[confirm] Question re Tuner Card allocation (1 Viewer)

[wjw]

MediaPortal Version: 1.1.0 beta
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3 Wide
Windows Version: Win 7 RC build 7100 32bit
CPU Type: Intel Core Duo E8200 2.66 Ghz
HDD: Western Digital 750Gb
Memory: Kingston 2x1 Gb
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H GeForce 7100
Video Card: nVidia 9400GGT
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card:
Sound Card AC3: Optical Out
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Hauppauge Wintv HVR4000
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink/MPC/ffdshow
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec: Cyberlink/MPC/ffdshow
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 28E
HTPC Case: Antec Fusion
Cooling:
Power Supply:
Remote:
TV:
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

I am using RC1 Win7 singleseat. I don't know whether this is a bug or not since I have only just put in a second tuner.

My first (priority 1) card is a DVB-S card and the second is a DVB-T card.

I have kept 2 separate groups in the Guide, one for satellite channels and one for Terrestrial - I have not combined channels at all.

If I choose the Terrestrial group in the guide and then select to view a current programme, I find that actually it's the satellite card that is used, not the DVB-T card. Is this the correct behaviour?

This gives rise to a problem in scheduling recordings. Some of the channels are available on both cards, but some are only available on one.

As an example, BBC HD is only available on the DVB-S card, while BBC1 is on both (but not on the same satellite transponder as the HD channel). If I first set up a recording for BBC HD and then one at the same time for BBC1, they will record correctly. However, if I do it the other way around - choose the BBC1 programme first and then the HD one, I will be told that there is no free card for the HD programme (as the first choice will have been allocated to the priority 1 card and the HD programme cannot be recorded on the DVB-T card).

This is OK while setting up the programmes in the first place because I can see what is happening and so do them in the right order, but there is a real problem if timings change later - and they do! In this scenario whichever programme starts up first will get the satellite card and will therefore prevent the seond programme from recording if that happens to be the HD one.

Is there any simple way to prevent this? I cannot find a way of requesting that a specific series of programmes should always record on the DBV-T card while leaving the DVB-S card as priority one (which is my preference since in my area I don't always get the best reception on terrestrial TV).

Am I missing something?

 

[riksmith]

You should check the following:
In the configuration go to: TV Channels / TV Mapping
Check if the channels you expect to only tune to DVB-T are only mapped to the DBV-T card.
Check the same for the DVB-S channels.

It could well be that MP automatically combined some of the channels.

 

[gibman]

also tv.log from server is quite handy when debugging these issues.

 

[wjw]

riksmith

It does look as though that's what has happened. In the "All Channels" group the channels common to both tuners have been combined. Actually, the more I think about it, this is not necessarily a problem as I would always want to default to Tuner 1 as that gives the best picture.

However, I do think that if I make my selection for recording via the DVB-T EPG then that's the card that should get used even if the channel is available on a higher priority card.

For the future, can I suggest that the logic for allocating cards is shifted to "wake up" time. So, when TVServer wakes to record it checks whether a second programme is scheduled to start before the first will have finished. If there is then that would be the point to determine whether the second programme can only be recorded on one tuner; if so, and if the first programme can be recorded on either tuner, then the second programme should get it's need met first, even if that happens to be the Priority 1 tuner. Of course, if both programmes can only be recorded on one tuner/transponder then the second will have to fail - but this should only have happened if the original EPG schedule has been changed to produce this clash so is unavoidable.

Just a thought.