Using Hauppauge Pvr 350 With Christv

Make your ChrisTV PVR work better and solve any settings problem
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Stormbringer
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Joined: 16 Aug 2004, 02:29

Post by Stormbringer »

For Hauppauge Pvrs & Hvr1300 - Settings Guide please check this topic :
http://forum.chris-tv.com/index.php?showtopic=2431

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Using the PVR 350 with ChrisTV under Windows XP Media Center Edition
===================================================


The following guide is tested by using a Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 (Retail, non-MCE Version) under Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. However, it should also work for the PVR 250.

Due to the nature of installation, this guide is aimed at the experienced windows user.

I assume you have a fresh or working copy of Windows XP MCE (2004 or 2005) installed on your computer. If you are still using Media Center Edition 2004 I suggest you to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 before proceeding any further. Doing so will not only update your system with the latest security fixes but also upgrade Media Center to Version 2005. Download it from Microsoft's Website or install it by using Windows Update.

The guide is divided into three parts. Part 1 takes care about installing the neccesary drivers and software, part 2 cares about running ChrisTV and part 3 cares about getting the remote control to work.

Now let's get it on...


PART 1: INSTALLING THE PVR 350 UNDER MEDIA CENTER EDITION
==============================================STEP 1: Prerequisites

Before we get into detail of installation you need to prepare a few pieces of software. Download it now to have it available for step 2.

. Hauppauge PVR Media Center Driver
MCE will *NOT* work with the usual Windows XP PVR 250/350 driver - you need a special MCE driver to make the card work.

Official PVR MCE driver from Hauppauge: Hauppauge PVR 250/350 MCE driver

Download the "WinTV-PVR Media Center driver CD" package and extract the downloaded archive.

. Nvidia ForceWare Driver for Media Center Edition 2004/2005
As with the TV-card you also need a MCE certified display driver for your graphic card.

The "normal" Windows XP driver will install but refuse to work as excepted.

At the time of writing the current MCE ForceWare driver version is 66.93 and can be found at the following link:
Nvidia ForceWare 66.93 for Media Center Edition 2004/2005

. ATI Display Driver for Media Center Edition 2004/2005
Follow this link: ATI Catalyst for Media Center Edition 2004/2005

In the left-most column select "Windows XP Media Center Edition"
In the middle column select "Graphic Driver"
In the right-most column select the appropriate model of your graphic card

Download the package containing the display driver and control panel.

. Software MPEG Decoder
In order to get the live tv picture on your screen you need an software MPEG decoder. Here it gets a bit of tricky. Since Hauppauge's hcwsmd (Software MPEG Decoder) does not work with MCE you therefore need a third-party solution to achieve the job. There are two options to choose from - and none of them is freeware:

Opt. 1: For Nvidia based graphic card owners there's the "NVIDIA DVD Decoder" ready for download. The software provides you with the needed decoder BUT it is TRIAL software that expires after 30 days. I'm using this package since there's a GeForce 5600XT built into my rig.

Info and Download: Nvidia DVD Decoder

NOTE: Nvidia DVD Decoder does NOT work with ATI (or any other brand) graphic cards.

Opt. 2: CyberLink recently released PowerDVD 6.0. Although you don't need PowerDVD to watch DVD, the package provides an software MPEG decoder for MCE. This is also trial software that expires after 30 days.

PowerDVD Demo Download: CyberLink Download Site

The CyberLink MPEG decoder will work with any graphic card from any brand as long as you have an MCE compatible display driver installed.

If anyone of you knows about an alternative, preferably freeware, MPEG2 decoder solution feel free to post about it here.

STEP 2: Installing drivers and software

Now that we have everything prepared we are ready to install the drivers. Here's how to do it:

. Installing the PVR driver

. Right-click "My Computer" and select "Manage".
. In the following window click on "Device Manager".
. On the right side you'll see an "Multimedia Video Controller" listed under "Other devices".
. Right click onto it and select "Update driver".
. When asked if you like to connect to Windows Update choose "No, not this time" and click "Next".
. In the follwing dialog choose "Install from a list or specific location" and click "Next".
. Select "Include this location in the search" and browse to the directory containing the inf-file for your card.

