Hauppauge Colossus Q&A
Update 4/1/2011: Hi Everyone, Michael has some other priorities right now so I am going to take over his efforts with the Colossus. I should be getting the card next week and will try to get a working setup in the next couple weeks to continue on with this thread.
I currently have a prototype Hauppauge Colossus HD PVR in my development HTPC and wanted to start a Q\A thread here at Missing Remote.
Note, I am using a prototype board so my experience may vary slightly from the production boards but not significantly. So far it has been stable. I am using two boards, one with digital audio and the other with stereo audio to compare and track potential stability differences.
To start off below is the system I’m using to test the Colossus:
| Motherboard | Intel DH67BL |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K |
| Graphics Card | Intel HD Graphics |
| Memory | CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 |
| Boot Drive | Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB SATA III |
| Data Drive | WD Green 1 TB |
| Operating System | Window 7 SP1 64-bit |
| Provider | Comcast – Digital – Houston |
| Set-Top Box | Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4250HDC |
Please ask any questions and I will do my best to answer and maintain a Q\A list here.
Pricing and Availability
Q. How much does the Hauppauge Colossus cost?
A. The Hauppauge Colossus retails for $159
Q. When is the Hauppauge Colossus expected to ship?
A. Initial estimates were early February but I think late February or early March is more realistic.
It is available for pre-order now via http://store.hauppauge.com/AddToShoppingCart.asp?ProductID=115
2/18 Update: Some users reported receiving tracking information already.
Features
Q. What audio formats are supported?
A. AC-3 (stereo or 5.1) or stereo AAC audio capture
Q. What audio formats are supported via HDMI-IN?
A. AC-3 (stereo or 5.1) or stereo PCM audio capture. DTS will be supported in the near future.
HD Audio formats are not supported.
Q. What video resolutions and bit rates are supported?
A. Up to 1080i resolution, 720p or VGA/D1 with datarates from 1Mbs to 13.5Mbs, Constant and Variable Bit Rate.
Q. What inputs are on the card?
A. There are four inputs. 1- HDMI; 2- A dongle that provides either component video + analog audio or composite video + analog audio; 3- TOSLINK SPDIF (digital optical) input; 4- IR receiver (shared with the IR blaster).
Q. What outputs are on the card?
A. There are three outputs on the Colossus. 1- SPDIF out; 2- A dongle that provides either component video out + analog out, or composite video + analog out; 3- IR baster (shared with the IR receiver).
Q. My Colossus did not come with the composite cable (with the yellow jack) shown above, what do I do?
A. The blue-colored jack on the component cable can be used for composite video.
Q. Can you output HDMI audio\video input through the component video out?
A. No, pass through video is limited to the component or composite video.
Support and Requirements
Q. What TV providers will the Colossus work with?
A. The Colossus will work with any set-top box that provides component video output or unprotected HDMI output. This includes cable television, satellite and IPTV solutions.
A. Yes but I have not tested it. I am only testing in Windows 7 64-bit for now.
Q. What PVR software will support the Colossus as a HDTV tuner?
A. SageTV 7.x and Windows Media Center.
Q. Can I install more than one Hauppauge Colossus in the same PC?
A. Yes.
2/18 Update: Similarly to the HD-PVR, Windows Media Center is still limited to a single Colossus. SageTV’s Colossus support does not have this limitation.
SageTV
Q. Is Colossus support available to public?
A. Yes, I highly recommend V7.1.5 (or higher) Public Beta for Colossus support.
Q. Am I limited to a single Colossus or USB HD-PVR?
A. No. I am using multiple Colossus and USB HD-PVR with SageTV
Windows 7 Media Center
Q. Is Colossus support available to public?
A. WMC is currently supported with 29168 driver.
Q. Am I limited to a single Colossus or USB HD-PVR?
A. For the time being, yes.
Q. Does it work the same as the USB HD PVR?
A. It is a very similar integration with Media Center but there is an important difference. Below are screenshots of the new Hauppauge Media Center Device Central. It isn’t all that exciting except that it shows the forthcoming support for multiple devices. More on this and 3rd party channel changing support in the full review.
Physical and Environmental
Q. What interface does the Hauppauge Colossus use?
A. The Hauppauge Colossus is a full height, PCI-e x1 card.
Q. Will there be a low-profile card available?
A. No, at least not that I know of.
I’m assuming GBPVR (or NPVR)
I’m assuming GBPVR (or NPVR) will probably support it as well since Sub says he has one and had support for the HDPVR before it was even released.
I imagine you are right. I
I imagine you are right. I sent Sub an e-mail via the forums to see if there was a build of NextPVR that I could test but did not get a response.
I was very interested in this
I was very interested in this when I saw the release photos but my HD-PVR’s have been running so well (knock on wood) I don’t think I want to replace them!!!
Will the IR blaster finally
Will the IR blaster finally support 2 instalations?
