Dual Tuner Colossus

Help with tuners from ATI, Hauppauge, AverMedia and more.
fixmymediacenter

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Dual Tuner Colossus

#1

Post by fixmymediacenter » Tue Nov 20, 2012 7:48 pm

I have 2 colossus tuners installed in my windows 7 media center. I have recently come across this information that enables dual tuners in media center. Here is the information:

Go to start type regedit into the run/search box and hit enter
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Hauppauge\HcwDevCentral\Configuration and change the value data for limittosingle to 0 this will enable multiple board support.
Download and extract the attached file place the devcon folder under c:\ with User account control turned off run the batch file for your os 32 or 64 bit. This will add another software tuner under device manager. (make sure it appears HD-PVR tuner device)

So far I have gotten a single tuner working using an external IR blaster as per the instructions above.

I can't get the second tuner to show up as "Satellite" media center keeps thinking it’s a "Digital Cable" even if I change the haulage program to satellite. With out changing this setting the guide data it'll download is incorrect.

I thought I would post this to see if anyone can get it to work…. PM me and i will send you the file from hauppauge....

freddy

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#2

Post by freddy » Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:18 pm

please send me the file and I'll try it out.
i"m trying to do the same thing

david3663

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#3

Post by david3663 » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:54 am

Image

freddy

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#4

Post by freddy » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:21 am

thanks for tip.

just to clarify, do I need the batchfile that fixmymediacenter mentioned or do I just need to manually regedit the entry you pointed out?

mike

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#5

Post by david3663 » Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:13 am

You would most likely need the batch file so you have 2 tuners listed in device manager.

freddy

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#6

Post by freddy » Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:00 pm

yep, I just have to install the second software tuner

i think its a devcon command or a batch file that is started from a devcon command

Hauppauge support sent me a response and said to do the following

"devcon.exe install_hcw49swt hcw49swt.inf HCW49SWT"

I'm assuming that HCW49SWT is the hwid...can anyone confirm?

but I still need the batch file...I'm assuming that install_hcw49swt is the name of a batch file that the tech support guy didn't send me? anyone have any ideas?

mike

fixmymediacenter

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#7

Post by fixmymediacenter » Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:16 pm

Here is a link to all the files that hauppauge sent me... sorry i have not been on line in a while....

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ctm3vux0supf32m/qvQOlZfhLg

Inra

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#8

Post by Inra » Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:12 am

Thanks

freddy

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#9

Post by freddy » Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:47 pm

Big shout out to fixmymediacenter. :clap: :clap: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I've got two software tuners and all seems to be well.

ok, next step for me to to get the two external blasters working... I've got a USB device from Pinnacle tv that says its a windows media center remote receiver/blaster so hopefully this will be smooth.

any advice on how to set this up? I think i need to put some command lines into the hauppauge media center setup interface that will point to some blaster software.
I've got files with *.ir with the codes for my cable box from a previous setup (used to use dvblink)
I've seen some posts about IR server suite and IRBlast-NoWindow.exe...also maybe some more simple approaches...(I don't need the network aspect of the program, so simpler the better)
Anyway, I'm just starting on this phase so any help would be appreciated.

and thanks again to fixmymediacenter for getting me this far.

freddy

fixmymediacenter

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#10

Post by fixmymediacenter » Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:01 pm

Freddy, are you using a Digital cable feed?? I can't get the second tuner to show up as "Satellite" the program that hauppage sent keeps thinking it’s a "Digital Cable" and i cant change it...

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#11

Post by freddy » Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:52 pm

i have cable so i can't test this but here's some ideas:

1. if you go into the hauppauge media center setup program under wmc config there is a dropdown menu for source switch that from cable to satillite and then press apply all changes. do it for both tuners by highlighting them first and apply all changes for both. and then reboot

2. you can try editting the .inf file before you run the batch file. Inside there is a line called video source maybe switch from 0 to 1

3. regedit the device in same place that you changed the tuner limit but instead of config go into devices.
I see 4 devices there (4 big long codes)...two are hardware devices and two are the software tuners... maybe you can figure out which field is set wrong by comparing the devices to each other.

no matter what you do, reboot after you try it.

