HDHomeRun not finding any channels (5 Viewers)

[goodmane]

Hey all,

I've searched the forums and google to my wits end and have run out of ideas on trying to get Mediaportal to work with my new HdHomerun Dual tuner device. I could really use some help. Basically, when attempting to scan for channels using the MP TV Server config, i get "No Signal" and "Nothing Found" on all channels no matter what options I choose. However, the HdHomeRun utility itself is able to scan and find about 20-30 channels just fine.

My Setup:

• HdHomerun dual tuner (model HDHR3-US) with latest firmware (20120405). Coax from Comcast (Atlanta, GA area) plugged in & ethernet plugged into my router. Pingable fine, web interface fine, and like I said the HdHomeRun utlity sees it and can scan & view channels fine.
• HTPC is a Dell Optiplex 745 with 2GB of RAM, 50GB SSD hard drive, running Win7 Ultimate 64-bit. (Prior to the SSD i had a 72gb SATA drive with XP 32-bit and had the same no-signal issues)
• Media Portal 1.3 beta (the previous hard drive with 1.2 had the same no-signal issues as well, so i don't think it's anything with the latest version)

Here's a quick rundown of what i've already tried:

• Some have suggested doing a fresh install. Well, for Christmas I got a SSD hard drive, so it was a perfect opportunity to install and start completely fresh with Windows 7 Ultimate + Mediaportal 1.3. Still no luck on channel scans.
• Saw some posts about firewall issues. Started by allowing the TVService service full access in the Win7 firewall, and ended up turning the Firewall off altogether. No change.
• I'm not too versed on QAM verses ATSC, so perhaps I could use some help determining what Comcast basic cable offers. I pay only for Comcast internet but as a "side-effect" i can get basic digital channels. The HDHomeRun utility is set to "Digital Cable" and I can get 20-30 channels. I have tried all different settings in the TVServer (QAM setting unchecked, QAM checked and all built-in variations of QAM offered) and no channels are found.
• I confirmed that in the HDHomeRun utility that the channels it found are set to "enabled". I also confirmed that the utility has mediaportal selected as the "Main Application". I played around with enabling/disabling the "Dynamic Tuner Allocation" setting on the advanced tab with no change.
• I found some other articles that mentioned trying different frequencies and tuning files, which I have no experience with. I did find a "Digital Cable.Xml" file under "C:\ProgramData\SiliconDust\HdHomerun" that is apparently created by the HDHomeRun utilities' scans. I copied the file as-is under "C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\TuningParameters\atsc" & restarted the TVServer service and, although it showed up in the drop-down as an available option, it gave an error when attempting to scan. I edited the file to match the XML format of one of the other default files and finally got MediaPortal to accept the file & start scanning, but...wait for it....still no signal
• I was stumbling around the Bluetooth area on my HTPC while setting up a keybaord and noticed that the HdHomerun was discovered during a Bluetooth scan as a uPNP device. I added it and Win7 detected & installed it under Device Manager. I presume this is more Windows Media Center use but thought I'd give it a shot. No change in channel scans.
• Manually clicked "remove" under the MP TvServer config, uninstalled the HdHomerun utility & re-installed, re-scanned, and re-detected the device in MP TVServer config. No change in scans. (Unfortunately, a side effect of this is that it only detects one of the HdHomerun tuners now and not both like it used to?)
• I've restarted the HdHomerun device itself, i've rebooted my HTPC box a million times.

Many people report that the HdHomeRun "just works" for them in Mediaportal, but obviously I'm having some serious trouble even after completely re-installing a new OS. Was i on the right track with any of my troubleshooting attempts?

If there is anybody out there who could please give me a hand getting this thing to work I would really appreciate it!!

Thanks in advance,
Eric

 

[TLD]

Comcast where i live has 41 QAM channels on "Basic" cable. ATSC is over the air (TV Antenna) so you want to tick the QAM box.

I scan on "QAM Standard".

EDIT: Check out the first post in this thread https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...hdhomerun-hd-homerun-epg-setup-success.77732/
About half way through the post they talk about hooking up to comcast with a Homerun card.

 

[RonD]

Eric,

I have HDHR tuners I use for ATSC so I don't have any direct QAM experience, but a few comments

You can see what QAM basic cable channels other HDHR users found in your area. Enter your zipcode and select a provider in the upper left corner of the webpage. This will give some idea what you might be able to find.
http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/

What firewall are you running? could you try disabling the firewall and can you find channels when you scan? With XP I had a MePo HDHR scan problem caused by windows firewall. I had to add a firewall rule to enable MePo TVservice.exe in the firewall setup tools.

With the HDHR tools, can you scan and find unencrypted channels you can view using HDHR Setup, Config, and Quick TV. Just want to see if you can get to QAM basic cable with the HDHR tuner. HDHR has a little info for MePo scan and setup
http://www.silicondust.com/support/hdhomerun/instructions/mediaportal/

 

[anollmann]

Eric,

I have having the exact same issue. HDHomeRun setup software can scan and find channels when connected to my Brighthouse cable, but I can't get MediaPortal TVServer to find any channels. I've tried scanning on every combination I can think of.

Please post if you find a resolution!

Thanks,

Alex

 

[mm1352000]

Hello and welcome Alex

So, you're using an HDHR3-US, right? Not the CableCARD HDHR?
Either way, please take a look here for a bit of information about scanning:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...rver_Configuration/02_TV_Servers/7b_Scan_ATSC

For scanning with any HDHR, first ensure TVService.exe and SetupTv.exe have full access to your network (ie. firewall not blocking them from "seeing" the HDHR).

For scanning cable with the HDHR3-US you should be selecting tuning mode "clear QAM cable". For QAM tuning frequencies, I can't say it any better than the wiki says it:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...V_Servers/7b_Scan_ATSC#QAM_tuning_frequencies

In other words, start with "QAM standard", then try the other options as directed if channels are not found.
Let the scans run all the way through. I know it takes time (about 20 minutes per full scan), but cancelling early is not advisable. You should not always expect TV Server to find all the channels straightaway. Remember that scanning goes by physical channels. Example: channel 7-1 is not necessarily carried on physical channel 7; it could be physical channel 50 for all I know.

If none of the options work, you can also try using the ATSC network provider instead of the generic one (generic normally recommended):
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...nfiguration/02_TV_Servers#Edit_Tuner_Settings

In fact you might want to try the ATSC network provider first. I recall other people saying the HDHR only works with ATSC and not with generic.

Finally, if you're totally stuck you can always post log files for us to take a look at:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/3_Forums/2_Log_Files

Use option 3 to dump your existing logs to a zip file for easy attach/upload.

mm