How to get HDHR QAM working with v6.2

[carlgar]

This is still an issue with the drivers. I have seen 2 of my favorites record the wrong channel. I have verified that the correct channel information has been provided. After the first one occurred I started watching to make sure the correct channel was being recorded. When I noticed the second one I am able to force the HD channel to be recorded and only missed a few minutes. However, it is very confusing because no channel change was needed. The same tuner had just recorded a show on the same channel. Instead it recorded the same channel on the other tuner on the same Homerun was recording. It looks like may be getting confused as to which tuner is being controlled. This is further complicated by the fact that I am using Vista which has known TCP problems and data could be getting lost. I did not have any wrong channel problems until the current Sage release and the change to BDA drivers.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by carlgar

This is still an issue with the drivers. I have seen 2 of my favorites record the wrong channel. I have verified that the correct channel information has been provided. After the first one occurred I started watching to make sure the correct channel was being recorded. When I noticed the second one I am able to force the HD channel to be recorded and only missed a few minutes. However, it is very confusing because no channel change was needed. The same tuner had just recorded a show on the same channel. Instead it recorded the same channel on the other tuner on the same Homerun was recording. It looks like may be getting confused as to which tuner is being controlled. This is further complicated by the fact that I am using Vista which has known TCP problems and data could be getting lost. I did not have any wrong channel problems until the current Sage release and the change to BDA drivers.

Did you make sure you went into the HDHomerun setup configuration and disabled the SageTV configuration? Make sure that is disabled and the SiliconDust refererences were removed from the "ignore encoders" line from the properties file. And Sage/Sage service was off when you disabled it.


Gerry

[clmolnar]

I finally got this to work. I generated my remap file with the auto generation program and it plain just didn't work. After playing around for several hours, I ended up with this:

; WGBH-HD
84-1 2 qam:84 1
; WLVI HD
84-2 3 qam:84 2
; World
85-1 4 qam:85 1
; Kids
85-2 5 qam:85 2
; Create
85-3 6 qam:85 3
; WSBK-DT
85-5 7 qam:85 5
; WCVB-DT
86-1 8 qam:86 1
; WHDH-HD
86-2 9 qam:86 2
; WHDH We
86-3 10 qam:86 3
; WFXT Fi
87-1 11 qam:87 1
; WBZ-DT
87-2 12 qam:87 2

The frequency after the qam: just didn't work. I'm not actually sure why this remap file works.

I am experiencing the same problems as everyone else though. Long delays in displaying the channel after the HDHomeRun tunes it. The HDHomeRun starts tuning immediately, as I can rewind after the show begins to display. It just takes up to 20 seconds until Sage begins to display the stream, and sometimes it never does.

I switched back to the networked setup for now. Hopefully Sage will iron out some of these issues before the release.

[carlgar]

I believe all of my tuning issues have been resolved. I believe they were caused because I had .frq files in the Sage directory that I needed to remove.

I also had to remap channel 98 and 99 to a lower number to get them to work. Moving 99 may have worked but I just moved both at the same time.

For the slow starts during playback, I just use the skip forward and then skip back to kind of kick start them. It seems there is some issue with starting at 0. If you skip forward 10 seconds, play for 1 second and then skip back 10, you are playing from 1 second.

For the other install promblems, make sure you are installing the correct devices. If you install HDHomeRun ..., you will get the network encoder. You have to select Silicondust HDHome ..., to make sure the devices are correct. You can verify the correct devices by looking at the Souce details from the Source Details. The Network Encoder should show false. I think this covers all of the issues that I saw.

edit:
The BDA drivers seem to have timeline issues. I just encountered my third file that does not handle the timeline properly. The file started by repeating, I had to skip past it. The seems to be playing properly, but the timeline indicator is stuck at 0. This usually means I cannot use the skip functions. The first show I had to view without use of the skip functions. The second show worked properly until about two thirds through it, then the Skip functions skipped to the end of the show. I ended up just watching a different copy of the show. When I was using the network drivers, I saw similar type issues but only when using the MVP. I am now seeing the first and third issues using the client.

[lparkin]

For your slow start problems....I found the running in Full Screen Exclusive caused a delay when starting up an HD channel. Going to regular mode fixed it on my machine.

