dongle.bin -- use original Hauppauge or GBPVR one?

[cannondale0815]

After buying a MediaMVP today, I've been reading up a little bit on it in this forum and came accross the mention of the dongle.bin file which, if I understand it correctly, is the software that gets uploaded to the MVP the first time it starts up. I also read conflicting statements that say you should use the original Hauppauge software for the first-time start of the device, whereas other people mention that this doesn't need to be the case. My question: What's wrong with the dongle.bin that is included in the GB-PVR installation? Is this a custom one, or is it an original one from Hauppauge? Is there any advantage to using one over the other?

I never installed the Hauppauge software, yet everything is working fine so far with my GB-PVR / MediaMVP solution. Therefore I suppose I should stick with the old Sysadmin wisdom of "never touch a running system"?

Also, I have a revision D3A device. Does the revision matter with regard to general functionality/reliability and specifically the interaction with GB-PVR? I read that the revision D3 was a bad one.

Thanks
Jan

[sub]

I agree - if it aint broken, it doesn't need fixing. Stick with the existing one in GB-PVR.

Quote[/b] ]Does the revision matter with regard to general functionality/reliability and specifically the interaction with GB-PVR? I read that the revision D3 was a bad one.

Not that I know of. I actually have the original D3 revision, so I guess I've been lucky.

[cannondale0815]

sub, thank you for the quick reply. BTW: I just noticed that when watching live TV (or recorded shows), the image is stretched so that the left and right hand side of the TV picture are cut-off (i.e. the TV station logo is not fully displayed but cut off). Is that something that would potentially be corrected through an updated dongle.bin? Or is that a known problem with the MVP?

Thanks
Jan

[sub]

Quote[/b] ]Is that something that would potentially be corrected through an updated dongle.bin?

potentially, yes

Its something that I have no control over, and would require changes in dongle.bin. That said, I've never noticed the problem myself.

[cannondale0815]

Very weird. I just unplugged the MVP and plugged the power back in in order to have it reload the dongle.bin -- now the picture isn't stretched anymore.

[colin]

Hey cannondale0815

Quote[/b] ]I also read conflicting statements that say you should use the original Hauppauge software for the first-time start of the device, whereas other people mention that this doesn't need to be the case.

just to answer this question, we usual go with this statement when someone says "GBPVR does not load up on my MVP".

Cheers,
Colin.

[cannondale0815]

Thanks guys for your answers. Out of curiosity I now downloaded the official Hauppauge MVP software as well. I realized that the contained dongle.bin is identical in size and the date is identical as well (almost -- it's off by exactly one hour). Can I assume that the dongle.bin contained in the GB-PVR package is therefore the same that is contained in the current Hauppauge version?

BTW: I never started the Hauppauge MVP software, and I disabled the two services it installed right away, just to be on the safe side :)

Thanks
Jan

[jquinlan]

Quote[/b] ]Can I assume that the dongle.bin contained in the GB-PVR package is therefore the same that is contained in the current Hauppauge version?

Yes, all of the dongle.bin files that came with GBPVR were just file copies of the original at some point in the releases. They are not custom or recompiles of the original. Sub has even said that he wish he could get the source code so he could adjust some of the problems he has had with it.