Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 locks up in Vista Premium after 20 min

[SpaceCowboy9]

I'm a total Noob at Video Capturing...

I just got a Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2, I started recording an Aussie Rules football game (3.5 hours) that I have on VHS. I'm recording on Long Play, but after 20 minutes, everything locks up -- the longest it's gone for is 35 minutes

When I re-boot, I do have a video files that are from 500 MB to 1GB, I could edit them together, but that doesn't help if I want to record live TV?

Any ideas, is this a common problem?

Thanks!

[guns1inger]

Lock-ups like this are often due to over-heating. The system locks up to protect itself. Encoding often pushes a system pretty hard because encoders (good ones, at least) are built to utilise as much CPU as possible. You should be able to record the whole game in one hit.

Questions :

Does this device encode to mpeg-2 natively, or does it use the CPU to do this ?

What are you encoding as ?

What software are you using to encode ?

Does the system lock up doing other encoding jobs or anything else that pushes it hard - say, 3d video games ?

[olyteddy]

Mine did / still does occaisionally. I believe it to be a USB problem. It happens most often if I have a memory card plugged in. I have a VIA K8 chipset and have found changing (chipset and CPU) drivers helped.

[grossjamesh]

I have been using the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 for sometime.
The longest capture session I have ever done is six continous hours.
The Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 is a hardware encoder direct to MPEG2.
There are many things that can cause a system to lockup. I would contact Hauppauge Tech Support and ask them. I have found them to be very helpful.
You could also make sure that your Hauppauge SW and drivers are up to date.
You may fine some info on the http://www.shspvr.com/ site which is devoted to the Hauppauge products.
You could try:
1. run a temperture monitoring program to check the CPU temp
2. run MEMTEST to check the computer memory
3. defrag the harddrive.
4. make sure ALL fans are working and not blocked.
5. ensure that you are plugged into a USB 2,0 port
6. run a anti-virus and spyware remover
7. make sure that you have the correct USB drivers for you system.
8. Try the unit on another computer. If the problem follows the PVR then you may have a defective unit.
Hope this helps.

[friendlyzookeeper]

Have you turned off your screen saver or change your power settings. Your power settings should be set at "never". Anti-virus should be turned off during recording, some do mess up.

Some simple ideas.

[SpaceCowboy9]

I will give them a try this weekend

Thanks all for your input...