Hmm. I’m dumping my
Hmm. I’m dumping my Intensity Pro on Amazon. It was the most frustrating HW experience I’ve ever had. I was going to buy the 1212 HD-PVR but it sounds like I should wait for this (cheaper than the HD-PVR as well). Can you tell us about the encoding formats and quality settings supported?
Currently the same as the
Currently the same as the 1212 HD-PVR which is H.264 (.TS, .M2TS and .MP4). The new chip supports MPEG-2 however it is not implemented. 3rd party software may be able to use it for harware encoding though.
Hmm.. shame that now the
Hmm.. shame that now the master key for hdcp is known, that there’s no way to make use of that with one of these =)
Ah well, it still handles component/optical..
Questions:
Do the drivers support any sort of brightness/contrast/gamma settings for capture (from component and/or hdmi) ?
Do the drivers support any sort of a/v offset compensation / adjustment ?
Is the component passthru always active, or only active while the card is able to make sense of the input signal ?
How well does it cope during capturing if the source resolution / audio format changes (eg adverts) ?
How does the quality of it’s encoding compare to the HDPVR ? Does this unit offer support for any more advanced encoding features?
Whats the funky white connector on the top of the card for ?
How warm does the card get after say 24 hrs of continuous operation ?
As component passthru always
As component passthru always active, Your system must be on and drivers loaded just like the HD PVR USB model
As for source resolution changes is not possable you must use a fix resolution just like HD PVR USB Model.
The white A/V header is there standard A/V add-in card the very same found on old PVR 150, 250 and 500 card
I’ll reply w/ all the answers
I’ll reply w/ all the answers tonight, I don’t have access to it at the moment so I don’t want to provide any false information.
It is an additional optional AV connector: http://store.hauppauge.com/accessories2.asp?product=av_cable
I havent used Sage yet…so
I havent used Sage yet…so I’m wondering how this will handle metadata for recorded tv shows, etc.?
SageTV stores that info by
SageTV stores that info by using the TV guide data it gets from Zap2It.
In V7 metadata gets appended
In V7 metadata gets appended to the end of nativly recorded shows as well.
I don’t have an HDPVR. Does
I don’t have an HDPVR. Does the user have any control over the encoding quality or filtering? (denoise, decomb, etc..)
Does the driver/chip include
Does the driver/chip include the closed captioning stream in the encoded file? All Hauppauge cards do except for the USB HD-PVR.
No it does not. There is NO
No it does not. There is NO closed captioning available in component video for the HD PVR to include.
Edit: Bolded NO since accidently left it out.
This will depend on the STB.
This will depend on the STB. I have no special knowledge of consumer STBs that do/don’t. Composite video can support Line21 EIA-608 captions. HD component video could contain EIA-708 (which can also include EIA-608) captions which would typically ride in Line9 though it could be in other non-active video lines.
Aaron and I discussed
Aaron and I discussed offline. I knew L21 could be include in composite video but I wasn’t aware that it therotically could in YPbPr component analog video as well. I checked with my contact at Motorola and eventhough it therotically can, none do. He referred me to this Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_captioning#HDTV_interoperability_issues
Note: Aaron is a genius when it comes to signals so if you want more info there ask away 🙂
Actually, my original comment
Actually, my original comment could have been stated better :). While it’s theoretically possible for caption data to be present in component, I think we have a situation where SMPTE has specified carriage in digital video only and this is what is done in professional broadcast equipment. At least I am not aware of a spec SMPTE issued regarding the sending of EIA-708 captions in analog.
NTSC Line21 (EIA-608) captions are indeed possible in composite.
So basically, the industry screwed up the transition to digital broadcast 🙂
Thanks for the clarification.
Thanks for the clarification. I always thought it was a matter of driver-design, given the fact that Hauppauge still has this in the USB HD-PVR FAQs page:
I’ve actually been looking
I’ve actually been looking into this issue for the longest time: how to get HD video with captioning data embedded. The only easy way that I found, was to get an external HD MPEG2 encoder/QAM modulator, and inject the VBI into it so that its output transport stream would have the data. Such encoders that can do this are ZvBox 170 and ZvPro 280, with the composite vbi stripper adapter. I’m positive this would work.
There actually are component captioning encoders such as Link Electronics PCE-845 and PTC-892. But these would require an extra device that need would decode the data from the video (s-video/composite) and send it by RS-232 to the encoder.
Unfortunately, these solutions range in the thousands of dollars…
I guess it all comes down to how much you want the hidden data in your files, versus, having it visibly burned in. Additionally, with Colossus not embedding any of this data makes it probably not worth it; however, totally worth it for Hauppauge’s cards that include captioning in the ATSC transport stream input.
Why not just use a tuner card
Why not just use a tuner card instead of a capture card?
Then you’re guaranteed to have the entire digital stream (inc the caption meta data).
At least that’s the case for non-encrypted (free2air) DVB-T in Euro/Australia etc.
For encrypted DVB-C it’s a little trickier to use a tuner card…
But there are ways with a smart-card reader and the right software 🙂
Hardware encoder cards take
Hardware encoder cards take away the cpu stress of encoding and ensure that the video is synced with no dropped frames…
For the capture of TV
For the capture of TV content….
