Help needed with TV card. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 01:42:53 am
content: So I have a WinTV HVR-1800 TV tuner card, and like a brilliant madman I lost the WinTV serial for my PVR-2 (Don't have one for the TV card as I got it second hand)so I need an alternative.That alternative I am currently trying is ProgDVB/ProgTV, however I have an issue. It installed just fine, and when I go into the settings I find a WinTV card (different number, but whatever)However, if I try to use it or enable it, I get this message:The card works, perfectly fine as last tested with WinTV 8 or Windows Media Center (Running Server 2016 so I am leaving that as a last resort as the Windows 8+ version is buggy) and I have no reason to believe it doesn't work. It is obviously a configuration/driver issue, I just don't know where or how to fix it. Any suggestions?

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 03:14:16 am
content: You could try calling them and asking them for help. There is a decent chance that the entitlement to some support and possibly even a current license to software goes along with the hardware, so showing them some proof that you now own the card or dongle may entitle you to some advice and possibly even the software that came with it. Its worth trying. I have an ancient Hauppage card too and I vaguely remember doing that at some point. I was on Linux, I think, BTW. (This was at least ten years ago, though. In the pre-ATSC era.) Ask.If you want to use it on Linux, LinuxTV.org has info on a lot of hardware variations, nothing on windows software, but on the hardware parts/chipsets, etc...They are I think in Hauppage, NY. (US)

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 03:30:50 am
content: I'd say it's a compatibility/driver issue. You say you have a HVR-1800 but the software appears to be showing it as a WinTV 885 (which is a very old card from back in the Win9x days and appears to have no modern OS support).Maybe try the drivers fromhttp://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_hvr1800.html

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 04:34:25 pm
content: Well I emailed Happauge about possibly getting a free copy of WinTV 8 (I showed them pictures of my PVR 2, it's box, and some other stuff) so maybe they will be nice and help me out here. If they do I will put their example of good customer service up on here and how it all went down.I may try to install Windows Media Center, and see if that works. Will post about it later.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 10:32:07 pm
content: Update:Well I chose an entirely different solution. I have not heard back from Hauppauge yet, and I do plan to get my copy of WinTV back if possible, but I am not gonna stress over it.MediaPortal 2 is an option suggested to me by my dad. It's actually pretty good. He also suggested SageTV, which is sort of in and out of development, and would have been my secondary option.MediaPortal 2 has Kodi like functionality with plugins and etc, but right out of the box it has a working server/client system that needs right about 0 configuration on the server and client sides. I threw my TV card in another machine I use on occasion as a HTPC, and set that up in a few hours (most of that was to scan for channels). It picks up all the ClearQAM stuff in my area, and it works fine.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 04:54:12 pm
content: Sorry for the continual bumps, but I just have to say the Happague was REALLY nice and gave me a new CD key for WinTV8 over email. So props to them go buy their stuff, they got amazing capture cards and tuners, with alright software.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 27, 2017, 02:06:29 am
content: Awesome, thats great to hear!They were really nice to me 10 years ago too.Their PVR card that I had on my old PCI machine always captured video really well, plus it had/has hardware MPEG capture.I still have it but its no longer usable here in the US since the digital TV changeover.. If I want to watch broadcast TV on my computer again I need to get an ATSC compatible card. They are definitely at the top of my list.Quote from: TwoOfFive on September 25, 2017, 04:54:12 pm