[Muchacho]

Before I try the new beta, I wanted to see if the BDA driver support is actually working for anyone. The main problem I have with the current driver support is the bad timeline that causes problem with playback and comskip. Is this still an issue with the new beta? It was my understanding that this issue would be fixed with the BDA drivers.

Thanks for the help, I just wanted to save myself the time if it is not really working well for anyone.

[LehighBri]

I just installed 6.2.4 and reinstalled the latest HDHomeRun drivers but do not see the HDHomerun source when I go to add a new source. Is there anything I need to do to make sure SageTV can add the HDHomeRun as a BDA source? Note that I closed out of the HDHomeRun Manager and removed it from my Startup menu per the instructions. Any help would be great.

[technazz]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

I just installed 6.2.4 and reinstalled the latest HDHomeRun drivers but do not see the HDHomerun source when I go to add a new source. Is there anything I need to do to make sure SageTV can add the HDHomeRun as a BDA source? Note that I closed out of the HDHomeRun Manager and removed it from my Startup menu per the instructions. Any help would be great.

Upthread

Just for completeness in this thread - you must also make sure that you remove the silicondust entries from the "ignore_encoders" line in the preference file. (Thank to ToxMox for this advice.)

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by technazz

Upthread

Just for completeness in this thread - you must also make sure that you remove the silicondust entries from the "ignore_encoders" line in the preference file. (Thank to ToxMox for this advice.)

Thanks. That fixed it. I modified the sage.properties file and am now good to go!

[Muchacho]

Originally Posted by Muchacho

Before I try the new beta, I wanted to see if the BDA driver support is actually working for anyone. The main problem I have with the current driver support is the bad timeline that causes problem with playback and comskip. Is this still an issue with the new beta? It was my understanding that this issue would be fixed with the BDA drivers.

Thanks for the help, I just wanted to save myself the time if it is not really working well for anyone.

Well, I gave it a try to answer my question.

It was pretty easy to make the remap file and get SageTV to work, however I do have the problem of delayed channel changes and it seems like I have to FF or RW to get a show to play after tuning to it. Turning off full screen exclusive had no effect. I have not had enough time to determine if the timeline is any better than before. I will keep messing around, but I think it was closer to "prime time" using the network encoder method. It would be great though if they could get the timeline issues and all worked out.

Should there be an silicondust...frq file? I keep deleting it and I get a new one each time I tune a channel. For what it is worth in the sage.properties for the tuner it is set to-

mmc/encoders/-2085746263/broadcast_standard=ATSC
mmc/encoders/-2085746263/100/0/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream=true

Would either of these things have anything to do with it?

[tmiranda]

Deleted post. My wife is right, I do not know what I'm talking about.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Muchacho

Well, I gave it a try to answer my question.

It was pretty easy to make the remap file and get SageTV to work, however I do have the problem of delayed channel changes and it seems like I have to FF or RW to get a show to play after tuning to it. Turning off full screen exclusive had no effect. I have not had enough time to determine if the timeline is any better than before. I will keep messing around, but I think it was closer to "prime time" using the network encoder method. It would be great though if they could get the timeline issues and all worked out.

Should there be an silicondust...frq file? I keep deleting it and I get a new one each time I tune a channel. For what it is worth in the sage.properties for the tuner it is set to-

mmc/encoders/-2085746263/broadcast_standard=ATSC
mmc/encoders/-2085746263/100/0/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream=true

Would either of these things have anything to do with it?

The only time a .frq should be generated is if you tell Sage to scan the channels. You should NOT be scanning the channels. You only need to setup a remap file and place it in the root of C: and remap your physical channel. (Along with the other instructions for setting this up.)

Gerry

[Muchacho]

Originally Posted by gplasky

The only time a .frq should be generated is if you tell Sage to scan the channels. You should NOT be scanning the channels. You only need to setup a remap file and place it in the root of C: and remap your physical channel. (Along with the other instructions for setting this up.)

Gerry

Thanks for the reply. I have done the above and have not done a channel scan and I keep getting the .frq file. Maybe I should try on a clean install of sage?

Thanks

[flashbacck]

is there (or should there be) any performance difference between setting it up as a network encoder and setting up via the bda drivers? Is this just for ease of setting it up?

