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HD PVR 2 1512 Owners Thread

144K views 929 replies 109 participants last post by  DrDon 
#1 ·
I didn't see an existing thread for the new Hauppauge HD PVR 2 1512, so I thought I'd start one. I hope this is the right forum! I remember the original HD PVR 1212 threads being under HTPC. Wasn't sure if this should still go under HTPC or the HD Recorders topic?


I just bought the new HD PVR 2 1512 from Best Buy a couple days ago. I've had the original HD PVR 1212 for years since it first came out and shipped in a plain white box. I used the HD PVR 1212 primarily for recording shows from cable and now DirectTV. Not really into recording videogame sessions, so I passed on the HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition. The 1212 has worked for me well all these years, other than the 1212 couldn't record AC3 5.1 surround sound when it first came out. Eventually fixed through a driver update. When I heard about the HD PVR 2 1512 during CES 2013, I thought great! I can now go HDMI and do away with the component and SPDIF cables. And the 1512 supports 1080p 30fps. The 1212 only supported 1080i. So I got the HD PVR 2 all hooked up last night. Going straight HDMI from my DirectTV HR23 receiver to the 1512. Upgraded to the latest 1512 drivers/software available on the Hauppauge website. And wouldn't you know it, it won't record AC3 5.1 sound! HD PVR 2 now comes with Arcsoft ShowBiz for recording. Seems the Arcsoft TotalMedia Extreme 2 I had been using with the 1212 won't support the HD PVR 2. When I bring up the capture module in ShowBiz, it always shows AAC 2-channel sound no matter what channel I'm watching on DirecTV, even the channels that are in 5.1. I've gone into the driver settings for the 1512. There's no option to record in AC3 5.1 like there was in the 1212 driver settings. I noticed there was a checkbox 'Disable HDMI AC3' that was checked by default. I unchecked it hoping it would solve the issue. Nope, still getting 2-channel sound. I've also tried going SPDIF optical from the HR23 receiver to the 1512. No luck there either. Has anyone else purchased the new HD PVR 2 1512 and running into the same 5.1 issue? I find it laughable that the 1512 has the same AC3 5.1 issue the 1212 had when it first came out. I did email Hauppauge tech support about it this morning. I'll see what they say. Hopefully it's something they can fix quickly through a driver update. Or maybe there's a workaround with the existing driver that I'm not seeing. I can't really use the 1512 to record shows until this is fixed. I prefer to keep the original 5.1 sound and not downgrade to 2-channel AAC when recording.
 
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#2 ·
I have no experience with the the 1512 or 1212 but am glad a thread has started. Maybe it will persuade me to get one.


Is there a main advantage of using the HD PVR 2 1512 vs the internal Colossus card? Obviously the 1512 does not require a PC slot.


According to the Hauppauge website the Colossus can record at a higher bitrate (20 Mbs vs 13.5 Mbs). Is this 1512's slower rate anything to be concerned about?
 
#3 ·
I have two of the 1512s that I was hoping to replace my old 1212s with SageTV, but have been having issues. The first issue was no Ac3 5.1 sound with Directv on either SPDIF or HDMI. After playing around a bit, I was able to get it working by doing the following. First, I reinstalled the latest driver, one at a time for each device (i.e., only one 1512 on at a time). Then I rebooted and power cycled each 1512. Next, I used the Arcsoft software to access the settings of each 1512 and toggled the 'disable Ac3" setting a few times, but ultimately left it unchecked. Finally, I rebooted after changing the settings. It appears that any settings you make for the device in Arcsoft only take effect AFTER a reboot. I was then able to record with AC3 5.1 via either SPDIF or HDMI. Note that there is a bug in the current version of Arcsoft Showtime that causes the SPDIF input to show up as a second HDMI input.


I'm still struggling with audio issues with my SageTV extenders. While watching live TV with my SageTV extenders (HD300), certain channels have no audio. However, those video files can later be rescanned/reimported into SageTV and played properly with the Sage extenders. Most of the problem files seem to have positive audio "delay relative to video" values (instead of negative values), so it is unclear if the positive values are tripping up my extenders or if that info is merely being written to the video file's header at a later time.


It seems like there are still bugs and various issues with the 1512 drivers, similar to the early days of the 1212. I recommend that people wait this model out until better drivers are released.
 
#4 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike99  /t/1460986/hd-pvr-2-1512-owners-thread#post_23033093


I have no experience with the the 1512 or 1212 but am glad a thread has started. Maybe it will persuade me to get one.


Is there a main advantage of using the HD PVR 2 1512 vs the internal Colossus card? Obviously the 1512 does not require a PC slot.


According to the Hauppauge website the Colossus can record at a higher bitrate (20 Mbs vs 13.5 Mbs). Is this 1512's slower rate anything to be concerned about?

