[rentagas]

Just buy it from the US site. Mine was shipped from ireland, came with a UK plug and an EC receipt and guarantee.

[philipb]

5.1 drivers not working for me.

Can't get a picture in the preview window, and capture doesn't work. It takes a few attempts to get the capture software hooked up to the PVR, but even when it does I can't get a picture.

Reverting to the original drivers gets it going again.

Rentagas - are you doing anything other than just a simple install of the new driver?

[rentagas]

I just ran the application file
The current drivers do not work with vista 64bit
Others have had to deinstall and reinstall before getting it to work.
I have had some problems eg start capture and the preview window goes blank and the application stops reponding -needing an application restart
However it does seem to work.....................so far

[philipb]

Thanks - sounds like my experience too, except the "seems to work" bit.

[philipb]

OK - progress of sorts.

Capturing OK with the new drivers, but its still 2 channel AC3. The source is definitely DD 5.1.

I'm using the arcsoft capture suite on the HDPVR CD.

Am I missing something here?

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by philipb

Am I missing something here?

I can only think of obvious things, such as setting the box to Dolby Digital and making sure you have SP-DIF selected in the capture interface.

I've just given the beta driver a try and in all honesty didn't expect it to work since I'm using x64. But here's what's in my recorded file...

ID                               : 0
Complete name                    : C:\Test Clips\2008_10_5_20_8_16.TS
Format                           : MPEG-TS
File size                        : 83.5 MiB
Duration                         : 48s 771ms
Overall bit rate                 : 14.4 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate         : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID                               : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Duration                         : 48s 760ms
Bit rate                         : 13.4 Mbps
Width                            : 1920 pixels
Height                           : 1080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16/9
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Top Field First

Audio
ID                               : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Duration                         : 48s 771ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Video delay                      : -120ms

No stuttering either. My CPU usage is at about 3% when capturing with a two-channel PCM input and changes to about 4% with Dolby Digital, so the presence of multichannel audio isn't having any impact on my system.

[Martin J.]

Quick follow-up... it seems to be working fine in SageTV too.

[rentagas]

Currently capturing an edition of jools (purely for time shifting mind you) that had a mistimed duration of 160 mins (Nick Cave, Manics, Kings of Leon) on my box (from some time ago)!-need to make space for Heroes!


I have a lot of stuff from 1997 on my boxes, recorded from BBCHD and the quality is fantastic in comparison with current BBC HD output. I've been loathe to delete the old stuff.

I DID forget to change the sky box to dolby digital to start with and couldn't understand why it was 2.0!

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by rentagas

I have a lot of stuff from 1997 on my boxes, recorded from BBCHD and the quality is fantastic in comparison with current BBC HD output.

What's it like living in a time warp?

[rentagas]

Well I DO have stuff from jools hollands from 1997 captured from svideo onto DVD but I did mean 2007!-doesn't time fly
This jools holland was from 2004/5 season!

[Martin J.]

I have some old BBC HD programmes too, in some cases copies of the transport streams and you're absolutely right, they look so much better than anything the channel shows now. I've got some stuff from 1987 too!

[suge]

Is it my understanding that you can have the sky hd source output through the HDMI to the t.v and at the same time outputting through the component to the PVR unit?

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by suge

Is it my understanding that you can have the sky hd source output through the HDMI to the t.v and at the same time outputting through the component to the PVR unit?

Yes. All the outputs on the Sky HD box are active all the time.

[suge]

Originally Posted by Martin J.

Yes. All the outputs on the Sky HD box are active all the time.

Interesting, thanks for the quick reply.

[pj]

i have just ordered one and was wondering.... knowing that the new sky hd boxes lose the component output if my original hd box fails is there anyway to convert hdmi to component that works out less than £100+ ? other than getting an old HD box

[philipb]

Martin J

Yep, done all the obvious things.

Can you confirm you are using (or have used) the bundled arcsoft package to record?

When I playback the captured file the audio is shown as 2 channel AC3 and the display on my amp confirms that, but the source is definitely DD 5.1. How did you generate that print-out of the captured file properties?

PJ - don't think so.

[rentagas]

The hd pvr has loop through so even if you are using the component out for your tv picture you can loop through the hd pvr box

Some players down mix to 2.0 to output via the optical out unless the properties of the audio out are set to 5.1

I suspect original hd boxes despite the PSU problems etc will be sought after simply because of component out!

I am using the bundled arcsoft software. My glastonbury 2007 stuff is 2.0 anyway (but each 279min slot takes up 5% of my 1TB HD so keen to edit it)

[iNspectorgadJet]

Dangit! I got my manager interested in this today and he was ready to order one for me to play with from one of our suppliers, but because it's not released in the UK yet he changed his mind! ARGH!!!!

Hehe...he won't order from the US site either...it has to be from one of our normal suppliers.

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by philipb

Can you confirm you are using (or have used) the bundled arcsoft package to record?

Yes, that's what I used for some quick tests. SageTV works too.

Originally Posted by philipb

When I playback the captured file the audio is shown as 2 channel AC3 and the display on my amp confirms that, but the source is definitely DD 5.1. How did you generate that print-out of the captured file properties?

