Some basic questions (1 Viewer)

[finrudd341]

MediaPortal Version: 1.1.0 Final
MediaPortal Skin: Black Glass Nova
Windows Version: Windows XP Pro SP3
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor
HDD: 3 x Wester Digital WD10EACS 1000Gb (RAID 1) & 1 x Wester Digital WD1600Js 160GB boot drive
Memory: 2 x 2GB Kingston (cheap stuff) DDR2
Motherboard: Asustek P5E-V HDMI L775 Motherboard
Video Card: Intel G35 Express Chipset
Video Card Driver: 6.14.10.5016
Sound Card: Realtek onboard
Sound Card AC3: via HDMI from motherboard
Sound Card Driver: 6.14.10.5016
1. TV Card: FireDTV
1. TV Card Type: DVB-C
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card: C3 Tech HDTV/SDTV (Generic Chinese brand sold in Brasil)
2. TV Card Type: ISDB-T
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: SAF v4 pack
MPEG2 Audio Codec: SAF v4 pack
h.264 Video Codec: SAF v4 pack
Satelite/CableTV Provider: NET TV (Brazil)
HTPC Case: Zalman HD160-XT PLUS Case Silver
Cooling: Zalman CNPS8500 LED CPU Fan
Power Supply: ZM600-HP Heatpipe Cooled 600W Modular PSU
Remote: Logitech Harmony 525
TV: Sharp Aquos 42"
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI to AV Receiver - to HDMI on LCD

Can anyone help me with some basic explanations from the attached screenshots please? I only installed TV this week, and am running a DVB-C card for the cable channels, and a ISDB-T card (Brazilian DTV standard) for the Free To Air channels.

Looking at the attached for IDVB-T there appears to be two things standing out when playing from the TV server to the client.

1. Bandwidth = 6 - Is this the bandwidth on my network between server and client? 6 what?
2. Signal Level = 2 - this is always poor on the ISDB-T card, as I don't have a proper aerial yes, and this reads 100 with the cable TV channels.

So, would I be right in assuming that quality of the signal is good on the Digital Terrestrial Channels, but I am just not receiving it very well, and therefore a proper aerial would improve it?

Also, on two of the FTA HD channels, I get audio for a split second when the channel starts and then it stops - picture is ok though. Again, could this suggest there is simply not a good enough signal to receive the audio feed? Audio works on the SD channels without a problem, and I never get this with the cable channels.

 

[finrudd341]

I've made some progress, but not a huge amount.
- Clean Windows XP SP3 install, all updates.
- Clean MP 1.1.0 Final Install.
- I have installed RG6 cabling to a communal antenna mounted on the roof, and am getting reasonable signals, including HD content.
- I have played fairly extensively with codec options, but the problem with Audio on HD Channels persists.
- I have changed the setup so that the HTPC now feeds directly into the TV via HDMI, using the Intel G35 chipset. Audio is running from Realtek digital coaxial output into the AV Receiver.
- Audio on it's own works fine, and playback from movies etc works fine (on proper 5.1 surround sound too).

- *NEW* - MediaPortal now hangs on selecting a channel from the ISDB-T tuner. It then needs a CTRL-ALT-DEL (see logs attached). It also hangs when selecting the card via the TV Server Config Utility.
- I have un-installed and re-installed the card, which is a generic Philips SAA 713X Hybrid Capture card.
- I have checked the codecs in use (before the whole thing started crashing) using GraphEdit, and placed a post under the codec sections of the Forum, in case it is that: Link is here: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...em-monogram-aac-decoder-hd-tv-playback-85374/

I'm now fairly stuck - the ISDB card is probably not great, but my choice in Brazil is very limited, so the generic re-badged cards are all I can get

Any ideas greatly appreciated, and if anyone can see anything in my logs that might explain the problem, that would be a big help!

 

[finrudd341]

UPDATE:

I have now updated to SAF5 (unlocked) but am still having problems with the ISDB-T Card and MP crashing every time I try and view a channel mapped to this card.

If I enter into TV Server Config, and click on this card, it also hangs.

If I remove the card via Device Manager, and then re-install it, it works for a while, then I have the same problem.

I have stopped this card from looking for any sort of EPG, in case that was a problem, but it has not had any impact.

I am really scratching my head here - if anyone can spot something in my logs, please give me a clue!

 

[hoborg]

UPDATE:

I have now updated to SAF5 (unlocked) but am still having problems with the ISDB-T Card and MP crashing every time I try and view a channel mapped to this card.

If I enter into TV Server Config, and click on this card, it also hangs.

If I remove the card via Device Manager, and then re-install it, it works for a while, then I have the same problem.

I have stopped this card from looking for any sort of EPG, in case that was a problem, but it has not had any impact.

I am really scratching my head here - if anyone can spot something in my logs, please give me a clue!

In graph you have Realtek HD as output - try to change it to "Default DirectSound Device" in MePo config.

 

[finrudd341]

Thanks Hoborg - tried that, and strangely enough last night when I got home from work, the channels on my ISDB-T card were available and not crashing. Same thing this morning too.

On the DVB-C card, there is a new channel, in HD (Net Brasil must have forgotten to encrypt it yet) which has HD audio - the red Dolby Digital light on my AV Receiver lights up, and I get very nice sounds from my 5.1 Kef System. Normally, on the SD channels that give me sound, the AV Receiver only shows the PCM sign (96Khz for what it's worth).

There are one or two HD channels on the ISDB-T card that do work with sound, and these also show PCM on the A/V receiver. The main ones, like MTV HD, GLOBO HD and BAND HD all have no audio still.

