Hauppauge HVR-1600/1250; Comcast; Live TV Woes

[Terrormaster]

Hi all, long time hardware and software enthusiest, noobie PVR setup. First off wanted to thank Sub for an excellent piece of software, kudo's for pulling something like this off as a solo developer.

I swear though that setting up a PVR is either like pulling teeth or I've just had a really bad run of luck. I've been doing hardware for many years and honestly didn't think setting up a PVR would be all that difficult especially with so many great resources out there on how to do it. I've had no trouble getting GBPVR up and running and doing pretty much everything except Live TV. As soon as I add Live TV into the mix it just keeps falling apart in one way or another.

Here's my core system specs:

Gigabyte GA-946 MX-S2 (Intel chipset)
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8ghz
2g OCZ SOE DDR2 SDRAM
EVGA nVidia e-GeForce 6200 LE (256mb)
Hauppauge HVR-1600 (first try)
Hauppauge HVR-1250 (second try)
Windows XP Pro SP3 (w/latest hotfixes and updates)
CyberLink PowerDVD 5
Community Codec Pack (latest version)
Yapi2XML for guide
Comcast Digital Cable

No anti-virus, no anti-spyware, windows firewall disabled at the service level. Just a basic install with core components only.

I've been through two Hauppauge cards so far and no luck really. Essentially here's what went down:

First tried with the Hauppauge HVR 1600. All windows updates done, all drivers running the latest versions. Got GBPVR up and running without a hitch - videos, music, radio, all working perfect. Was looking good so I moved the box from my study/lab to the living room and gave it a live coax feed to start setting up Live TV. Everything looked good at first then disaster...

Suddenly the remote just wouldn't respond anymore. So before blaming it on GBPVR I fired up WinTV and same behavior - the remote worked only 30% of the time. I doubled checked the plug in the back where the IR plugs in because I heard that due to it not always going in caused similar problems. Pulled it out then put it back and heard a nice firm click. Even changed the batteries in the remote twice. And yup, I made sure the drivers and software for IR.exe was running the latest/greatest from Hauppauge.

So I did a system restore back to just before installing GBPVR and went through the steps again... Same thing - everything worked fine until I got Live TV going. In fact this time the remote actually worked for all of about 5 minutes tops. So I Googled until my Googler was sore and could find nothing concrete on the remote issue. :mad:

Frustrated and figuring this was a hardware/driver issue, I returned the card to Circuit City and swapped it for the HVR-1250 (staying miles away from Pinnacle after all the bad reviews). System Restore again, rinse, lather, repeat... Well at least this time the remote has been good (mostly - still dies when I go into WinTV - depends on if I'm viewing the lower analog channels or the digital channels) and no trouble at all in GBPVR (although I do occasionally have to RestartIR if I jump back and forth between GBConfig and GBPVR too frequently) . Well, almost... Now I can't get Live TV in GBPVR to work at all.

I know the 1250 isn't natively supported by GBPVR so I modified the BDA.INI file as instructed by Sub in another post. Scanned the channels, mapped a few to EPG for testing purposes - basically followed all the steps in the other post. Launched GBPVR and selected Live TV... I get a black screen for a few secs then back to the menu.

Not sure what to change now... I'd be pulling my last hairs out if I weren't completely bald already.

Any and all help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,
-TM

[whurlston]

Zip and post your logs after attempting to view live tv.

[Terrormaster]

Any particular logs or just the whole logs folder? Is there anything that would stand out in the logs that I could look for that would clue me in?

Thanks,
-TM

[sub]

Well, almost... Now I can't get Live TV in GBPVR to work at all.

As Whurlston suggested, zip and attach the logs and I'll take a look. Zip the whole logs subdirectory.

Did you remember to remove any analog capture sources you might previously have had setup with your HVR1600?

[Terrormaster]

I have one more thing I want to try when I get back home. If that doesn't work I'll zip up and post the logs this evening... If it does work, I'll confess my stupidity.

Thanks for the quick reply all.

-TM

[Terrormaster]

Well, was thinking that I may have missed the reinstall of DirectX 9 so I reinstalled it - still no luck. So I've zipped and attached the logs like requested.

Thanks,
-TM

[sub]

2008-05-14 20:08:45.156 INFO BDARecorder:::StartRecording(Hauppauge HVR-1250MCE (QAM), 1, , T:1)

The tuning doesnt seem to be setup on the channel you're trying to view. Normally in the place of the "T:1" in your log it would have a big string like T:65,65,1~P:9~V:1984~A:1985~PMT:48~PCR:8191~E:T~N:>65.1

Its hard for me to tell if its just one channel like this, or all channels. Probably best to delete you capture source and recreate it. Use the 'map digital channels to epg channels' button to do the scan. When the scan completes, click the 'tuning request' drop down for each channel you want to enable and select the appropriate channel mapping.

[Terrormaster]

Well, that kinda sorta worked... But GBPVR crashed on me a couple times mapping the codes so I never got to test it before having to get off.

I really don't have the patience to map out channels on a trial and error basis. I really just want to use GBPVR like a VCR with the added MC interface for my other media. I'd also like to convert older VHS tapes to digital using GBPVR. I know the 1250 doesn't have MPEG2 hardware decoding, but what are the technical reasons why I can't use it as a fixed channel direct recording device with GBPVR? It works fine in WinTV in a Wall -> Converter -> VCR -> PC analog type setup. What technical reasons prevent GBPVR from doing the same? Whats happening in WinTV that GBPVR isn't doing?

Is the 1250 just not the right card for the job I want to do? I really don't wanna try another HVR-1600 and I don't want to spend more than a 100 bucks at this point. And I don't have the funds to play the card swapping game.

Thanks,
-TM

[sub]

I know the 1250 doesn't have MPEG2 hardware decoding, but what are the technical reasons why I can't use it as a fixed channel direct recording device with GBPVR? It works fine in WinTV in a Wall -> Converter -> VCR -> PC analog type setup. What technical reasons prevent GBPVR from doing the same? Whats happening in WinTV that GBPVR isn't doing?

GB-PVR is designed to work with digital capture devices, or analog devices that output MPEG2 data. The analog side of the HVR1250 doesnt do that. It just output raw video frames. If I'd wanted to record analog tv from this type of device I would have had to add software encoding components for encoding the data coming out of the device. This wasnt something I was interested in doing. I'm happy with limiting GB-PVR's analog support to those devices that have an onboard MPEG2 encoder.

Is the 1250 just not the right card for the job I want to do?

This card is fine if recording digital ATSC/QAM is the intended usage. Its not the right card for recording any analog video with GB-PVR.

[Terrormaster]

Anyone have any suggestions for a device that would suit my needs that I could pick up at a brick-n-mortar store (other than the HVR-1600, HVR-1250, or HVR-950)? I'm a bit leery on the Pinnacle line as I haven't seen any really good reviews for any of them. I need Analog in, a remote, and obviously compatibility with GBPVR. I was thinking the HVR-1800 at this point but I can't find a local dealer - Circuit City only carries the three Hauppauge models I listed above. And I can't find ANY Hauppauge products on Bestbuy's site.

Thanks again everyone,
-TM