Mag 250 IPTV stb - HDPVR2 GE Plus - Hauppauge WinTV - NPVR - question

[Armou1]

K, when you say that the PVR won't do "1080/60hz only 30", what do you mean? I don't see such a setting.

I have to confess that my previous declaration has turned out not to be true. I can get everything working after either rebooting or reinstalling but this lasts only minutes and then I get a blank screen with "no tuner available". I've sent off for the splitter you suggested and in the meantime am in communication with Hauppauge Support (not helpful so far). Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

A

[kamares]

Hi A,

It depends on exactly what setup you have. To recap - I am using the Mag 250 to feed an HDMI splitter/ HDCP stripper and from the splitter/stripper I have 2 HDMI
cables. 1 to a Pani tv and 1 to a Hauppauge HD PVR GE Plus. Then, from the HDPVR to a pc with NPVR loaded for scheduled recording (with blaster to change channels - a USB-UIRT receiver and a UK SKY Plus Remote).

If you go from the Mag 250 via HDMI to the HDPVR 2 without the HDMI stripper then you will probably not get a picture because the HDCP (Copy protection) stops the video being decoded and you should just get a black screen. You might get audio. You may well also get the "No Tuner available" message but I have only used the stripper (which removes the copy protection) so can't comment on that. The error message simply means that NPVR is not getting a signal for whatever reason.

With the splitter you should get both.

I haven't tried component/av connection but the instructions for the HDPVR say that you will get both video and audio but with a lower quality picture.

I am assuming you are using the HDPVR 2 and NPVR. If so, then NPVR will show the HDPVR as a selectable tuner. If you are using another tuner that is not recognised by NPVR then you will get "No tuner available". If you get "No tuner available" with the HDPVR connected then it means that the HDPVR is not sending to the pc and may need to be reset. It's a bit of a pain and does happen to me sometimes. The quick fix is to pull the power from the hDPVR
while the pc is running and to plug it back in to re-initialise. It takes several seconds to come back.

I have also found that when using a Telefunken tv, the telefunken remote is sending tv codes that cause the MAG 250 to act as if the "Exit" button has been pressed. This caused me a lot of grief because I had the USB-Uirt blasting channel changes to start recording but ended up with only a steady picture of the
Log-On menu.... Very strange ... But, the Pani tv remote does not seem to interfere in the same way. Maybe a different tv will behave better if you have that problem. Or, of course, use a different remote to program USB-UIRT.

If that is not an issue then go back to basics and connect Mag 250 - splitter - hDMI - pc and start the Hauppauge program without NPVR and see if you get a picture through that. That also depends on which version of the HDPVR 2 software that you are using. The one before the current one included Arcsoft Showbiz that will also show a picture on screen. If no picture through just the HDPVR then it's nothing to do with NPVR and you might have a defective HDPVR 2. If that is the case then best send it back. I assume they will test it and either agree that it is dead or not. Either way you will know whether the HDPVR is actually OK or not. Soetimes that is the quickest way to find out ...

If you do get a picture by using just the HDPVR software then your NPVR setup is wrong.

You could also get and load up the Hauppauge Win TV program ( without NPVR) that will allow you to get a picture through that. I did load it but found that it wasn't necessary and just added problems into the chain so I uninstalled it when I got NPVR running.

Then, lastly, the MAG 250 will output HD as 1080p / 60 Hz but the HDPVR will change it down to 1060p / 30 when it records. You can try 720 output from
the Mag which will record as is through the HDPVR.
I am OK with 1080p / 30 and there doesn't seem to be any visible difference when recording tv. It might well show differently when recording a
game, especially if you are running at a high fps.
That is individual preference.

I found Hauppauge support in the US better than the UK office but although they were OK to send emails back they didn't have any solutions to my questions.
At one point they said that the HDPVR will not work with NPVR - but it does.

As for the stripper (Chinese origin) ... I have both models and they work fine. Be aware though that there is / was some pressure on the manufacturers to stop making strippers in that way because it is against the industry practice of keeping HD copy protection in place. It is possible, I suppose, that they might change the design to comply ... They don't want to because it will increase the cost of the unit if they add more circuitry to replace the copy potection before the splitter outputs the signals. Who knows ??

Hope this helps .. If not, let me know and we can get more basic. Unless, of course, anyone else on the Forum can jump in ...

I should say that I am not really an NPVR expert but have struggled with the set-up that I have and made it work ..

Regards,

K

[Armou1]

K, can you tell me which UIRT you got? I see one by Jon Rhees on Amazon UK. Would this be suitable?

Thanks

A

[kamares]

Hi A,

Yes, I used the Jon Rhees one from Amazon UK. Seems fine. You also need:
The programme from http://www.usbuirt.com/
Drivers from http://www.usbuirt.com/getstart.htm
Lrnhelper.exe from USB-UIRT http://www.usbuirt.com/lrnhelper_0_0_5.zip (Or latest).

The UsbUirt programme to set up.
The drivers – of course.
Lrnhelper to setup the blaster to receive commands when the pc is sleeping. I linked the power button on the remote to one of the 4 empty slots in the Lrnhelper screen to wake the pc up from sleep. Instructions are obvious from within the programme.

