Little review of the Hauppauge HVR-1975 (1 Viewer)

aspik

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    Hello MP community :)
    I thought, I share some thoughts about my new TV card. It's the new universal hybrid TV Tuner from Hauppauge: HVR-1975:
    http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_hvr1900.html
    The Tuner can handle the new DVB-T2 standard as well as DVB-T, DVB-C and analogue signal. It can also deal with ATSC signal, but I live in Europe, so it does not apply to me. For me it has a very nice add-one which is an integrated video grabber. With the grabber I can capture analogue signal (for example from a VHS recorder) and digitize some old home videos recorded on VHS cassettes.

    Below I attached few pictures how the tuner looks next to a pen :D In front are located inputs for the grabber and in the back inputs for TV and Radio signal. Both TV and Radio inputs are F-Type connectors and to be able to connect traditional cable (at least for me as a European) adapters are needed, these adapters are fortunately included.

    Since the tuner can be used as a video grabber, it has to have a hardware encoder. Of course it can't be used with MP, but I was curios from who comes the encoder. In the WinTV settings it's visible that the MPEG-2 hardware encoder comes from MainConcept (I've attached a screenshot). To the WinTV software itself I can't say much because I will not use it. Only this, that in the few minutes playing with it, I was able to crash it:D

    Now, to the interesting part – TV-Server. After installing the driver, in TV-Server appear quite few cards (see screentshot). Except the last one (WinTV Nova-T Stick DVB-T Tuner) which is my previous Tuner, that I have used. In TV-Server are following cards listed:
    - DVB-C,
    - DVB-T,
    - Analog,
    - ATSC.

    In MP works the hvr-1975 pretty well and so far I haven’t see any issues using it. Although there is one thing, whereof I'm not so happy, it's the live tv start. After pressing the live tv button it takes up to 10sec before the channel get tuned! It's not a showstopper for me, but comparing to my old Nova-T stick it's very slow. What you think mm, is there anything you can do about it or it's a hardware limitation? Channel changing is OK. Currently I'm using the tuner with DVB-C signal. I'm planning to test it also with DVB-T2, but ATM I don't have access to DVB-T2 signal, I will have access to it in the next few months. The same applies to the video grabber, ATM I don't have the VHS recorder with me.

    Last thing is power consumption, since the tuner comes with a 6V AC adapter. The hvr-1975 pulls constantly 3W from the wall.
     

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    mm1352000

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    What you think mm, is there anything you can do about it or it's a hardware limitation?
    You could try to preload the tuner as a workaround. However, I'd like to see the TV service log so that I can see where the delay is.

    P.S. If the delay is caused by the thing that I think it is caused by, the problem should already be fixed in TVE 3.5.
     

    aspik

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    Attached two fresh TVService logs, one with enabled preload, one where preload isn't activated. For me no difference, maybe with enabled preload it's a little bit slower...

    I would like to test the tuner with TVE3.5. Could you please tell me how can I do this? It's only possible with MP2? The last testbuild for native MP2 TV is a bit outdated (2014-09-12). Or do I have do check out one of the git TVE3.5 branches, which one? There are so many :confused:
     

    mm1352000

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    Attached two fresh TVService logs, one with enabled preload, one where preload isn't activated. For me no difference, maybe with enabled preload it's a little bit slower...
    Ahhh, I see. My guess about the point of delay was wrong. Preload cannot make any significant difference... and maybe even TVE 3.5 will not make any difference. The tuner just seems to take a long time to start the graph, and I'm not sure why.

    I would like to test the tuner with TVE3.5. Could you please tell me how can I do this? It's only possible with MP2? The last testbuild for native MP2 TV is a bit outdated (2014-09-12). Or do I have do check out one of the git TVE3.5 branches, which one? There are so many :confused:
    If I were you I would test with the standard MP2 Native TV build. That is the latest version which is available, and I don't consider it outdated. You'll just end up [very] frustrated if you try to build a branch.
     

    aspik

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    Hello again :)

    little update:
    I finally could test the tuner with TVE 3.5 (MP2 Build from 2015-02-22). As you supposed the tuner is not faster with TVE 3.5, it takes also 8sec to view the channel. But subjectively it feels like the channel changing is faster compared to TVE 3. The last place in this "race" goes to Hauppauge WinTV7, because there is no such thing like "TV ON" or "TV OFF" you have to close and open the whole app and the start of the app takes additional 2sec. Makes totally 10sec after clicking the WinTV7 icon.

    Seeing that the start with WinTV7 is so slow, I contacted the Hauppage support (send the first e-mail a month ago). I wrote that I also own the Nova-TD USB tuner and this nearly 10 years old tuner starts in 2sec! The support told me that the hvr offers much more options compared to the nova-td and this could cause the delay. I Haven't accept this argument, because this is a hybrid tuner and not a dual tuner (I can't use i.e. dvb-t and dvb-c parallel). No Answer from hauppauge. Then I wrote them, that I still have 10days to return the tuner and will do this, if I don't become an answer. They wrote back that I should send them the WinTV7 logfile. I've send the logfile. Next day I become an answer that the start takes 8sec (no more info). This was the last response from hauppauge, I asked them, if there are chances for firmware update (or a driver update), but unfortunately no response...

