'No Signal' error with some TV-tuners on some channels (1 Viewer)

[mnz]

First, I'd like to thank all the developers that have worked on Mediaportal. I still haven't quite got it working, but it seems like a great piece of software.

I'm getting a rather infuriating error that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

I have Mediaportal set up for DVB-S with a Hauppauge HVR-3000 tuner and a Pinnacle 7010iX dual tuner.

The HVR-3000 works without any problems. The 7010iX sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. When I go into 'Manual Control' in TV-Server Configuration and manually start time-shifting, on some channels the 7010ix will work, while on others it gives me a 'No Signal' error. Sometimes it works if I try again or switch to another channel (even on the same transponder). Sometimes the other tuner on the 7010ix will work, sometimes it won't.

The 7010ix works without any problems in DVB Dream, so I don't think it's a problem with the card.

I've tried deleting my Mediaportal MySQL database and starting over, but that hasn't helped.

If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be appreciated.


Thanks.

 

[mm1352000]

Re: 'No Signal' error with some TV-tuners on some channelz

Hi and welcome mnz

I have 2 7010ix cards here and they work fine, although the satellite tuners definitely require strong signal. Could you post your logs so that I can see what is going on. If you use the watchdog then it makes life easier for me - just find the "debug mode" link in the Team MediaPortal folder in your start menu, start it, select option 3, and then click proceed to create a zip file of all your logs. Post that here and I'll take look.

mm

 

[mnz]

I was just using the 'Manual Control' tab in TV-Server configuration instead of the TV-Client, as that gives me more control over which tuner is used.

I think the debug mode only works for the TV-Client.

Is it ok if I just delete my old logs, duplicate the problem then upload my new TV-Server logs?

 

[mm1352000]

The watchdog also grabs logs for TV Server as long as TV Server is installed on the same machine. But to be very clear though, I'm not asking you to reproduce the problem in MP. I'm asking you to use the watchdog simply to export the logs that you have already created. Using the watchdog has the advantage that it also provides other system information...

 

[mnz]

Thanks for your reply.

I've cleared my logs anyway, and have reproduced the problem again. I've posted the new logs.

You can see towards the end of the logs that sometimes I'm able to tune a channel, and sometimes I'm unable.

I'm mostly testing with the 4 different streams of TV one on Freeview Satellite transponder 12,483,000H in New Zealand. There's 4 different channels for different regions, and usually 2 or 3 work and 1 or 2 don't. Channels on the other Freeview transponder (12,456,000) seem to be fine. The HVR-3000 card also seems to work fine on all channels.

I've also tried removing my multi-switch and connecting the satellite directly to one of the inputs on the 7010ix. That hasn't helped.


Michael

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again Michael

The first thing I would do is uninstall the "standard" Pinnacle/PCTV Systems drivers and use the Blackgold BGT3540 drivers from -->here<--. That is what I use with XP and I don't have such problems. You could also try using the older DVB-S network provider instead of the generic network provider. The "preferred network provider" setting can be found in the tuner settings - see "edit card properties" -->here<--.

mm

 

[mnz]

I've tried the DVB-S network provider, and that didn't help. I also ran across the problem on TV3, which I didn't before. I think my problems with TV1 might've just been chance and the problem might be independent of channel. If I keep trying the 'Start Timeshifting' button after I get a 'No Signal' message, it usually works after 3-4 attempts.

I'll try the Blackgold drivers tomorrow.

Thanks again for your help so far.

 

[mnz]

I've tried the Blackgold drivers, and that didn't help. Still have the same problem.

I did notice another curiousity though. In DVB Dream, the HVR-3000 always gives me a signal level and quality of 100%. The 7010ix, however, sometimes reports ~85% signal level and 100% quality, and sometimes reports 0% for both.

This could just be a problem with DVB Dream, but it seems to me as if the tuner card is sometimes failing to report the signal level and quality to the software. DVB Dream seems to just ignore it and tune the channel anyway, whereas Mediaportal seems to give up and give me a 'No Signal' error.

