CableCARD tuner support for MediaPortal 1 (2 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

Hello everyone

First a quick progress update.
I am and have been ready to release for two weeks or more now. The holdup is that we're waiting for Silicondust to release their next beta or stable firmware which will fix an important compatibility issue. So things are a bit out of my control...

Usually, you will get the best performance from the card from WMC, as that is what it was designed and tested for.

Yes and no. Yes tuners are generally tested and optimised with WMC. They may also be designed for WMC. However MP generally uses the same frameworks and interfaces as WMC, so you can usually expect there to be minimal if any difference in performance and compatibility between WMC and MP.

So what you get from WMC you would at best get from MP (or so I would think, @mm135200 can correct me if I am wrong)

In terms of tuning speed... I think you'd have to try it to get absolute confirmation. In the case of CableCARD the fact that MP uses UPnP/DRI directly rather than PBDA could actually mean we have faster tuning than WMC. I can't think of any specific reason that we'd be slower. Some people are very sensitive to tuning speed so please take my words as a general comment rather than a guarantee. I've used WMC for all of about 10 minutes and have been testing CableCARD tuning via RDP and TeamViewer in VMs. Also I'm not exactly unbiased!

mm

 

[mediacowboy]

Will the new update be 64 bit compatible?

 

[mm1352000]

Will the new update be 64 bit compatible?

Yes.

 

[mediacowboy]

Nice. Thank you so much for all your hard work mm. I am using your current patch and loving it.

 

[Sigpi007]

Sweet. @mm... Happy to offer assistance further testing of the update as it applies to the Ceton hardware (since all you're waiting on is related to Silcondust).

 

[mm1352000]

Patch is finally released! See the first post...

Key points/changes:

1. All OS releases supported by MediaPortal should work, including 64 bit releases and even XP.
2. People using the existing patches should delete all channels and rescan. Sorry, no way to avoid it.
3. People running the HDHomeRun PRIME must install the latest beta firmware.
4. CableCARD and clear QAM tuners are able to share channels. Simply scan with the CableCARD tuner and link/map the channels to the clear QAM tuner.
5. Switched digital video (SDV) with tuning adaptors (TA) should work.
6. Using a CableCARD tuner without a CableCARD is not currently supported. If you want/need support for this please post and I'll see if I can work through it.
7. The code for scanning with regular ATSC and clear QAM tuners has been completely rewritten as well so there are benefits even if you don't have a CableCARD tuner. Please test.

Finally... I've never done this before but this patch has required an unprecedented amount of work. I'd really appreciate it if you'd consider making a [small] donation to the team if you appreciate my work. Please don't feel any obligation. I'd be just as happy if you try the patch and provide feedback.

Thanks everyone!

 

[megahorst]

The code for scanning with regular ATSC and clear QAM tuners has been completely rewritten as well so there are benefits even if you don't have a CableCARD tuner. Please test.

I do have problems with scanning DVB-C channels on lower frequencies (113Mhz, 121MHz) I was not able to solve them until now. My TV-set works fine with these frequencies and the same antenna plug. Is it possible that your rework will solve this issue?

 

[FreakyJ]

My TV-set works fine with these frequencies and the same antenna plug. Is it possible that your rework will solve this issue?

This rework is about cableCard tuners, these are basically network tuners, so no changes for DVB-C

Maybe you should check your in-house cabeling, I had a weak signal on my antenna plug. My Tv worked fine, but my DVB-C cards didn't like that

 

[megahorst]

This rework is about cableCard tuners, these are basically network tuners, so no changes for DVB-C

Thx mm's comment about benefits for other QUAM tuners let me hope ...

 

[mm1352000]

The code for scanning with regular ATSC and clear QAM tuners has been completely rewritten as well so there are benefits even if you don't have a CableCARD tuner. Please test.

I do have problems with scanning DVB-C channels on lower frequencies (113Mhz, 121MHz) I was not able to solve them until now. My TV-set works fine with these frequencies and the same antenna plug. Is it possible that your rework will solve this issue?

As FreakyJ said, this patch won't help you... but you're still welcome to to test to ensure I haven't broken DVB-C scanning (I don't have a DVB-C tuner).
I recommend to make sure you're scanning with the correct settings. Sometimes increasing or decreasing the frequency a little bit can help...