CableCARD tuner support for MediaPortal 1 (7 Viewers)

[MagicShot]

Hello again John

Easy problems first:

After reboot, I opened media portal and it looked like the tuners were not available so I checked the ceton diagnostics and that was fine, in media portal tv config, the ceton tuners were missing, tho they works fine in WMC.

Install the patch from here. It should solve the slow tuner detection problem nicely:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...for-mediaportal-1.112585/page-63#post-1056643

...along with my problem of trying to record three to four shows at once in WMC, two of them stutter but it kind of varies, Sometimes I can record three and they are fine, It may just be that this is my main pc and I'm doing other things e.g. (browsing the web, watching tv shows in mpc-be and what not). But this PC is kinda fast, and it does not look like I'm using even half of it's potential.

So, I tried to record USA HD, just a single episode of criminal minds for testing purposes (to see if my recording problem is specific to WMC). The video was jerky.

You need to isolate whether the problem is with playback or with the source.
To do that, first ensure you've configured codecs in MediaPortal:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...nfiguration/9_Codecs_and_Renderer/1_TV_Codecs

I recommend you install the LAV codecs (you can do that via the MP Extension Installer, link on your desktop or in the MP folder in the start menu) and set LAV for all options except audio renderer which should normally be default directsound device.

Then try playing live TV again. If you still experience a problem, switch MP to windowed mode (press alt+enter) and open the tuner web page, TV Server configuration and Windows task manager.
Start live TV in MediaPortal. It should be stuttering.
In TV Server configuration, go to the "manual control" section and select the channel that you're viewing in MP. You should now see the signal/strength quality readings from the tuner and the discontinuity count, similar to this:
View attachment 147288


If the discontinuity count is constantly increasing it means the problem is server side (ie. TV Server or tuner or related); if not, it is client side (ie. MediaPortal or playback related).

Assuming the problem is server side, view the signal statistics for the tuner on the tuner page in the web browser.
Please take a screenshot so we can see the signal level and SNR values.
Also, in task manager go to the performance tab and open the resource monitor - please take a screenshot so we can see the CPU and HDD utilisation levels and top programs using CPU/HDD.

Could watching a pre recorded TV show in MPC-BE cause recordings to stutter?

Seems unlikely, but there are a lot of variables.
It is far more likely that the recording has the stuttering recorded into it due to issues when the recording was recorded. As above: please follow the instructions above to determine whether you have a client or server side problem, and we can proceed from there.

So I rebooted because when trying to switch channels (USA HD to FX HD)
I got a black screen, waited a few minutes and nothing so I switched back to USA HD and it played for a few moments then kinda paused, so I gave up.

This is likely a codec problem. Configuring codecs is a critical setup/configuration step with MediaPortal. Please do the thing with LAV described above and it should solve this.

I must say, out of all the computer and electronic related stuff I have come in contact with, the ceton infinitv 4 pci-e & infinitv 6 eth really hate me or something!

Nah, we can sort this out.

mm

I am wondering if all this things should work with Windows 8.1 with Media Center?
I have tired almost al of these things if not all of them and the tuners keep showing as "unknown" on the TV Server
I have tested with a different PC and they work fine on Windows 7 pro x64.
I currently have the following setup:

MediaPortal 1.6/1.7 Tired both with above patches
Windows 8.1 with Media Center
Ceton 6 ETH: Both Regular Drivers & Beta
HDHOMERun Prime: Both Regular Drivers & Beta
Blackhawk 802.11ac wireless Router
No Firewall enable on router or windows
UPNP is enabled on wireless but have tired with disabled too.

Thanks!

 

[twemperor]

Sorry- my two year old posted. Please delete post.

 

[mm1352000]

I am wondering if all this things should work with Windows 8.1 with Media Center?
I have tired almost al of these things if not all of them and the tuners keep showing as "unknown" on the TV Server

Okay. To be clear, the first problem to solve is to get the tuners consistently showing and to do that you need to install the patch that I linked. The problems with playback should be tackled after that.

The OS shouldn't make a difference to tuner detection. Firewalls, VPNs and network configuration can make a difference though.
Please post log files for us.
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/3_Forums/2_Log_Files

Use option 3 to export your existing log files.

Thanks,
mm

 

[twemperor]

Also, in task manager go to the performance tab and open the resource monitor - please take a screenshot so we can see the CPU and HDD utilisation levels and top programs using CPU/HDD.

I agree with mm, make sure the codecs and playback are good first. I would like to add that with my 4 Ceton tuners, sometimes I get bad recordings when the hard drive is almost full or really fragmented.

 

[bsell1]

Hi, I hope someone can help me here. I have bought a HDHomerun Prime and successfully installed it and had it's setup software find 300 some odd channels on Time Warner Cable. I have followed the directions listed on the 1st page of this post, but all the channels show up in red, which I believe means they are not viewable. Any suggestions?

 

[mm1352000]

Hello

but all the channels show up in red, which I believe means they are not viewable.

Your understanding is not quite right. Red means they're encrypted. Your CableCARD enables you to decrypt some or all of the channels.

To see which channels you have subscribed to, visit this page:
http://<your PRIME tuner's IP address here>/lineup.xml

Due to restrictions applied by your cable provider (CCI - copy once etc.) you can only view/record the channels without <drm>1</drm> in MediaPortal. The same restriction applies to pretty much all other PC software out there with the exception of WMC.

Regards,
mm

 

[Lyfesaver74]

I think Time Warner is one of the companies that DRMs EVERYTHING (the F%$KERS!) so you might be in a bad spot. I hope I am wrong, can anyone verify that TWC does allow for some non DRM content?

 

[mm1352000]

Yeah, anecdotally experience suggests they DRM everything except local channels. It is going to be interesting to see what happens if the Comcast + TW merger makes it past the regulators. I'm hoping that Comcast's more lenient policy is adopted, but I have a bad feeling about it. If 30% of the cable market have a non-permissive DRM policy then it really starts to look grim for cable TV access on PCs.

 

[RonD]

I use OTA ATSC, google of "time warner cable card" shows lots of stuff, they have something called a "tuning adapter" that takes raw TWC cable input and output goes to CableCard equipment. Looks like you might need this for Tivo etc on TWC.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/support/tv/topics/cablecard.html

http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/Content Management/pdf/support/cablecard/CableCARD_Self_Install_Letter_allOtheRregions.pdf

the following applies to TWC "Switched Digital Video" SDV, words for
"Why you might need a Tuning Adapter"

Time Warner Cable launched Switched Digital Video (SDV) in many neighborhoods around the country. Channels delivered using SDV are sent to your television only when you want to watch them. This frees up bandwidth and allows Time Warner Cable to offer you additional digital and HD channels. Some existing services may be delivered using SDV in order to make additional bandwidth available.

Once channels are delivered using SDV, they will no longer be available to CableCARD™ devices unless you have a Tuning Adapter. You will need a Tuning Adapter to view these new channels if you use a CableCARD with one of these devices:

• OCUR devices: ATI TV Wonder™, Ceton InfiniTV 4™, SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime™
• Retail Moxi HD
• TiVo: Series 3, HD and HD XL, Premiere and Premiere XL

 

[bsell1]

ok, thanks for the reply's. Can MP work with WMC in order to watch the encrypted channels? In other words, use WMC as a backend to do the live and recorded TV and using MP as the pretty frontend to a actually watch the TV and schedule through the EPG?