NextPVR Forums

(first post by a very fresh noob)

I hesitate to post this yet, because I know there is more troubleshooting to do, but my wife would prefer me not to stay up until 3 a.m. working on it again.

Problem: With 96.12 w/ patch and MVP, I can only watch about 2 minutes of live tv or a recorded show before it reboots. Prior to the patch, it would restart immediately after selecting live tv or a recorded show.

History:
Alright, I read a few good articles about using GB-PVR and an MVP to make my own PVR. I downloaded and installed GB-PVR 0.96.12. Played with it a little bit and liked what I saw so I purchased a WinTV-PVR-150MCE low-profile and installed it. I successfully set it up in my Dell OptiPlex GX260 SFF (small form factor). I got my list of shows set up and watched/recorded/timeshifted a few shows. So I purchased the MediaMVP and set it up on Friday night. I used the Hauppauge software first and viewed pictures and listened to Internet radio through it. So I disabled the Hauppauge services and set the config to auto-launch one MVP service.

I successfully see the interface and can browse my recorded shows and the channel line-up, but when I select to play a show or live-tv, I got the blue setup screen and a few minutes later, I would get the GB-PVR menu screen again. I found the reference on the FAQ to built-in NICs that just don't have enough power - unfortunately, I cannot easily test that as there is only one PCI slot (choice of PCI NIC or WinTV-PVR ), but I found the reference to the Microsoft DVR-MS not working with the MVP, so I changed it to a different one, and then found the sticky (my fault for not seeing it sooner) and applied the patch to 96.12. I thought I had it licked because I was able to watch live tv finally, but then I tried to pause it and it had bad effects (after that never had a non-pixelated picture), so I went back to the menu and selected a recorded show (all my shows were recorded with the high setting) and successfully watched about 2 minutes of it until it started to stutter and then rebooted. I went back to the Hauppauge services and tried to watch the same recorded show, but it also made the MVP reboot.

Additional info:
Microsoft Windows XP SP2, firewall is disabled (for testing), wired network with 10/100 mini-hub (75 foot network cable from hub to MVP)

So, for those of you that have read this far, please provide your suggestions! I plan to try changing the network card from auto to an assigned 100 full setting once I get home. Should the high quality setting work with the MVP?

Thanks in advance! (and thanks Sub for sharing your great software!)

I'm quite impressed by the way you've been reading

Just a few questions/suggestions: What are your high quality settings, You could try a recording in lower quality just to see if it makes a difference.
Is it the same on every recording?
Did you make the networkcable yourself, if so: did you use the right order of the colors?

Some more things to consider...

Did you unplug the power from the MVP when switching from Haupauge to GBPVR and vice-versa?
Did you disable the Hauppauge services AND stop them?
Did you reboot after installing the Hauppauge services?

It's just that you really can run either the Hauppauge services of GBPVR. They will get in each others way (and provide strange resulsts, especially when pausing/stopping video). I know because that's what I did wrong myself when I started playing 'round with this stuff....

Regards,

//Ton

Ton, thanks for the suggestions and questions. Yes, I did all of that - and I just checked to make sure the Hauppauge services are both still stopped.

HtV, thanks for your post. My last testing was done with my own network cable - I just tested it and one end has an open. So I just tested it again tonight with a known good 25' cable - still had problems.

As for your question about the high quality settings - I don't know where to find the settings. I simply chose High as opposed to Medium, Low, Custom1, and Custom2. Where do I see those settings?

I did try my step of changing from auto and realized that I still have a 10 Mb mini-hub (as opposed to the 10/100 Mb one I said I have). I will be upgrading to a 10/100 switch tomorrow and see what difference that makes!

I think the minihub could very well be the problem.
Wrt quality settings, there is often confusion about that.
You can't choose high medium or low, the selection is just to edit those settings, GBPVR always records in medium quality, so there you can raise or lower the settings for medium quality.
Good luck with the new hub.

I'm with htv re the hub. Look forward to your success story with a switch! And, yes, for a self-confessed 'noob' you seem to have touched all the right bases.

Wrt the networkcable, I'am not sure about this: but it could be possible that a cable with "one end open" would work well with a 10mbit network but not with a 100 mbit one. With the pairs of colors not in the right mix it is also very possible that you can't get 100mbit full duplex.

Definitely a case of my network being too slow! The new Linksys 10/100 8-port workgroup switch is working splendidly! For the record, I am continuing to use the 25' known good cable; I am hoping to install a cable run with wall jacks between my office computer and living room TV (so the long network cable with a problem won't be a problem anymore - I will have new frustration with punchdowns )

Thanks for your help. I watched House tonight with my wife and was amazed at how well the system worked. She thought it was great - which means bonus points for me!

dgersten Wrote:She thought it was great - which means bonus points for me!

Enjoy them while you can, they get used to all those nice things very quick

Glad that all worked out for you! You'll notice a lot of us here talk about WAF. That's the Wife Acceptance Factor. The WAF is the ruler which all things GBPVR are measured against. Glad to hear that your WAF is high right out of the gate.