CableCARD tuner support for MediaPortal 1 (4 Viewers)

[breese]

Good Morning,
I installed the new TsWriter, cleared the logs and did another VSB scan.
first pass got 53 channels... Intresting note, some of the channels have ( eng ) to the right of the names. Never seen this before.

Going to Manual and Stopping the TVService (verified it was stopped in Task Manager) will not allow the SetupTV log file to be ziped...
I had to exit out of TV-Sever Configuration to get all the logs into a zip file

Thanks for the info that my signal strength might be in question... I will be looking into that. Have never had an issue before but, the antenna is on the roof.

 

[mm1352000]

Good morning

I installed the new TsWriter, cleared the logs and did another VSB scan.

So you have names now, yes?

Intresting note, some of the channels have ( eng ) to the right of the names. Never seen this before.

This is partially intended and partially a bug.
The deal is that VCT can contain multiple names for a channel:

1. A short name which is limited to 7 characters. AIUI this is typically used to store the callsign (eg. WCIU-HD).
2. Optionally, one or more extended names which can be up to 255 characters long in total. AIUI these extended names are typically used for marketing names.

Currently TV Server takes the short name, then replaces it with the first extended name if one is present.
When rewriting the code I thought both the callsign and name might be useful, so what I was doing was attempting to set the name to "<short name> (<first extended name which is different to the short name, if there is one>)"... except that there was a bug. I've fixed the bug [hopefully] and switched the pattern because on second thought I think it probably makes more sense to show "name (callsign)" rather than "callsign (name)". New TsWriter attached.

Going to Manual and Stopping the TVService (verified it was stopped in Task Manager) will not allow the SetupTV log file to be ziped...

I had to exit out of TV-Sever Configuration to get all the logs into a zip file

That is because the SetupTv log is the log for TV Server configuration. In the same way that the service running prevents the TVService log from being zipped, I guess TV Server configuration running is preventing the SetupTv log from being zipped.
Aside: have you tried copying the files, then zipping? Might save you stopping everything.

 

[breese]

Fantistic Job!!!
This looks great
I am including the logs from this scan and a screenshot of the final screen
When you are happy, I will switch back to my Wow Cable connection

 

[mm1352000]

Fantistic Job!!!

Thanks, and thank you again for your feedback! I literally couldn't do this without it.

This looks great

I am including the logs from this scan and a screenshot of the final screen

When you are happy, I will switch back to my Wow Cable connection

"WCIU-DT Chicago (WCIU-HD)", "The U Too (U Too)", "WWME-LD Chicago (MeTV)", "WMEU-CA Chicago (MeToo)", "THIS Chicago (THIS)"... sorta what I was intending. It is probably as good as I can do as there is nothing to say that the callsign has to be in the short or extended name.
So, lets try cable and see if there are any improvements...

 

[breese]

You are welcome.... Switching over now...
These scans take longer....

 

[Sigpi007]

Just (partly) finished setting up the Ceton ETH 6 tuner with the MP 1.4 patch. Followed instructions in first post to the letter. Overall assessment... everything is working GREAT! Feedback below...

- Initial channel scan completed faster than when I used to scan for QAM channels. Saw the "out of band" message with nothing happening for quite a while, and then all of a sudden all the channels appear in the scan and the process was done. So for those of you worried when you see nothing happening during the scan, it just takes a few minutes before you see results. (With QAM, I saw each frequency tune and saw results.)

- Results of channel names was more than 90% populated. Still had a few channel names listed as "unknown". Not sure if this is a patch issue or if it is WOW cable misconfiguration.

- Changing channels is FAST! I have my Ceton ETH 6 tuner located downstairs, and I connect to it over wireless-N from my upstairs test computer. Changing channels takes about 1 second for HD channels. I'd equate the experience to "a smidge slower than changing channels with a (comcast) cable box, but a bit faster than changing channels with a (DirecTV) satellite box." Overall... very acceptable performance... in a less than ideal setup (over wireless instead of hard-wire).

- Only issue... I don't think my cablecard is decoding any of the channels that are not "in-the-clear." Essentially I can see the same channels I saw before. I expect this is a cable company issue and not related to the patch. Will write back later once resolved.

OVERALL... if you are thinking about the Ceton ETH 6 network tuner, I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it. The performance and ease of use are far beyond what I expected. Installing the drivers is pretty straightforward, and the diagnostic tools Ceton provides makes it easy to see if the cablecard has received the activation signal from the cable company. It was easier than setting up a cablecard in Tivo HD.

 

[mm1352000]

Awesome Sigpi007 - thanks for the feedback!

Saw the "out of band" message with nothing happening for quite a while, and then all of a sudden all the channels appear in the scan and the process was done. So for those of you worried when you see nothing happening during the scan, it just takes a few minutes before you see results. (With QAM, I saw each frequency tune and saw results.)

This behaviour is due to limitations in the current TV engine. Hopefully in future we'll be able to show channels as they are found.

- Results of channel names was more than 90% populated. Still had a few channel names listed as "unknown". Not sure if this is a patch issue or if it is WOW cable misconfiguration.

I can't tell either without log files.
The scan goes through different stages. Each stage has conditions before it can be completed. The condition for the final stage completion is meant to be all channels having names. However, sometimes the scanner needs more time to receive all the names (receiving names for 500+ channels can take time). If you want to you can experiment with the SDT/VCT timeout setting and see if increasing it helps to fill in all the names:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...n/TV-Server_Configuration/06_General#Scan_Tab

- Changing channels is FAST!...

Hearing this is excellent!
It was always hard to judge timing when I was testing because I was working over RDP/TeamViewer connections (and sometimes using VMs. Sounds like we're competitive on this front.

- Only issue... I don't think my cablecard is decoding any of the channels that are not "in-the-clear." Essentially I can see the same channels I saw before. I expect this is a cable company issue and not related to the patch. Will write back later once resolved.

Yeah, that might be a DRM or CableCARD activation thing, both of which are out of my control. I'll be interested to hear what you find.

 

[breese]

MM, This is a Whole Lot Better!
The missing QAM Channels are back
As always, logs and a screenshot in the zip

Sigpi007,
Can you export your channels and post them... I would love to see them
thanks everyone!!

 

[mm1352000]

Okay everyone, bed time for me - it is 1:45 am on Saturday night here.
I'll be back in the "morning".

 

[mm1352000]

Arg, I couldn't sleep waiting for your results breese...

MM, This is a Whole Lot Better!

Great!
Am I imagining things or are there more channels with names? From memory I thought there were only 4 or so previously...

The missing QAM Channels are back

I can see the named channels, but it looks like TV Server is creating "Unknown..." duplicates in most cases. Seems to be a fault in merging the lists of named and unnamed channels. It took awhile to figure out what was going on, but I think I've got it. New TsWriter attached again...

As always, logs and a screenshot in the zip

Is it just me or are the scans running a little faster? 20 minutes is still longer than I'd like, but for scanning 157 frequencies... that's about 7.9 seconds per frequency, which is not too bad.