Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 2250 - Owner's Thread

Help with tuners from ATI, Hauppauge, AverMedia and more.
2wheels

Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:04 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#61

Post by 2wheels » Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:24 pm

More tests from the SageTV manual pgs. 231-232 --


Q: My reception is poor, but it looks fine under WinTV. I'm using the Coaxial input on the
capture card.

A: Go to Setup > Source Setup and select the affected source. On the Source Details menu,
check the Cable/Antenna setting. Change it from Antenna to Cable or vice versa. Restart
SageTV and change channels to make sure it worked. Also make sure to do a scan for
channels in Channel Setup.

==> I noticed no difference when I manually set up my TV signal in WMC either with cable or antenna as my signal source.




Q: What can I do to improve the performance of the video quality? (For Hauppauge users)

A: Try out our registry performance increase for Hauppauge users. This works when you are
also using the InterVideo NonCSS Video Decoder for Hauppauge as the selected Video
Decoder in SageTV Recorder/SageTV.

Just change these registry settings to 1 while SageTV is shutdown:
o HKLM\Software\Intervideo\Custom\Hauppauge\VideoDec\Dxva
o HKLM\Software\Intervideo\Custom\Hauppauge\VideoDec\Hwmc

For the newer decoders the location is:
o HKLM\Software\IviSDK4Hauppauge\Common\VideoDec\Dxva
o HKLM\Software\IviSDK4Hauppauge\Common\VideoDec\Hwmc

==> I am in the process of testing this now. I will edit this post with my results when done.

2wheels

Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:04 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#62

Post by 2wheels » Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:42 pm

2wheels wrote:
makryger wrote:If it was just a two way splitter... I don't see how that could make sense. if it was a three-way splitter, then one is -3.5dB, the other two are -7.0dB, so a swap between 3.5 and 7 could cause a difference.

I thought this was an excellent read, and it might also shed light on the discussion about which splitter I should replace the amplifier with. It explained to me why there two splitters vs. a single 4-way splitter in my box. It also taught me about Active Return (I bumped into that topic on Amazon reviews this morning).

http://www.cabletvamplifiers.com/Info/T ... CATION.htm


I also learned on Amazon this morning through reading reviews about another important difference between the two Motorola amplifiers (484095-001-00 and BDA-S1). The BDA-S1 has a remote power option. The 484095-001-00 does local power only. Remote power requires a power inserter (Motorola BDP-100/PI). In return you can run the power through the coax cable. Reminds me of PoE (Power over Ethernet). I am definitely going with the BDA-S1 due to the remote power option. That way instead of running that coax outside to the rear of the house to the exterior outlet for power, I can just use an interior ac outlet next to the PC/HTPC.


UPDATE: Amplifier (with power inserter) installed. No difference to my naked eyes or ears.

User avatar
makryger

Posts: 2132
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:01 pm
Location: Illinois

HTPC Specs: Show details

#63

Post by makryger » Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:05 pm

Spending more money is probably the last thing you want to do.... But at this point, I'd point to the tuner as the culprit. Sorry, this must be frustrating.
My Channel Logos XL: Get your Guide looking good! ~~~~ TunerSalad: Increase the 4-tuner limit in 7MC

2wheels

Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:04 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#64

Post by 2wheels » Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:40 pm

makryger wrote:Spending more money is probably the last thing you want to do.... But at this point, I'd point to the tuner as the culprit. Sorry, this must be frustrating.

It is. Sighhhhh... I'll generate a return label today and order another one. Thank you for the help/feedback.

User avatar
makryger

Posts: 2132
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:01 pm
Location: Illinois

HTPC Specs: Show details

#65

Post by makryger » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:42 pm

Maybe try buying something at best buy just to see if a new one works first. If it works , then you've found the problem, and you can return it to best buy and then pick what you really want.
My Channel Logos XL: Get your Guide looking good! ~~~~ TunerSalad: Increase the 4-tuner limit in 7MC

2wheels

Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:04 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#66

Post by 2wheels » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:57 pm

makryger wrote:Maybe try buying something at best buy just to see if a new one works first. If it works , then you've found the problem, and you can return it to best buy and then pick what you really want.


I did not realize Best Buy would let you return something used. I bought the TV tuner card, amplifier, and power injector all from Amazon so I can easily return them. I already have my pre-paid return shipping label, and the new TV tuner card will be here Saturday. :D Amazon makes it easy for me as a shopper. I appreciate the idea though. Thank you. Too late to even consider that route now.

2wheels

Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:04 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#67

Post by 2wheels » Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:46 pm

2wheels wrote:
makryger wrote:Spending more money is probably the last thing you want to do.... But at this point, I'd point to the tuner as the culprit. Sorry, this must be frustrating.

It is. Sighhhhh... I'll generate a return label today and order another one. Thank you for the help/feedback.


