Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR - Page 6

i5-2400s SandyBridge
Asus P8P67-M Pro
4MB Ram
64GB SSD + 2TB Western Digital
Radeon 6850

I think the recording is the problem cause if I play it back from my desktop pc it does the same.

Thanks for replying, well if you can see the problem from my file then I'm sure it isn't a playback problem. Are you using a Colossus or HDPVR? Also are you using DVBLink or Hauppage MCE drivers?

thanks!

I found the issue. The RAM is a bit too low .
Sorry but I could not resist...

In all seriousness, let us know if you can fix the issue. Also did you try with the official drivers from hauppauge? Maybe the choppiness would go away.

Yeah, about the ram I wanted to stick to win32 anyway hoping it would be more stable.

Besides, it is getting ugly here lol

First I plugged my Sat box directly to the TV to rule out Sat box problem. It is not the Sat box, everything is smooth when connect directly.

So, I wanted to check if DVBLink was causing this. So, I installed ArcSoft ShowBizz to simply capture from the Colossus. Result was always the same even by reducing quality to 3000 instead of the 5000 default. Tried many combination including "variable" vs "constant". Here's a good example I'm planning to send to Hauppage now: http://linkmypdf.com/colossus/2011_4_30_11_3_14.TS
Play it fullscreen and look at the crowd on top of the screen from 0:09 when the camera moves quickly from left to right. Is this annoying or what?

Now, the funny part, to run ShowBizz I had the good idea of killing dvblink server process. This corrupted the server.ini file. Now, my DVBLink config utility can't communicate with the service anymore, I get "Unable to connect to DVBLink Server / Please verify that it is running". I think the base port is wrong, it was empty, I tried 39876 but doesn't seem to work....

localhost

39876
8C6146E6-A15F-4E8A-8529-5AF7BA3E62DE
Language
fr.xml

Just a little update about my case, after some trials with the ini file and a couple of reboot it looks ok now.

Next step for me is to write to Hauppauge about the choppy captures and I'm also planning to try their MCE drivers to compare with DVBLogic.

Anyone compared both DVBLogic and Hauppage MCE drivers yet?

I just read about this card the other day and Im very interested in getting one (especially since the 1212 is selling for more than this card costs on ebay). The one thing Ive loved about using the HD-PVR is how easy it is to capture using rctvcap...any chance this card works with that program, or if there will be a version of rctvcap written for the Colossus?

Also, I read a review that said this card doesnt work if you have another video capture device installed? Is this true? I have a FusionHDTV card I still use for local channels (better quality)...Im guessing this guy may have just had a conflict he didnt know how to resolve?

Not sure what that is, but I wrote an application that can capture from the card. The source was updated to support the new features in the latest driver, still need to update the binary.

What inputs do you plan on using?

It should work fine with other capture devices.

I have the Colossus and an ATI 650 installed, they both work fine.

Yes, you can use the Colossus with rctvcap. But you will need to modify/create a new filter graph for this purpose.

just picked up the colossus on saturday. went straight to website and downloaded newest 7mc drivers and everything seems to be working great. have it connected to a 4250hd set top box. recording and channel changing very well. have an issue with three digit channels with a zero in the middle... 201,302,204,806 etc. anyone else have this issue? it works in blastcfg just not media center.

Its this nice little command-line program someone wrote specifically for the HD-PVR: http://blog.arogan.com/2008/06/haupp...odel-1212.html. Good to know that it works, but nice to hear there are other options available too.
I would hopefully be able to use HDMI (if my box will cooperate with unencrypted video)...otherwise I will be using component and optical as I do currently. If the card works as well as the box, it would be worth the exchange just to get rid of the box even if HDMI doesnt work.

Binary has been updated as well. Just pass the input # for a/v on the command line.

The latest update to Showbiz corrected this problem. Bitrate is now fully adjustible up by the maximum, and the changes now stick.

Has anybody used Videoredo to edit their captures from the Colossus?

I bought an HD PVR about 2 months ago and had it working fine. I would use Videoredo to cut out commercials and MultiAVCHD to make the final output file which I would then burn to a blu ray blank with Imageburn.

I accidentally came across the Colossus and decided to return the HD PVR. I figured it was a no brainer. It costs less, records at a higher bitrate, it's an internal card , plus it can record thru HDMI if the source is unencrypted. I use Directv and so far haven't had a single issue recording through the HDMI.

However, when I chop up my captures with Videoredo, I always get an error when I re-save the edited file. The curious thing is it works ok if I stay below 18 mbps, but anything above that I always get the error.

Anyone had any success installing Colossus on a Vista 64 bit system?

