My TV Reception got worse in RC3

[bigboss97]

My antenna has bad reception on 2 channels. From time to time MP RC2 showed a black screen with the message 'Scrambled signal' (while the Winfast player still could show some broken frames). It always took very long time to switch channels.

Now RC3, most of the time I could only receive one of the best signal. Whenever I switch channel it becomes black. When I was composing this message all of sudden everything is ok. I could even see the program info text which I've never seen on RC2.

But when I decided to quit this message I tried it again. The old problem is back :-( When I tried to turned off the TV it pops up a box with 'My TV' and a empty box.

It looks like that it has something to do with the signal. Anyone has similar problem? and what can I do?

thanks
Phuoc Can HUA

==============================================
Area: Media Portal Program
MP Version: 0.2.0.0 RC3
Skin: Blue Two
Windows Version: XP Prof 2002 SP2
CPU Type: Celeron D 2.8 GHz
Memory: 512MB
Motherboard Chipset: ASUS P5S800-VM, Northbridge SIS 661FX, Southbridge SIS 964
Video Card: ASUS N6200/TD/256M
Video Card Driver: NVIDIA GeForce 6200 vers 7.6.4.5
Video Card Resolution: 800x600
Video Render Type: Video Mixing Renderer 9 -Renderless
Video Codec Type & Version: LeadTek DTV Video Decoder
Audio Codec Type & Version: LeadTek Audio Decoder
TV Card: WinFast DTV 1000T
TV Card Type: hardware
TV Card Driver: LeadTek 4.0.107.3204

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by bigboss97

My antenna has bad reception on 2 channels. It looks like that it has something to do with the signal.... and what can I do?

To get good digital TV reception, you must have excellent reception - there is no other way. Don't expect it to work reliable with an indoor (rabbit ears) antenna.

You need to have a high-gain antenna, mounted externally and as high as possible, with quad-shielded cable and top quality connectors. It is not only the signal strength that is important, but also you need to minimise electrical interference, which will cause data loss.

[Paranoid Delusion]

Any aerial installation engineers near bigboss97

8)

[bigboss97]

Originally Posted by bigboss97

Now RC3, most of the time I could only receive one of the best signal. Whenever I switch channel it becomes black. When I was composing this message all of sudden everything is ok. I could even see the program info text which I've never seen on RC2.

I'm just wondering that RC3 does not display a message when the signal is bad. Whenever this happens I can no longer turn off the TV. Empty message box pops up when I click on the [TV on] button. I think the TV has crashed at this point. If I close MP the MediaPrtal.exe remains in the process list. I have to kill it in order to restart MP.

Here is the record.log which shows the TV off failed:
14/04/2006 11:55:47 PM Recorder: card:1 video device:WinFast DTV 1000T BDA Transport Stream Capture TV:True record:True priority:10
14/04/2006 11:55:53 PM Recorder:enable dx9 exclusive mode
14/04/2006 11:56:00 PM add cmd:MediaPortal.TV.Recording.ViewTvCommand #1
14/04/2006 11:56:00 PM Command: view tv channel:7 Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:00 PM Recorder: find free card
14/04/2006 11:56:00 PM Commandtop tv card:0
14/04/2006 11:56:00 PM Recorder: use free card LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T prio:10 name:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T
14/04/2006 11:56:00 PM Recorder: start watching on card:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T channel:7 Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:05 PM Recorder: tv channel changed:7 Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:05 PM Command:MediaPortal.TV.Recording.ViewTvCommand time:4984.375 msec
14/04/2006 11:56:05 PM Recorder: Card:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T view tv channel:7 Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM add cmd:MediaPortal.TV.Recording.ViewTvCommand #1
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM Command: view tv channel:TEN Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM Recorder: Use card:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM Commandtop tv card:0
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM Recorder: tv channel changed:TEN Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM Recorder: tv channel changed:TEN Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM Command:MediaPortal.TV.Recording.ViewTvCommand time:328.125 msec
14/04/2006 11:56:30 PM Recorder: Card:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T view tv channel:TEN Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:56:59 PM add cmd:MediaPortal.TV.Recording.StopTvCommand #1
14/04/2006 11:56:59 PM Commandtop tv card:-1
14/04/2006 11:56:59 PM Recorder: stop card:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T
14/04/2006 11:56:59 PM Command:MediaPortal.TV.Recording.StopTvCommand failed
14/04/2006 11:56:59 PM Command:MediaPortal.TV.Recording.StopTvCommand failed reason: time:31.25 msec
14/04/2006 11:56:59 PM Recorder: Card:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T view tv channel:TEN Digital 1
14/04/2006 11:57:08 PM Recordertop all tuners
14/04/2006 11:57:08 PM Recordertop card:LeadTek Winfast DTV 1000T

