Will changing TV Tuners reduce my issues? (1 Viewer)

[craigparris1]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone's been in the scenario that I'm in, done what I'm thinking about doing, and improved their situation.

At the moment I have a HTPC with 2 x Leadtek DTV1000s tuners. They were pretty cheap to buy, so I'm guessing they're not the greatest quality, but they had served me reasonably well up until we moved house. I can definitely tell, just from watching live TV (digital) directly through our tele that the signal quality is not as good as what we used to get at our old place. We'll get occasional "blips" in the signal, which may result in losing picture or sound for a brief moment (say a second, or so).

Now, in terms of Media Portal, I can only assume that these "blips" are having a bigger impact on either the Leadtek tuners, or Media Portal itself, as sometimes when watching a recorded TV show, it may be missing a big chunk of the show, sometimes several minutes. It's a difficult one to investigate, too, as of course I don't really know when these "blips" are going to occur, and also I'm generally not watching the same show that's being recorded at any given time, so can't confirm whether there was a signal drop at the time when the recorded file is missing part of the show. What I do know is that this problem has only appeared since we moved house.

So, my guess just becomes that the when the tuners lose the signal, they're actually dropping right out, and then some kind of lag is occurring in them getting the signal back online. Would this make sense? Have others seen similar problems with their own setup - and, if so, was it resolved by replacing the tuners with better quality ones?

Now, I know that if the signal is not as strong, then there is a possibility for "blips" to occur - that's fine, I can live with that. If a particular recorded show lost a few seconds of signal during the recording, then so be it. But to drop out for minutes at a time, presumably just because the signal was lost for a second or two, is no good.

I'm in Sydney, out Penrith way. I'm considering replacing the Leadtek tuners with a Digital Now Tiny Twin USB tuner - lots of people seem to have good things to say about this brand.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[4Fred]

MePo is bad at handling poor signals, I have a Dreambox 500 beside my HTPC and when the signal is bad the Dreambox can handle errors much better than MePo can, but MePo is better at everything else.

There are many things you can do to improve the signal coming to MePo but changing tuners probably wont change anything, unless they have signal amps built in. I would say check the cables, get signals amps or replace/fix other stuff related to cabling and the signal itself.

 

[4Fred]

Dunno if google translate got this translation right but there is something called "EMI Ferrites" (if translated right) that solves lots of signal problems, there are usually attached to the cable.

 

[SciDoctor]

How is your MP config set up for TSREADER.

Enabling this can reduce dropped frames on weak signals/sgnal errors.

The only way to correct signal problems is at the source prior to the tuner card, so use the best aerial/downlead and connectors for reception from your local transmitter and careful use of amplifier/attenuator for too weak or too strong signal if required.