Does MP lock tuners even when service is stopped? (1 Viewer)

[doveman]

I've got a MP Server working fine but I wanted to try GB-PVR, which installed OK but couldn't find any channels.

I then tried running ScanChannelsBDA_UK (making sure that MP's TVService and GB-PVR's Recording Service were stopped) but that can't find any channels either, which is why I was wondering if MP is blocking access to the tuner, even when the TVService is stopped.

I've attached the ScanChannels log.

MediaPortal Version: v1.1 rev24281
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3Wide
Windows Version: XP Pro SP3
CPU Type: Intel P4 2.8Ghz Northwood (non-HT)
HDD: 500GB Western Digital SATA
Memory: 1.5GB DDR
Motherboard: Gigabyte 8i848-PM
Video Card: Leadtek FX5600 256MB VIVO
Video Card Driver: 175.19
Sound Card: onboard Realtek AC97 (ALC655)
Sound Card AC3: no AC3
Sound Card Driver: 5.10.0.6300
1. TV Card: Hauppauge Nova-T 500
1. TV Card Type: DVB-T
1. TV Card Driver: 4.3.26168.0
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7)
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPC - MPA Decoder Filter
h.264 Video Codec: MPC - Video Decoder
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Custom
Cooling: Nexus 120mm Intake Fan, Accelero S2, Mini Ninja
Power Supply: DELL DA-2 AC->12v DC, mCubed EF28 DC-DC board
Remote: Nova-T 500
TV: Sony XBR800 36"
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI

 

[tourettes]

I then tried running ScanChannelsBDA_UK (making sure that MP's TVService and GB-PVR's Recording Service were stopped) but that can't find any channels either, which is why I was wondering if MP is blocking access to the tuner, even when the TVService is stopped.

TV service won't and cannot block the DVB card access unless the service is running, so the issue must be something else.

edit: If it were blocking, even the tuning requests would fail completely (and ScanChannelsBDA should have such logged in the log). Could you start tv service and then re-run then scanning with ScanChannelsBDA_UK. It should be having errors in the log (at least I hope it's author has written some logging for error situations ).

 

[doveman]

Yeah, I didn't think it made any sense that TVService could be blocking anything when stopped but always better to have one's assumptions confirmed.

What I'm wondering is if there's some other component of MP or something done during the install that's preventing these other apps accessing the tuner. All these filters and stuff get very confusing

I'll certainly run the test you suggest. If I remember rightly, ScanChannels won't even be able to pick up the tuner with TVService running but I'll let you know. I'll also make sure GB-PVR is completely uninstalled, in case that's causing the problem with ScanChannels.

 

[doveman]

I uninstalled GB-PVR completely and started TVService before running ScanChannels. As you can see from the attached log, with TVService running it doesn't error but just fails to lock on to any frequencies, whereas before it would lock on but then the scan would timeout without finding any channels.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Hi doveman

Geez, hope you have better luck than I had with gbpvr, it will run with tvservice disabled no problem, and as much as I admire sub, things like having to tune twice, once under day time shows and then again in the evening to get the shared channels to be correctly recognised, ie cbbc, cbeebies daytime to BBC3\4 of a evening, I found a bit of a pain.

There was not very good h.264 support, but that may well have changed as well.

Let us know how you got on, but I remember changing tvservice to not run under "services" and then rebooting, prior to installing gbpvr for it to work.

Happy New Year

 

[doveman]

Cheers for the tip mate, I'll give it a go. Hopefully that will fix ScanChannels as well, as unless that can find the channels I don't hold out much hope of GB-PVR being able to do so.

That does sound like a pain having to tune twice. I'm evaluating apps for my brother, who only really needs something relatively unobstrusive and easy to use to record with, not for viewing, so lack of h264 support won't really matter, although he might just stick with the DigiTV software, which is designed for his card. I did look at WebSchedulerPro, but got fed up with the lack of off-air EPG support and how laborious it was setting up channels.

I plan to sort him out with a better PC sometime (or I might just give him an xbox with XBMC installed to handle playback) but at the moment he's got an old and slow PC and I don't want to install WMP11, as MP requires, as that will break another program he uses.

I'll let you know how it goes anyway.

Happy New Year