[tmiranda]

I have never done a scan and I also have a frq file. Here is the contents:

VERSION 2.1, country:United States of America

TYPE ATSC

#fec_rate:     1:fec1/2, 2:fec2/3, 3:fec3/4, 4:fec3/5, 5:fec4/5, 6:fec5/6, 7:fec5/11, 8:fec7/8 9:fec8/9
#fec:          1:VBC, 2:RS/2048, 3:maximum	
#polarisation: 1:linear_H, 2:Linear_V, 3:Circular_L, 4:Circular_R
#modualtion:   1:16QAM:1, 2:32QAM, 3:64QAM, 4:80QAM, 5:96QAM, 6:112QAM, 7:128QAM, 8:160QAM, 9:192QAM, 10:224QAM, 
#              11:256QAM, 12:320QAM, 13:384QAM, 14:448QAM, 15:512QAM, 16:640QAM, 17:768QAM, 18:896QAM, 19:1024QAM, 
#              20:QPSK, 21:BPSK, 22:OQPSK, 23:8VSB:23, 24:16VSB    
#ctrlbits:     0:diasable, 1:enable, 3:encrypted  
#format:  
#ch:index onid tsid program_id channel freq ctrl_bits(1:enable; 0:disable)
#example: 
#  CH:14 4 1 3 36 0 0 1	#NBC-4LA

I was also under the impression that the only way to get a frq file was to do a scan until I looked at my system. I renamed the file but a new one magically appeared in a few minutes.....

[Muchacho]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I have never done a scan and I also have a frq file. Here is the contents:

VERSION 2.1, country:United States of America

TYPE ATSC

#fec_rate:     1:fec1/2, 2:fec2/3, 3:fec3/4, 4:fec3/5, 5:fec4/5, 6:fec5/6, 7:fec5/11, 8:fec7/8 9:fec8/9
#fec:          1:VBC, 2:RS/2048, 3:maximum	
#polarisation: 1:linear_H, 2:Linear_V, 3:Circular_L, 4:Circular_R
#modualtion:   1:16QAM:1, 2:32QAM, 3:64QAM, 4:80QAM, 5:96QAM, 6:112QAM, 7:128QAM, 8:160QAM, 9:192QAM, 10:224QAM, 
#              11:256QAM, 12:320QAM, 13:384QAM, 14:448QAM, 15:512QAM, 16:640QAM, 17:768QAM, 18:896QAM, 19:1024QAM, 
#              20:QPSK, 21:BPSK, 22:OQPSK, 23:8VSB:23, 24:16VSB    
#ctrlbits:     0:diasable, 1:enable, 3:encrypted  
#format:  
#ch:index onid tsid program_id channel freq ctrl_bits(1:enable; 0:disable)
#example: 
#  CH:14 4 1 3 36 0 0 1	#NBC-4LA

I was also under the impression that the only way to get a frq file was to do a scan until I looked at my system. I renamed the file but a new one magically appeared in a few minutes.....

I have the same issue. Do you have alot of stutter when watching shows on the HDHR? I had such bad stutter with the Beta that I had to go back.

[tmiranda]

No studder at all, the HDHR works fine for me....

PS. I'm on vacation and have limited internet access. Don't expect a fast reply

[kevine]

Well, I am having problems with network encoders but at least with the HDHR Manager I get to see the tuners as valid sources.

I did what I thought I was supposed to. In the first post, the link to the Silicondust website returns the post is not found. So, I really do not have complete instructions now. I remapped according to the MCE instructions. Made sure there were no ignore_encoder entries for Silicondust. I have no idea where it saves this file when I click on save. So I cannot make sure it is in the C:\ root directory. Maybe that's all I have to do. If so, where is it.

With regard to network encoders, the channels appear but display nothing. Just says "No signal". Not sure what that is all about because they work in the HDHR GUI program.

Running Vista, btw. Installed the V++ software too.

Please help.

[Taddeusz]

Silicon Dust has depreciated the use of the remap file in the latest version of the BDA driver. You now have to use the HDHR Setup program. From the Lineup tab enter your information and then use the Channel Editor to do the scans. It will create fake channels in the process. Use these fake channels as the destination to remap existing real channels in your SageTV lineup. It was a rather easier process than creating the remap file.

[kevine]

Thanks! This should take care of it. I will try when I get home.