Dedicated hw-based transcoding is a nice supplement to a DVB-x tuner.*
But it’s by no means an alternative on it’s own…
At least in DVB circles, maybe ATSC users are happy with it as an alternative?
*although becoming less relevant, now that hw transcode/encode is implemented in Intel CPU’s (quicksync), & presumably will get better with time.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/8
It is available NOW!!! Here
It is available NOW!!! Here is a link for $30 off the regular $169:
http://store.hauppauge.com/AddToShoppingCart.asp?ProductID=115
Looks like their store is
Looks like their store is down. Did we kill it? 😉
Thanks for an informative
Thanks for an informative post, Michael! Seems like your blog is a better source of info than Hauppauge themselves — they don’t even have a product page for the Colossus yet, let alone a manual or full specs.
I actually don’t need video capture at all, although it might be nice to have. What I’m looking for is a device that will let me get high-def screen captures from an HDMI input.
My choices under ~$200 or so seem to be limited to the Blackmagic Intensity Pro, Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle, or Hauppauge Colossus. (If anybody knows other products I should be considering, please speak up!)
Blackmagic looks interesting, and advertises that they offer a Photoshop plugin, which should make it easy to capture stills as I need to do. However, a colleague owns the Intensity Pro, and has found it only works ~60% of the time, and even then it irretrievably crops the edges off the feed. I’ve been considering the Intensity Shuttle, in the hopes that this would’ve resolved those issues, but am concerned about the USB 3.0 issues many have reported. I *should* be OK, as I have a modern (Core i7-950, 12GB RAM, GTX 470) system with NEC USB 3.0 chipset on the motherboard (Asus Sabertooth X58), but I’m hesitant to play guinea pig as I’m not on the extremely abbreviated list of officially supported motherboards.
And then, today, I first heard of the Colossus. Looks like I already missed the $30 discount. Oh well.
I wonder, can you tell me — does the Colossus provide any direct way to capture frame grabs from the HDMI input, or would it require me to capture video and then manually extract frame grabs afterwards, which would complicate my workflow? And if you’ve done any frame grabs yourself, how’s the quality / reliability, and is there any unavoidable cropping of the image?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
—
Michael T.
Knoxville, TN
Hi Michael, I apologize. I
Hi Michael, I apologize. I did not see your questions. I’ll test out and let you know over the weekend.
Update: Native Windows Media
Update: Native Windows Media Center 7 beta drivers for the Colossus will be made available soon.
It is NOT the same drivers available on the web for the HD-PVR. It is still limited to a single Colossus. I will test w/ HD-PVR tonight to see if they co-exist.
Note: SageTV is NOT limited to a single HD-PVR. I have been running multiple w/o issue for a few weeks now.
Thanks, Michael — that’s
Thanks, Michael — that’s very much appreciated! 🙂 I’ll look forward to your findings…
Hi Michael,
I received my
Hi Michael,
I received my Colossus (two of them) last Friday and, as expected, I haven’t been able to make them work with either SageTV or Media Center using the current drivers (those in the CD and now also in Hauppauge’s FTP site). Can you please confirm that there’s nothing we can do about it until new beta drivers for both SageTV and MCE are released? Any estimate on how soon?
Thanks!
You are correct, nothing you
You are correct, nothing you can do until an update is available to SageTV and a new beta is released for Media Center support. The webpage is incorrect when they refer to the existing HD-PVR beta drivers working.
I expect both to be available this week.
Update: SageTV beta w/
Update: SageTV beta w/ Colossus support is now available to public.
I’m interested in this mainly
I’m interested in this mainly for capturing DD/DTS 5.1 from my Xbox/PS3 Games.
So that I can run it through a HRTF filter & change it to stereo simulated surround, and then pass it to my Essence ST.
Would it be possible to bypass the encoding process, and just grab the captured audio?
I’d love to use it’s HDMI-in to capture 8-ch LPCM that uses the latest DD/DTS formats, namely; TrueHD, DTS-MA.
But I doubt that there’ll be a “HDCP hole” like there is in the Avermedia card…
And even if there is, like the Avermedia it’ll prolly be limited to grabbing only 48kHz/2ch PCM/16-bit, right?
Any advice greatly appreciated, thank-you.
P.S. the new site’s pretty cool!
although I must admit I find editing to be odd compared to other forums.
I have not been able to test
I have not been able to test that yet, sorry. I’ll see if I can setup my Xbox tonight but honestly might not have the time to.
Michael Welter wrote:
I have
[quote=Michael Welter]I have not been able to test that yet, sorry. I’ll see if I can setup my Xbox tonight but honestly might not have the time to.[/quote]
Thanks mate you’re a legend!
I’d love to know if the hdmi capture can do better than 2ch PCM!
I believe the analogue capture side (which use s/pdif for audio) can only do DD 5.1 or 2ch PCM.
