TV Server Setup for HD Homerun (1 Viewer)

[ap90033]

There seems to be a HUGE amount of posts/how to's on setting up a tv server but no single "this is how you do it"...
I am trying to setup (2) HD Homerun OTA (In the USA) tuners on Media Portal TV Server. It sees all of them but some of the channels are "Unknown" and when I try to change it I get invalid Frequency. First off where the heck is a how to that shows for step 1-finish how to properly setup a tv server (especially with ATSC OTA like mine).
How do I setup channels correctly? There are many fields to make sure are correct -
Channel, Frequency, Major, Minor, Modulation, Network ID, Transport ID, Service ID, PMT PID, Provider, etc etc What are all these for? How do I make sure they are setup correctly? Where would I get the info if they are not setup correctly? Help?

 

[RonD]

Hi,

what version of MePo are you using? MePo 1.2.3 or MePo 1.3.0beta?

I also use MePo for US ATSC with the HDHR tuner. I have not tried or needed to edit/modify any of the fields you are listed. One of these days I'll try to write up a MePo wiki entry with how do basic US ATSC channel scan and setup. This would really be "one guy's way" of setting up MePo. There are lots of ways to setup MePo.

Sometimes when I scan channels I also see "Unknown" for the channel name. When this happens I do 1 of the following to get around the problem.

1. In TV Channels > Channels (nnn), delete the "Unknown" channels and do another channel scan. Most of the time this fixes the "Unknown" problem.

2. If the delete/rescan does not clean up the problem you can also try the following. Select the "unknown" channel and press "Preview". If MePo can tune to the channel you should see a small video window and you can watch the show to see what channel you are tuned to. You can change the channel name by doing 2 left clicks on the channel name, then modify the name. This works like using the windows file explorer to modify a file name.

 

[ap90033]

1.2.3... I have it setup I think, but cannot get my client to work. I am using XBMC and followed the instructions, it see the server and channels show up but no go beyond that...

 

[ap90033]

I tried a media portal client and it works like a champ guess xbmc is the issue sigh...

 

[Darrin2101]

I'm in a similar position to the original poster, I have an HDRun Prime with a Bright House CableCard inserted. Been using MP for years as my media player, upgraded to 1.30 Final. Wrestled with the SQL config for a bit, now i find MP sees the cards but there's no scan options for the USA and the global setting doesn't seem to help. Is there some sort of guide that someone can point me to as I've hit a brick wall with this

 

[ap90033]

I think we need to get all the USA users with TV Tuners (like our HD Homerun) together and work towards making something thats EASY...

 

[2BitSculptor]

I have two of the HDHRs, but not the prime ... they and MP work together perfectly for me for all my ATSC channels, I don't have cable or sat, so I can't be of any help in those areas. Sorry

For OTA broadcasts, it depends on the strength of your antenna, distance from the broadcaster, physical obstructions and weather..

I'm using a medium range antenna, and I've got an antenna amp, and an amplified splitter to boost the signal, but a long range antenna would help me a lot. The medium range antenna was good enough for the old analog broadcasts, but not for digital. At different times, when I scan, or use any of the the 4 tuners to scan with, I can get different results, sometimes between 2 and 8 unknowns, or even if the channel does show up, it doesn't get enough tuning details to lock on. For now, all my channels are locked in, even though broadcast quality can vary. Last scan gave me 2 unknowns, but they were channels in a different broadcast market that were a little stronger that day.

 

[Darrin2101]

Not sure I see the relevance to the last post as I'm trying to get a cablecard tuner to play nice with MP not a straight ATSC one but thanks for the information all the same. My point is that all the guides I found so far get you so far then leave you twisting in the wind when it comes to specifics about your hardware. If someone with an HD Prime has successfully managed to get it to work to some degree with MP I'd love to know the secret otherwise I'll assume I have to look for an alternative program.

 

[2BitSculptor]

The relevance was to the appearance of the "unknown" channels mentioned in the posts prior to yours. As to your dilemma, There has been some discussion about cablecard use in the prime. It seems, as is my understanding, there is "proprietary" code in the prime's firmware for cable that makes it near impossible for free open source software to access it. Commercial software pays the appropriate fees (that get passed on to the customer) to get access. MS Media Center is one such commercial product that is supposed to work with the prime. You would have to check with SiliconDust for a list of compatible software. It is an ongoing issue that is being looked at, but for now, I don't think the devs have any answer. We would hate to see you leave MediaPortal because of this issue, but the problem is understood. I don't know if there are similar issues with other tuners in regard to US cable. HDHR is a very affordable solution, if it works. Perhaps you can investigate other tuners compatibility issues.

Another problem we face, the lion's share of the programming is being done in Europe, and there are no developers in the US that I know of, that are familiar enough in the TV-Server areas to contribute, and that also have access to all possible situations here.

 

[2BitSculptor]

From another thread; It seems that MS Media Center has to be installed (and set up at least once) on your computer to unlock the cablecard. There are a few users trying to get the interface worked out to use the MC unlocked streams from the Prime. It is working already for another brand USB connected tuner on some systems.