HVR1600 - No sound? And a VMR question

[skreien]

Hey everyone,

Was having too many problems with my PVR computer so I reloaded it from scratch, now I'm having problems with the audio on one of my tuner cards. My tuner cards are PVR150MCE, and an HVR1600. I can record and watch live analog tv on both cards, they both record analog just fine, etc. But I have no sound when watching live TV or recording and playing back digital channels on the HVR1600. Kinda strange. I had it working before the reinstall so I know it's not hardware. I searched the forums and found discussions of audio driver problems with the PVR150, but I haven't seen anything on the HVR1600 having that problem. The only two things I can think of is either audio decoders/devices, which seems unlikely because everything else works, and that when I had it working previously it was under an older driver version that came with the card. I'm in the US, so I'm not tuning using frequencies, so that doesn't apply.

Has anyone else heard of audio problems with the HVR1600? Any suggestions on troubleshooting for places to look? I've been playing with this for a while.

Also, I have an ASUS Extreme 300 video card that has TV out. I have never been able to get TV out working with anything other than VMR9 before now, which has never given proper performance. It was passible while recording and playing analog channels, but it was unwatchable on digital channels. I finally found a setting in the video drivers that allows me to use overlay and it seems to be performing well now, but I would like to use VMR9 if possible. I understand from what I read that VMR9 is the "proper" one to use in XP, and I think it does look better, but the performance is unacceptable. Any idea why that might be, or what I can do to fix it? I've been fooling around with different codecs and almost every setting I can find for weeks now, that's how I messed the machine up to the point where I had to reinstall it, and I can't find any combination that gives me as good performance as overlay. The machine is a 3GHZ with 1 gig of memory, and does very little except PVR most of the time. Two HDD, one dedicated to OS, the second to recordings. I'm using the ATI codec for playback.

Thanks!

[sub]

But I have no sound when watching live TV or recording and playing back digital channels on the HVR1600.

Maybe you dont have an AC3 capable audio decoder installed? I'm fairly sure AC3 is always used with ATSC channels. Try AC3Filter.

Also, I have an ASUS Extreme 300 video card that has TV out. I have never been able to get TV out working with anything other than VMR9 before now, which has never given proper performance. It was passible while recording and playing analog channels, but it was unwatchable on digital channels. I finally found a setting in the video drivers that allows me to use overlay and it seems to be performing well now, but I would like to use VMR9 if possible. I understand from what I read that VMR9 is the "proper" one to use in XP, and I think it does look better, but the performance is unacceptable. Any idea why that might be, or what I can do to fix it? I've been fooling around with different codecs and almost every setting I can find for weeks now, that's how I messed the machine up to the point where I had to reinstall it, and I can't find any combination that gives me as good performance as overlay. The machine is a 3GHZ with 1 gig of memory, and does very little except PVR most of the time. Two HDD, one dedicated to OS, the second to recordings. I'm using the ATI codec for playback.

You should be able to use either Overlay/VMR7/VMR9, though I'm not sure if that video card is up to viewing high dev ATSC video coming from your HVR1600. Acceleration is usually only available on the primary monitor, so if your TV out is the second monitor then dont even think about trying VMR9 Custom of VRM9 FSE.

[skreien]

Damn sub, that was quick! Don't you ever sleep? :-)

I'm getting some audio now after I installed AC3filter, but it seems like I'm not getting all the channels. For instance, I flipped on Grey's Anatomay and Close To Home, and I can hear the background audio on both, but nothing else That's the wierdest thing I've ever seen. I'll fool with it some more, it seems like that's the right track.

Thanks!

[skreien]

OK, I had to change the output of the AC3filter to stereo, and everything sounds good.

I still don't understand:
1. Why is VMR9 so bad?
2. Playing back digital channels is passable, but it still drops frames now and then. Processor use is at 35-40%, so I don't understand why.

Thanks for the help sub, you keep making GBPVR better and better. And the help you give us is much appreciated!

[sub]

I still don't understand:
1. Why is VMR9 so bad?
2. Playing back digital channels is passable, but it still drops frames now and then. Processor use is at 35-40%, so I don't understand why.

The generic answer is that it'll come down to the capabilities of your video card and/or the video decoder you're using. Since you've indicated analog is ok, but digital isnt, then I'm guessing your video card isnt coping with high def video?

I have no idea what a "ASUS Extreme 300" is, but normally with nvidia cards you need a 6600 or higher for ATSC HDTV channels. I'm not sure what the ATI equivalent is - but if the name suggests an ATI X300, then I suspect its a bit on the slow side.

[skreien]

Hmm... Sounds like I need to get a better video card then.

[skreien]

How about this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...814141039R

[sub]

How about this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...814141039R

A 6800GS like that should be fine.

[elbryyan]

How about this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...814141039R

Though if you want to save some cash then I have heard that this card will do fine for 1080i content.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.as...6814125033

Also, if you don't mind the ~$100 price range then I might suggest an 8500 or 8600 series card as from what I have heard these cards have video acceleration chips included to offload the processing needed from the CPU even with other decoders besides the Nvidia Purvideo and can handle even the 1080p from HD-DVD or Blue-Ray discs. Something such as this maybe...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814125062

[thebruce]

Be sure to read this thread about using Nvidia PureVideo decoders and Nvidia ForceWare drivers on Nvidia 6xxx and 7xxx video cards.
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=17265

I'm using the same Hauppauge hardware as skreien with Nvidia 6150 graphics and the correct combination of Purevideo and Forceware made a difference between watchable and unwatchable HD.

I don't think this applies to the newer Nvidia 8xxx hardware.