People on the SageTV board have had all kinds of problems with the Colossus, though a few have gotten it working ok. As for bitrate, at 13.5 mbs it is difficult to see any differences between my original Directv image and the recorded version. BTW, the encoding quality on the 1512 seems a little better than the original 1212, even though the bitrate is the same.
 
#5 ·
I finally got my HD PVR 2 1512 5.1 audio issue squared away with the help of Hauppague's tech support. A couple days ago I was able to get the 1512 recording in 5.1 dolby digital from my DirectTV HR23 receiver over SPDIF optical in after re-installing the latest 1512 driver from the Hauppague website and rebooting. But I still couldn't get 5.1 audio over the HDMI input which is what I really wanted. HDMI would still give me 2 channel audio. Yesterday Hauppage tech support emailed me a brand new driver for the 1512 which fixed the 5.1 over HDMI issue. So finally the 1512 is working the way I expected it to.


I did run into another 5.1 dolby digital issue that I managed to resolve today. The DirecTV HR23 receiver has only 1 HDMI output. I have the HD PVR 2, a Slingbox 500 and Yamaha Aventage A2000 home theater receiver all needing the HDMI signal from the DirecTV box. So I bought a Rocksoul powered 4-way HDMI splitter at Frys Electronics. Connected the Directv HR23 HDMI output to the splitter's HDMI in. Then the splitter's HDMI outputs going to the Slingbox, HD PVR 2 and Yamaha receiver. With this setup, I lost 5.1 audio. Both the HD PVR 2 and Yamaha receiver could only get 2 channel audio from the splitter. Then I realized I didn't really need the HDMI splitter. Both the Slingbox 500 and HD PVR 2 have HDMI pass-through. So I tried chaining the devices instead. Went from the HR23 to the Slingox 500 HDMI in, Slingbox HDMI out to the 1512 HDMI in, then 1512 HDMI out to my Yamaha HDMI in. Bingo! Works perfectly and retains 5.1 digital sound all the way to the Yamaha receiver. And I can return the splitter to Frys for a refund. Not sure why it wasn't able to pass 5.1 sound. It's supposed to support 3D and up to 4K resolution.
 
#7 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by evil_attorney  /t/1460986/hd-pvr-2-1512-owners-thread#post_23054399


What version driver did they send you? Any way you could pass it on to me to try with my issues? I'm currently using the 1.3.31041 version from their website.

They sent me beta driver version 1.3.31062.0. I uploaded the zip file to Sendspace at http://www.sendspace.com/file/s3fk9p


After running the install exe for the driver, reboot your PC and power cycle your 1512. Then go into the driver settings and make sure 'disable HDMI AC3' is unchecked.
 
#10 ·
I have the Gaming 2 edition and it will not see a picture from any HDMI source I feed it, have either of you tried feeding your unit from a bluray player or something similar?


Mine will see the bluray player when it is booting up in 480P but as soon as it switches to 1080 the screen goes blank - note, I am not playing anything on the player just the player menu screen. Seems to be a HDCP issue.
 
#12 ·
I just got the 1512 to recoed off my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD set top box.

The video comes in beautifully on both WinTV and Arcsoft ShowBiz apps that came with the device. But I have not been able to get any audio out at all. Have tried updating all drivers; reinstalled several times. Called support twice but they were useless. Anybody else having this problem? Could it be incompatibility with my Dell Latitude 6410 or its drivers (maybe the IDT HD audio driver?). Any suggestions?
 
#14 ·
I tried the beta driver, but the one before it (currently on their site) works better for me.


I'm using component to capture the video and optical for the audio out of a Moto cable box.


Once you've installed the drivers, reboot everything and power-cycle the 1512 at the same time.


When everything's settled down, open ShowBiz and click "capture."


Make sure you see Hauppauge Siena Video Capture.. in the source box


Video input (for me) is set to Component


Audio input gives three choices:

HDMI

Line in (RCA)

HDMI


Using optical, I have to pick the lower HDMI. The other two do nothing the way I'm configured. After a little bit, the box gets the idea and the audio pops in on the computer and the TV that's hooked to the 1512's HDMI out.
 
#15 ·
Hello Evil


Sorry for the long delay but this was the first weekend in a while where I actually had time to fiddle with the 1512.

Finally got the audio to work. For whatever reason, the box does not seem to be able to process the audio coming

from the RCA connections out of the 1512, even with the new beta driver. Strangely, as a last resort I tried using

the optical out from the Scientific Atlanta 8300 to the 1512 with SPDIF and set the audio to HDMI in all the software

and voila! I guess the 1512 must convert the digital signal from the optical into analog. In any case, recordings of

the DVRed material on my set top box are stellar; beautiful HD and pretty good auidio - unfortunately converted by 1512

to stereo. Maybe they can do some future drivers that reinstate 5.1.