I’m trying to find a capture device that can grab “HD” (8ch LPCM, DTS-MA True-HD etc) audio.
There’s plenty of HDMI capture cards that can do 1080i/60 or less, & even some that do 1080p/24.
But the best I’ve come accross on the audio side is DD/DTS 5.1, no. of PCM channels not clear yet, prolly only 2.
Cheers,
Jed
So Michael how’d you
So Michael how’d you go…
Are you able to verify what I’m wanting to know?
Thanks!
My first attempt was
My first attempt was unsuccessful. I connected a different HTPC to the Colossus and attempted to send HD Audio over HDMI.
I’m going to try w/ the PS3 today.
okay, thanks Michael, I look
okay, thanks Michael, I look forward to your findings!
Same thing w/ the PS3. No HD
Same thing w/ the PS3. No HD Audio. I’ve asked for an official word as well.
They’ll just say it’s
They’ll just say it’s complying with HDCP blah, blah, blah, crap.
Even though I have no interest in such functionality for pirating!
I couldn’t give a crap about ripping content…
I just want the right to use my HTPC as my DAC/Amp for HD audio in games!
Still I’d be interested in
Still I’d be interested in their “official response” if you ever do get one.
Thanks!
mikinho wrote:
Same thing w/
[quote=mikinho]
Same thing w/ the PS3. No HD Audio. I’ve asked for an official word as well.
[/quote]
So have you got any word from them on “HD audio” (8ch LPCM encoded in the DD/DTS formats) via HDMI support?
I’d be amazed if they have plans to impliment it… even in the longer-term.
Thanks!
Jed
Here is the official word on
Here is the official word on audio formats via HDMI:
1- 2 channel PCM
2- AC3
That is it for now. Within a few weeks we are likely to see DTS added to that list.
…
…
mikinho wrote:
Here is the
[quote=mikinho]
Here is the official word on audio formats via HDMI:
1- 2 channel PCM
2- AC3
That is it for now. Within a few weeks we are likely to see DTS added to that list.
[/quote]
Hang on a sec… Are you saying they’re also planning to enable DTS 5.1 capture via HDMI? I thought they were only doing this for the analogue capture side (s/pdif)?
If true I may as well get the colossus instead of a soundcard that can do the same. As it can also capture/transcode analogue, which may be handy if DVB-C tuning’s unreliable! 🙂
mikinho wrote:
Here is the
[quote=mikinho]
Here is the official word on audio formats via HDMI:
1- 2 channel PCM
2- AC3
That is it for now. Within a few weeks we are likely to see DTS added to that list.
[/quote]
Great, so nothing that can’t already be done via S/PDIF…
[sarcasm]What truly amazing innovation on their part[/sarcasm]
Why’s it so hard to find a capture device, that captures “HD” audio goddammit!
There’s no shortage of capture devices that capture HD video, sheesh!
Thanks for confirming, dunno why i even bothered hoping….
Mike/anyone?
http://www.missi
Mike/anyone?
http://www.missingremote.com/blog/hauppauge-colossus-qa#comment-33114
Thanks!
jalyst
[quote=jalyst]
Mike/anyone?
http://www.missingremote.com/blog/hauppauge-colossus-qa#comment-33114
Thanks!
[/quote]
I responded to that one. Did you meant this one: http://www.missingremote.com/blog/hauppauge-colossus-qa#comment-33472?
If so, it’s only been 2 days since you posted and our resident Hauppauge “expert” (Mikinho) is away on business at the moment. That said, if he already had an answer, he usually responds no matter how busy he is. Considering he hasn’t, either no one knows or he’s still working on a definitive answer. Either way… patience, grasshopper. 😉
skirge01 wrote:
I responded
[quote=skirge01]I responded to that one. Did you meant this one: http://www.missingremote.com/blog/hauppauge-colossus-qa#comment-33472%5B/quote%5D
Woops my bad, yes I meant this one
http://www.missingremote.com/blog/hauppauge-colossus-qa#comment-33472
I never recall you responding to this one
http://www.missingremote.com/blog/hauppauge-colossus-qa#comment-33114
Don’t need a response to it but thanks anyway.
The HDMI capture supports 2CH
The HDMI capture supports 2CH PCM and AC3 today. Support for DTS is currently in the works.
swoon wrote:
The HDMI
[quote=swoon]
The HDMI capture supports 2CH PCM and AC3 today. Support for DTS is currently in the works.
[/quote]
Confirmation from 2nd person good enough for me…
I’ll see if it’s doco’d somewhere to verify it’s official & def. coming at some point.
Thank-you.
This is official. I confirmed
This is official. I confirmed with Hauppauge directly.
I see, thanks!
I see, thanks!
anyone? thank-you.
anyone? thank-you.
FYI, PluckyHD let me know
FYI, PluckyHD let me know that the Colossus is working with his Dish STBs via HDMI + TOSLINK audio.