Example:
X:\Download\WinTV-PVR-250_retail1_1_18_22266 - PVR 250/350 Retail
X:\Download\WinTV-PVR-250MCE_18_21_22247 WHQL Signed - PVR 250MCE

Uncheck "Search removeable media" before you click on "Next".

. Wait until Windows finished installing the driver.

If you need further assistance on how to install the driver refer to "QI-PVRPCI-150250MCE.pdf" included in the directory of the driver or feel free to ask for help.

. Installing the graphic card driver
Open the directory containing the downloaded driver package and double-click to install it. When prompted restart your computer.

. Installing the software MPEG decoder
If you're about to use Nvidia's DVD Decoder simply double-click the downloaded install file and reboot the system (perform the reboot even when you aren't prompted to do so).

In the case that you are about to use PowerDVD simply install the package.

. Finished with this step
Now that we've installed everything we needed we're finished.

If you like to use Media Center apart from ChrisTV fire it up now and follow the on-screen instructions to setup the configuration.

As soon as you're at Media Center's main menu you should be able to start "My TV" ->"Live TV". If you get some sort of error message (i.e. "The decoder failed to initialize") at the attempt to start "Live TV" you definitely forgot to install the software MPEG decoder - or you installed an unsuitable software MPEG decoder and/or display driver for your graphic card.

Please note that this is just a basic guide which doesn't cover all possible brands of graphic cards out there.


PART 2: GETTING CHRISTV TO RUN
========================
STEP 3: Installing and running ChrisTV

Now we will care about running ChrisTV on MCE. It's tested with a registered version of ChrisTV Professional 4.1 and it will work with the unregistered shareware version as well. Remember that there are several limitations in the unregistered version!

Before you start the installation of ChrisTV you must stop Media Center services currently running.

Open the commandline (START -> All programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt) and issue the following two commands:

net stop ehrecvr
net stop ehsched

If you haven't got any error message close the command prompt when done.

With the services stopped install your copy of ChrisTV. At the end of installation let the installer start the ChrisTV Configuration Wizard.

When asked if it's the first installation of ChrisTV answer "Yes" if true.

Click "Next" and choose "TV Card with MPEG Hardware (with WDM driver)".

In the following dialog you should find the following items to be already there:

. "Hauppauge WinTV PCR PCI II Capture" in the "Video Capture Source" pull-down menu
. The driver of your sound card in "Audio Capture Source"
. The playback mixer of your sound card in "Sound Playback Input"
. The recording mixer of your sound card in "Sound Recording Input"

Click "Next" and you're presented with the MPEG Decoder selection.

If the fields are empty simply click on them and select the available decoder. In my case I would select "NVIDIA Video Decoder" at the "MPEG Video Decoder" pull-down menu and "NVIDIA Audio Decoder" at the "MPEG Audio Decoder" pull-down menu.

If you've installed PowerDVD there should be an "CyberLink MPEG Video Decoder" as well as an "CyberLink MPEG Audio Decoder".

Click "Next" to proceed to the image settings.

Change the "Preview Frame Size" to 768x576 for PAL or 720x480 for NTSC. Uncheck "Advanced Rendering Mode" and "Reinitialite the WDM driver".

Click "Next" and you're presented with the Interface Language options.

Choose your preferred interface language and set your country.

If you are using a graphic card with two monitors hooked onto it (i.e. Nvidia nView), or a dual graphic card solution enable "Use ChrisTV in a Multimontior Environment"; otherwise you better leave it disabled.

If you have Nero Burning ROM installed enable "Deactivate Nero QT Filters while ChrisTV is running".

Click "Next" to setup the paths for video, audio and image capture.

I suggest you to change the paths of the video and audio capture folder to an hard disk with plenty of free space. Two hours of MPEG recording can take up to 4.8GB. If you have enough free space on your system drive go ahead with the defaults.

