AverMedia Volar MAX Tuner Card H826

[feilh]

Help. Maybe I made a mistake. Its my first time using GBPVR, and I bought a USB tuner card that isn't yet configured for support. I bought the AverMedia Volar Max.

http://www.aver.com/mpd/hybrid_volar_max.html

The tuner works if I use the AverMedia application (QAM and analog cable). I got it working in MediaCenter to receive analog from my cable provider. I want to set it up on GBPVR to get Analog and unecrypted QAM.

I went to graphedit (See attached screen shot), and I found the Wiki directions somewhat lacking. I came up with the following config lines that I added to bda.ini:

[AVerMedia H826 Hybrid Volar Max]
TUNING_TYPE=DVB-T
FILTER_TUNER=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid BDA Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid BDA TS Capture
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport

I don't understand how I was suppose to chose the
[Conexant BDA DVB-T]
or if this was just an arbitrary description. How do you know what tunner_type to choose? Do I need to add a lines to file: direct.ini?

GBPVR config allows me to choose what I added to bda.ini under digital tuner. I have imported my EPG. When I click on Map digital channels button in the config I get the error GBPR was unable to initialize the BDA device. If I launch PVRX2 not much works with respect to the TV features.

I'm running Windows Vista SP1 and GBPVR 1.2.13.

:confused:

[feilh]

Wow what you learn from yourself when you post a message. After posting the above I immediately saw a mistake between my bda.ini lines and the graphedit image. I changed my bda.ini to read:

[AVerMedia H826 Hybrid Volar Max]
TUNING_TYPE=DVB-T
FILTER_TUNER=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid TV BDA Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid TV BDA TS Capture
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport

And now at least the config doesn't fail immediately. It says scanning under the digital channel mapping. But the blue light on the tuner isn't even coming on. So I think I still have some issues. Any suggestions?

[sub]

To do OTA ATSC you'd need to have:

[AVerMedia H826 Hybrid Volar Max]
TUNING_TYPE=ATSC
FILTER_TUNER=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid TV BDA Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid TV BDA TS Capture
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport

You could try the following for QAM, and if you're lucky you might get something. Unfortunately most manufacturers implement QAM using their own proprietary tuning, so this will only work if they've implemented it a similar way to Hauppauge.

[AVerMedia H826 Hybrid Volar Max (QAM)]
TUNING_TYPE=ATSC
TUNING_SPECIAL=2
FILTER_TUNER=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid TV BDA Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=AVerMedia H826 Hybrid TV BDA TS Capture
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport


Unfortunately you wont be able to use the analog side of this device - it lacks the required hardware MPEG2 encoder.

[feilh]

So I tried the QAM suggestion above. I get Picture but no sound. I haven't tried configuring much else on the GBPVR config. Right now my systems default sound is the two port stereo output.

Is this a problem with my tuner not being supported? Or do I have different configuration issue? I noticed GBPVR can play back sound through music library.

[sub]

Its most likely a problem with the audio decoder you're trying to use. Try installing the AC3Filter decoder.

[feilh]

Thanks for your help Sub. I didn't have AC3Filter installed, but once I installed it and set it to be my audio decoder I got sound. Still have to finish mapping and all that jazz, but with above QAM setting in my bda.ini and am able to see QAM but no analog. So I guess I can use this as my second HDTV tuner.

Do you have a recommendation on an easy tuner to install that will do the analog hardware and QAM I desire? I have PCI, PCIe, and USB ports free.

[sub]

Thanks for your help Sub. I didn't have AC3Filter installed, but once I installed it and set it to be my audio decoder I got sound. Still have to finish mapping and all that jazz, but with above QAM setting in my bda.ini and am able to see QAM but no analog. So I guess I can use this as my second HDTV tuner.

Great.

Do you have a recommendation on an easy tuner to install that will do the analog hardware and QAM I desire? I have PCI, PCIe, and USB ports free.

To be certain QAM will work, and to be in the company of many others with the same device, its probably a good idea to stick with common Hauppauge devices like the HVR-1800 etc.