Yeah that seems to be
Yeah that seems to be confirmed at sagetv too:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=483360&postcount=603
Except this person seems to be capturing the audio via HDMI!
How is all this even possible, is it because the STB’s in question don’t do HDCP for some reason?
I’m in Australia, and not familiar with all these North American STB’s.
I mean surely Happauge wouldn’t have designed the hdmi capturer to strip HDCP?
Intel would revoke it’s license in an instant & drag its arse into court!
Cheers,
Jed
can anyone advise on
can anyone advise on this?
Thanks!
Does anyone have or know the
Does anyone have or know the location of short sample files at the highest definition setting for this card? I’d like to see what it can produce before buying.
Anyone else experiencing loss
Anyone else experiencing loss of audio sync on long recordings (> 30m). I’m trying to digitize VHS and finding audio slowly looses sync overtime (or video does depending upon your perspective) when recording via Showbiz in MP4. Essentially, it looks like the frame rate is too slow for the audio track. I wasted quite a bit of time trying to re-encode the output at different frame rates, but that’s not a viable long-term solution. I found a similar report by some folks in the UK and they blame it on the MP4 format. Anyone else seeing that?
Hey Mike, how is the Beta MCE
Hey Mike, how is the Beta MCE driver working? Ready for prime time soon? I haven’t even opened the shipping box waiting to hear how this is progressing. I may just return it.
I think it is very close to a
I think it is very close to a public beta. It has been working fairly well for me but I was out of town this week so I haven’t had much Live TV testing.
While I was out of town I had 63 recording scheduled. I’ve only spot checked but it appears 58 of the 63 recordings worked. There were a few low signal warnings but the recordings still worked.
Note: For review purposes I am using the integrated IR blaster.
For those waiting on the MCE
For those waiting on the MCE beta driver for Colossus. You shouldn’t have to wait much longer.
Quick update. I have
Quick update. I have received an updated driver for the Colossus and Windows Media Center. I’ll be publishing my results early next week. If it is good enough for a review then good change a public release is close to follow.
FYI: I added a screenshot of
FYI: I added a screenshot of Hauppauge Device Central to the FAQ. Device Central is a new configuration tool available in the Media Center drivers that will let you configure device settings (Audio Input, Video Input) and device which Colossus to add to Media Center.
What the tool hints at is support for more than one HD-PVR andor Colossus.
Is the Hauppauge Device
Is the Hauppauge Device Central going to be only for Colossus or the USB HD-PVR aswell?
For both.
For both.
Good to know i have yet to
Good to know i have yet to pick up a colossus because my hd-pvr has been working pretty good in media center lately.I am interested im the quality of hdmi captures i have been reading good things about it.
Really looking forward to
Really looking forward to your full review. Please share any news about release time frame for these drivers. I’m waiting for this to build my new HTPC (and I think I’m not the only one).
Thanks!
Any update on the MCE driver?
Any update on the MCE driver?
My guess is it’s licensing
My guess is it’s licensing costs and the associated DRM in order to obtain that license. If it was a simple matter of just tossing something in, don’t you think everyone would be doing it?
Could you please test
Could you please test something for me? I have owned two Hauppauge capture cards, the HVR 2250 and PVR 350 and neither have shown up “natively” in Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder. I am looking for a HD capture card that will allow me to capture in AFMLE without using a third party capture program to stream live video games. Could you download and install it and see if it shows up? This would be very helpful to the live video game streamers like myself. Thanks alot!
Just wondering if you have
Just wondering if you have any knowledge about the reason for the delay of the Media Center driver. 3 weeks ago I received a message from Hauppauge saying that it would be a matter of days.
Hi Everyone, Michael has some
Hi Everyone, Michael has some other priorities right now so I am going to take over his efforts with the Colossus. I should be getting the card next week and will try to get a working setup in the next couple weeks to continue on with this thread.
I realise the colossus is a
I realise the colossus is a new product, but imagine my surprise when I opened the box only to find (2) sets of component cables and no composite cables – like the ones picture at the beginning of this thread. In fact, the only pictures I’ve been able to find of this cable anywhere!
My questions:
Has anyone bought the colossus that included the composite cable?
Does anyone have any ideas how to capture composite video into the card without the composite cable (besides running it through an external dvd recorder and using its component-out cable – which I’m having to do now.
Does anyone know where I can buy this cable and what the cardside port is called? Looks kind of like and esata, but I’m sure it’s proprietary.
Thanks for any and all help in advance,
Greg
Greg, Have you tried
Greg, Have you tried contacting Hauppauge support? I’m not sure if the composite cable is considered an optional accessory or whether it should be included in the ship kit.
