PVR 350 - Hardware decoder instability?

[elite]

Note to #3: I did not test other dvr's, but a quick browse among various forums did not show a significant trend. But even if they all have the same problem (and hide it well), fact remains that the happauge software itself does not suffer from this problem, so hardware and drivers are fine.

I have tried many times with both myth and gbpvr, different m/boards cases etc, even with a desk fan pointed at the damn thing... If hauppauge have "locked" the card to their software they should state this on their specs.

So, this proves to me that it is not a hardware problem. And since the same driver is being used by other software (if nothing else, hauppauge software itself), that excludes the driver as well. So only option remaining is the application. I do understand it's a closed driver, and no support, etc, etc, etc, but the fact remains that other software is using it without problems, and the hardware runs fine on Linux.

I understand sub has signed non disclosure agreements to give him access to this kind of stuff

So please stop trying to hide your capability to get something to work properly by blaming drivers or hardware. It is neither of these! Just tell it the way it is: You can't get it to work. That's not a bad thing, that happens to the best of us. What is bad however, is blaming something beyond your power while knowing that's not the problem.

Thanks,
Caliban

I beleive sub (who obviously knows his stuff), myself (who is an experienced computer user) and many others on these and other forums (including the guys over at shspvr who have even rewritten the drivers) have failed to get this working reliably - Sub dropped support after spending over a year working on it... Along these lines the end user of such a product cannot be expected to trawl for reliable drivers/fixes that may or may not work when they have made a substantial outlay on a card

I accept some people have had no problems at all, but I think it takes the p*ss that a company should release a product that doesn't work as described when you comply to their requirements.

I think the fact the new generation of hauppauge cards have no offering of tv out speaks volumes!

Just my 2p...

[Chris.Day]

Hmm, ok, you're loosing me a little bit here, as I'll have to read up on what APIC and HAL are exactly, but as far as I understand they're both a hardware thing. (To keep things easy, I also consider BIOS hardware).

So that still would not explain why my box locks up with gbpvr, but runs smooth with mythtv. Same box, no changes to hardware or config at all.

That depends on whether you're using APIC on Linux too. And if it is a driver issue when using APIC, then it still might only affect Windows because the Linux and Windows because the drivers are unrelated.

As for the links I posted being irrelevant, I'm afraid I'll have to disagree there.

[sub]

I hate to bring this up again, as I know it should be dead and buried by now, but I find it a bit cheap to blame the card or mobo, and here's why.

I have a PVR350 installed, and also experience this problem.
Boards are blaming hardware (or drivers)
As far as I can tell, this problem only happens with gbpvr. (See note)
I am currently running MythTV on Linux with the same config, and without any problems.

Note to #3: I did not test other dvr's, but a quick browse among various forums did not show a significant trend. But even if they all have the same problem (and hide it well), fact remains that the happauge software itself does not suffer from this problem, so hardware and drivers are fine.

So, this proves to me that it is not a hardware problem. And since the same driver is being used by other software (if nothing else, hauppauge software itself), that excludes the driver as well. So only option remaining is the application. I do understand it's a closed driver, and no support, etc, etc, etc, but the fact remains that other software is using it without problems, and the hardware runs fine on Linux.

So please stop trying to hide your capability to get something to work properly by blaming drivers or hardware. It is neither of these! Just tell it the way it is: You can't get it to work. That's not a bad thing, that happens to the best of us. What is bad however, is blaming something beyond your power while knowing that's not the problem.

Nice of you to blame me for this.

The only other windows app that also uses the PVR350 OSD (SageTV) suffers from exactly the same problem. When it locks up or blue screens, its within a driver call at the time (according to windbg). I have no idea what exactly is occuring inside that driver call to cause this, or why only affects some combinations of hardware. The manufacturer was unable to provide any insights.

If you want someone to blame, try talking to Hauppauge or Conexant. Personally I've moved on, and dont give a shit whether the PVR350 TV out works or not.

[stefan]

but I don't see how watchng live tv has anything to do with osd... Isn't osd something that shows when you're *not* watching live tv? Someone enlighten me please.