Click "Next" and "Finish" to complete the wizard and start ChrisTV.

As soon as ChrisTV is running you will be presented with the "Scan channels" dialog. In the background you should already see some "snow" in the video window.

Make sure that "Use secondary channel scanning (driver issue)" is enabled and click on "Start" to scan for available channels. NOTE: This may take several minutes to complete!

As soon as it's finished click on "Save".

NOTE: If you like to spare the time for channel scanning you may download a preset list from the forum and import it into Chris TV. However, you need to make sure that the Audio Input for every channel is set to "Tuner Input" at the Channel Settings windows (CTRL+S); otherwise you won't hear any sound!

Right click into the video windows and select a channel from "Channel List".

Now we need to setup a few options. Press CTRL+A to open the General Settings window.

Click on "Driver Settings" and click onto the "Advanced Settings" tab. Make sure the following items are checked (disable everything else that might be enabled):

. Use secondary channel scanning system (driver issue)
. Use TV Card Audio Output through the WDM driver (instead of Line-In)
. Disable Nero QuickTime Filters while ChrisTV is running

Click on "Close" at the bottom of the window and restart ChrisTV.

Now you should not only have a picture but sound too.

You may now continue to customize ChrisTV to your needs before continuing with this guide.

STEP 4: Startup script for ChrisTV to disable Media Center services automatically

Since we need to stop Media Center services everytime before we launch ChrisTV we better write a batch file to accomplish this task.

Open the editor (START -> All programs -> Accessories -> Editor) and copy/paste the following lines into it (based on the script provided by Chris in a posting above):

@echo off
echo Stopping Media Center services...
net stop ehrecvr
net stop ehsched
echo Starting ChrisTV...
start /wait %ProgramFiles%\ChrisTV\ChrisTV.exe
echo ChrisTV has quit. Starting Media Center services...
net start ehrecvr
net start ehsched

Now save the file inside of C:\Program Files\ChrisTV and name it ChrisTV_MCE.bat

Navigate to the program folder of ChrisTV and drag a shortcut of ChrisTV_MCE.bat onto your desktop. If you like you can place it inside ChrisTV's start menu program group to have it at one place.

From now on you MUST start ChrisTV by using the shortcut of the batch file because you won't get a picture in ChrisTV as long as the services are running.

STEP 5: Setting up recording options and record TV

Press CTRL+A to open the General Settings window. Click on "MPEG Hardware Encoding" and select the second tab named "Recording Settings".

To the right of the "MPEG Hardware Encoding" pull-down menu you'll find a button called "Settings". Click onto it to open the settings window.

At the "Audio Properties" tab you'll find the options regarding the audio capture. You may go on with the defaults or customize it to your needs.

At the "Video Properties" tab you'll find the options regarding the video capture. Either go ahead with the defaults or customize it to your needs.

At the "System Properties" tab you'll find several options to customize the output type of the recorded stream. Let it at it's default or change it to whatever you like.

At the "Video Proc Amp" tab you may adjust the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and sharpness of the video image if you aren't satisfied with what you see inside the video window the background.

When finished click on "OK" to apply the changes you've made.

As a test click on "Start Recording" to capture a few minutes. Afterwards you may want to check the quality of the file you've just recorded.

Remember that you have to set the recording options via the settings dialog of the MPEG Hardware Encoding device.

STEP 6: Scheduled recording with ChrisTV Agent

If you like to schedule a recording by using ChrisTV Agent you MUST manually stop the Media Center services first! If you forget to stop them you will capture nothing more than a black screen since ChrisTV cannot gain access to the WDM driver as long as the Media Center services are running.

NOTE TO CHRIS: Chris, you won't like to invent a workaround in an upcoming version of ChrisTV? How about checking for the operating system it's running on so that the Agent calls ChrisTV_MCE.bat instead of ChrisTV.exe? I'm sure you'll surprise us with a cool solution.