In terms of the composite
In terms of the composite connection, I read somewhere that Hauppauge recommends using the following A/V bracket, the cable from which plugs into a socket on the Colossus card – http://store.hauppauge.com/accessories2.asp?product=av_cable – This bracket came as an accessory with the HVR-2250 tuner cards
thanks Aaron and Marco – I
thanks Aaron and Marco – I don’t think they claim it to be included in the ship kit as it clearly says on the box (2) component cables included, but they obviously have it as the picture shows, just wondering why they wouldn’t include it as they also mention you can capture homes movies etc in the literature. You’d think they’d say (composite cable not included) or something to that effect. I saw the available bracket but no mention that it’s compatible with the colossus. Also, the cable I’m looking for is not listed in the accessories to purchase. I guess I’ll have to email them. I wonder how Michael Welter got his? Anyway, thanks for your input….
Happauge is telling me the
Happauge is telling me the blue port from the component cable should give me a video signal into the yellow port on the composite cable. Has anyone heard of this? I’m sure I tried all combinations but maybe didn’t wait long enough for signal recognition – I’ll try again tonight and report back.
Happy to report Hauppauge
Happy to report Hauppauge support suggested I try using the blue end of the component cable to video yellow on composite and it works!
Thanks for following up. It
Thanks for following up. It will be a good item to add to the QA
Just a heads up for the folks
Just a heads up for the folks still following this: the DVBLink Colossus Bridge for MCE has an updated build has been posted, v0.9.4 with the following enhancements:
Added multi-colossus support
Added Colossus encoder filter property dialog
Bug fixes
it’s amazing that a 3rd party can get this stuff out the door faster than the OEM
Especialy after this:
From
Especialy after this:
From Hauppauge’s FaceBook page on 4/1 (April fools day prank maybe?)
Hauppauge Computer Works Charles: I just checked with engineering and they expect the deliver an updated Windows 7 driver late next week for use with Colossus and Windows Media Center. Some notes: the initial driver will be beta, and will only support one board in a system. A future driver version will support multiple boards in a system.
April 1 at 5:02pm
I’m also a bit disappointed
I’m also a bit disappointed with Hauppauge. They have a reputation to uphold when releasing hardware and software so I understand being anal about finalizing, but using words like “coming soon” and giving estimates that aren’t met really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Two months isn’t “soon”, it’s two months.
While I completely respect what fredx21 is doing with DVBLink I’m not going to pay $25 let alone $40 for mediocre support, without internal blaster support it’s useless for people like myself whose STBs don’t support channel changing any other way.
Hi Michael and team! Firstly,
Hi Michael and team! Firstly, thanks for such a great post here! I freaked out whe I didn’t have the composite video cable, then saw the addition to the front page that mentioned that the component cable can be used.
Secondly, are there any updates on the beta driver for Windows Media Center support? I am waiting to build my Media Center, but am depserately waiting for this beta first! Is there anywhere I can get hold of it, or is the release at least coming soon?
Thanks for all the update, much appreciated! Keep it up!
Hey MR folks,
You seem to
Hey MR folks,
You seem to have better lines-of-communication than me to Hauppauge engineers.
I’ve emailed Hauppauge Singapore, & even spoken to them via google voice a few times. But so far they haven’t been able to answer two fairly simple questions properly.
I was wondering if you could possibly ask hauppauge two quesitons on my behalf? It’s in relation to DD/DTS 5.1 capture via HDMI or S/PDIF:
(1) Does the card allow “real-time processing”?
Many (not all) capture devices allow real-time access to captured data.
This allows the data to be reprocessed/redirected, at the same as new data arrives.
(2) What format is captured audio data stored in?
Thanks very much if you’re able to help out, all the best!
Jed
jalyst wrote:Hey MR folks,You
[quote=jalyst]
Hey MR folks,
You seem to have better lines-of-communication than me to Hauppauge engineers.
I’ve emailed Hauppauge Singapore, & even spoken to them via google voice a few times. But so far they haven’t been able to answer two fairly simple questions properly.
I was wondering if you could possibly ask hauppauge two quesitons on my behalf? It’s in relation to DD/DTS 5.1 capture via HDMI or S/PDIF:
(1) Does the card allow “real-time processing”?
Many (not all) capture devices allow real-time access to captured data.
This allows the data to be reprocessed/redirected, at the same as new data arrives.
(2) What format is captured audio data stored in?
Thanks very much if you’re able to help out, all the best!
Jed
[/quote]
1) Do you mean the raw A/V? If so, I don’t think so. Without API docs it’s hard to say for sure, but from what I found it only exposes TS/MP4 output so there will be a slight delay in processing.
2) Currently PCM is encoded to AAC and Dolby variants are persisted in the native format.
(1)
I mean DD/DTS 5.1 encoded
(1)
I mean DD/DTS 5.1 encoded audio arriving via HDMI [U]or[/U] S/PDIF*…
Will I be able to grab it (RT) & reprocess or redirect it to my soundcard?
Or is RT access forbidden until [U]after[/U] AV data has passed through the encoding chip/process?
If the latter, what happens to the DD/DTS encoded audio?
Is it transcoded to yet another audio format, or does only the video get reformatted?
If it remains as DD/DTS 5.1 encoded then great! I can redirect to my Essence for decoding or reprocessing to DH.
There will be A/V desync issues, but I have a few ideas for correcting that.
