is interference in my office.

Overall the colors are much more vibrant. When I switched to SPDIF audio I noticed that there was a bit of stuttering at first. I've increased the bitrate to 13.5Mbps constant and the quality gets better of course, although in some programs (ie. football) it stutters a bit with fast motion. What format settings are you guys using? Are you using the CoreAVC codec? I can get rid of ffdshow, will the Arcsoft codec do other H264 content I'm assuming?

On a side note, how do you guys find the fan noise? I might have to mod a more quiet one like this.

Also, is the IR working but not the IR blaster? Or just none of the IR?

Edit: All the previous results were from Arcsoft TME, playing in MP the quality is a bit worse and seems to stutter a bit. I'm going to try clean without all the codecs and try one at a time.

 

[WileECoyote]

I tried out 720p tonight, it definitely looks a lot better, looking more like HD than it used to. It's definitely given me more hope for this unit. The bars of distortion on the top/bottom seem to be gone, and the horizontal waves are harder to see now. I'm still going to have to try it in different rooms to see if there is interference in my office.

Overall the colors are much more vibrant. When I switched to SPDIF audio I noticed that there was a bit of stuttering at first. I've increased the bitrate to 13.5Mbps constant and the quality gets better of course, although in some programs (ie. football) it stutters a bit with fast motion. What format settings are you guys using? Are you using the CoreAVC codec? I can get rid of ffdshow, will the Arcsoft codec do other H264 content I'm assuming?

On a side note, how do you guys find the fan noise? I might have to mod a more quiet one like this.

Also, is the IR working but not the IR blaster? Or just none of the IR?

Edit: All the previous results were from Arcsoft TME, playing in MP the quality is a bit worse and seems to stutter a bit. I'm going to try clean without all the codecs and try one at a time.

Sirc,
Were you able to do a clean install and work out your issues? I do use the Arcsoft decoder on my XP Pro machine, but I use the Cyberlink (PowerDVD 8) codec on my Vista Machines. Some reason the Cyberlink codec does not stutter whereas the Arcsoft one does on my Vista machines.

I have two HD-PVR's and I do notice a lot of fan noice on the C2 unit, but my other unit is a D1 and I never hear anything coming from it, it is silent. I may contact Hauppauge to see if I can excahnge the C2 for a D1.

I use the Serial adapter for my DirectTV box's. Im not sure if your interested, but you can get more info on that here.

Also, are you using VMR9?

Please post your tv server logs so I can take a look.

Garry,
I installed the latest SVN over the weekend, and the drivers still work great for the first tuner. When I try to start the second stream I get the same results as before.

Were you able to assertain anything from my log files?

Thanks!

 

[antonehenry]

I use the Serial adapter for my DirectTV box's. Im not sure if your interested, but you can get more info on that here.

I have a directv hr20

I have no serial connection on my Shuttle XPC.... =[ Is there a solution for this? USB to USB possibly?

I still can't get a video to display when selecting "TV On." I get "unable to start timeshifting. no free card available"

I need to know how to get the hd pvr working with the STB to display the channel i select.

But I have no way of anything telling the STB to change channels or communicate with HTPC. What am I supposed to be doing here? IR blaster doesn't work for me... e-sata? usb?

please help! anyone?

 

[WileECoyote]

I have a directv hr20

I have no serial connection on my Shuttle XPC.... =[ Is there a solution for this? USB to USB possibly?

I still can't get a video to display when selecting "TV On." I get "unable to start timeshifting. no free card available"

I need to know how to get the hd pvr working with the STB to display the channel i select.

But I have no way of anything telling the STB to change channels or communicate with HTPC. What am I supposed to be doing here? IR blaster doesn't work for me... e-sata? usb?

please help! anyone?

Hey Antonehenry,
Dont panic, there are solutions. I use the Paterson Device which is serial to USB, but there are other solutions out there. Click here to see some other solutions for USB to USB using a null cable. After you get the cable set I have outlined some directions on this thread with the help of Budda1 on how to hook everything into MP. The key is getting the Directv.exe working with the command line first. If you need more info let me know and I can send you some more links....Good luck!

 

[antonehenry]

I have a directv hr20

I have no serial connection on my Shuttle XPC.... =[ Is there a solution for this? USB to USB possibly?

I still can't get a video to display when selecting "TV On." I get "unable to start timeshifting. no free card available"

I need to know how to get the hd pvr working with the STB to display the channel i select.

But I have no way of anything telling the STB to change channels or communicate with HTPC. What am I supposed to be doing here? IR blaster doesn't work for me... e-sata? usb?

please help! anyone?

Hey Antonehenry,
Dont panic, there are solutions. I use the Paterson Device which is serial to USB, but there are other solutions out there. Click here to see some other solutions for USB to USB using a null cable. After you get the cable set I have outlined some directions on this thread with the help of Budda1 on how to hook everything into MP. The key is getting the Directv.exe working with the command line first. If you need more info let me know and I can send you some more links....Good luck!

Mr. Coyote I love you.

I will have to check out one of these solutions from sagetv. My next step is channel changing, because *trumpets sound* I FINALLY HAVE TV ON WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

of course it is just my DirecTV receiver sending signal to my hdpvr to my htpc to my tv... but it's a god damn start!

