Hauppauge 1250 PCI TV recptor card question

[John D99]

Does the Hauppauge 1250 card, and other similar cards, draw heavily on the
CPU?

The problem I have experieinced, is that when my CPU gets pegged to 100 pct
(usually when downloading a pdf file), it will eventually overheat and cause
a power shut-off.

Thanks

[peter]

I seems unusual that when "downloading" a file from the net your CPU would
reach 100% usage...
and as such a Hauppage 1250 TV Card would not even be stressed..I mean its
not processing a TV signal...
or are you watching TV on one monitor and watching the download on another
monitor???

Anyways..I would check the dust/dirt buildup on the CPU Heatsink/Fan and
clean it with compressed air.
I would also check the airflow in the case to make sure fresh cool air is
going in and the hot air is being pushed out up high.

If that does not help its time to buy a new aftermarket CPU heatsink/fan
combo.
Send us some specs of your machine and a little more detail on the problem
peter
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Post by John D99
Does the Hauppauge 1250 card, and other similar cards, draw heavily on the
CPU?
The problem I have experieinced, is that when my CPU gets pegged to 100
pct (usually when downloading a pdf file), it will eventually overheat and
cause a power shut-off.
Thanks

[kony]

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:04:46 -0700, "John D99"

Post by John D99
Does the Hauppauge 1250 card, and other similar cards, draw heavily on the
CPU?

Not necessarily, but yes they often do, particularly when
recording at higher resolution to a high-compression
software codec. When you are just watching TV and not
recording, nor time-shifting (If it's a feature, and/or if
it is you have the ability to disable it), then it would use
very little CPU time.

Post by John D99
The problem I have experieinced, is that when my CPU gets pegged to 100 pct
(usually when downloading a pdf file),

Your CPU (though you didn't list the system specs so I will
assume it's something made in the last 10 years) should not
get pegged at 100% from downloading a PDF file. Possibly if
you were recording something already with the TV capture
card, that recording may cause it instead, otherwise such a
high % merely downloading a file would be very odd even if
the drive were in PIO mode since a download isn't at an
exceptionally high rate relative to semi-modern HDD and CPU
performance levels. Therefore, it seems you might have at
least two problems, but with some CPUs if they get too hot
they throttle down to a slower speed which could account for
a sudden increase to 100% load while recording or doing
other activities causing a significant heat increase.

Post by John D99
it will eventually overheat and cause
a power shut-off.

None of the above should matter in respect to this separate
problem. The system needs adequate cooling to be able to
run at 100% indefinitely. Check the heatsink and vents for
dust accumulation, that the fans are running and if the bios
or software sets the fan speed, make sure they are set to
ramp up fan speed appropriately in response to temperature
increase.

Had the system always had problems when it got hot? Had you
ever previously ran a full load test on it like Prime95's
Torture Test? That is a typical test under which the
processor's cooling should not only keep it cool enough to
not shut-off, but also produce no errors within the program.

If the CPU gets terribly hot it can shut down, or shut down
from an inappropriately low temperature setting in the bios
or software. We need readings of the actual, or at least
reported temperature. Check your bios and software settings
for the temp shutdown, and if they are set below 70C, they
are set too low and should be increased to at least 70C.
Similarly, if a full load test like Prime95's Torture Test
cause the temp to rise above 70C, take it as a sign
something in the cooling subsystem is wrong or inadequate,
which in some systems could be a poor case design with
inadequate intake or exhaust rate, or in others a mismounted
or now-loose heatsink.

Before going further, check the fans, dust, and what
temperature it is reaching.

Once you have the system operating within a safe temperature
zone and not shutting down, then proceed to possible other
problems with the TV tuner or downloading load.

It's also possible that at higher load your PSU is
inadequate or failing and shutting itself off instead of it
being directly related to CPU temp. Monitor temp rise and
try to reproduce the problem, seeing if it always shuts off
at the same temperature.

Generally when starting a hardware topic it is useful and
important to first list all major components in the system
including PSU make, model, wattage.

[Paul]

Post by John D99
Does the Hauppauge 1250 card, and other similar cards, draw heavily on the
CPU?
The problem I have experieinced, is that when my CPU gets pegged to 100 pct
(usually when downloading a pdf file), it will eventually overheat and cause
a power shut-off.
Thanks

I tried researching the HVR-1250 PCI Express card, and had some trouble
identifying all the hardware on it. It looks like it may have two paths
on it, but don't quote me on this. I couldn't find clean pictures of
the front and back of the card, to verify the chips and tuner used.

Y,C +---------+
Tuner --- Analog_NTSC ------- baseband video ------| |
\ | CX23885 |--- PCI-E x1
+--- Digital_output ---- MPEG_TS stream -----| |
+---------+

The analog path uses the ADC (analog to digital converter) on the CX23885
to make digital (uncompressed) values. In the same way a BT848 or BT878
might have on older tuner cards. The uncompressed digital data can be sent
directly to a frame buffer, depending on video card standards (video overlay).
So that might not require a lot of CPU overhead, to watch the TV signal live.

If you wanted to record the NTSC channel as well, the Hauppauge software
may choose to compress the results. That would use your CPU.

The other path is digital. The MPEG transport stream might be 2MB/sec
or less, so not a taxing strain on any bus resources. But if you want
to watch the video represented by that (compressed) transport stream,
Hauppauge recommends a 2.2GHz P4 processor or greater, for that.
(If your processor was a Core2, then clock for clock, they're more
powerful than a P4, so a 2.2GHz Core2 would be plenty. Similarly,
an Athlon64 at 2.2GHz would be more powerful than the P4 at 2.2Ghz.)

So, recording or later playing back compressed NTSC recorded content,
could use some CPU. Playing back MPEG_TS could use some CPU - I don't
know if any video cards have enough video decoding features to
process the whole MPEG_TS stream on their own or not. That is
another possibility, but probably not one that the Hauppauge
software knows about.

The idea behind computer design, is they're meant to be run
at 100% CPU load, 24/7. There is no excuse for overheating
and shutting down. So first, you check to see why the cooling
system is not functioning correctly. Remove dirt or hairballs.
Check that the fans are spinning (take the cover off and look,
if the cover is easily removable without upsetting it).

The CPU cooler cannot function well, if the air inside the
computer case is too hot. Computer cooling is in two stages -
the CPU cooler dumps its heat, into the air inside the
computer case. The rear fan(s) exhaust the computer case
air, helping to keep the inside of the computer case cool.
If either of those fail to function correctly, the CPU overheats.
Failed computer case cooling, will also help cook your hard drive.

Next step, is checking your system for a reason for running
at high CPU utilization (as that is a waste, and can affect
the ability of the computer to perform the things you want to
do properly). Once you've dealt with those issues, you can
contemplate whether your current processor is "greater than
a 2.2GHz P4".

Paul