Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q and MacOS: a rocky relationship?

I've been using a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q on my Mac mini (2011) for years. It worked flawlessly -- just plug and play. Well, a few days ago the Mac mini went kaput, and I had to switch to another, newer, Mac mini while the Mac mini (2011) was in the shop (thankfully, they were able to resuscitate it by replacing the fan, which had failed, causing the Mac to overheat). This other Mac mini (Macmini7,1) runs Monterey, and although System Information lists it correctly as a USB device:


WinTV HVR-950:

Product ID: 0x7200

Vendor ID: 0x2040 (Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc.)

Version: 0.05

Serial Number: 4035027056

Speed: Up to 480 Mb/s

Manufacturer: Hauppauge

Location ID: 0x14700000 / 13

Current Available (mA): 500

Current Required (mA): 500

Extra Operating Current (mA): 0


The device isn't getting any power to it, and EyeTV 4 doesn't see it.


So, I attached it to an even older Mac mini (Macmini2,1), and, again, it works flawlessly (albeit a bit slow).


I tried the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q on two other Mac minis that run Catalina, and they share the same issue as the Mac mini running Monterey. Geniatech says that they have not removed support for any devices from EyeTV, and I take them at their word since there seems to be an issue getting power to the devices from the USB ports, whether EyeTV is running or not, and the devices still work flawlessly with older Macs running older versions of MacOS.


Does anyone have a clue about what may be going on here? I've got three of these Hauppauge devices that are all in perfect shape, and are in use on three older Macs (well, temporarily two older Macs). The failure of the Mac mini (2011) made me realize that my older Macs may not be viable forever, and I need to find a PVR solution based on newer Mac (or Windows or Linux) technology. This predicament is a bit heartbreaking, because it used to be just plug and play, and now it isn't.


Any suggestions would be helpful and much appreciated.


Macs I've tried:

Mac mini (Macmini2,1) running Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.8) and EyeTV 3: works flawlessly -- plug and play

Mac mini (Macmini5,3) running macOS Sierra (10.12.6) and EyeTV 3: works flawlessly -- plug and play

Mac mini (Macmini6,2) running macOS Catalina (10.15.7) and EyeTV 4: recognized by system -- no power

Mac mini (Macmini7,1) running macOS Monterey (12.7) and EyeTV 4: recognized by system -- no power

Mac mini (Macmini8,1) running macOS Catalina (10.15.7) and EyeTV 4: recognized by system -- no power


Thanks,

Reagan Cardwell

Mac mini

Posted on Oct 28, 2023 7:19 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 30, 2023 10:50 AM

One major difference between macOS 10.15+ and older versions of macOS is that 32 bit apps are no longer supported. Also, Apple has been getting rid of built-in drivers for older hardware so it may have removed whatever Hauppauge needed to work.


Plus it seems this product was never officially supported on macOS by Hauppauge. See this page with the system requirements which only mentions Windows.

https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr955q.html#requirements


You may need to find a Hauppauge forum support group for assistance to see if it is possible to use this device with later versions of macOS and exactly how to do so. Feel free to update this thread with your findings so it may help others with a similar problem.


Edit: If it is a power issue, then maybe try connecting it to a powered USB hub. In addition macOS 11.x+ introduces new security features which can block access to various devices until you modify the Privacy System Preferences/Settings to allow macOS access to those devices. Usually you have to give macOS permission to allow a particular app access to a particular device.

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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 30, 2023 10:50 AM in response to reagan0

One major difference between macOS 10.15+ and older versions of macOS is that 32 bit apps are no longer supported. Also, Apple has been getting rid of built-in drivers for older hardware so it may have removed whatever Hauppauge needed to work.


Plus it seems this product was never officially supported on macOS by Hauppauge. See this page with the system requirements which only mentions Windows.

https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr955q.html#requirements


You may need to find a Hauppauge forum support group for assistance to see if it is possible to use this device with later versions of macOS and exactly how to do so. Feel free to update this thread with your findings so it may help others with a similar problem.


Edit: If it is a power issue, then maybe try connecting it to a powered USB hub. In addition macOS 11.x+ introduces new security features which can block access to various devices until you modify the Privacy System Preferences/Settings to allow macOS access to those devices. Usually you have to give macOS permission to allow a particular app access to a particular device.

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Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q and MacOS: a rocky relationship?

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