[Bug] Scan for open Qam finds no channels (1 Viewer)

[x4mer]

MediaPortal Version: 1.2 Beta
MediaPortal Skin: Default Wide
Windows Version: Windows Vista SP1
CPU Type: Intel Q8200
HDD: 120G
Memory: 2G
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45-UD3R
Video Card: Radeon 3450
Video Card Driver: 8.12
Sound Card: Integrated
Sound Card AC3: Optical
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: digiwave 103g
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card: Hauppauge HVR-2250
2. TV Card Type: dual-ATSC/Analogue
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card: Hauppauge HVR-2250
3. TV Card Type: dual-ATSC/Analogue
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: MS
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPA
h.264 Video Codec: FFDShow
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Antec
Cooling: Stock
Power Supply: Antec 500W
Remote: MCE
TV: Samsung 56
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

Based on the fact that ATSC channels were correctly being identified as unencrypted now, I figured channels were correctly being ID'd as encrypted or not so......

I deleted all my cable digital QAM stations, and did a rescan. I figured the FTA ones would be easily identifiable once the scan was done (green balls). Watching the scan, many frequencies skipped by pretty quickly listing no signal which was normal. Some would pause for some time, and say nothing found. Great I thought, it's filtering out the encrypted ones up front and not even adding them to the database.

Problem was the scan finished saying no channels found. There should be around 5 Open QAM TV stations, and about 50-60 Open QAM radio stations on my cable. Now under 1.2B, the scan finds none of them. I've always used QAM standard for the QAM scans, but I tried each of the others just to be sure, and they all came back as no stations found. Logs attached using standard QAM scan mode.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi x4mer

Thanks for testing.
The problem there is not encryption related - it is something else entirely. Definitely a TV Server bug. Without getting into too much detail, there have been some changes to the way TV Server determines what kind of "service" a channel is (radio, TV, EPG, firmware updates etc.). TV Server can really only handle TV and radio channels, so it ignores anything that is not TV or radio. It seems that in your case TV Server is not able to correctly determine what kind of services your channels are. I will need to talk to the team and get back to you on this one. We may need a dump from you to determine what is going wrong...

PS: instructions for how to get access to the debug options are at the bottom of this wiki page.

 

[xxsteelroosterxx]

Hi. I'm having the exact same problem. QAM scans (all of the options) turn up nothing, when I know I've got around 7 QAM channels. If you'd like more stuff to look at lemme know.

 

[Migue]

I don't know if it helps but here are logs of QAM scanning in my setup where it works fine.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi Migue

Thanks for stepping into the discussion.
In your case TV Server is *sometimes* able to determine the channel types. From your tv.log file:

2011-05-10 15:48:01.093427 [(20)]: atsc:Found: ATSC:tv:unknown WFTV-HD Freq:135 ONID:0 TSID:8111 SID:1 PMT:0x65 FTA:True LCN:10000 phys:1 maj:9 min:1 mod:Mod256Qam

2011-05-10 15:48:01.095427 [(20)]: atsc:Found: ATSC:tv:unknown WKCFHD Freq:135 ONID:0 TSID:8111 SID:2 PMT:0xC9 FTA:True LCN:10000 phys:1 maj:18 min:1 mod:Mod256Qam

2011-05-10 15:48:01.096427 [(20)]: atsc:Found: ATSC:tv:unknown ThisTV Freq:135 ONID:0 TSID:8111 SID:3 PMT:0x12D FTA:True LCN:10000 phys:1 maj:18 min:2 mod:Mod256Qam

2011-05-10 15:48:01.098427 [(20)]: atsc:Found: ATSC:tv:unknown Estrella Freq:135 ONID:0 TSID:8111 SID:4 PMT:0x191 FTA:True LCN:10000 phys:1 maj:18 min:3 mod:Mod256Qam

