Hauppauge Capture with Colossus 2 and STB - Audio Loss

[jcmccorm]

Hey Folks,

I recently bought a Colossus 2 with the intent of capturing stuff that has accumulated on my DVR (AT&T Uverse). I wanted to connect to it via HDMI and get 5.1 audio via HDMI as well.

Hauppauge Capture seems to be a picky beast and occasionally locks up (have to shut it down in the task manager). The lockups are rare though.

I verified that without my HDMI splitter, I indeed cannot capture with the Colossus 2; the STB indicates that there is an HDCP issue. With the splitter, all is well though.

Almost every time, I do not get audio until I open the advanced menu and change the audio sample rate. The default is 192K, if I change it to 128K I get audio. I can then change it back to 192K and still get audio. Seems like an initialization problem.

The real problem is that the audio will capture just fine (AC3) up until a random point and then drop out for the rest of the capture. I've yet to get a complete 1.5 hour capture with audio all the way through.

I've changed over to using optical for the audio (and clicked the disable AC3 through HDMI) and the same thing happens; audio for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour, then it drops out for good.

I have updated my display (NVidia GTX760) and audio (Realtek HD Audio) drivers.

Anyone else seen this?

My next thing to try is component video with optical, although since I'd already separated the audio from HDMI I am not hopeful of this.

Thanks!

Cary

[jcmccorm]

Well I've tried it all with this card. Component+optical works just like HDMI; I get a good 5.1 (AC3) recording for a bit, then the audio just drops out.

I've ordered the PVR2 to give it a try. If that doesn't work, it's on to the next one.

Cary

[usually_quiet]

Hauppauge Capture seems to be updated frequently. Have you checked for a newer version at Hauppauge's website?

[jcmccorm]

Thanks! Yes, that's the first thing I did. I got the version 33251 (September 7, 2015).

I know that folks have got this to work (I've spent enough time reading this and other forums to know) so it's possible that there's something wonky with my STB (AT&T UVerse) and it's SPDIF audio output.

Actually, that gives me an idea - I ought to try using a DVD Player or Bluray player as a source rather than the STB and see how that works out. If it works, I can blame the STB and then try to find some hardware to clean up (buffer, re-transmit, etc.) the optical audio.

Cary

[jcmccorm]

Just to close the loop on this, I ordered a PVR 2 (the USB version of Haupauge's capture hardware) when I started having trouble with the Colossus 2. I plugged it in last night and had no trouble at all recording over HDMI with AC3 audio. Problem solved.

Cary

[usually_quiet]

Your individual Colossus 2 might be defective. Can you return it? If not, contact Hauppauge. If the the Colossus 2 is still under warranty maybe it can be returned/RMAed for replacement.

[jcmccorm]

That's what I'm thinking - it's defective. I would imagine that the H/W capture/encode engines on the PVR2 and the Colossus 2 are the same (guess on my part) so there's no reason that the PVR2 would work while the Colossus 2 wouldn't, unless my particular Colossus 2 is defective.

I bought it on Amazon so it's definitely easy to return.