*since the former can’t catch audio that’s “higher def”
(2)
Not 100% clear on what you’re saying, I don’t suppose you could reform that sentence?
Thanks for the input, greatly appreciated!
Basically, you get a
Basically, you get a transport stream output from the Colossus. It appears that AC3/DTS bitstreams are passed through the encoder and PCM is encoded to AAC bitstream. This is the typical behavior of an encoder.
Right, so you reckon it must
Right, so you reckon it must pass through the encoder 1st, but after that can be grabbed in RT?
Just to remove any confusion as-to-why I want to do all this. It’s mainly for dd/dts 5.1 encoded audio from PS3 games. I want to do analog-out via my Essence ST soundcard.
I know how to approach redirecting to the SC, just not sure if the capture card will allow RT access etc.
Cheers
There will be some lag in the
There will be some lag in the capture/encode. Then you’d have to demux the TS and playback audio which will introduce more latency.
PCs don’t make good AVR.
babgvant wrote:
There will
[quote=babgvant]
There will be some lag in the capture/encode. Then you’d have to demux the TS and playback audio which will introduce more latency.
PCs don’t make good AVR.
[/quote]
Right so you’re certain I’ll have RT access, but only after the encode process is finished?
i.e.
The final (accessible) output is the “TS”, which ecapsulates audio & video. I’ll be able to extract DD/DTS 5.1 encoded audio from it (as it’s still arriving), & then proceed with what I wanna do?
Yeah I know they’re shocking as AVR’s, but it’s fun to experiment 🙂
Thanks guys.
I wouldn’t be surprised if
I wouldn’t be surprised if the delay through the encoder was a second or higher. Is that something you can live with?
swoon wrote:
I wouldn’t be
[quote=swoon]
I wouldn’t be surprised if the delay through the encoder was a second or higher. Is that something you can live with?
[/quote]
Yes that’s not the main concern, I have some ways in which i’ll deal with that. They may prove to be unsucessful but that’s okay, i want the card for more than just this obscure reason.
Are you able to answer my other two posts? #91 #94
Thanks Aaron/Andrew!
*edit* nvm looks like andrew is, good night all 6am, need a few hrs!
jalyst wrote:The final
[quote=jalyst]
The final (accessible) output is the “TS”, which ecapsulates audio & video. I’ll be able to extract DD/DTS 5.1 encoded audio from it (as it’s still arriving), & then proceed with what I wanna do?
[/quote]
Yes. I published some source code for how to build the capture graph. You will want to replace the file sink with something else like a circular buffer (if reading the TS from another process) or TS demuxer->audio decoder->audio renderer.
babgvant wrote:
Yes. I
[quote=babgvant]Yes. I published some source code for how to build the capture graph. You will want to replace the file sink with something else like a circular buffer (if reading the TS from another process) or TS demuxer->audio decoder->audio renderer.[/quote]
Interesting thanks, I’ll try to get my head around that later! Just double-checking, answer to this is a definite “yes” IYO?
Right so you’re certain I’ll have RT access, but [U]only after[/U] the encode process is finished?
It is definitely after the
It is definitely after the encode is finished. The encoder creates the TS.
swoon wrote:
It is
[quote=swoon]
It is definitely after the encode is finished. The encoder creates the TS.
[/quote]
Yes but can data be grabbed before it hits the encoder & is turned into the TS.
How can you be certain that’s not possible?
jalyst wrote:Yes but can data
[quote=jalyst]
Yes but can data be grabbed before it hits the encoder & is turned into the TS.
How can you be certain that’s not possible?
[/quote]
W/o documentation I can’t be certain, but it didn’t look promising when I messed with it. It all comes down to how the driver implements each component in the capture chain.
If you get one, it would be easy enough to put a sample grabber after the capture filter and see if [understandable] samples are delivered.
That’s correct. There is no
That’s correct. There is no access to uncompressed video or audio (or the audio bitsream). In the future, it might be possible to access PCM audio or AAC compressed audio bitstream–no promises.
To get access to just the
To get access to just the audio, you’ll need to pull out the bitstream from the transport stream. Perhaps Andrew can answer whether this is possible for what you want to do. I don’t have the card yet, but should have it next week to see how it is exposed in Windows.
Nevermind, he already did 🙂
swoon wrote:
I don’t have the
[quote=swoon]I don’t have the card yet, but should have it next week to see how it is exposed in Windows.[/quote]
That’s be sweet if you could advise?!
Thanks guys!
The BETA MCE plugin and
The BETA MCE plugin and driver package has been released. Make sure to read the release notes and known issues before installing.
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_colossus.html
Updated OP to reflect that
Updated OP to reflect that WMC has beta support with the 29111 driver. Only analog audio is supported in this release for audio types with WMC.
Hauppauge has updated the
Hauppauge has updated the Colossus driver to version 29168. A number of bugs are fixed and official support for WMC is introduced.
swoon wrote:
Hauppauge has
[quote=swoon]
Hauppauge has updated the Colossus driver to version 29168. A number of bugs are fixed and official support for WMC is introduced.