Amazon is SOOOOOOO AWESOME! They overnighted the new card without my even asking, so it arrived yesterday. Installed it and no difference. Yup, the amp is still connected too.

I believe I have tried everything everyone has suggested. Well, except for what Hauppauge stated the second time around about the codec. From everything I read about that there is no 64-bit codec that will not break live TV. And I have not found a way to run WMC in a 32-bit mode, where I could try another 32-bit codec for live TV.

traslin

Posts: 1
Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 6:39 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#68

Post by traslin » Mon May 14, 2012 6:47 pm

Q. - So I'm currently using my tuner to record OTA television. Comcast is terrible and for some reason getting Internet + Cable is cheaper than just getting Internet, so I now also have access to a cable box and basic cable. Is there some way for me to add the cable box (via a/v input maybe) and still maintain the OTA recordings?

I've read guides about how to setup the cable box as your main tuner input using a repeater, but I'd rather not do that because I believe it would restrict me to being able to only record one show at a time.

bobstr

Posts: 30
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 3:03 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#69

Post by bobstr » Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:42 pm

traslin wrote:Q. - So I'm currently using my tuner to record OTA television. Comcast is terrible and for some reason getting Internet + Cable is cheaper than just getting Internet, so I now also have access to a cable box and basic cable. Is there some way for me to add the cable box (via a/v input maybe) and still maintain the OTA recordings?

I've read guides about how to setup the cable box as your main tuner input using a repeater, but I'd rather not do that because I believe it would restrict me to being able to only record one show at a time.
I've got a 2250 as the main tuner in the MCE that I use for the HD & standard def basic cable channels I've also got an older ATI standard def only tuner (ATI theater 550 pro?) installed that is only used with an S-VIDEO connection to the standard def cable box that I've got from Comcast. It appears that you still cannot split a tuner card between cable (or over the air) and S-Video input, so that's why I added the second tuner card.

It works well enough for me to get the extra channels that come with thier most basic standard def digital cable package (or whatever they call it) that requires a set top box to get the added channels. You have to set up an infrared flasher to change channels on the set top box, but at least it works.

There are no ATI drivers for the ATI theater 550 pro tuner card in windows 7, but if you turn on the 'use windows update to install drivers' feature, there is a driver that windows update will provide to make it work just fine.

If you want to go down this road, Get yourself another cheap tuner and use it to run your set top box and leave the 2250 as it is.

KyleSTL

Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:53 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#70

Post by KyleSTL » Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:02 pm

I have an HTPC with a 1600 and 1850 tuner in it (set up like this for 4 years). Well, my 1850 card is dying, and assuming Hauppauge doesn't just replace it (unlikely see as it has been in service for 4 years) I am considering replacing it with the 2250. I would like a bit more information on how it works. I know there are two tuners, both of which can receive digital and analog signals. When setting up the card, is it recognized as two ClearQAM and two NTSC tuners? For example could I record ABC HD and CBS HD at one moment, then ESPN and HGTV (both analog cable) the next? Or when setting up (in Media Center) would I need to assign each tuner to be either a dedicated analog or dedicated digital tuner? This card could allow me more flexibility than my current setup since I'm running two digital and two analog. If the 2250 can switch both tuners back and forth depending on the needs I could record 3 analog and 1 digital, or 3 digital and 1 analog. Is this the way it works?

TeddyR

Posts: 201
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 10:48 am
Location: Glendale, CA, USA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#71

Post by TeddyR » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:41 pm

KyleSTL wrote:I have an HTPC with a 1600 and 1850 tuner in it (set up like this for 4 years). Well, my 1850 card is dying, and assuming Hauppauge doesn't just replace it (unlikely see as it has been in service for 4 years) I am considering replacing it with the 2250. I would like a bit more information on how it works. I know there are two tuners, both of which can receive digital and analog signals. When setting up the card, is it recognized as two ClearQAM and two NTSC tuners? For example could I record ABC HD and CBS HD at one moment, then ESPN and HGTV (both analog cable) the next? Or when setting up (in Media Center) would I need to assign each tuner to be either a dedicated analog or dedicated digital tuner? This card could allow me more flexibility than my current setup since I'm running two digital and two analog. If the 2250 can switch both tuners back and forth depending on the needs I could record 3 analog and 1 digital, or 3 digital and 1 analog. Is this the way it works?
It depends on the signal detected by WMC. In my case I have it connected to Cable, so it sees it as 2 QAM and 2 Analog (NTSC) tuners.

If you had an antenna connected to it, it would see it as 2 Analog (NTSC) and 2 ATSC tuners.

Of course, only two programs can be recorded at one time using the 2250 weather it is QAM or Analog (NTSC), but you can have one of each type or both types. Only thing that is not feasible with the 2250 is having different digital sources (ie: QAM via Cable and ATSC OTA) at the same time.