What are you playing back in and have you tried the same software with a DVD that has 5.1 Dolby Digital?

I'm using something called MediaInfo to read the stream information - the download URL is: http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en

Note that the TS container has changed with the new driver release, previously Sony Vegas wouldn't recognise files directly out of the HD PVR but now it will, which means I can drop one directly onto the time-line and with a 5.1 mixing bus, see that there are definitely six discrete audio tracks present.

[dave_st185]

Originally Posted by pj

i have just ordered one and was wondering.... knowing that the new sky hd boxes lose the component output if my original hd box fails is there anyway to convert hdmi to component that works out less than £100+ ? other than getting an old HD box

pj:
Have a look at this thing - it should do the trick but it is a little over your price limit @ $250

HDfury2 - Universal HDMI to Component & RGB Converter
HDfury2: Universal HDMI to Component & RGB Converter


To everyone who has the PVR:
Have any of you suffered with overheating of the PVR? - a friend has an early model and his has overheated on occasion whilst dumping HD material to his PC, although he tells me they've added a fan since he bought his PVR and now some additional vent holes in the case aswell

I was wondering if these measures had resolved any overheating issues that some may have experienced

[philipb]

Dave

Mine runs very cool, no heat at all.

MartinJ.

Thanks again. I've tried SageTV and Beyond TV. I think, but I'm not sure the incoming signal, is 5.1 (Beyond TV shows the stream properties and that certainly says 5.1), but the recorded file is always 2 ch. I've tried both the 5.1 and 5.3 betas. I hooked up the optical out on the PVR to my amp and the box is at least passing through the DD 5.1 signal. Just can't get it to record.

I'll do a variety of recordings and test them with mediainfo. I'm beginning to wonder if my HDPVR has a problem with the 5.1 chip

[steve273]

Originally Posted by Migman

Unfortunately that page has been there for quite a while, you'll notice there is no link to buy this item, and if you go to the link "where to buy" you (i) can't find it anywhere, i even e-mailed these people on a number of occasions, they did not even have the courtesy to acknowledge receipt of them

My mistake as I got an email reply.

Distribution starts now to stores in England

They said Scan.co.uk is the first to receive, therefore free shipping via affiliation with AVforums

Hopefully the price is this side of £130 though!

Email below!




Its going into distribution now, I think Scan Computers UK: Computer Hardware - All will have it 1st but check the where to buy pages.

Elton ****
e.****@hauppauge.co.uk
DVB Technical Support
Hauppauge Digital SARL
(UK) London

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by dave_st185

Have any of you suffered with overheating of the PVR?

No problems with overheating here. The recent updates - mine included - have small vents around the vanity LEDs and a quiet fan. Mine runs for hours at a time (recorded Fast Times at Ridgemont High last night) without any problems.

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by philipb

I'll do a variety of recordings and test them with mediainfo. I'm beginning to wonder if my HDPVR has a problem with the 5.1 chip.

Could you upload a short clip somewhere? I could try playing it back here. Something off one of the movie channels would be a good test.

I'm not sure if the HD-PVR is doing any encoding with a multi-channel source, I don't think it has an integral Dolby Digital encoder. The bitrate of the Dolby Digital in the TS file is the same as whatever I feed the Hauppauge, so it looks like a basic pass-through with multiplex alongside the H.264 video stream.

[philipb]

Martin j

According to mediaInfo the recordings are DD 5.1. But when I play them back using Arcsoft Media Theatre they play as 2 ch.

I've tried a pucka DVD on Media theatre and that played DD 5.1 fine, so I don't know what's going on.


I have a couple of short clips - where could I post them (too big to upload here)


Thanks for the help so far.

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by philipb

I've tried a pucka DVD on Media theatre and that played DD 5.1 fine, so I don't know what's going on.

Weird. I wonder if something is happening to the meta data and the stream is being incorrectly labelled or identified. Does it sound like you're getting a downmix or just two of the discrete channels?

Rapidshare works for me: RapidShare: Easy Filehosting and SpeedyShare is handy for smaller files: http://www.speedyshare.com/

[metel]

Got my HD PVR last week, very impressed so far.

Installed the new drivers and after a couple of test recordings I noticed that the clips lacked the same sharpness as previous recordings.

So I re-installed the original drivers from the CD and captured the same clips and sure enough the sharpness is back.

Anybody else notice the same ?

[Martin J.]

Can't say I've noticed that. Perhaps you could compare two frames that are the same, because although similar, one of those could be an I frame. Having said that, if it's easy to spot during live motion then something's up.

Have you adjusted the sharpness setting at all? It has never had any effect for me, but perhaps something has changed.

[metel]

Maybe the low filter parameters in Format Settings were different which does affect the sharpness.

Had a complaint from my 2 year old grand daughter when I downgraded her precious HD Happy Feet to SD DVD to make room on the box.

There's me thinking she wouldn't notice !

So soon as peace is restored, I'll give it another go.

[philipb]

Martin J

Clip available here

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

Thanks again for the help.