BAD HAUPPAUGE SERVICE

[FL350innh]

What a bummer.... I tried for two week to get the H 250 card to work in a comercial system for resale... This is what I got from Hauppauge for support.. ZERO, I actually talked to the reseller sales manager for the particular division. This was such a simple request, We needed a driver set for Windows XP Media Center Edition. What we got was endless attitude, interogation as to why we where building this particular system. I was then told after a few hours of Long distance charges they would send us the correct drivers... two weeks, 5 email reminders later, a bunch of promises they where on the way finally being emailed.. NOTHING! JUST FYI, with all the problems I've heard about these products and first hand experience of the support from them I'd say AVOID the product. Here is the kicker, I run a software and support desk and I've never seen such poor response times good or bad...

[SHS]

This would happing have Conexant CX23416 on it would it?.
What problem was you having any way?.

[FL350innh]

I was just trying to get a wintv PVR163 to run on WinXP Media center. All I needed was a current driver pack..... I never got it to run with the drivers it came with.... Needless to say I did not get the drivers they said they where sending.... Just a lot of empty promises and hassels..

[CaptainC]

Its sad but this seems to be the way of the world these days though I've had similar experience with drivers for the pinnacle PCTV card and the creative audigy but both companys were very helpful sending new driver disks. Many have slated the pctv card but it does all that the others do for a fraction of the cost and the web site "Shock and horror" actually has updates on it. Are you still looking for the drivers for this card as i have access to them you probably gave up though!

[FL350innh]

Thanks CaptainC!
I scoured the internet and a few contacts that I have and could not get the correct drivers. Needless to say if a simple driver request was too much from them I have serious doubts as to my ability to continue support to my end user base. Imagine being a customer who purchased this machine from us and being told "As soon as we get the next update we'll be able to fix your problem...." Then in turn I'm sitting by my phone/machine awaiting for the promised fix, only not to get it. We're going with a different solution now and are getiing good support for it. As far as support goes, Imagine how many people would be $crewed without forums like this! I can't tell you how many times this place has saved my A$$.... Hats off to all of you! Thanks!

[CaptainC]

its reassuring that there are system builders who care enjoy the journey!!!

[SHS]

What heck is wintv PVR163? I never heard of this one.
They may have sent to you but it may have getting return back them but then againe you may not OEM dealer like you say or that you piss somebody off with your uncool email.
If want latest stuff drv see shspvr.com but getting WinXP Media Center can be will be a major pain in rear no thanks to MS mickey mouse way of done thing how ever MCE 2.0 should change all that ho just so you know Hauppauge not now only one with problem with MCE the other 2 board that work with MCE are also having problem to.
So what card are you using now?.

If want help with that OS try here.
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter

[FL350innh]

SHS,
I assure you I was nothing but polite and respectful in all my dealings with The Hauppauge people. No We are not an OEM Builder of the hardware, We are a reseller of Hardware and customized solutions for the Hospitality industry. (Hotels, Resorts, Theme parks, Conference centers, Executive clubs, Etc.) The card came with what we as a reseller get from our hardware vendor. We purchase raw hardware (Case, CPU, MEM, etc) And the load the system with Customized MS applications built for the client. We are what is known as a MS PIP (Program Integration Partner)

http://members.microsoft.com/partner/partnering/default.aspx?nav=ln

We make our money on specialized service solutions, not hardware. My emailing was always nothing but polite. Obviously I did not want to PO someone I needed help from. Thus my phone calls to them, all polite and respectful. So I did nothing to tinkle on them, I just made a simple request for drivers only. I gave them our website address, Corporate office address, phone numbers and email. I did not request software or hardware support.. Just drivers The card comes in Emax systems and the Part number is WinTv PVR 163 (Which I was told was the same as the 250 and the same one Gateway uses.), which is sold in OEM white boxes. I was nothing but cool and was not uncool. My only reason for making this posting was to make people aware of a simple customer service issue that required nothing more then to send or point me to a source for current drivers. NOW, RANT ON! Is it not a basic support issue for a hardware manufacturer to provide updated drivers? Since when is it "Cool" to make a paying client chase there tail around for the most basic support. RANT OFF! I have nothing bad to say about the product, We just could not get it going on WinXP SP1 MCE Due to the available driver pack. Just the lack of follow through on a basic support issue from the hardware manufacturers side. We originally selected Hauppauge because of the "buzz" in the MediaCenter community on how well they're produt worked. We are supposed to have a working demo unit running by this Friday. I was still waiting for drivers for over 5 days and that was with polite phone calls to the vendor asking as to the status of the driver pack. Needless to say we had to change our proto type. Right now We have three cards we just recieved are trying out, ATI All in Wonder, The Sound Blaster Video Blaster and the ASUS TV Tuner. Between these three I hope to have at least one working for this Fridays demo... I do appreciate all that the members of this forum do for the video community. 99% of the time I'm a lurker and do not post. But this just go my goat.. I personally have been using an ASUS 7100 tv Deluxe for all my stuff the last past 2 years. But it's not AGP 4, which is required by WinXP MCE.. I thank your efforts to help me out and I don't want you to take anything I said personally. The only beef I HAD was with the way Hauppauge handled this. Not there product... Maybe it's best I keep on lurking.... Thanks All!