I addition, my complete rig for this comprises:

Mobo = Asus H87M-Plus CSM version
Mag 250 IPTV box
HDMI splitter/stripper
Hauppauge HDPVR GE PLus
====================================
Programmes used:
NPVR
====
EPG Grabber – WebGrab+Plus works for UK. http://www.webgrabplus.com/
EPG site data from WebGrab+Plus
====
IR Server Suite from http://www.team-mediaportal.com/extensio...suite-irss
This to link the remote buttons to NPVR to receive navigation commands for NPVR and to send channel changing codes to the Mag 250 and change the tv channel..
====
Win-spy++ from http://www.catch22.net.
This to identify the codes relating to the NPVR window focus when setting up navigation moves from remote button presses.
====
“Coffee” from http://sourceforge.net/projects/coffee-sc/
I had a problem with the auto EPG update stopping in the middle because it was delayed and took longer than the period that I had set for pc sleep. With a lot of channels, the update can take an hour – depending on which source. I use Radio Times. This “Coffee” programme keeps the pc awake until all internet traffic has stopped for a while. It also helps if you are downloading a movie series – for example – and the pc sleeps in the middle of the download.
The NPVR forum and support pages are helpful but easier to follow if you already know what is going on. I found it a bit tricky to understand and set it up when knowing nothing about NPVR or the other progs that need building in. When I read them now they all make much more sense ....... and I am at the point where I highlight a prog in the tv guide and click the Sky record button for a future prog – and it changes channel and records .... It’s more or less the same now as using the Sky + box that I dumped. The only limitation is that you can’t record a different channel to the one that you are watching. So, I record repeated ones after I am in bed ... Next step is to get a second Mag box so that one is dedicated to the tv and one to NPVR – then I can.

Regards,

K

[Armou1]

K, thanks so much. I shall endeavour to follow suit....

I'll let you know how I get on

George

[kamares]

Hi George,

I made some notes for a friend. They are very basic - a dumb guide, I suppose, but, I will add them as an attachment (if it works ....). They might be of some interest. (I know most of it is obvious - so don't flame me ... !!!)

You will need a copy of 7-zip to unzip. http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

Regards,

K

[Armou1]

K, I'm having endless problems trying to download webgrabplus. I have tried repeatedly but keep getting a warning that the installer is not approved. Any thoughts?

Thanks

George

[kamares]

Hi George,

Just tried it on another pc with no problems ...


Again - you need all these ..
==================

http://www.webgrabplus.com

Then - Top bar - downloads

then click on:

v.1.1.1. - Win download (1.7mb)

Upgrade 54 - (178.15 mb). downloads as patchexe_54.exe

Siteini pack (06/05/2013)

WG dependencies
===================

All just downloaded OK. No objections ...

You will need to unzip and unrar ...

Then - just clicked on instal.bat. Gives a message that the prog is not approved - which I guess is where you are.

This is just Win saying it doesn't recognise the programme. Ignore it and continue.

You should already, by now, have a directory X:\webgrab+plus1.1.IMSI

If you have Norton - highlight the directory and right click for Norton scan. It will tell you OK.

If you are not convinced then I can understand it but google webgrabplus and see other comments ...

It works well for me ..

Let me know ..

Regards,

K

[Armou1]

K, I am making progress and now have webgrabplus and NPVR fully loaded. However, I can't get the first EPG channel to update and can't find the way to follow your "idiot's guide" instructions in these areas:

Cannot access Recordings page in the way suggested
Cannot access Media Folders in the way suggested

I also get this message:- "The DirectX is not available on this machine. software rendering instead" on the settings title page.

Since you seem to be in Cyprus, maybe I could call you for advice at a convenient time?

Thanks

George

[kamares]

Hi George,

Problems .... As I said before, I'm not an expert at this and, as it happens, I have taken my rig off-line for a few days to work out some more issues that were not as I wanted. However, your issues are probably something small.
The missing directx puzzles me .. I never had that error message ..
As a guess - did you do this:
- Install DirectX runtime:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/...px?id=8109
(Stop Bing Being added ??)
If you did, then maybe you need to re-install ..
(I assume you have win 7 and all updates for standard directx ..)
If that doesn't fix the missing directx error message then I'm not sure. Try that first anyway.
I'm unclear what you mean by accessing recording page / media folder. Do you mean from within NPVR tv guide or the settings?
To get to the settings for these pages - run NPVR to get the first screen that shows TV guide / Recordings / live tv etc. Right click anywhere on the right to get to settings.
Then you will see a screen About/General/Channels/recordings/media folders/decoders etc ...
Click on recordings and media to set up the locations for your recordings and media there.
If you are on the start up / first screen for NPVR and click on recordings, it should change to a screen that has "What's new" at the bottom - but there won't be any recordings shown if you have not yet recorded any - obviously .
(Push the mouse to the top of the screen to see the hidden menu to "Go Back".
Then, for update - do you mean Webgrab update or NPVR update?

If you have webgrab set up and the webgrab guide.xml shows the test channel then Webgrab is OK. If not, then webgrab is not set up correctly.
To make NPVR catch the update you need to go to settings again / channels and click "Update EPG" at the bottom. This won't work unless you have set up the channel first - per my notes.

It seems that if I click on your Armou1 name in NPVR I can send you a private message re. Cyprus.
I will do that in a minute.

Regards,

K