[/quote]
Thanks Aaaron!
Is support finally included for DTS, for both S/PDIF & HDMI inputs?
In the write-up MR mentioned it’s “coming soon”, & hauppauge confirmed this.
I don’t believe so. I am sure
I don’t believe so. I am sure it would have been listed in the release notes if it was.
swoon wrote:
I don’t believe
[quote=swoon]
I don’t believe so. I am sure it would have been listed in the release notes if it was.
[/quote]
Damn,
It is still vey much part of their plans though right?
That’s the impression they gave initially…
Thanks
Hauppauge have not stated
Hauppauge have not stated otherwise so I assume their plans are still to implement it.
Hmm, me suspicious of
Hmm, me suspicious of hauppauge…. 🙁
They don’t have the best record when it comes to software delivery.
Guess we’ll just have to wait a few more (+ more) months & see.
Have they done anything to
Have they done anything to fix the mp4 recording audio synchronization issue? Currently I record in TS and then use ffmpeg to convert.
Here are the release
Here are the release notes:
Anyone is testing WMC with
Anyone is testing WMC with native hauppauge drivers? Any feedback on stability, quality, etc?
Yes. Look forward to a full
Yes. Look forward to a full review soon.
Sweet, you legends!
If
Sweet, you legends! 😉
If possible can you please let everyone in this thread know once it’s done?
For the actual write-up…
I don’t suppose you can observe the status of DTS support!?
Thanks,
J.
jalyst wrote:Sweet, you
[quote=jalyst]
Sweet, you legends! 😉
If possible can you please let everyone in this thread know once it’s done?
For the actual write-up…
I don’t suppose you can observe the status of DTS support!?
Thanks,
J.
[/quote]
Yes to both.
“thumbs up”!
“thumbs up”!
Review has been posted.
Review has been posted.
swoon wrote:
Review has been
[quote=swoon]
Review has been posted.
[/quote]
Thanks for the “heads up” Aaron!
I installed 2 Colossus cards
I installed 2 Colossus cards but only one of them shows up in my device manager. I tried adding the second card manually but that crashes my system. Is there a trick to adding a second card?
Thanks
It shouldn’t be a problem
It shouldn’t be a problem unless you want to use the 2nd card with WMC which is currently limited to a single card.
Aaron Ledger wrote:
It
[quote=Aaron Ledger]
It shouldn’t be a problem unless you want to use the 2nd card with WMC which is currently limited to a single card.
[/quote]
Cool thanks for the replay Aaron,
Umm.. what other programs can I use to capture from both cards? Why wont both of my cards show up in my device manager? Ive tried swapping the cards from their respective pci-e slots and the same problem persists. I tried removing one card (physically) then adding the other one and that didnt work either. Is it possible that I have to enable my mother board to run both cards? Could their be a power supply problem? I have a 700w power supply in my machine, my video card is just a 526mb and processor is a i5 2500k.
Thanks
Your system has more than
Your system has more than enough power.
If you continue having an issue, file a ticket with Hauppauge and I am sure they can help get your situation resolved.
SageTV is one popular option to capture from both cards simultaneously, but if you don’t already own a license, you won’t be able to purchase one now since they were acquired by Google. You could check out Next PVR and Media Portal as I believe both packages will support the Colossus.
I never tried 2 hauppauge
I never tried 2 hauppauge cards, but I don’t know why they woudn’t show in device manager. Have you tried only with card#1? and then only with card #2 without card#1 to make sure both cards work?
Yep, tried that as well.
Yep, tried that as well. Both cards work, but maybe its one of my pci-e slots. I think I might give that another try. Gonna uninstall drivers and all and install only one card at a time to see if that helps. I think the first time around I tried installing both at the same time.
thanks
I fixed the problem. I
I fixed the problem. I logged into my bios and set the pci-e slots to automatically enable and set them to the 1x configuration. As soon as I rebooted the second card installed itself. All good to go, now all I need is some software the capture both sources. Can anyone recommend some software?
thanks
Are you instead looking for
Are you instead looking for pure AV capture instead of DVR capability?
Hi all,
Just joined. Anyone
Hi all,
Just joined. Anyone had any luck with the HVR-2250 and Colossus in the same system working under Windows7 MCE ?
Hi mpicard,
I already use 3
Hi mpicard,
I already use 3 card in my HTPC. I use one ATI PCI650 in ATSC, work perfectly, one Colossus plug on my Scientific Atlanta 4250HD (videotron) and one 2250 plug directly on regular cable tv with 2 tuner and the problem I catch between the Colossus and the 2250 is the IR blaster of the Colossus dosen’t work and goes in conflict with the 2250. What I do to fix that I plug the IR blaster of the Colosus in the card of the 2250 and configur it for Media Player under Windows 7 64Bytes. That give me so many weekend and night of plaisure to setup that and make it work.
Good chance for you and have fun