So - my setup seems fairly random still. I sometimes have working HD channels on the ISDB-T card, and I sometimes don't. What is consistent is that I don't have audio on the majority of the HD channels on the ISDB-T card.

One last interesting point - I have skin sounds turned on, so it makes that annoying noise whenever you press a button. If I browse to an HD Channel with no sound, this annoying noise disappears until I browse to channel where sound is working, and then comes back.

So - I am now wondering. Is my problem related to signal strength and signal quality? There is a post here with possibly a similar issue: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...rvice-crashes-when-reception-turns-bad-84414/ and my signal strength on the ISDB-T card always shows between 1 to 9 only, although signal quality is always good (see earlier screenshots in this post). The DVB-C card is always a signal strength of 90+, so I am wondering if this is the issue I am seeing.

 

[finrudd341]

I have been looking at my logs - not really sure what I am looking for, but respect is due to you guys and girls who can look at these and make head or tales of them!

Looking at another thread here https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/general-support-51/some-tv-channels-not-working-84318/, Paranoid Delusion spots some problems with signals. On my ISDB-T card, I am getting lots of these below in the tvserver_tv.log file, where Signal Level is rarely if ever above 10.

There seem to be other threads on TV Server crashing if signal is weak, so could this be the root of all my problems?


2010-08-07 19:01:16.671875 [(6)]: card: Tuner locked: True
2010-08-07 19:01:16.671875 [(6)]: **************************************************
2010-08-07 19:01:16.671875 [(6)]: ***** SIGNAL LEVEL: 0, SIGNAL QUALITY: 100 *****
2010-08-07 19:01:16.671875 [(6)]: **************************************************

And one more thing on the tvserver_error.log from a crash, I found this:

2010-08-07 17:55:22.265625 [(6)]: Exception :TvLibrary.TvExceptionSWEncoderMissing: No audio compressor filter found. You must install a supported audio encoder!

Any thoughts?

Increasingly I am wondering if the problem is signal....one thing I have not tried, is the TV application that came with the ISDB-T card, so will give this a go and see what sort of signal it is saying I have.

EDIT: ok, I downloaded Prog Finder, and run through the options on the 6Mhz bandwidth, and the only signals I picked up a good reading on QUALITY had very low readings on SIGNAL. While I am no expert on this program, it does perhaps confirm what Tuning Details on MP is showing me, that signal is my problem.

One more thing I can try - as it could be my F-Connector terminations that are at fault, or even the cable itself, I am going to disconnect the NET Cable TV from the feed outside the flat and from my DVB-C card, and connect it into the feed for the communal UHF aerial and my ISDB-T card - if I suddenly get a good signal and quality reading, I know it's my cabling at fault.

 

[kiwijunglist]

I read somewhere something like "the signal strength is zero because it can't get the info from the card, since quality is 100% then it's ok" - I might be wrong though, but i'm sure I remember reading that somewhere, may or may not relate to your situation.

 

[finrudd341]

Thanks Kiwijungalist - I am going to explore this option a little more, and hopefully see if its signal strength causing some of the problems. For sure, until I can categorically remove this as one of the problems, I cannot find out what the issue is.

Another thing of note - with my HD channel that comes through the DVB-C card (which is a channel called TLC), the Audio lights up my AV Receiver like a Christmas tree, and the volume is then not controlled by the sound card on the PC any more. The remote control changes volume on the HTPC up and down, but it has no effect. This is with Dolby Digital sound.

When I have a source with PCM audio, the volume can be controlled via the HTPC quite nicely. Not a major problem, but more of an observation.

Fluke testing of the RG6 cabling will commence on Saturday, and that should show if the problem really is with the signal. If it is, then the reason I have no audio on the HD channels mapped to the ISDB-T card is that there is not enough signal to send the audio stream and the video stream together?

 

[kiwijunglist]

If you use pass through audio, then all decoding (including vol control) is handled by the audio receiver. This is normal behaviour for any program that uses pass through audio.

 

[finrudd341]

OK - testing done, and sadly no conclusive results. Firstly, I stuck a fluke tester on my cabling - apart from two of the F connectors coming off in my hands all I saw was that I have an 11m run between comms cabinet and outside feed, and a 14m run between my comms cabinet and the HTPC, both working.

Next - I disconnected the cable TV cable from the feed in the service area, and ran this into the TV card - this was to see if it was my cabling or choice of cabling that was causing the problems. I re-scanned the channels and saw the same problem - weak strength, perfect quality.

I have invested in a compression tool for improving the quality of my terminations, and a proper digital antenna, to go on the roof. As I live on the top floor, the route up the roof is not too hard, and hopefully I will be allowed to mount it up there. The building is a few years old, and the communal antenna is probably not ideal for digital TV, as the uptake in Brazil is really slow (probably because of cost of ISDB-T STB...), therefore I suspect the antenna was just plonked on the roof with old analogue TV in mind - not sure, but I am guessing on an 18-storey building, you can put the antenna just about anywhere and pick up acceptable analogue TV, but I am guessing this is not the case with Digital.

Lastly, my connector blocks might need to be looked at - I think I need a 1Ghz block to make the link between service area and the apartment - certainly all the other ones in the cabinet are 1Ghz...is this something that changes from country to country, depending on what frequency digital TV is broadcast on?

Anyway - my quest goes on...the good news is that most of the channels are working, just not the HD ones, and as long as I don't want audio, those work.

As ever - any suggestions greatly appreciated!