Should I change card or tweak setup to fix this nightmare?

[Fenroth]

Hi Everyone,
After 2 solid days going through this nightmare, I thought Id better ask your expert advice on what to do, as im realy stuck :/

A few days ago I bought a Hauppage PVR 500 Dual TV card (it was an MCE pack includes remote). The express aim was to get freeview TV (and maybe some pay per view channels like UKGold etc) for my girlfriend who's v.ill at the mo. Her PC is:
P4 3GHz, 512MB RAM, 80Gig HDD, WinXP Pro

I installed the card properly, attached TV aerial cable from roof (Blaenplwyf antenna near Aberystwyth, UK), then Java (latest version), then the SageTV, SageTV’s XMLTV plug-in & generated a epg.xml from epg.bat file, everything imported fine into SageTV.

However.. (yes I know you'll probably laugh) - when I tried to view the freeview channels, I realised with dread that the TV card only receives analogue (not digital) signal. I now have 2 choices:

1) to buy a freeview box and plug it in series before it reaches the tv card - ive heard the MCE remote takes over the freeview box somehow, does anyone have experience of this? Also I wanted to use the PVR feature so I could set recording of 1 station while watching another (hence the dual card). If the digital is through the box theres no way to get pay per view freeview channels like UKGold? Or am I wrong.

2) sell the card on EBay and buy a digital TV card (no idea which one, needs to be under 100 GBP). But then I wont be able to record 1 channel while viewing another?

Advice please! I really dont want to mess this up again, dont have the cash.
Thanks,
Scott

[Lucas]

If you decide to get a digital card rather than an external freeview STB, you can get a twin tuner board like the terratec 2400i, provided your motherboard has PCI express slots.

[Fenroth]

Argh damn, the board doesnt have PCI express slots, only PCI. If theres no other dual freeview card thats better, I'll swap for a new motherboard too.

Im determined to get it working now after spending so much time on it. If anyone knows of other dual freeview TV cards about that are good please let me know, before I buy all the kit again, thanks!

BTW thats an awesome setup youve got there Lucas

[Lucas]

Thanks Fenroth!

It's getting bigger and bigger. It's definetely worthwhile so stick with it.

I like you don't have PCI-e slots so I opted for 2xsingle tuner PCI DVB-T cards.

Stick with the supported cards or other cards that users have confirmed that they work wih SageTV to avoid more headaches.

[pjwerdna]

I think the pay freeview channels require a topuptv subscription so you'll need somewhere to plug in their subscription card. I've not seen a DVB-T tuner that has such a slot.

Also SageTV doesnt officially support DVB-T cards yet. The last verison that supported freeview compatible cards was a beta and the last reccommendation I saw was 'dont upgrade yet if you use a DVB-T card', which is a problem as the beta doesnt scan for channels automatically. It doesnt tune them reliably for me, but seems to for others.

[Fenroth]

hmm thats a real problem then :/ I need to receive the freeview digital channels, theres no cable TV in Aberystwyth (its on the coast in the countryside), and the weather is too bad for satellite, so the only option is a roof antenna & booster linked to my GF's PC. Luckily theres a huge digital TV transmitter on a neighbouring mountain.

Is there any decent freeview digital tv card (PCI) which which I can use? I was just about to buy Lucas' 2xTechnotrend 1300 DVB-T's, but having difficult finding a supplier in the uk. If anyone knows of a way I can get digital without cable TV, please let me know thx.

[Fenroth]

Just doing some looking about, are any of these compatible with SageTV? Ideally Id prefer 2 USB2.0 sticks, that would be cool:

Hauppauge WIN-TV HVR-900TV USB 2.0 Analogue & Digital TV Tuner
Other products by HAUPPAUGE:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...255969-2155152


Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T USB Stick - DVB-T Digital freeview TV tuner stick:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...255969-2155152


Hauppauge WinTV-HVR1100 PCI Analogue/Digital Terrestrial TV tuner Card :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...255969-2155152

[ukmgranger]

Just a word of warning.

DVB support within Sage is dreadful at the moment. Unless something has changed recently, the last working version Sage was 4.16 (Beta) I think.

I gave up and just yanked out my DVB-t card and am now back to my original 2 x PVR-250's with freeview boxes connected.

This works very well for me. but I would love to see proper working support for DVB-t within Sage.

[Fenroth]

ah excellent! someone who has tried to plug in a freeview box inline to a PVR! How did u find it? Does the sage TV take over the freeview box completely with no hassles? And have u managed to setup and of the other pay per view channels like UKGold etc (that would be perfect)

[ukmgranger]

Originally Posted by Fenroth

ah excellent! someone who has tried to plug in a freeview box inline to a PVR! How did u find it? Does the sage TV take over the freeview box completely with no hassles? And have u managed to setup and of the other pay per view channels like UKGold etc (that would be perfect)

I have two different freeview boxes connected into two PVR-250s. I also use a USB-UIRT box to control the channel changing side of things. This works fairly smooth and I rarely get a channel change error. The PQ is actually pretty good on my system too (although when on the odd occasion I have managed to get my DVB-t card working the PQ is superb).

