Happauge 1212

[GaryJ73167]

Hi All,
I am in need of some help, and, I figured that a good place to start would be here. I will try to keep this as short and as “to the point” that I can.

I just recently purchased a Happauge 1200 PVR for my windows machine (see my windows specs at the end of this post).

Before continuing, the only reason I have this unit is to schedule TV programs to record (by using the included IR Blaster and software called “WinTV scheduler” to change channels on my DirectTV box).

The device records incredibly well, but, the software that comes with this thing leaves little to be desired.
For example, if I schedule a program from 9:00am to 10:00am, and, the next program should start at 10:00am, it never does. It will also sometimes randomly just say that the device is in use and cannot record, and, last, but not least, the scheduler relies on Titan TV. NEVER in my life have I experienced something as awful as Titan TV. By the time the web page loads, I am ready to gouge my eyes out. Also, when the included software saves my recordings out, it doesn’t give me an option to set the parameters of the name. (For example, the show name, the show title, the date,..etc…etc..)

So, all in all, the hardware is good, but, the software sucks…………..bad……… 

I have been googling about different software now for days. There are 3 pieces of software that I found. 1 is SageTV and the other is MythTV and one more called Next PVR.

Sage TV seems to no longer exist? When I go to their website I just see a write up about it, but, no links or downloads. I did manage to find some downloads for Sage, but, there are a number of links. Links for a server, links for a client,….etc….etc… So, one of my questions here, is, will SageTV be way more than I am looking for ?

MythTV appears to be for Linux only, and, I didn’t really start reading too much into the NextPVR software, which brings me here.

I just kinda need some help here. Will NextPVR do what I want without having to use this GOD AWFUL WinTV scheduler with TitanTV?

I had a MAC at one time, and, their EyeTV software was PERFECT for what I want to do. But, it is for MAC only. :/

My setup:
Windows 7 Home Permium 64 bit, i5 processor, 16GB ram, 500gb SSD

[mikeh49]

NextPVR should do exactly what you want. It is EPG-centric so you should have a good program guide available for its use. The best in the US is Schedules Direct which costs $25/year. There is a free trial so you can see if it works for you. Many of us feel it's money well spent.

NPVR is well adapted to Hauppauge devices and Win7 is the best PVR support OS in my opinion. NPVR can use the Hauppauge blaster to change channels on the STB. You'll need to specify video and audio decoders; use the MS DTV DVD decoder for video, perhaps the Hauppauge decoder for audio or just get AC3 filter.

NPVR has its own way of naming recordings (generally including show name, date and time), but there are ways to work around this if you must, using batch files.

Give it a try, you might like it.

[GaryJ73167]

NextPVR should do exactly what you want. It is EPG-centric so you should have a good program guide available for its use. The best in the US is Schedules Direct which costs $25/year. There is a free trial so you can see if it works for you. Many of us feel it's money well spent.

NPVR is well adapted to Hauppauge devices and Win7 is the best PVR support OS in my opinion. NPVR can use the Hauppauge blaster to change channels on the STB. You'll need to specify video and audio decoders; use the MS DTV DVD decoder for video, perhaps the Hauppauge decoder for audio or just get AC3 filter.

NPVR has its own way of naming recordings (generally including show name, date and time), but there are ways to work around this if you must, using batch files.

Give it a try, you might like it.

Thank you SO much for your reply. Something else I should mention (being you mentioned decoders), one thing I LOVE about how this device records, is, however it is encoding the video, it makes it SUPER easy to load into this software called VideoReDo, remove the commercials and save it out in about 60 seconds.....it doesent have to re-encode the entire video. I dont want to lose that functionality. Will I lose that if I use this software ?

[GaryJ73167]

You'll need to specify video and audio decoders; use the MS DTV DVD decoder for video, perhaps the Hauppauge decoder for audio or just get AC3 filter.

I downloaded , installed it, got my channel lineup setup and got the PVR device setup. Only problem is, it keeps telling me that I havent specified an AC3 audio decoder. How would I specify the Happauge decoder? I dont see it as an option in the dropdown menu.

[dixxfixx]

"Will I lose that if I use this software ? "

Not at all. NPVR takes whatever comes out of your tuner device and stashes it on your hard drive. You can then do with it as you will. You can even have a PostProcessing.bat do it automatically if you can figure out how to run VideoReDo in command mode as part of a batch file (it has been done).

[sub]

I downloaded , installed it, got my channel lineup setup and got the PVR device setup. Only problem is, it keeps telling me that I havent specified an AC3 audio decoder. How would I specify the Happauge decoder? I dont see it as an option in the dropdown menu.

You can probably get the Hauppauge decoder to show up by starting a command prompt with 'run as administrator' and registering it with the following command:

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinTV\WinTV7\AC3\HaupAC3Decoder.ax"

Otherwise you could install ac3filter or lav and choose those for AC3.

[GaryJ73167]

Thank you for all of these replies.....you have been such a big help to me...I am going to mess with this software more in a little bit.

I "DO" have one more question though As far as "Schedules Direct" goes, is there a way I can view the listings from my work PC and click on a program to schedule it at home? For as awful as titan tv is, I can (at the very least) do that from the web with a login.

Once again, I appreciate all of this help.

[sub]

There is a built in web server that'd allow you to do that, but honestly it's only really intended for local network use, but some people do use it across the internet.

[dixxfixx]

I did it experimentally. Never used it as such, but I was able to log in from my daughter's house by setting up a path through my router to my PVR machine. Just a bit of fun, but it should be possible.

[GaryJ73167]

ok...cool....

this should be my last question

I am eventually going to want to upgrade to Windows 10.... is this going to break things? or does this work under 10 pretty decent?