Thanks very much for all of your help.


Mr Lupi
 
#16 ·
How did you verify that the audio portion of your recording was actually 5.1 ? Did you have to burn to a bluray and play it through your receiver to verify? The reason I ask is that all of their promotional materials say that all audio coming out of the box (except for the HDMI pass through) is converted to stereo.

Thanks

Mr Lupi
 
#17 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr lupi  /t/1460986/hd-pvr-2-1512-owners-thread#post_23127913


How did you verify that the audio portion of your recording was actually 5.1 ? Did you have to burn to a bluray and play it through your receiver to verify? The reason I ask is that all of their promotional materials say that all audio coming out of the box (except for the HDMI pass through) is converted to stereo.

Just use the Arcsoft software that comes with it. It says if the source is stereo or 5.1. As stated above, that's also where you adjust the settings to turn on/off the "disable AC3" feature (you want it off, then reboot). Also, I'm using SageTV, so I can record or stream live TV directly to my TV/receiver, which will tell me what format it is in.
 
#18 ·
I am thinking of picking one of these up but wanted to see if you guys could help me out with a couple of questions first. My current setup is WMC 7 with the 6 tuner HDHomerun Prime. It works flawlessly.


My first question is can this device and WinTv coexist with my current setup (on the same machine)?


Primarily I am interested in HD PVR 2 1512 because I have a foreign language channel on my Roku 2 XS that I'd like to record off of. The Roku can only output via HDMI or composite video. I'd prefer to record in the highest definition I can so would the HD PVR 2 help in that regard? or would I be better off with the older model?
 
#19 ·
Not sure about whether WMC can coexist with Win TV, but I suspect so. However, I am almost certain that Roku's HDMI would have HDCP protection which would prevent you from recording via HDMI. You won't find any device that can record HDCP (except for some super elaborate connection setups).
 
#21 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by evil_attorney  /t/1460986/hd-pvr-2-1512-owners-thread#post_23197825


Not sure about whether WMC can coexist with Win TV, but I suspect so. However, I am almost certain that Roku's HDMI would have HDCP protection which would prevent you from recording via HDMI. You won't find any device that can record HDCP (except for some super elaborate connection setups).
From what I've read, only game consoles and maybe DirecTV receivers output HDMI without HDCP. So, forget that. If you have component outputs, you can use those.


As far as Windows Media Center goes, I can only give you my own experiences. I'm using Win7 x64, but I have two Hauppauge 2250 tuners. Windows Media Center will not see the 1512 and there are no WMC drivers available. So, you're stuck with WinTV7. YMMV, but I've not been able to get WinTV7 to install properly and co-exist with WMC. WinTV7 starts with a ton of errors. "Failed to attach TS slip filter" and "Failed to attach TS File Reader" errors to be specific. It will eventually start and run, but it's buggy as hell. Took a registry hack to get the IR blaster to work. If WinTV and Windows Media Center have scheduled recordings that overlap, WinTV7 fails.


If you have any other Hauppauge devices installed, it will wreck the 1512's installation. The install program assumes the 1512 is the only thing you have. Customer support confirms they never counted on someone having this box AND a tuner card.


One bug that seems to be an issue for everyone is recording via component video with optical audio. There are beta drivers that'll fix that for most, but it's still gonna take some work.


All that said, I still have the 1512. In addition to WInTV7, the box comes with an old Arcsoft capture program. That's what I've been using the most.


If all you're gonna do is manually capture stuff, you'll be fine. Otherwise, get the 1212 or wait until the 1512 is ready for prime time.
 
#23 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by DrDon  /t/1460986/hd-pvr-2-1512-owners-thread/20_20#post_23198787


If you have any other Hauppauge devices installed, it will wreck the 1512's installation. The install program assumes the 1512 is the only thing you have. Customer support confirms they never counted on someone having this box AND a tuner card.

Wow, that's just awesome. Good thing they don't make tuner cards.



Thanks for the heads-up, Dr. Don. It seems to me that every Hauppauge device I've ever bought (or read about), gets released well in advance of being ready for prime-time.
 
#24 ·
I hear ya. I went through fits until I got the 1212 working. Still can't get it to channel change quickly enough, but I've set autotunes on the DirecTV receiver to compensate for that.


The beta WinTV7 seems no different. I still get a TON of startup errors, though it does work once it gets running. The only downside is that the BlastCFG that comes with the beta removed the remote codes that would work with my Moto cable box. So, I'm back to manually tuning the box for each recording. I may uninstall and reinstall the older version to see if I can get that back.


Now I'm told there is no WMC driver "at this moment." Maybe that means the window is now open for one, pun intended.


But, yeah. Still not ready for anything other than game capture.
 
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