Can't use 2 cable boxes on different inputs?

[mikester]

My TV server has a PVR-500 connected to 2 different cable boxes. Everything works great with 1 cable box - the schedules direct plugin pulls in the channels correctly and tunes to SVHS1, channel change works beautifully using the IR Server Suite. The problem comes in when I try to add the second cable box.

The way my card is setup, the second SVideo port is mapped to SVHS2. I can't find any way to make TV Server switch between SVHS1 and SVHS2 depending on which tuner it is using, since when you edit a channel, you pick the input as a global setting (instead of it being set per-tuner).

I tried creating a second channel with all the parameters the same, except for the input being set to SVHS2. That works great, but the channel appears twice in the guide. If I try to combine channels, one just overwrites the other and uses it's input.

I'm not sure if this is a bug, an oversight, or I'm just missing something (hopefully the later). Any thoughts?

BTW - I am using the latest weekly build (7-4) of both TV Server and Media Portal.

[geov]

Hi, try this...

You will see there are two plugs that connect the main-card to the extension-bracket, try changing to the other plug....then both inputs should work on "SVHS1"

[mikester]

Thanks, but I tried that already, and when I do it the video comes through on SVHS1, but it's black and white with lots of static. I guess that other plug maybe has a bad connection or something.

I can work around the issue by getting another card, but it still seems like an oversight to me. Playing around with it more, it looks like combining channels does what I want, except that it only stores 1 analog setting, 1 DVB setting, etc. So I guess if I just plugged the cable in and used the tuner on another card, it would overwrite my channels with "Tuner" instead of "SVHS1" for the input.

In short, I think combining channels needs to handle multiple inputs of varying types, instead of just 1 of each type.

[geov]

Originally Posted by mikester

Thanks, but I tried that already, and when I do it the video comes through on SVHS1, but it's black and white with lots of static. I guess that other plug maybe has a bad connection or something.

This is very strange because it works with my PVR500....dont know why your wont.

Originally Posted by mikester

In short, I think combining channels needs to handle multiple inputs of varying types, instead of just 1 of each type.

I agree with you, but MediaPortal is in a freeze period so this will probably not be done

[mikester]

Well, I played around with it last night, cleaned off the connections, reseated the card, etc. and got it working with the other header, so everything is now showing up as VHS1 and it all works.

So, problem solved for now, but I still think this is something that needs to be addressed in the next version. Maybe I need to break down and learn C# so I can contribute to this. I used to do a ton of Windows development with Visual C++, but then switched to Java and have been using that for the last 8 years.

[geov]

Great, I'm happy it helped...how about clicking on the "thanks" button for me Seeing that I was so helpful

[mikester]

Maybe I'm blind, but I can't find the Thanks button. Point me in the right direction and I will be happy to oblige (twice even - I'll thank you for showing me how to thank you ).

NM - found it. I swear the "Thanks" button wasn't there before.