Let us know if any of this helps

freddy

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#12

Post by freddy » Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:23 pm

another possibility I thought of

with windows media center turned off and the hauppauge setup screen off

go into arcsoft showbiz (can download a part of wintv download in hauppage support
then from windows start menu go to arcsoft showbiz and then click on update product
then open arcsoft showbiz
in options switch to 16:9
then in capture you should see two sources
select the inputs for both
also (for me) i run avchd option
then under device settings you can select video standard (for me NTSC_M) maybe sattilite is different?
also under format settings you can select all kinds of options and set the bit rate for encoding under video encoder

I'm hoping one of these settings is set wrong on your second device

these options seem to set hardware options on the card

freddy

fixmymediacenter

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#13

Post by fixmymediacenter » Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:09 am

Freddy, Thanks for you ideas, I will start playing with this again and will let you know if i have any success. Hauppauge support was no help at all (was kinda sad).... On a side note are you running windows 8??

If you figure out the blaster issue let us know also... It would be nice to use the colossus internal blaster to do this if it is possible?

if others are testing this and have satellite please keep us all informed....

freddy

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#14

Post by freddy » Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:32 am

im running w7 64bit

fixmymediacenter

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#15

Post by fixmymediacenter » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:00 am

Well I have tried with no success :(

1. Hauppauge media center setup - tried that, rebooted 15 ways from sunday, nothing.

2. .inf file - can't see any line's that seem appropriate, and I checked all inf files.

3. regedit shows same settings for both tuners.

4. arcsoft software shows parameters for VIDEO CAPTURE, not cable/satellite signal. no go there.

danny6869

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#16

Post by danny6869 » Sun Feb 17, 2013 3:05 am

Hmmm...this is the closest I've come to finding someone with the same problem as me. (not dual tuner, but that media center only has the "digital cable" option, and not satellite.

I am also on a quest to figure this out.

danny6869

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#17

Post by danny6869 » Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:26 pm

I have now picked up a second colossus, and have things to the point where MCE sees two tuners, but one is showing as "Digital Cable" when I need them to both be "Satellite". Did anyone get this figured out? (Also...I am using the MCE IR blaster via "IR Server Suite" if anyone needs to set that up)

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#18

Post by danny6869 » Thu Apr 18, 2013 2:25 am

I can‘t believe how half-assed hauppauge has been with this. It seems so close to get working...they should just assign a developer for a few days, and make their customers happy.

Anyways...I am in the same boat as fixmymediacenter ... the registry entries for both tuners is exactly the same including source=2 ... but Media Center always brings up the second tuner as digital cable instead of satellite.

It looks like my next course of action might be to switch to MediaPortal. Sigh

danny6869

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#19

Post by danny6869 » Sun Apr 21, 2013 11:01 pm

Has anyone out there figured this out? How to get two hauppauge colossus cards working in media center as SATELLITE sources? This is driving me crazy.

(and, yes mediaportal looks promising...setting up channels, and the EPG guide is a nightmare...it is nowhere near ready to be used for TV...although, I have not given up hope on that yet)

SlowLeak

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#20

Post by SlowLeak » Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:30 pm

I have had it working with two satellite tuners (DirecTV) for a while. If you are using Win7 X64 then the registry key you want to check is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Hauppauge\HcwDevCentral\Devices\ There should be four entries under that key. Two of them will be the software tuners and two will be the capture cards. Setting Source=2 for the capture cards, rebooting, and re-running the media center setup should get you two satellite tuners.

Another place to double check (sorry, I did this a while ago and unfortunately didn't write anything down) would be under this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\ There should be a bunch of drivers in there. You will need to find the two for the "Hauppauge HD PVR Tuner Device". In there you should see a "VideoSource" key. Make sure it is set to 2 for both drivers.

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