[mythtv-users] HD-PVR2 support (please vote)

[Keith Pyle]

On 08/18/15 07:00, Eric Sharkey wrote:
>> On Sat, Aug 15, 2015 at 8:33 PM, Will Dormann<wdormann at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> >....
>>> >>Is this a common problem?
>> >
>> >The anecdotal reports suggest that the HD-PVRs suffer from
>> >(a) crappy and/or short lived power supplies, (b) thermal
>> >issues (they overheat and "flake"), (c) USB weirdness
>> >(which can be various combinations of motherboard,
>> >OS, and HD-PVR), and (d) while I thought I remember it
>> >being addressed, I recall that those that tried to used the
>> >IR blaster could see some issues.
> There have also been reports that the HDPVR can get confused by
> certain patterns of signals sent by the STB (e.g., if attempting to
> start recording before the STB has finished switching channels and
> getting a resolution change coincident with a recording start), so not
> only do various combinations of motherboard, OS, and HD-PVR affect the
> results, but the model of STB and its behavior on your cable system
> may also be a factor.
>
> If anyone is experiencing problems and has not upgraded to the latest
> firmware, that's something that should be done.  Some problems I was
> having went away when I did that and it's been rock solid stable for
> me for 2+ years.
I'm fairly certain that Eric is correct.  I've seen nothing but flaky 
behavior from the HD-PVR (those interested can search the archives for 
some of my rants, er, reports of my tests) and have never been able to 
get it usable within MythTV.  Instead, I only capture from it using a 
user-space program that can do automatic recovery when it stops capturing.

For grins, I connected a second HD-PVR in series (STB -> HD-PVR #0 -> 
HD-PVR #1) and did a capture on TNT, since this channel seems more prone 
than others to have problems.  Both HD-PVR's terminated their captures 
at exactly the same point.  In general, I see this happen at 
program/commercial transitions and suspect the STB is dropping some 
signal (audio?) that the HD-PVR interprets as "done."  So, the level of 
HD-PVR flakiness is very likely influenced by the STB.

With regard to the original purpose of this thread, I too would be 
willing to pay for a reliable HD-PVR2 Linux driver.  The amount would be 
dependent on what was to be provided, of course, with consideration for 
my lower effort and the stress relief of not dealing with the HD-PVR1.  
I'm not overly found of installing binary blobs but would probably make 
an exception in this case.  Of course, this assumes the continued 
availability of a STB that has component outputs from my good friends at 
TWC, that I'm not seduced by Google when/if they get to my "fiberhood" 
in the next year or so, etc.

Keith