WinTV-DCR-2650 (1 Viewer)

[davidpmays]

Has anyone worked with Hauppauge cablecard receiver WinTV-DCR-2650? I have it working with Windows Media Center. I would much rather ditch WMC and use MediaPortal. The difference to me is night and day.

TV-Configuration does not recognize the card.

After removing my ATI PCI-650 TV-Configuration will not run. It aborts trying to start the TV-service.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi David

Thanks for asking - I wasn't even aware of that device.
I'm afraid you're not going to like my answer, but MP does not support CableCard devices right now... at all. I've looked into what would be required to add support and it looks like it will be a *huge* job. Further, our support for such devices will be inferior to MC's for the foreseeable future. We simply cannot imagine a situation where MP would meet CableLab's certification requirements to get access to non-copy-freely content - I'm told it is extremely costly and that we would have to close large sections of our source and restrict our recording functionality. I for one am not going to even consider that so the best you can expect is support for copy-freely content. Even that will not happen in a hurry as in my opinion we simply don't have the developers to implement it right now... but let's see how things go.

So to summarise: unfortunately you are stuck with MC right now if you decide to go the CableCard route. We don't like it, but we're pretty powerless to do anything about the situation.

mm

 

[davidpmays]

When I purchased the device it stated I could receive free channels without the card and saw it has a great possibility for a usb dual tuner. After receiving and setting it up I discover it will not work without the card. I agree, this team does not need to invest it's time or money downgrading a great product to a Microsoft level of performance. I am looking forward to the day when it is Microsoft free.

 

[HudsonHawk04]

so...with the card it would work as advertised? I know with at least time warner a cable card is cheaper to rent than a cable box, I am thinking of using media-portal as a front end and my xbmc ATV in the bedroom. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences?

 

[mm1352000]

Hi HudsonHawk04

I'll be interested to read the responses. I predict that TV Server may not even recognise the tuners; even if they are recognised I expect that the tuners would not be able to be initialised and that tuning clear QAM channels would not be possible.

mm

 

[davidpmays]

so...with the card it would work as advertised? I know with at least time warner a cable card is cheaper to rent than a cable box, I am thinking of using media-portal as a front end and my xbmc ATV in the bedroom. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences?

Bought one, it would not work without the card. Rented the card, had a service person come out and type in the code. It never recorded a complete show. It kept bombing out. I un-installed all MP software without any change in operation. The card will not work without the code that Microsoft installs when you configure mediaserver.
Overall I had a dismal experience with the product and do not recommend it.

BTW I replaced it with a 2250 and a Colossus. The 2250 for non encrypted channels and the Colossus with a cable box for encrypted channels. Hauppauge now informs me they will not work in the same box! The IR blasters conflict with each other.
Wish I could figure a way around the problem. Such is life.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi David

Just to clarify...

Bought one, it would not work without the card. Rented the card, had a service person come out and type in the code. It never recorded a complete show. It kept bombing out. I un-installed all MP software without any change in operation. The card will not work without the code that Microsoft installs when you configure mediaserver.
Overall I had a dismal experience with the product and do not recommend it.

You're talking about attempting to get the tuner working in WMC aren't you?

BTW I replaced it with a 2250 and a Colossus. The 2250 for non encrypted channels and the Colossus with a cable box for encrypted channels. Hauppauge now informs me they will not work in the same box! The IR blasters conflict with each other.
Wish I could figure a way around the problem. Such is life.

Surely it is possible to buy a USB-UIRT or similar and use that instead of the Hauppauge blasters... or are you saying that you literally can't have a 2250 and a Colossus plugged into one PC (drivers won't install or function correctly or something)?

mm

 

[davidpmays]

Hi David

Just to clarify...

Bought one, it would not work without the card. Rented the card, had a service person come out and type in the code. It never recorded a complete show. It kept bombing out. I un-installed all MP software without any change in operation. The card will not work without the code that Microsoft installs when you configure mediaserver.
Overall I had a dismal experience with the product and do not recommend it.

You're talking about attempting to get the tuner working in WMC aren't you?

Yes, my experience was with WMC. After I installed the drivers I tried MP but it did not recognize the card in TV-Serverconfig.

BTW I replaced it with a 2250 and a Colossus. The 2250 for non encrypted channels and the Colossus with a cable box for encrypted channels. Hauppauge now informs me they will not work in the same box! The IR blasters conflict with each other.
Wish I could figure a way around the problem. Such is life.

Surely it is possible to buy a USB-UIRT or similar and use that instead of the Hauppauge blasters... or are you saying that you literally can't have a 2250 and a Colossus plugged into one PC (drivers won't install or function correctly or something)?

mm

Here is one of the replies from Hauppauge.
Hello,

Do you have both these devices installed on the same system? That is not a supported configuration because the 2 IR blasters may be conflicting. The IR blaster software may not be attaching to the correct IR hardware that you are attempting to use. Is it possible for you to try the Colossus by itself in the system?

Regards,
Ray Rodriguez
rayr@hauppauge.com
Technical Support
Hauppauge Computer Works
New York
Hauppauge Computer Works - TV for your PC!

I had not considered purchasing a USB-UIRT Web Site but will look into it, thanks!

 

[davidpmays]

Here is the latest support posting from Hauppauge. I will post when I have more information.

Hello,

Jerry sent me your email thread with him and it appeared that you were concerned with getting your DCR-2650 configured for use in Media Portal without a cableCARD so that’s where he focused his attention. We do not state on our website that the Colossus and the HVR-2250 will not work properly in a system together nor do we state that they will. At this time running the Colossus with any of our other products is an unsupported configuration. I’ve spoken to the engineering staff and they do not currently have any mechanism in place for having the IR blaster select a particular card to use for blasting. They are working on coming up with a solution but have not provided any ETA as to when this might be available.

Regards,
Ray Rodriguez
rayr@hauppauge.com
Technical Support
Hauppauge Computer Works
New York
Hauppauge Computer Works - TV for your PC!

 

[HudsonHawk04]

So, with the cable card it would work with media-portal? I was looking at this option to ditch my cable box from time warner as the cable card rental is cheaper than the box.