[Marcusb]

Don't forget there have been issues in the past with this message coming up prematurely.
It may be that the message box is just too sensitive for your tv.
Can you stay on RC2 for the interim or is there something in RC3 that you can't live without?

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by bigboss97

I'm just wondering that RC3 does not display a message when the signal is bad. Whenever this happens I can no longer turn off the TV. Empty message box pops up when I click on the [TV on] button. I think the TV has crashed at this point. If I close MP the MediaPrtal.exe remains in the process list. I have to kill it in order to restart MP.

There have been a lot of fixes to the digital TV part of MediaPortal since 0.2RC3 - I recommend you try a recent SVN (after you have improved your TV signal strength and quality) - that will probably resolve your issues...

[bigboss97]

First of all, thank you for your response.

Originally Posted by Marcusb

Can you stay on RC2 for the interim or is there something in RC3 that you can't live without?

I will keep on trying RC3 and deliver my feedback. I love to support open source project and usually I also learn a lot at the same time because people spend time explain and discuss issues.

RC3 has fixed an issue in my configuration. RC2 took ~25% of the CPU usage in idle state. RC3 runs on ~5% and with some peaks of ~25%. ~2min after start it goes down to ~0%. That's great improvement :-)

I had problem running TV since RC2. But that's okay for me. When I watch TV I'll use my WinFast player. I use MP to watch recorded TV because I can resume to previous spot. That's a GREAT feature!

I won't give up trying MP TV, even it's not stable in my case.
Thank you for all the great hard works.

Phuoc Can HUA

[bigboss97]

Originally Posted by bigboss97

I'm just wondering that RC3 does not display a message when the signal is bad. Whenever this happens I can no longer turn off the TV. Empty message box pops up when I click on the [TV on] button. I think the TV has crashed at this point. If I close MP the MediaPrtal.exe remains in the process list. I have to kill it in order to restart MP.

I've just applied svn-04-16-2006--14-36. Now it shows the message 'No signal detected' and it doesn't crash after that. So, I still can switch to other channels or switch off the TV.
Thank you for the fix :lol:

Phuoc Can HUA

[Forgotten Illustrator]

did your card come with a singal strength tester programe? or can the origanl program tell this.

beacuse, I've got two DVB-T one a Fusion dual DVB and the other is Twinhan lite. the Twinhan can handle signals as low as 40db with out droping of any info but the Fuision can only handle as low as 55db. when i first moved into my pres place the Ant socket was not working. so i just used some rabit ears and the Twinhan worked fine.

when i go the socket fixed the fusion was doing the same a yours just had to add a boster to make it a little stronger. plus at my old place they had split the Ant for upstairs and down stair funny. so when the tv upstairs was on media portal tv wont work.

[bigboss97]

Originally Posted by htpc_for_me

did your card come with a singal strength tester programe? or can the origanl program tell this.

when i go the socket fixed the fusion was doing the same a yours just had to add a boster to make it a little stronger. plus at my old place they had split the Ant for upstairs and down stair funny. so when the tv upstairs was on media portal tv wont work.

I don't think there's a software with my card to test the signal. The WinFast player only shows some dots for the strength of the signal which usually I ignore them. Sometimes I do have signal problem. In those cases, I could only switch back to analog TV.

Lucky you, you can use rabit ears antenna. The signal here (Sydney suburb 2nd floor) is so bad that I can't get all analog channels clear :-(
I had tried with a in-door antenna with my analog TV card in the bedroom. You can forget it. But the same antenna has been used in Germany (on 5th floor) and I could even get some channels perfect.

Is it worth to get a signal boster? What kind of specification do I have to look at?