Problem with 3 tuners

[PeterM]

I have been running with a PVR-350 and a PVR-250 for some time. Both tuners work fine. Now I have installed a PVR-150 in addition, and this does not work. I have the PVR-350 as device 1, PVR-250 as device 2 and the PVR-150 as device 3.

I don't get any signal from the first 2 devices (black screen), but if I open 3 video streams, the last device (3) works. If I delete the PVR-150 as a source in config.exe, then I have the same problem: device 1 shows black screen, device 2 is fine.

Any ideas?

[bgowland]

Assuming the order of devices in the 'Capture Sources' page of Config.exe is...

PVR350
PVR250
PVR150

...then make the 350 device #3, 250 device #2 and 150 device #1. In other words, count down from the top. I've done a lot of board 'juggling' (I've a 350, 500 and 2x Nova-t) and I 'think' I've got the hang of it by now.

Give it a try - that's how I'd do it.

[PeterM]

No - that did not work...

[Darx-starz]

Quote[/b] ]
No - that did not work...

Sub indicated to me that it could matter what slot these cards are in. They are groped in the order of PCI slots. I had a PVR350 and I just stuffed the 150 in after it. I just ignored what Sub said. He was right and I was wrong. Swapping them round got it to work. I would put the 150 1st and then the 350 or 250 next. The # number in gbpvr config is the driver instance. OK say you put the 150 in slot1 and 350 in slot 2 and 250 in slot 3, the instance could be #1, #2, #2. The 350 and 250 share the same driver.

A good way to set this up is to put all your cards in and watch the boot screen. They should not share the same IRQ. You may have to allocate static IRQ's in the BIOS. When the host comes up, disable the 250 and 350.

Install drivers for the 150. Apply the updates (search for my how I did it for the list) and gbpvr config it. Make sure the IRRemote works. Enable the next card (pvr350 or 250) install drivers and gbpvr config that card and so on. Each time making sure the remote works.

When you have 2 cards in you can check out that you can record 1 show and watch another.

Try that and come back and tell us what you have done.

[bgowland]

Quote[/b] (Darx-starz @ Mar. 13 2005,07:30)]

Quote[/b] ]OK say you put the 150 in slot1 and 350 in slot 2 and 250 in slot 3, the instance could be #1, #2, #2. The 350 and 250 share the same driver.

From another discussion with sub, even though the 350 and 250 use the same Windows device driver, you must have a separate 'instance' of the filter for each card therefore you cannot have duplicate device numbers as you mention.

[sub]

Yes, these devices should be setup as #1, #2 and #3 as they all share the same driver names. It can be very hard to tell which is which, so you may need to do a bit of trial and error. As you add cards to you machine, the numbers often change.

[bgowland]

One thing to try is to only connect the antenna input on the 150, set the devices as 1, 2, 3 and start 3 simultaneous Quick Records for a minute or so then cancel them all and try to view the recordings. If none of the recordings work then try 1, 3, 2 then 2, 1, 3 then 2, 3, 1 etc. There are only 6 possible configurations and 2 of those will be right for the 150. I'm not sure how to work out the correct device # for the 350 and 250 though.

[sub]

It doesnt matter if you mix up the PVR250 and PVR350. It's only really the PVR150 that causes the problem, since it needs to be initialised in a different way.

[PeterM]

I got it working!

Thanks for excellent advice. I put the PVR-150 in the first PCI-slot (after the AGP slot), and tried all the 6 different combinations of device numbers in the Capture Sources in config.exe (it was obviously the last of the 6 that worked...).

Sub, it seems to me that there is a difference between the 350 and the 250 - in my case if I don't get the device numbers also for these two right - then it doesn't work...

Thanks again,
peter

[Darx-starz]

Glad you got it working. I thought I was on shakey ground with the device numbers. This firms up my suspicion that the 150 needs to go 1st. This device instance thing (IMHO) needs to go in the wiki or the FAQ as its so important. Not by me I hasten to add as I thought I had a grasp of it but now I am not so sure.... Learning all the time