[FL350innh]

SHS,

Oooops, Forgot to give you the Hauppauge card info. The card's sticker has on it the following.

WinTV NTSC/NTSC-j
48432 REV I126
Dated 2002

[SHS]

FL350innh I just make sure you would be supize of thing I seens in the past from people.
That cool to the rest and MS PIP (Program Integration Partner).
That sound better WinTV PVR model 163 white box yes that ture it is same one that Gateway uses in it fact the same that Newegg had.
You do know that MCE it self dosen't work with ATI All in Wonder nor ASUS TV Tuner nor any YUV base card, In fact MCE only work with Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250/350/Freestyle or AverMedia M179 AVerTV PVR or Emuzed Maui PCI PVR which are REALtime Hardware MPEG Encoder.
If can tell more about the system all spec and weather or not it using HyperThread, What the Video is, etc, etc I can be more help to you.
Oh you be very unhappy with this Sound Blaster Video Blaster.

[next]

Listen to SHS. One of the many reasons this forum exists is because of the very fustrations you express. Vendors do a poor job at customer service. No matter what the product. Go to SHS's forum and pose your concerns and I'll bet that you'll get an answer quicker than using any vendor support. Try this:

http://216.234.188.64/forum/

[next]

My turn to rant. I paid $99 (really cheap for a hardware mpeg2 encoder) for the Hop-Hog 250 pvr and without the free exchange of ideas that this site and SHS's has to offer I'd probably be pissed too. The card works great for me. Take advantage of the ideas offered and stop blaming the vendor. We've all been through this before. Vendors suck - we get it. That's why this community is here to help.

[FL350innh]

SHS and Next,
Next, I know exactly what your saying about the vendor quandry. I do thank this community every chance I get and use the suggestions. Again I'll say thanks to all of you who helped. I said it earlier, 99% of the time I'm just an observer and search for answers rather then repost old issues. My post was not a shot at the product just an FYI and it was meant to give a heads up to anyone else who may go the "Standard" manufacturer route for support. I was a Regional service manage for CompUSA years ago and if I ever found that one of my staff made a commitment and promised a fix, then just walked away from the issue... Well that person would not be getting any merit raises if you know what I mean. Next, I respect and commend the feelings of brand loyalty you have. Again I'm not knocking the product or anyone who uses it. But when did it become "the customer is always wrong?" A simple driver request becomes an ordeal? That was the core of my posting... I get nothing by doing this other then to hopefully say someone some grief. I mean no disrespect to you or anyone, Perhaps I should just take my medicine, go back to lurkin and keep my mouth shut. I thank you for your input. On a side note, We do have MCE running with the SBVB. Not bad, could be a better pic.. Next, Once again thank you for you input.

SHS,
Ok, on the advice of you and the others. Today, I'll give the 250 RETAIL boxed product a try. It'll push our cost up considerably but I trust what I've read on your forum and I'd be willing to give it another try.... I'll run down to one of the stores here and pick one up. The systems we are running is as follows..

64mb GeForce MX400 4x agp
P4 2.53
Intel i845PEBT INTEL 845PE 533/400 1A 6P W/lan & audio DDR SATA Raid
1Gig PC 2700
WD 120Gb 72k RPM 8mb cache
WinXP SP1 MCE
SHS, I appreciate your efforts and hopefully this is going to work better that the SBVB. You can Email me @ FL350innh@yahoo.com .

This will be my last post to this issue here, I do not wish to anger any of the forums members. Thank you all!
Respectfully,
FL350innh

[SHS]

Ok I sent you any email FL350innh

[Headbanger's Ball]

Back in January I bought the WinTV PVR usb. I had nothing but troubles with it. First, there was no OFF to the power of the unit and unplugging it caused some problems. First, after plugging unit back in, Windows XP seems to have lost the drivers and I couldn't get a picture in the WinTV gui. I didn't like leaving it powered all the time due to the heat the unit made. In spite of that, after once again installing all the software to make it work, I left it powered all the time but the unit still gave me BLACK SCREEN in the gui after using it for a week. I called Hauppauge with my problem and was told I would get an email with the solution. I did. I follow the instructions and the unit work....for a week. Then it was done. I repeatedly installed/uninstalled trying to get the thing to work...still nothing.
Then a host of other problems caused ALL media files not to work. Somehow I had corrupt .ax files associated with WinTV and a file (SU0.mpg) was found all over my PC. Deleting that helped along with the corrupt .ax files fixed my media files but did nothing to fix WinTV. I emailed Hauppauge and waited....waited until I took the unit back to Circuit City and got my money back. I bought a Dazzle unit and used it for a week before I got a reply to my email from Hauppauge. It was a formatted email that ended with "if we do not hear from you within 48 hours, we'll assume the problem is fixed." The problem was fixed alright...didn't have it anymore.
I'm done with Hauppauge. The "service" was terrible. Their hardware needs to be re-done to work with XP (including allowing the iVAC driver to go to the hard drive instead of remaining in the unit.) Their website had a downloadable program that was supposed to clean all remains of the program in order to get a fresh re-install. It didn't work since I used that program and still found pieces long after. Hauppauge is a disgrace.
Good Luck to those who are using any of the Hauppauge devices.