Unable to scan for radio channels, missing AV encoder? (1 Viewer)

DigiDan

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Hello!

I have the latest version of MediaPortal, 1.7.1, configured as TV-server without front end. It works just fine for TV, and serves to XBMC over the network without issue. However, I cannot get it to scan for radio stations using the Theater 750 card, it just complains "Please install a supported audio/video encoder for your sotware analogue card"

The system is a homebuilt HTPC, built around a MSI E350ia-45 motherboard (AMD E350 APU), with an ATI TV Wonder 650 pro PCIe (TV only, hardware encoder), and ATI Theater 750 USB (TV and radio, soft encode, works fine for TV). It's running Windows 7 SP1, x64.

I have checked in server preferences for software encoders - AMD MPEG encoder is installed and enabled for both video and audio, and set as first priority. No other encoders are installed. The radio tuning works fine in Windows Media Center.

Please note this is a fresh Windows 7 install, with literally no other software on the machine besides XBMC, Firefox, and Mediaportal.

I'm rather new at this, so I appreciate any suggestions you have! Thanks
 

mm1352000

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    Hello and welcome! :)

    I'm rather new at this, so I appreciate any suggestions you have!
    The information you've provided is a good start, however I'll need a bit more detail in order to figure out exactly what is going on.

    Please could you grab your log files using the watchdog/debug-tool with option 3:
    http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_..._Non_Reproducible_Problems_within_MediaPortal

    ...then post/attach the zip file here.
    If you don't have MediaPortal (the front end) installed then you won't have the debug tool either... in which case, please:
    1. Open TV Server configuration.
    2. Click "open log directory" in the top left corner.
    3. Go up one directory/folder level.
    4. Zip the "AnalogCard" and "log" directories.
    5. Post/attach the zip file here.
    Regards,
    mm
     

    DigiDan

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    Thanks for the fast response. I've attached the log files as requested. I have also rebooted a couple times since I first tried to tune radio, it has not helped, as the error still appears when trying to scan.

    Also, Note that the card with ID 4 is the THeater 750 USB card, according to the list of cards in the TV Servers section of the configuration panel. (ID 3 is the 650 pro).

    It may be a little while before I can respond again - we have some severe thunderstorms moving in and i'm going to shut down the PCs. Again, thanks for the amazingly fast response!
     

    mm1352000

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    Thanks for the log files - they're perfect. (y)

    So, what I'm seeing is that TV Server is not seeing the ATI video encoder that you say you've installed. It is seeing and using the ATI audio encoder - no problem with that - ...but it needs the video encoder as well in order to tune either analog TV or radio.

    Apart from the video encoder everything looks okay. Once that encoder is detected it looks like radio will work.

    Could you please post a screenshot of the software encoders section for us. Please make sure we can see the ATI entries in both the video and audio lists.

    Regards,
    mm
     

    DigiDan

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    Ok, very strange. I looked into the encoder panel, and AMD MPEG video encoder is showing not installed.... which I was certain it was earlier when I was setting up TV channels. I'm confused. I did reinstall video drivers earlier (Updated from windows software update default version to AMD's latest 14.4 WHQL), could that have caused it?

    I'll try to repair the install - but if that fails, is this a known issue with a workaround? Or more to the point, if I need to install one, is there a recommended free package?

    Thanks
    encoder.PNG
     

    mm1352000

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    Ok, very strange. I looked into the encoder panel, and AMD MPEG video encoder is showing not installed.... which I was certain it was earlier when I was setting up TV channels.
    Yeah, I believe you.
    I use the ATI encoders myself and there is one file - atidvcr.dll - which contains both the video and audio encoder. :confused:

    I did reinstall video drivers earlier (Updated from windows software update default version to AMD's latest 14.4 WHQL), could that have caused it?
    Yes, definitely.

    I'll try to repair the install - but if that fails, is this a known issue with a workaround? Or more to the point, if I need to install one, is there a recommended free package?
    This is not a known issue. We don't supply or install the encoders ourselves - no license to do so. Vendors (Hauppauge, ATI, etc.) distribute them in varioius ways; some bundle them with the drivers, some provide a separate package. We expect you to install the required drivers and/or software... and then things should just work.