If the support was there for DVB-t I would opt for this over separate freeview boxes any day as the picture is much better and you don't get the delay and STB UI when changing channels.

I don't have the ability to try PPV channels on my freeview boxes, so I have never tried.

I did read on another thread that the DVB-t cards should be working in this version of Sage (5.03). However I just had a quick play and I am still having problems with the program just freezing. I then have to re-boot Sage to get the DVB-t card back again.

Hope this helps

[pjwerdna]

Originally Posted by Fenroth

ah excellent! someone who has tried to plug in a freeview box inline to a PVR! How did u find it? Does the sage TV take over the freeview box completely with no hassles? And have u managed to setup and of the other pay per view channels like UKGold etc (that would be perfect)

SageTV Controls my Thomson freeview box fine using a USB-UIRT. There are two Scart sockets so I use one for the TV and one feeds a PVR250.

I do get occaisional problems with the channels that start at 7pm. If you switch to them before 7pm you get a message that says the channels starts at 7pm and you should change channels if you can see a picture behind the message (something like that anyway). If you dont change channels the message stays on screen all over the picture. When Sage records something at 7pm it often records everything with the message on top of the picture until a differant channel is chosen.

[Fenroth]

ok just checked for a compatible freeview box and bought a Sagem ITD68, plugged it to the aerial, did the auto tune to collect the digital freeview channels (all perfect reception), then plugged it to the input on the PVR 500. WinTV2000 picks up 4 channels, whereas SageTV only picks up static :/ Am I doing something fundamentally wrong that I've missed?

Another problem, the Windows MCE remote supplied from Hauppage (came in the box with the PVR) is not being recognised by SageTV. I think SageTV is not recognising the USB-UIRT supplied by Hauppage. Is there anything I can do to tweak SageTV to recognise it? Or do I have to order one of the 2 USB-UIRT's that SageTV officially support (have to order from US if so - so would take 2 weeks+ and another £50). I'm quite suprised it didnt recognise the one from Hauppage, as its a big manufacturer of tv cards :/ If anyone can help me get the hauppage USB-UIRT working with SageTV, Id be eternally grateful! And if your in the uk, I'll post over a nice bottle of wine (red/white your choice)

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Fenroth

Another problem, the Windows MCE remote supplied from Hauppage (came in the box with the PVR) is not being recognised by SageTV. I think SageTV is not recognising the USB-UIRT supplied by Hauppage.

A "USB-UIRT" is not a generic name for a remote device attached to a USB port, it is the name of a specific product. There is a link in the remote info sticky in this hardware forum. What you have is not a "USB-UIRT".

The MCE-style remote from Hauppauge should work as an MCE remote for controlling SageTV -- go to Detailed Setup -> Commands -> Remote Control Config, then select the MCE remote option. To use it's blaster to control a converter box, I believe you'll have to use HIP or Girder.

- Andy

[Fenroth]

Thanks for the tips, I managed to get the USBUIRT supplied by Hauppage working along with the EXEplugin and HIP. I programmed the HIP to recognise my digibox IR codes successfully (thanks for that great thread in the forum), and can now view the freeview channels on the PC, success!

I have one final big problem - the MCE remote, when clicking up and down the channels, it shows what is on a specific channel without actually changing to it, even after I select a program to view using the MCE remote?
Has anyone had this behaviour before?

For now the only way I can get around it is just to use the remote that came with the digibox, instead of the MCE remote. Please help!!!

[Fenroth]

Ok I've checked over the steps to program the IR codes again and all seesm fine. Ive moved the IR blaster and stuck it directly over the IR receiver on the Freeview box. But the problem still remains - when I use the MCE remote to try and change channels, it changes the "program guide" information of SageTV, but doe not actually switch the channel on the Freeview box, even though I can see the IR blaster flashing.

The freeview box is a Sagem, which is on the SageTV compatibility list. Does anyone have any ideas? Im really stuck, there seems to be no way to get it working

[Fenroth]

if anyone has managed to get an MCE remote to do channel changing on their Freeview digi box, please let me know. Ive scoured everywhere for a solution and it wont work :/.

the MCE remote changes the program guide info only, its not switching channel physically on the freeview box. Ive checked the IR blaster and that is working, also placed in the right location.

[Fenroth]

my trial has run out on sagetv, after countless hours repeating the setup process of MCE IR + HIP + sageTV + other plugins and not getting it to channel change through sagetv, im going to have to just give up. Its a real pity it wouldnt work in the end