    So, if for anyone who is interested in this tuner, start speed is important, have in mind that there is no room for improvement :)
     

    mm1352000

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    Thanks for the feedback aspik :)

    I have one question and one suggestion for you.

    If the tuner is a hybrid tuner, does it make any difference if you don't preload the DVB-T part? (I assume you mostly/only use the DVB-C part.)

    My suggestion for TVE 3.5 is to try to enable preloading and change the idle mode to "always on". You can find idle mode in the same place as the preload option (with the other tuner settings). The "always on" mode will start the graph after preloading, and keep it running. That will probably make TV service startup slower... but it may also make the first tune faster.
     

    aspik

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    You're the master! :D I've changed the settings for the DVB-C tuner like you suggested, after that the tuner start is not only faster, but it feels like the channel get tune immediately (definitely under 2sec!) :)

    If the tuner is a hybrid tuner, does it make any difference if you don't preload the DVB-T part?
    How can I do this? Like I said, I only changed the settings for the DVB-C tuner (see screenshot).

    That will probably make TV service startup slower...
    This wouldn't be a problem for me, as my HTPC is a NUC and it runs anyway 24/7 ;)
    If only MP2 could handle external subtitles... This is the main reason what is stopping me from switching to MP2

    BTW: In the TV Server Configuration the OK button isn't working (no action after clicking it). I have to close the configuration with the "X". Maybe you can fix it in the next release? :)
     

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    mm1352000

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    You're the master! :D I've changed the settings for the DVB-C tuner like you suggested, after that the tuner start is not only faster, but it feels like the channel get tune immediately (definitely under 2sec!) :)
    Nice. :)

    How can I do this? Like I said, I only changed the settings for the DVB-C tuner (see screenshot).
    Ahhh, but the previous "TVService_preload" log showed this:
    [collapse]
    [2015-01-19 20:07:53,387] [Log ] [TVService] [INFO ] - Detected new digital BDA tuner device Hauppauge HVR USB2 DVBT Tuner/Demod @device:pnp:\\?\usb#vid_2040&pid_7510#7510-00-f08a779f#{71985f48-1ca1-11d3-9cc8-00c04f7971e0}\{1f276783-0daa-4605-82e8-493defa64b9f}
    [2015-01-19 20:07:53,387] [Log ] [TVService] [DEBUG] - check type with MS NP
    [2015-01-19 20:07:53,418] [Log ] [TVService] [DEBUG] - network type count = 1
    [2015-01-19 20:07:53,418] [Log ] [TVService] [DEBUG] - network type 0 = 216c62df-6d7f-4e9a-8571-05f14edb766a
    [2015-01-19 20:07:53,418] [Log ] [TVService] [INFO ] - tuner type = DvbT
    [2015-01-19 20:07:53,418] [Log ] [TVService] [INFO ] - Controller: add device Hauppauge HVR USB2 DVBT Tuner/Demod @device:pnp:\\?\usb#vid_2040&pid_7510#7510-00-f08a779f#{71985f48-1ca1-11d3-9cc8-00c04f7971e0}\{1f276783-0daa-4605-82e8-493defa64b9f}
    [2015-01-19 20:07:53,418] [Log ] [TVService] [INFO ] - Controller: preloading device[/collapse]

    Note that is the DVB-T tuner. Of course you also had preloading enabled for the DVB-C tuner, which is good... but I was concerned that having both tuners loaded could be causing the delay. Normally with a hybrid tuner it is only "safe" to have one part loaded. If you want to switch to another mode (eg. DVB-C => DVB-T) then the DVB-C part would need to be unloaded before the DVB-T part is loaded.

    BTW: In the TV Server Configuration the OK button isn't working (no action after clicking it). I have to close the configuration with the "X". Maybe you can fix it in the next release? :)
    Already done in my branch. ;)
     

    aspik

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    Ahhh, but the previous "TVService_preload" log showed this:
    Yes, this logs were produced with MP1 and for this test a have used the dvb-t tuner. I was always thinking that it makes not difference which part of the hvr-1975 (dvb-t or dvb-c) I'm testing?

    I've looked again at the settings of TVE 3 (MP1) and saw that there is a "Pause" option (see screenshot). After selecting it, I get the same effect as with TVE 3.5 :)
    I suppose that this is the same option as "AlwaysOn" in TVE 3.5? I didn't test this option previously, because your wrote:

    You could try to preload the tuner as a workaround
    You didn't mention this "Pause" option, or have I misunderstood you? :oops:

    Already done in my branch. ;)
    Thanks! Looking forward for the next TVE 3.5 build! Especially to test the new EPG options ;)
     

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