Hauppauge HVR-2200 - What a fantastic PCIe Dual Digital TV Tuner

[logifuse]

Not looking good.

I can get either pair of tuners to work, but I can't get all 4 happening.

They seem like good strong tuners, but if I can't get 2 cards happening together they won't become my tuner of choice.

Justin

[simmo]

Just wondering whether everyone is getting fast channel changing on all channels at all times. I'm getting ~2 sec channel changing on 7,9,10 but more often than not very slow channel changes for SBS (5 sec). I presume this is related to my signal strength but I haven't seen this variation with any of the other tuner cards I have used or tested recently.

[dgaust]

Originally Posted by logifuse

Not looking good.

I can get either pair of tuners to work, but I can't get all 4 happening.

They seem like good strong tuners, but if I can't get 2 cards happening together they won't become my tuner of choice.

Justin

Is this more likely an issue with your mobo not likeing 2xPci-e tuners? Or have you had other PCI-e tuners working in 2 different slots?

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by dgaust

Is this more likely an issue with your mobo not likeing 2xPci-e tuners? Or have you had other PCI-e tuners working in 2 different slots?

I thought about that & I doubt it.

I've never run PCIe tuners on this board before (I'm using the single x1 & the single x16 slot) so I can't categorically rule it out, but that's not what it feels like to me. I'll test it tomorrow by enabling one tuner on one card & one tuner on the other card (set one as preferred record & the other as preferred view) & see if it works as a 2 tuner VMC should. That would prove that both cards are functional at the same time.

I've read about people having the same problem when trying to run two Nova-T 500s.

If I wasn't looking at this from a PC point of view, I'd swear that VMC is like an outsider trying to tell the difference between identical twins. It's like VMC is a nightclub bouncer, it lets the first twin brother in, but when it meets the second it says, "hang on, you're already inside - I'm not letting you in again."

Is it possible that the 2 cards are somehow sharing some entries in the registry & when the application digs deeper it thinks that it's really only one card? If that's possible & you were writing drivers for the card, you probably wouldn't factor it in as it's designed to be the only tuner card in a VMC & you wouldn't expect it to operate alongside another of the same card in a single system.

Too tired to muse on it any more, I'm going to bed.

Justin

[dgaust]

I doubt it. Plenty of people have run 2x the same Dual cards before, without issue.

I know I tried to run a Digital Now dual digital and a Hybrid SE2 on my board and ran into issues. The first card installed would pick up channels while the second card couldn't scan.

The issue would be interchangable depending on which card had the drivers installed first.

So I think there are issues with certain boards running tuners on different PCI-e slots. I can't confirm if this is a driver/mce/board issue, but it's an known issue.

[logifuse]

No, I'm saying Hauppauge specific & not just any pair of the same cards. Remember, Renura likes to promote DNTV as the first software in the world to support 17 tuners (or is that 42 tuners?), so the S2 cards would have to co-exist in the same system. Other cards come bundled with their own software, so they're in the same boat. These cards are promoted as cards for MCE/VMC fullstop. If you adhered strictly to MCE/VMC tuner policies then there is no reason to factor in having more than one in a single PC.

I could scan with either card fine (with the other installed). I shifted priorities, restarted ehrec & then scanned all channels with the opposite card no prob (confirmed by pulling out the antenna on the other card) & then back the other way (with the antenna switched I even checked both leads out of my splitter).

I think vbap is going to hit the same wall.

I might try all 4 tuners with WebScheduler (4 concurrent recordings) & see what happens.

Justin

[vbap]

Originally Posted by logifuse

I think vbap is going to hit the same wall.

..and you'd be right

I've checked every registry setting, even setting the analogue entries to be identical. cannot work.

I checked the VMC event log, and googling the event ID (3) leads me to....the NovaT 500 issues...

more testing on the weekend. I can't have all this kit sitting around for 6 months while I sort out a TV tuner driver issue with newmagic. I might try a NOvaT 500 + HVR2200 combo.

what a bugger...

[logifuse]

Here's the story - basically it's a repeat of the Nova-T 500 situation (trying to get 2 of them working together).

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=14406

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/in...-tuners-13909/

It's not unique to VMC/MCE - it's a Windows problem (or more likely a driver problem) where the 2 cards don't have unique hardware signatures & are (underlying) seen as the same card.

With 4 tuners enabled, in VMC you fire up live TV & you use tuner 1A. You start recording that channel & then you start using tuner 1B. You start recording that channel & when you go to change channel & use tuner 2A, Windows suddenly thinks that tuner 2A is 1A & says that it's already in use.

Using a Nova-T 500 & an HVR-2200 should work.

Justin

[AdrianW]

I have a Dvico Dual Digital 4 - which has the same issues as everyone else (i.e. stuttering with white backgrounds on channel 9, and slow channel change - as well as the occasional missing tuner).

So, I'm considering this HVR-2200 card, that seems good from what everyone is saying.

My Dvico still works most of the time, so I'm wondering if anyone is using the Hauppauge and the Dvico together (enabling 4 tuners)? This would be mainly to enable recording of 3 shows at once (on those rare occurrences when there's actually more than 2 shows worth recording).

For those that are interested in the Hauppauge card, here's a link to an HVR-2200 fact sheet (pdf) which includes a high-res image of the card.

[Mark1]

Originally Posted by simmo

Just wondering whether everyone is getting fast channel changing on all channels at all times. I'm getting ~2 sec channel changing on 7,9,10 but more often than not very slow channel changes for SBS (5 sec). I presume this is related to my signal strength but I haven't seen this variation with any of the other tuner cards I have used or tested recently.

I'm getting ~1 second channel changes right across the board (ABC1, ABC2, SBS, 7, 7HD, 9, 10, 10HD). The best I have ever had, and I have tried cards from Dvico, DigitalNow and Compro.
I'm not sure what could be causing it, but could be signal.

Have you tried recording something, and then seeing how fast the second tuner changes. Might give you some clue.

[Mark1]

Originally Posted by AdrianW

I have a Dvico Dual Digital 4 - which has the same issues as everyone else (i.e. stuttering with white backgrounds on channel 9, and slow channel change - as well as the occasional missing tuner).

So, I'm considering this HVR-2200 card, that seems good from what everyone is saying.

My Dvico still works most of the time, so I'm wondering if anyone is using the Hauppauge and the Dvico together (enabling 4 tuners)? This would be mainly to enable recording of 3 shows at once (on those rare occurrences when there's actually more than 2 shows worth recording).

For those that are interested in the Hauppauge card, here's a link to an HVR-2200 fact sheet (pdf) which includes a high-res image of the card.

Hey, I have a better idea, get a HVR-2200, tie the Dvico card to a lump of concrete, and throw it off the back of a boat
Why run 4 tuners anyway? Its only free-to-air TV... seriously...
We'll have to see what happens with the running of 2 HVR-2200 cards. I hope for the cards sake (because its a great card on its own), the problems get sorted.

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by vbap

..and you'd be right

I've checked every registry setting, even setting the analogue entries to be identical. cannot work.

I checked the VMC event log, and googling the event ID (3) leads me to....the NovaT 500 issues...

more testing on the weekend. I can't have all this kit sitting around for 6 months while I sort out a TV tuner driver issue with newmagic. I might try a NOvaT 500 + HVR2200 combo.

what a bugger...

Hey vbap,

Are your 2 cards sharing the same IRQ? Mine are both on IRQ 16 & I'm trying to find a way to change one (BIOS is no help).

Justin