Lots of 0 length recordings with new HVR-930C tuners

[caz]

Hi.

I recently upgraded from analog tuners to HVR-930C tuners and have a lot of stability issues with scheduled recordings. I have 3 tuners that I use in DVB-C mode. The instability is there no matter how many or which one(s) I have attached. Using GBPVR 1.4.7 and the latest Hauppauge driver version 5.8.1107.26322.

For mpeg-2 channels my scheduled recordings will start correctly about 75% of the time. For HD h.264 it will start about 20% of the time. When it doesn't work I end up with zero length recordings.

When it is working the recording will be just fine, but it takes a long time from scheduling the recording until the status changes from "pending" to "recording". Starting up live HD tv on my popcorn hour a-110 also takes around 30 seconds when it will actually start. Is this how it is supposed to be or is this just another symptom of my problem?

I attached logs from a situation where the problem was reproducible. I scheduled two recordings and restarted the recording service. The recording on tuner 1 would start consistently and the recording on tuner 2 consistently fail. However, normally there isn't such a pattern ...

Thanks a lot,

Casper

[sub]

I am aware of Hauppauge having some stability/reliability issues with this device. They're hoping to fix it in a future driver.

[caz]

Ouch ... I was under the impression those problems had already been sorted out. The last driver update was november 2008 - doesn't sound like they are going to do anything about it. Is there another USB dvb-c tuner you can recommend?

[sub]

I know a few people are using the TechnoTrend C-1501.

[caz]

I did a bit of research and it seems some folks over at dvbviewer.info are using Terratec HTC USB XS HD drivers for their 930c's. Apparently it is the some chipset and Terratec actually updates their drivers ...

Anyway, I downloaded the Terratec driver and updated the USB\VID in the .inf file to that of the 930c. That was all it took and the "hacked" drivers installed no problem. However, when I want to setup a recording source in GBPVR the device is not recognized(ie. not shown when i tick "only show devices detected in this machine"). Forcing it to run as the Terratec does not work either ...

Any suggestions on how I might get GBPVR to recognize it? I would really really appreciate it. Being stuck with 3 brand new, but useless, tuners would just plain s*** ...

Casper

[sub]

You'll probably add a new definition to the bda.ini file.

Run filtercheck.exe from the gbpvr directory, then post the filtercheck.log and I'll let you know what that definition would be.

[caz]

Thanks a lot!

Here is the log file ...

Should I give the new entry in bda.ini a specific name in order for GBPVR to recognize the hardware?

Casper

[sub]

My bda.ini file already had this section:

[TerraTec Cinergy HTC USB XS DVB-C]
TUNING_TYPE=DVB-C
FILTER_TUNER=Cinergy HTC USB XS DVB-C Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=Cinergy HTC USB XS DVB-C Tuner
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport


[TerraTec Cinergy HTC USB XS DVB-T]
TUNING_TYPE=DVB-T
FILTER_TUNER=Cinergy HTC USB XS DVB-T Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=Cinergy HTC USB XS DVB-T Tuner
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport

[caz]

Thanks .. In my file it was:

[TerraTec Cinergy HTC USB XS DVB-C]
TUNING_TYPE=DVB-C
FILTER_TUNER=Cinergy HTC USB XS Digital Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=Cinergy HTC USB XS Digital Capture

Anyway, I changed it so I have it running now and it seems stable ... The only problem is that the picture and sound is so jerky that it is hardly worth watching. With the original drivers quality would be 100 for all frequencies in "Map digital channels to epg channels", using the hacked drivers quality is in the 60-70 range.

Any further suggestions or am I running out of luck here?

Casper

[sub]

You probably need to work out why its jerky. ie, is it a recording problem (check if a recording plays smoothly in external player like VLC), or a playback problem (needing other decoders).