I am curious about your issue, since I use Videoredo often, and also used an HD-PVR before I got my Colossus. And I guess the issue would never have evidenced itself on the HD-PVR, since it cannot record at the higher bitrate. I have not seen any problem yet with my set up, but don't think I have saved any recordings at higher bitrate yet.

Anyone here with a Colossus tried both, DVBLink and the beta native MCE drivers?

I have DVBLink installed with 9 days left in trial and since it doesn't seems to be supported anymore so I'm considering switching.

What have people's experiences been with running this on a Zacate system? Is HD content record able without taxing out the CPU? Or do they definitely recommend a higher end rig

Native works fine. There's no need to pay more than necessary.

Thanks I'll give it a try then.

Maybe you know this: right now I have a Microsoft IR, DVBLink sends channels to my cable box via this MS IR. With Hauppage driver will I continue to use my current IR control MCE and then Hauppage will control my cable box via its own IR ?

Can you expand on this? I use DirecTV and was considering getting a Colossus, but assumed I would use the component video. Do I understand you to be saying that all of the DirecTV programming - sports, movies, VOD, premium movie channels, everything - comes through the HDMI output unencrypted and can be captured by the Collosus in HD video and 5.1 audio without any other connections?

Thanks. By the way the other reason I figured I'd use component/Toslink was because the single HDMI from the DirecTV DVR is already being used to feed the AV Receiver (and through that, the video to the TV). Do you have a DirecTV box dedicated to your HTPC, use some sort of HDMI "splitter" or switch, or how do you use the single HDMI output both for normal viewing and to feed your Colossus?

Is there anything special I should know about using a Colossus with a DirecTV DVR?

Thanks very much.

I've got two Colossus cards in an Asus E35M1-M Pro as a SageTV server including an HDHR; it works great. Same Colossus issue re 5.1 audio loss as everyone else but with the DirecTV boxes outputing stereo over HDMI all is good.

Ah cool. What software are you using to record?

My friend said he had a tough time capturing video over component 1080i from a blu-ray player he was using - as in his CPUs were maxed out - but I'm not sure if that's just the fact he's trying to capture blu-ray or if he didn't change settings/hardware acceleration

I'd recommend IR Server Suite (this link contains instructions: http://www.techlifeweb.com/2010/12/2...d-media-center; the last part related to editing the registry is not necessary anymore, the Hauppauge app convers this part now).
I just went through this a couple of days ago. The only issue that I still see is wrong (no) audio at times. This is a common problem (not specific to MC) that should be addressed on the driver side.

SageTV is doing the recording. I am feeding the Colossus cards with 1080i fixed output over HDMI from the DirecTV boxes.

Zon2020,

I haven't tried VOD, PPV, or any premium channels, but everything else seems to record just fine with AC3 5.1 sound through the HDMI cable.

As for my setup, I have 2 Directv HD DVRs that run to my AV Receiver and TV. Neither one is dedicated, per se, to my HTPC. I simply plug the Colossus' HDMI cable into whichever DVR I need to record from. I know it's not an elegant solution, but if works fine for me. With 2 DVRs, I can still watch something else while I'm recording to the Colossus by simply using the other DVR.

I came across one other interesting tidbit when I hooked up my old HR10-250 Tivo that is no longer on my account. I attempted to record some 2005 playoff football games that have been stored on the Tivo. IT WOULD NOT WORK WITH THE HDMI CABLE. I had to use component and optical cables. These recordings were from the same channels (OTA, ESPN, NFLNetwork) as I record from with my Directv DVRs.

Hope this helps.

Because Any NFL game is flagged, that's why you couldn't view it via an unencrypted HDMI source, there is nothing to handshake with.

As you said you haven't tried premium channels yet and those are usually flagged as copy once so I would assume that if the boxes doesn't get a HDCP handshake it will not show a picture either.

You should test those channels to see what happens.

I can view and record NFL games through HDMI on my Directv DVRs (HR20, HR22) just fine. Haven't had a problem yet. It's got to be something inside the Tivo. When I tried the HDMI cable on it, I didn't get a blank screen. I got a picture with constant flickering and sound going in and out.

Unfortunately, I don't subscribe to any premium channels and I don't order PPV, so I've got nothing to test them on.

Thanks!! I went very smoothly!

Here are my Hauppage config settings for IR Server:

Not sure why I tried "2" for DeviceId but it works perfectly!

Now if I could just find how to increase bitrate. Scenes with lots of motion like when the cam moves in the crowd of a soccer game isn't smooth. (was the same with DVBLink )

Why do you say it does not seem to be supported any longer?