Unable to use ATI 550 and 650 together

[Paul343]

I would really appreciate any insight that someone may have.... it seems there is a tremendous amount of knowledge on this forum.

I have looked through the forums for an answer to this, but have yet to find anything, so....

The issue occurs when I am recording one show and try to watch another or have two recording set to go at the same time. With live TV, as soon as the second show attempts to start, NPVR says" ... unable to communicate with the recording service..." With a simultaneous recording NPVR doesn't work either, but I don't have that on the attached Log files.

Basics of the system:
Win7 64 bit
TV Tuner 1: ATI 550 Pro
TV Tuner 2: ATI 650 Pro

Both are used only in analog and the workaround of analog cards using WinTV7 was used so that the program would see the cards.

Note both cards are available on Window Media Center, and two shows can be recorded there simultaneously, so I think it is some setting within NextPVR.

I have tried both the latest updates and the bare 2.2.6 versions of NPVR, and a few different versions of the ATI software, and also left the system use only the files that Windows uses in the absence of any ATI drivers. All versions of the driver software work with WMC.

I have removed one card at a time, and both work individually without issue.

This only happens when I attempt to use the cards at the same time.

Has anybody seen this before, or have any ideas of this to try?

I would really appreciate anything you folks may have!

Paul

[johnsonx42]

run a filtercheck and post the log. there's a link to that utility in the second post of the tech support thread linked in my signature (it's in the Analog Devices section).

[Paul343]

johnsonx42,

Thanks for the reply, the request log file attached...

Paul

[johnsonx42]

Looks like an NPVR bug to me. It starts recording on the first card using hardware encoding, but then when trying to start live tv on the second card it fails to find the hardware encoder and then it blows up somehow trying to fail-back to software encoding.

Just as a test, try changing the <Type> to SOFT_ENCODE in this section of your AnalogDevices.xml:

Code:

    <Device filter="ATI AVStream Analog Capture">
        <Name>ATI 550 Pro</Name>
        <Type>HARD_ENCODE</Type>
        <FilterEncoder>ATI AVStream Analog Capture</FilterEncoder>
    </Device>

This will test whether it works right if it never tries hard encoding. Whether it works or not, post both NPVR and NRecord logs.

edit: don't forget to restart nrecord after changing this

[sub]

I'm pretty sure it'll be a case of the ATI drivers incorrectly using the same pin medium on both devices, so when NextPVR asks Windows for the hardware encoder related to the capture filter it returns the wrong one.

I would be able to relatively easily knock up a work around patch for this, but unfortunately my build is no longer compatible with 2.2.6, so I cant do it at this time.

[Paul343]

johnsonx42,

Thanks again, and here are the files you were looking for. A bit of explanation:

The soft encode option did allow the machine to record a show (quite choppy, but it did...). However, when I tried to watch a second show, I got the BSOD and the machine rebooted. This led to two sets of log files. The *.log1.zip files are from before the BSOD and do not seem to display the attempt to watch another show. The *.log.zip files are after the reboot. At this time I reopened NPVR and stopped the recording.

Here are the files and a picture of the BSOD (a bit out of focus). I can send that picture as well, but it is a bit bigger.

On another avenue, I also tried recording a program with WMC, and then trying to watch another with NPVR. The result was the same, NPVR was "...unable to communicate with the recording service..."

Interesting problem!

Paul

[Paul343]

sub,

It does seen as though the problem resides with the system not being able to tell the cards apart due to the ATI driver. I had tried to name them something different, and tried to give each one a different version of the driver, but no success there. Hopefully johnstonx42 is on to something...

If you are already beyond 2.2.6, then perhaps I will just have to wait for the next one!

Thanks for making this, it is an excellent product, and I look forward to the release of the build you are on.

Cheers,

Paul

[sub]

I remember another user in the past with the same problem, but I cant remember what the resolution was. I pretty sure it was I mentioned above.

[Reddwarf]

I had a similar problem with two ATI Theater 550 Pro cards a couple of years ago or so. It simply didn't work to have two cards in the same computer, so my solution was to replace one with a PVR150.

[Paul343]

Thanks Reddwarf,

Perhaps that is the only way to go.... I would prefer not to buy a second tuner just to watch two programs that are on at the same time, and I really like the NPVR interface and the video files that it produces. Can't have it all I guess.

Looking forward to the next release sub!

Cheers,

Paul