Important part about these converters... I have no serial port on my HTPC. So I'm going to look for USB to USB solutions. Hopefully I find one. If you know of any... =]



Edit: What about this:
9 Pin D-SUB Female to Female Gender Changer - Gender Changer - Computer Cables - Cables.ie - Online Shop for Cables, Connectors, Leads, Adapters and Computer & Electronic Accessories


usb>serial cable ==> this adapter i linked ====> serial>usb cable


is that my option??? =]

EDIT2: It is! =]

Seriously, this saga is going to end with a broken television. I'm about ready to punch it.

Now that I finally got TV to work, to see it, to hear it, being one step away from finally being able to enjoy live tv in media portal.... The damn thing starts to freeze on me in a different way.

When I select "TV On" audio starts to play, the screen changes, but the video isn't playing. I just get a frozen screen of weirdness (distorted mediaportal backgrounds) And I can't get out of it. So task manager, end process, and try again, and again. I can't even begin to understand what could have changed in the time I didn't touch anything and left it all on. Hopefully this thing becomes stable sometime, or else I'm going to end my life.

The only reason I stick with mediaportal is because I can make it look very pretty and I get to use TVSeries. One more thing I wanna do. ugh

 

[WileECoyote]

Now that I finally got TV to work, to see it, to hear it, being one step away from finally being able to enjoy live tv in media portal.... The damn thing starts to freeze on me in a different way.

When I select "TV On" audio starts to play, the screen changes, but the video isn't playing. I just get a frozen screen of weirdness (distorted mediaportal backgrounds) And I can't get out of it. So task manager, end process, and try again, and again. I can't even begin to understand what could have changed in the time I didn't touch anything and left it all on. Hopefully this thing becomes stable sometime, or else I'm going to end my life.

The only reason I stick with mediaportal is because I can make it look very pretty and I get to use TVSeries. One more thing I wanna do. ugh

Your on the right track with the cabling....

The TV playing issue is a question more for Garry to answer, but which TV Dll's are you using? Which H.264 codec are you using? I have found the Dll's from 10/20 to be problematic with this new SVN and have been using the Dll's from 10/14. I actually missed a recording of 'Chuck' last night because I was messing around with the new Dll's and forgot to put the old ones back in

Stick with it...It is definently worth it when things start flowing smoothly...and they will

EDIT: Garry I fogot to ask...Is support for the HD-PVR now built into the SVN builds? I didnt even try to run it with the default Dll's....

 

[Sirc]

Sirc,
Were you able to do a clean install and work out your issues? I do use the Arcsoft decoder on my XP Pro machine, but I use the Cyberlink (PowerDVD 8) codec on my Vista Machines. Some reason the Cyberlink codec does not stutter whereas the Arcsoft one does on my Vista machines.

I have two HD-PVR's and I do notice a lot of fan noice on the C2 unit, but my other unit is a D1 and I never hear anything coming from it, it is silent. I may contact Hauppauge to see if I can excahnge the C2 for a D1.

I use the Serial adapter for my DirectTV box's. Im not sure if your interested, but you can get more info on that here.

Also, are you using VMR9?

Sorry for the delay. I finally got my HTPC hardware in and have begun setting it up from scratch. With a clean install of everything, and the latest SVN and just the Arcsoft codec I am having troubles viewing anything from Media Portal. I get a ton of artifacts that are not present in TME. I might give CoreAVC a try see how that goes. The issue of slow frame rates to start still persists, even in TME, I might need to tweak something in my system.

Should I only have one codec installed at a time? I would like to use ffdshow for other media that is why I am asking. I do have currently only one codec installed for H264, which is the Arcsoft codec, however when I install ffdshow for stuff like divx/xvid, etc will that interfere?

I'm not sure about VMR9, when I hit shift - 1 it shows VMR9 with an fps of around 60.


Update:
CoreAVC works much better than the other codecs, the quality seems to be much improved as does performance, the stuttering at the beginning of playback seems to have disappeared also. I noticed on their website that GPU support will be added, does this mean it's not using GPU hardware accelerated H264 decoding as of yet? Just CPU? Either way it works, thanks for the tip.

I have noticed something, with all the codecs & applications, on the right hand side the image does not go all the way to the edge of the screen/viewing area, full screen or not. It's almost like there are about 10-20 pixels or so that are missing as the image fades to black. Are any of you guys experiencing this?

 

[antonehenry]

Now that I finally got TV to work, to see it, to hear it, being one step away from finally being able to enjoy live tv in media portal.... The damn thing starts to freeze on me in a different way.

When I select "TV On" audio starts to play, the screen changes, but the video isn't playing. I just get a frozen screen of weirdness (distorted mediaportal backgrounds) And I can't get out of it. So task manager, end process, and try again, and again. I can't even begin to understand what could have changed in the time I didn't touch anything and left it all on. Hopefully this thing becomes stable sometime, or else I'm going to end my life.

The only reason I stick with mediaportal is because I can make it look very pretty and I get to use TVSeries. One more thing I wanna do. ugh

Your on the right track with the cabling....

The TV playing issue is a question more for Garry to answer, but which TV Dll's are you using? Which H.264 codec are you using? I have found the Dll's from 10/20 to be problematic with this new SVN and have been using the Dll's from 10/14. I actually missed a recording of 'Chuck' last night because I was messing around with the new Dll's and forgot to put the old ones back in

Stick with it...It is definently worth it when things start flowing smoothly...and they will

EDIT: Garry I fogot to ask...Is support for the HD-PVR now built into the SVN builds? I didnt even try to run it with the default Dll's....

Can't get the 14th version of this now. = \

 

[garry]

Support for the HD-PVR not in SVN since I'm not an official MP developer and don't have permission to commit code. I have been told that my code will be added once the development team is out of bug fixing mode.