2011-05-10 15:48:01.100427 [(20)]: atsc:Found: ATSC:tv:unknown WFTV-WX Freq:135 ONID:0 TSID:8111 SID:8 PMT:0x321 FTA:True LCN:10000 phys:1 maj:9 min:2 mod:Mod256Qam

At other times you seem to encounter the same issue as x4mer and xxsteelroosterxx (ie. you are potentially missing channels):

2011-05-10 15:48:59.277755 [(20)]: Found Unknown:   type:0 onid:0 tsid:FB3C sid:1 pmt:F40 hasVideo:1 hasAudio:1

2011-05-10 15:48:59.281755 [(20)]: Found Unknown:   type:0 onid:0 tsid:FB3C sid:2 pmt:F50 hasVideo:1 hasAudio:1

2011-05-10 15:48:59.282755 [(20)]: Found Unknown:   type:0 onid:0 tsid:FB3C sid:3 pmt:F60 hasVideo:1 hasAudio:1

2011-05-10 15:48:59.284755 [(20)]: Found Unknown:   type:0 onid:0 tsid:FB3C sid:4 pmt:F70 hasVideo:1 hasAudio:1

2011-05-10 15:48:59.285755 [(20)]: Found Unknown:   type:0 onid:0 tsid:FB3C sid:6 pmt:F90 hasVideo:1 hasAudio:1

2011-05-10 15:48:59.287755 [(20)]: Found Unknown:   type:0 onid:0 tsid:FB3C sid:7 pmt:FA0 hasVideo:1 hasAudio:1

2011-05-10 15:48:59.289755 [(20)]: Found Unknown:   type:0 onid:0 tsid:FB3C sid:8 pmt:FB0 hasVideo:1 hasAudio:1

To reiterate: the channels are found, but TV Server can't figure out what type they are (according to ATSC specification, type 0 is a reserved type - effectively not defined) so it doesn't add them to the channel list...

I'm wondering about three things:
1. Is QAM the same as ATSC in terms of the packet header information? If it is not then we need to separate the implementation for QAM scanning from the implementation for ATSC scanning. I'll look into this...
2. Have we got a genuine bug in TV Server that means it only picks up the service type correctly in some cases. I'll also look into this...
3. Would your channel providers respond positively to complaints if you were to send them an email explaining that they aren't conforming with ATSC specification and respectfully requesting that the fix the issue?

 

[ryan1]

I have the same problem as x4mer. My imported QAM channels from 1.1.3 still work, but new scans with 1.2b result in nothing found.

I can post logs if needed.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi Ryan1

So your channels were scanned in by 1.1.3?

@everyone
I think the next move from here is for someone to downgrade to 1.1.3 and do a full scan with a clean DB. That will confirm that the behaviour has changed in 1.2.0a or 1.2.0b. I'd want to see logs for that...

The other thing to do that I've already mentioned would be to provide us with a 30-60 second transport stream dump of a clear QAM multiplex.

 

[ryan1]

Hi Ryan1

So your channels were scanned in by 1.1.3?

@everyone
I think the next move from here is for someone to downgrade to 1.1.3 and do a full scan with a clean DB. That will confirm that the behaviour has changed in 1.2.0a or 1.2.0b. I'd want to see logs for that...

The other thing to do that I've already mentioned would be to provide us with a 30-60 second transport stream dump of a clear QAM multiplex.

Yes, scanned in by 1.1.3 and imported with the upgrade to 1.2b. Those still work fine. However a new scan will detect no QAM channels. I'll post logs later this evening when I get a chance.

 

[x4mer]

Since I can't scan in any QAM channels on 1.2B, I'm unable to select a channel to create a dump, without downgrading my server again.

Any chance you could do a dump for the devs Ryan, since you still have some old channels available to you?

 

[ryan1]

I can't dump a raw TS as per this because the Debug Options menu doesnt appear
TS Dumps - MediaPortal Wiki

The Debug menu used to appear in 1.1.2/3 because I had it set to reset graph after stop. Yes, I'm using the --DebugOptions switch.

Has something changed on how to do a dump with 1.2?