My Hauppauge HVR-900 has died (1 Viewer)

[igalan]

It started to behave erratically: I couldn't quit from My TV, or TV freezed while watching a channel, or I was unable to change to another channel. I tried the usual tests: system restore to a day I knew it was working; uninstall MediaPortal, clean directories and reinstall stable release; reinstall drivers... Nothing helped. I confirmed the failure of the HVR-900 with WinTV 2000, I got the same problems as with Media Portal. I suspect that those small TV tuners aren't really suited for daily usage on a dedicated HTPC computer. But having a small form factor case with only one PCI slot (used by the PVR-350) made impossible to use anything else.

If some of you are having similar problems, try the tuner with their bundled TV programs just in case. It's easy to point a finger towards Media Portal, especially if that's the only program installed on your PC.

I had to decide what to do: forget DVB-T until the building's antenna was able to pick up all DVB-T channels (this may happen next month) and being stuck with only one analog TV tuner; or getting a new tuner. I wanted two tuners, so hybrid tuners are ruled out. And getting now a dual analog tuner, when in a couple of months I may have to replace it for a DVB-T tuner wasn't a good idea either. Since getting a second HVR-900 isn't an option (I'll try to get mine repaired) I went for a dual PCI DVB-T tuner.

As replacements I considered the Hauppauge Nova T-500, which seemed perfect; unfortunately it's not yet available here, so I got the only thing available, a Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-T Pro PCI (horror!). Since I know too well the (lack of) quality of Pinnacle software, all I installed was the driver of the TV tuner, and I didn't run anything from the CD-ROM.

Once I replaced the tuners, I have to say that Media Portal is working now much better than it was with the PVR-350 and HVR-900: it's faster to switch channels, I haven't got any stutter and there is one device less around the PC. However it's a lot less sensible that the HVR-900, I had trouble picking up most channels, where the HVR-900 did just fine; fortunately I could compensate this almost completely by moving the small aerial in a higher place near the window, until I can use the building's.

So if some of you are considering replacing your TV tuners, here you have some feedback from someone who had to do it. Earlier than I wanted, but everything went very well, which isn't the norm .

 

[pepeto2001]

I'm having similar problems with my HVR-900... sometimes it's not detected, usb error...

I'm about to change it... and I'm thinking in nova-t (PCI) for the second tuner (HVR-1300 is the first one...), the fact that it's pci and NOT usb is convincing me...

 

[igalan]

Those external TV tuners are designed for occasional use, for day to day use it's much better a PCI tuner. My Pinnacle tuner is working fine, and most likely it works fine after hibernation/suspend, unlike the HVR-900.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Those external TV tuners are designed for occasional use, for day to day use it's much better a PCI tuner. My Pinnacle tuner is working fine, and most likely it works fine after hibernation/suspend, unlike the HVR-900.

Agreed

One of the problems i have found with USB devices (not mouse or keyboard) they have a problem with heat, which causes them to drop out after 1-2 hours of use, so the current they are pulling from the "normal usb" ports on a pc are pretty much borderline to not working at all.
Whether the same if using a hub is true, i do not know, but for a htpc, the less bits sticking out from the case the better.

 

[igalan]

The Hauppauge HVR-900 didn't get too hot even after hours and hours of use, unlike some other DVB-T tuners that I've tested (like one from Airis, that after little time it was incredibly hot). It didn't stop working after hours of use or anything, until it broke down . This has been my main tuner since I got it.

 

[pepeto2001]

I've been using my hvr-900 connected to my scaleo media center since february/2006 without any problems, several hours/day, a lot of TV recordings... The issues began just 2 weeks ago... 3 days before I decided to test mediaportal...

Now I'm thinking in buying Nova-t PCI because it seems to be very cheap, it will use same drivers as my hvr-1300... and I cannot find any PCI dual tunner....

 

[igalan]

I bought the Pinnacle TV card on Fnac, there's one on Valencia . Although I would never recommend using its software, or even installing it, the hardware is decent; not the best, but it works well. Or else you can try to get a Nova T-500 which is dual DVB-T.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

you can try to get a Nova T-500 which is dual DVB-T.

Does not work from standby with the "powerscheduler" plugin.

Works fine with PVRScheduler.

More feedback on the Pinnacle card, with all pvr functions used, would be great and could be added to the TVcards recommended part of the wiki.

 

[pepeto2001]

The problem with the nova-t 500 is that is is a "usb hub" with two usb tunners... and I've read here some issues with it about usb not responding after standby...

I'm looking for a DVB-T card in the 50 EUR price range... dont mind to pay more if it's a good card, of course!....

Some of the options are....
Nova-t
Terratec Cinergy HT PCI
HVR-1100

Nova-t 500 should be a great option....

 

[igalan]

The problem with the nova-t 500 is that is is a "usb hub" with two usb tunners... and I've read here some issues with it about usb not responding after standby...

Are we talking about the same product? See here. It's a PCI card. Paranoid Delusion, are you sure this card doesn't work after standby? It's PCI, not USB.

The Pinnacle card I got is already listed in the Wiki as fully supported . I wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't (although I know it's easy to add suport, reporting the correct information to rtv).