PART 3: HAUPPAUGE REMOTE CONTROL WITH CHRISTV AND MEDIA CENTER
====================================================
STEP 7: Getting the Hauppauge remote control to work with ChrisTV AND Media Center

The last step is to get the remote control to work with ChrisTV and Media Center. This is a bit of tricky and involves a bit of "hacking", but it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish.

Download the latest IR Remote control application package from Hauppauge's website: Hauppauge PVR250/350 Website

Download the PVR 250/350 Update from Hauppauge's website: PVR Driver Update 2.2.22292

Extract the contents of pvr250_22_22292.exe you've just downloaded by using WinRAR or TUGZip and copy hcwi2c32.dll to C:\WINDOWS\System32.

Install the IR Remote control application software and close it right after successful installation (right-click the small remote control icon in the systray next to the clock and choose "Exit").

Inside of C:\WINDOWS you'll find a file called irremote.ini. Rename it to irremote.orig for backup purposes and replace it with the version attached to this posting. Start the IR Remote control software and you're done.

The keys are mapped as follows (silver remote control)...

...for ChrisTV:

Remote Key Function assigned
--------------------------------------
Green Power - Unassigned (Launch Media Center)
Go - Unassigned
1 ... 0 - 1 ... 0
Back/Exit - Last Channel
Menu - Popup channel list

CH+ - One channel forward
CH- - One channel backward
VOL- - Decrease volume
VOL+ - Increase volume
OK - Commit

RED - Scheduler
GREEN - Record Radio
YELLOW - Capture image
BLUE - Activate/Deactivate Teletext

MUTE - Mute
FUNC - Exit ChrisTV
FULL - Switch from/to fullscreen
<< - Unassigned
> - Unassigned
>> - Unassigned
REC - Start/Stop record
STOP - Unassigned
PAUSE - Unassigned
|< - Unassigned
>| - Unassigned

...for Media Center:

Remote Key Function assigned
--------------------------------------
Green Power - Launch Media Center
Go - Jump to the EPG Scheduler
1 ... 0 - 1 ... 0
Back/Exit - One menu level backwards
Menu - Unassigned

CH+ - One channel forward
CH- - One channel backward
VOL- - Decrease volume
VOL+ - Increase volume
OK - Commit selection

RED - Unassigned
GREEN - Unassigned
YELLOW - Unassigned
BLUE - Unassigned

MUTE - Mute
FUNC - Exit Media Center
FULL - Switch from/to Fullscreen
<< - Rewind
> - Play
>> - Fast Forward
REC - Start record
STOP - Stop Playback/Record
|| - Pause
|< - Previous File/Track
>| - Next File/TrackIf you like to customize it to your own needs you'll find the appropriate additions at the end of the file.


If you have any questions feel free to ask for help.
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Chris
ChrisPC Support Team
Posts: 4949
Joined: 01 Sep 2003, 18:31
Location: ChrisPC HQ
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Post by Chris »

Thank you for taking time to write this very complete and useful guide.

Some of the above steps concerning ChrisTV settings, can be applied with no problems for the Hauppauge PVR 150/250/350/500 under normal WinXP.
ptlg
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: 20 Dec 2005, 15:29

Post by ptlg »

Great post but just a question. By using the different drivers for the Hauppauge 350 under MCE 2005 is it possible to utilize both the encoder and decoder abilities of the card? According to Hauppauge and Windows it is not possible to export to your TV but will this modification correct this??

Thanks,

Patrick
Stormbringer
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: 16 Aug 2004, 02:29

Post by Stormbringer »

Hi!

No - MCE doesn't support TV-Out through the PVR but through the GFX-card only! :-(

To get the picture onto your TV (Beamer,...) you'll have to connect it to the TV-Out of your graphics board. Windows will treat the TV like a secondary monitor, therefore you should be able to place the MCE GUI onto the TV "monitor". That way you are able to "export" the picture to your TV and watch it right there.

If you have any further question feel free to ask.

Cheers,
Storm.
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