You also get an FM Radio tuner as well (connected with a separate cable).
Time is on my side.

KyleSTL

Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:53 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#72

Post by KyleSTL » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:48 pm

I will have it hooked up to Charter cable and use the analog for NTSC and digital for ClearQAM. Thanks for the information. I think I'll pick up a 2250 unless Hauppauge is nice enough to replace it for free.

User avatar
giggios1979

Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:56 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#73

Post by giggios1979 » Sat Jan 19, 2013 11:54 pm

hi new here i have a issue with hvr 2250 and 1600 too same problem

when i watch qubo channel (somebody know it?) in the nights ,wintv freeze, sometimes close, i cant watch channel

i can record via scheduler, there all is fine.

staknhalo

Posts: 1176
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:26 pm
Location: Coral Springs, FL

HTPC Specs: Show details

#74

Post by staknhalo » Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:14 am

I know the channel. How is it received; QAM, OTA, or analogue?

User avatar
giggios1979

Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:56 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#75

Post by giggios1979 » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:33 pm

staknhalo wrote:I know the channel. How is it received; QAM, OTA, or analogue?

ota

thanks

Brainsuck

Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:29 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#76

Post by Brainsuck » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:17 am

I have the 2250 and 1600 on charter work great set it up as qam only no sd tuner no cable hook to the 1600 mce 7 and 8 don't need sd

thesmackdown

Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2013 4:36 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#77

Post by thesmackdown » Sun Dec 22, 2013 4:41 pm

I have a 2250 and I use it for OTA recording/viewing in WMC. Last Xmas I received a new antenna that increased my channel count. Including another PBS feed. Worked great over the winter and into the spring of this year. Then it stopped tuning in. I assumed it had something to do with trees getting leaves or some other seasonal change.

Problem is it hasn't come back - I also have discovered that the tuner in my TV will bring in those channels fine.

Any suggestions? Or is the 2250 just not strong enough?

Markm

Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 11:28 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#78

Post by Markm » Sun May 11, 2014 6:24 pm

thesmackdown wrote:I have a 2250 and I use it for OTA recording/viewing in WMC. Last Xmas I received a new antenna that increased my channel count. Including another PBS feed. Worked great over the winter and into the spring of this year. Then it stopped tuning in. I assumed it had something to do with trees getting leaves or some other seasonal change.

Problem is it hasn't come back - I also have discovered that the tuner in my TV will bring in those channels fine.

Any suggestions? Or is the 2250 just not strong enough?
I found the same issue with my 2250, when I plug my windward into my TV it picks up channels just fine, and into my 2250 and pinnacle 800e I loose some. I plugged an amp on the tuner side of the cable and that didn't seem to help, then I plugged in a preamp on the antenna side on the mast and that made all the difference in the world...

This is what I am using

http://www.menards.com/main/mobile/elec ... htm?trig=1

locokip

Posts: 4
Joined: Thu May 22, 2014 4:52 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#79

Post by locokip » Thu May 22, 2014 5:32 am

Folks,

I've been operating my 2250 for around 4 or 5 years. I run OTA signal thru a Winegard RS2000 on the roof thru coax into the original amp that the antenna was supplied with (Winegard PS-1403) then into my PC (thru the 2250 of course). I then run WMC on this computer which then runs WMC extenders to two X-Box 360s (via Ethernet cable) in two different rooms through an Asus RT-N66U router (has 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports). It mostly works great, but around 2 to 3 years ago, I noticed some of the HD recordings began to pixelate and freeze momentarily. I most often noticed it if it was trying to record two HD shows at the same time while trying to playback HD as well. So figuring it might be the processor (Dell XPS 410 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600) I decided to replace the entire CPU since it was around 7 years old with a new desktop. I found a new HP Pavilion p6-2427c for under $300 with an AMD A8-5500 and 8GB RAM. I kept the Graphics card in there since I had upgraded it a few years ago to an AMD Radeon 5670 (775Mhz, GDDR5). THe new PC only has 8GB RAM, so I was thinking that the RAM might be the issues, but I started getting "No or Low Signal" errors at the XBoxes as well as on the server PC itself when trying to play some recorded shows thru WMC. So, now I'm wondering how best to go about figuring out what the problem is. Should I try a preamp on my antenna or a new signal booster? Or is it something to do with the RAM or Graphics card?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Kip Š

barnabas1969

Posts: 5738
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:23 pm
Location: Titusville, Florida, USA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#80

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu May 22, 2014 12:33 pm

It could be something as simple as a loose coax connector, water infiltration in the coax lines, a bad preamp, corroded connections on the antenna, or the antenna rotated a little bit over the years.

Have you checked those things, and tried rotating your antenna to get a better signal?

Post Reply