GBPVR shows program information (name of show, remaining time, commercial breaks if applicable, and so on) on top of the mpeg file. This happens (for example) when you start live tv. GBPVR and Sage are the only ones who provide that service in windows. Both will hang the computer if you do this on the tv-out of the 350. But only on computers with certain motherboards. Call it incompatibility issues or whatever you want.

Ok, maybe I'm an idiot

I'm not saying you are. Just saying that it's wise/nice/customary to actually *do* read up on a subject carefully before putting your chin out there saying that everyone else didn't read up on the subject.

[Caliban]

I'm sorry if I stepped on your toes sub, I didn't mean to. What I tried to do was give my experience, and interpertation. And maybe I jumped to a conclusion too soon. Blaming random people won't solve things so I appologize for that. (Again, sorry, but the grand scheme of things is what it looks like to the non-involved)

I've always learned that hardware is something you can kick, software is something you can change, and no matter how I look at this issue, I can't help but thinking it's a software problem (driver in this case) so it needs to be changed. Unfortunately, I don't have the know-how, but I can't imagine there's nobody able and willing to dismember this driver, and come up with an explanation at least of what is going on, and maybe from there figure out a patch...

I do like gbpvr a lot, but I can't use it for this reason, and it frustrates the crap out of me.

[sub]

I know it frustrates people, but unfortunately its not something in my power to fix. The only people that could address the issue are Hauppauge, but last time I talked them about it they were unwilling to look at the issue. They commented that they dont use the PVR350's OSD support in WinTV, and werent familiar with the issues that may exist in that corner of the original reference drivers (made by Conexant).

[elite]

I'm sorry if I stepped on your toes sub, I didn't mean to. What I tried to do was give my experience, and interpertation. And maybe I jumped to a conclusion too soon. Blaming random people won't solve things so I appologize for that. (Again, sorry, but the grand scheme of things is what it looks like to the non-involved)

I've always learned that hardware is something you can kick, software is something you can change, and no matter how I look at this issue, I can't help but thinking it's a software problem (driver in this case) so it needs to be changed. Unfortunately, I don't have the know-how, but I can't imagine there's nobody able and willing to dismember this driver, and come up with an explanation at least of what is going on, and maybe from there figure out a patch...

I do like gbpvr a lot, but I can't use it for this reason, and it frustrates the crap out of me.

Have you tried using the tv out on your video card? Once you find the sweet spot with decoders you'll wonder why you bothered screwing about with the buggy 350 anyway... It does require you to have a reasonable cpu and ram (i have had no problems with 1ghz AMD with 512 RAM

Good luck!

[Caliban]

GBPVR shows program information (name of show, remaining time, commercial breaks if applicable, and so on) on top of the mpeg file.

And that technique is called OSD.... Gotcha! Thanks for clearing that up.

But only on computers with certain motherboards. Call it incompatibility issues or whatever you want.

Is there a central list of these "problem" boards? The incompatibility thing is a matter of definition I think. Incompaitibility is a matter of hardware. When it's software, it's called a bug.

I'm not saying you are. Just saying that it's wise/nice/customary to actually *do* read up on a subject carefully before putting your chin out there saying that everyone else didn't read up on the subject.

Well, that refered to what OSD was. But I did read up on the issue, but was (and still am) not clear about what exactly the problem is. I did not blame everyone, I just blamed the people saying it was a hardware problem. Which btw I'm still not convinced it is.

[Caliban]

Have you tried using the tv out on your video card? Once you find the sweet spot with decoders you'll wonder why you bothered screwing about with the buggy 350 anyway... It does require you to have a reasonable cpu and ram (i have had no problems with 1ghz AMD with 512 RAM

Good luck!

I did, and that works, but my cpu has to run on its toes to handle that (P3, 800MHz). Plus it's significatly lower quality.
It's because I wanted to run it on this low end box that I chose the 350...

[elite]

I did, and that works, but my cpu has to run on its toes to handle that (P3, 800MHz). Plus it's significatly lower quality.
It's because I wanted to run it on this low end box that I chose the 350...

Ok, recommmended min requirements are 1ghz... regarding the video card tv out I have found the best results for me are with the nvidia pure video decoder (as good as watching analogue terestrial direct from the aerial on my tv) - but you will need a bit of trial and error on this one.