    You can try the pack from here:
    https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...oder-based-tv-cards.90355/page-8#post-1052944

    It includes a version of the ATI encoders which should be adequate.
     

    DigiDan

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    Thanks for the info there. I actually tried completely uninstalling - then rebooting and reinstalling the AMD driver package. First, with the current 14.4, then with the previous 13.12 WHQL package... but the encoder still was missing.

    The package you linked worked great - the ATI MPEG video encoder now shows as installed and enabled.

    On a side note - sorry about the poor wording. When I asked if this was a known issue, I was referring not to media portal but rather the AMD drivers - I know issues like this tend to pop up more than once, so I was hoping someone had seen it before and found a solution.

    One other thing - earlier I said the 750 supported FM radio - it's actually the 650 Pro that does. I accidentally confused the two when writing the post - guess I need to stop posting past midnight :)

    I assume this would explain a new error i'm seeing from the 750: "Unable to scan: The graph building. Mostly your card is not supported by TvServer. Please create a report in our forum". Now, with that said, when trying to scan with the 650 pro, i see "This TV Card does not support radio".

    Here are product pages for both cards, in case it proves useful:
    http://www.diamondmm.com/tvw750usb-diamond-hd-usb-tv-tuner.html
    http://www.diamondmm.com/tvw650pcie-ati-amd-tv-wonder-hd-650.htm < note that this is for the generic 650 PCIe, '650 pro' is what's listed on the label on the card itself. That said, I'm not finding any info on the '650 pro' on diamond's site currently but only the '650'

    I do want to clarify one more thing - the TV server configuration application lists an ID for each card, when you're looking at a specific server, as shown in the screenshot. This is the same ID that the cards are numbered by in column/source list under the IP, correct? I just want to make sure i'm looking at the correct card.

    Thanks for all your help. If this ends up being too much trouble I can always use my receiver downstairs for radio instead.
     

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    mm1352000

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    One other thing - earlier I said the 750 supported FM radio - it's actually the 650 Pro that does. I accidentally confused the two when writing the post - guess I need to stop posting past midnight :)
    Now I'm confused! :p
    What I can see from your log files is that tuner 4 - the USB one - supports FM radio. According to the links you just posted that's the 750.

    I assume this would explain a new error i'm seeing from the 750: "Unable to scan: The graph building. Mostly your card is not supported by TvServer. Please create a report in our forum". Now, with that said, when trying to scan with the 650 pro, i see "This TV Card does not support radio".
    That message you're getting with the 650 (the PCI or PCIe one) suggests it does not support FM radio. I can't confirm that from the log files, but I'd be inclined to trust it. If you're 100% certain that the 650 hardware supports FM radio then the only possibility I could offer is that the wrong driver is installed.

    Putting the 650 to one side for a moment, the fact that you're getting "Unable to scan..." still with the 750 is not good. Please can you grab me a fresh set of log files using the same process as before.

    I do want to clarify one more thing - the TV server configuration application lists an ID for each card, when you're looking at a specific server, as shown in the screenshot. This is the same ID that the cards are numbered by in column/source list under the IP, correct?
    Yes, correct.
    The fact that the driver gives the tuners the same name is definitely confusing. You can see that tuner 3 is PCI or PCIe and tuner 4 is USB from the "Device Path" column in the same section. Maybe that helps to straighten things out...

    mm
     

    DigiDan

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    What I can see from your log files is that tuner 4 - the USB one - supports FM radio. According to the links you just posted that's the 750.

    Right, the 750 is the USB card. I thought it supported FM radio when I got it some time ago, but the website do not say anything about FM radio. I trusted this over the last few days - but it seems I shouldn't have. I was able to dig out the manual - the manual for the device itself confirms the 750 USB supports FM radio, while the site simply doesn't mention it. As for the 650, i'm going to trust Mediaportal's error in that it doesn't support FM radio for the same reason.

    Interestingly, after rebooting for windows updates today, the 750 USB was not detected by Mediaportal - until I unplugged it and plugged it back in (and restarted the server for good measure). After that, not only does it work, but FM tuning started working! I can now scan for FM stations using the 750 USB, and streaming to XBMC works fine as well.

    I don't really get why it suddenly works, but i'm not going to complain :)

    As requested, I've attached the logs, although hopefully it will continue to work. I appreciate your help!
     

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