Could this be the case, and if so is there a way to force Mediaportal to ignore that information and tune the channel anyway?

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again Michael

I did notice another curiousity though. In DVB Dream, the HVR-3000 always gives me a signal level and quality of 100%. The 7010ix, however, sometimes reports ~85% signal level and 100% quality, and sometimes reports 0% for both.

It is not fair to compare between cards like that because the there is no standard for calculating the percentages - each manufacturer calculates them differently. The comment that sometimes signals and quality are both 0% for the 7010ix is telling though. In my experience that would indicate borderline signal level/quality. I have already mentioned that the 7010ix requires good signal - what size dish do you have, how confident are you in the alignment and cabling, and how are you splitting the signal to the 3 tuners?

This could just be a problem with DVB Dream, but it seems to me as if the tuner card is sometimes failing to report the signal level and quality to the software. DVB Dream seems to just ignore it and tune the channel anyway, whereas Mediaportal seems to give up and give me a 'No Signal' error.

TV Server relies on the locked parameter returned by the driver to determine whether the tuner is successfully tuned and locked or not. As I've said above, the 7010ix requires good strong signal. I also mentioned that I'd experienced this myself - my Technotrend S2 3200, Technisat Skystar HD 2 and Hauppauge Nova S Plus all seem to be more sensitive. Having said that, I was able to make a tweak to the code to enable TV Server to use a different mechanism to determine whether the tuner was locked or not. Ignoring the locked flag from the driver worked fine in many cases so maybe the driver is just a little conservative. I used that tweak successfully for a while until I decided the better thing to do would be to actually look into whether I had problems with my signal quality. At the time I had two LNBs on my 90cm dish for receiving D1 and D2 - only 12706V and 12733V on D2 gave me problems. I've now got 3 LNBs on my dish (added C1/D3). Having the dish focus more centered between D1 and D2 meant I could bring the D2 LNB closer to the focal point of the dish, and that has made a big difference in itself. I also added a $15 15dB satellite inline amplifier to the D2 input. The combination of those two things has solved my problems. Note that I've *never* had problems with Freeview or Sky transponders, and I split my signal with a 9x8 powered multiswitch and then a 4 way splitter before signal gets to my HTPC.

Could this be the case, and if so is there a way to force Mediaportal to ignore that information and tune the channel anyway?

As above, I created a patch for my own personal use. If interested you can read a little more about it -->here<--. I've also attached a binary for 1.1.3 here. Installation instructions:

1. Stop the TV service.
2. Take a back up of the TVLibrary.dll in your TV Server install folder.
3. Download and extract the attached TVLibrary.dll into your TV Server install folder.
4. Start the TV service.

You'll also find that this patch makes FM radio work if you have that. The FM fix is in 1.2.0b; the lock tweak isn't and is unlikely to ever be included simply because I don't know of any other card that behaves this way. For that reason I advise you to look into your dish alignment etc. rather than relying on this as a fix...

mm

 

[mnz]

Thanks for that patch.

It seems to have fixed my problem, at least in TV-Server. Hopefully things will work properly in the client as well.

I understand that it's not a perfect solution, but I can live with it.

My current cabling setup is a standard Sky dish with a twin-head, single output LNB connected to a 3-way, all ports power pass splitter, with one port connected to the 18V input of a 6x8 multiswitch (Zinwell WB68). 3 outputs of the multiswitch are connected to my HTPC (and the 4th currently to Sky).

The dish and original cabling was installed before we bought this house, so I'm not entirely confident of the quality of the cabling. I don't think there's anything wrong with the multiswitch as I tried bypassing it and connecting a cable directly to one of the 7010ix inputs and had the same problem. I will be removing the 3-way splitter though now that I have a central HTPC and not separate STB's in every room.

Thanks again for your help. Hopefully this'll be the last of my problems with my HTPC setup.