No audio on PVR-150 MCE

[hzwaal]

I recently started building an HTPC and picked GB-PVR for it, based on a lot of good reviews on it and I must say I'm impressed. My compliments!

I'm not without problems however, although I don't think GB-PVR is the cause of it. It may however provide a solution I think.

The problem is that I do not get any sound out of my Hauppauge 150MCE's. After a lot of experimentation and searching the web I have discovered that the cards are not initialised properly when frequencies are used. If I use channel numbers, everything works fine. Unfortunately, my cable company using channels such as 66+ and 43- which do not get tuned properly so I have to use frequencies.

The problem seems related to automatic frequency tuning and I have tried a lot of different frequencies, but none give me any audio. On the bright side, I have discovered that once I tune in to a channel that is configured using a channel number everything(!) works. From that moment on, the frequency channels have perfect sound as well, even after a standby-cycle.

So I ended up configuring most of my channels using numbers and the remainder with frequencies. After a boot, I then record a small piece of one 'numbered' channel while I watch another 'numbered' channel live, so that both cards(drivers?) get properly initialized. It is workable, but definitely a hassle.

Does anyone have the same problem and a better solution for it? Is it maybe possible that this behaviour is integrated into GB-PVR? Could I write a plugin to do this myself? All answers are most appreciated.

Another problem I have is that my computer completely locks up now and then when I start playing back a recording. Onyl a hard reset works; which makes the above problem a bit worse. I'm pretty much convinced that the freeze is a driver problem and have not yet started experimenting with that (could also be related to APIC, I have gathered). Any suggestions are welcome here as well.

Sorry for a longish post; I hope it will at least help others with the same problem.

[stefan]

Quite a few users have problems with missing sound, even though it's usually only on certain channels, so I'm not sure it's really related to your problem... anyhow, the problem is usually solvable by using a different set of drivers for your pvr-150. You can find all drivers ever released, and then some, over at shspvr.com. Try a few older ones, or see if there is a newer one (beta) not yet released that might solve your missing sound problem.

[hzwaal]

I'm currently using the latest driver from Hauppauge (downloaded the 2.7 CD: 2.0.48.24227 if I'm correct, I'll look it up tonight). Previously I have tried a bunch of others, including 2.0.43.24108 and 24103 and also a few very old ones from the 2.4 CD that came with the card (really bad stuff ;-). I also tried the latest one from shspvr.com (the 2.0.24.23025 and 2.0.43.24108). I cleaned up properly in between using hcwclear. All to no avail. I have even set my regional settings in Windows, because that might help in tuning (according to the Hauppauge forum), but no: same problem.

[stefan]

Is it the same problem on both your 150's?

[hzwaal]

Yes, I need to initialize both of them by zapping to a channel that is configured with a channel number rather than a frequency. If I do only one, then the other still does not have any sound on the frequency configured channels.

By the way, on the Hauppauge forum I found more people having the same problem. Some of them with GV-PVR, but some of them with other programs. The common denominator seemed to be Windows 2000. The reason I'm using that is that I had a license lying around and do not see a need to have the latest OS from my HTPC. Maybe I'm starting to see a reason, but then I would like to know for sure first.

[stefan]

Could be the case. Don't know for sure, though.

[hzwaal]

I just checked and my Hauppauge driver is indeed 2.0.48.24227. I can't find any later version.

[SuMo]

I have the same problem with my 150MCE , I am using channel numbers and frequencies as well. I found that as soon the system goes down (so not in standby) sound is gone.
Not a real solution, but I have an event scheduled to start HP win2000 for 1 minute on system start.
For some reason the 150MCE's are OK from that point on.

[skippy_nz]

hi guys - i had that same issue a while ago - and the only fix i ever found was to tune in all my channels using the channel numbers - or as you have discovered use one channel number then the freqs for the rest - as long as you use the channel number one first all is ok with sound - i think this only started happening when i got my PVR 150 MCE - with my first card the PCR 150 i could tune in using freqs with no issues.

[hzwaal]

Does anyone know whether the 150 MCE has the same problem in WinXP?