Hauppauge 1800 QAM tuning

[wsack]

I'm using Vista Media Center and was considering switching to SageTV, but I'm running into a problem.

I'm using a Hauppauge 1800 to tune QAM in my Vista Media Center using the channel numbers that were listed at the Silicondust site. SageTV and Vista didn't find all the QAM channels that were listed by Silicondust when I did a scan. But for Vista, I was able to just add the channel number listed by Silicondust and it worked. I'm trying out SageTV, but the channel numbering for the Hauppauge card in Sage seems to require three digits instead of two (i.e. 83-1-2, etc.).

Does anyone know how this three digit scheme maps to the two digit scheme used by Silicondust and Vista? I've searched the forums and found some references to this, but I haven't found an answer. Short of trial and error, has anyone solved this?

[coryking]

You gotta guess. At least that is the best I could do. It is a pain, yes. At least most channels have logos on the bottom.

By the way, if it isn't finding the channels, make sure you have a good chunk of coax cable (the thicker kind your cable company uses, not the wimpy thin stuff) and if you use a splitter, shell out for a really good one. Make sure all the connections are solid too. It really, truly makes a difference. In my case, I wasn't able to get a couple of channels until I tightened down all the connectors with a crescent wrench.

And for those hitting this via search... that Silicondust site is a really useful service for getting your QAM channel lineup set. Dunno where they get the info, but it has screencaps of what channels people are able to get in your area.

[wsack]

Thanks coryking,

I finally got all my channels by guessing. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought. The base number always stayed the same. For example, if Silicondust found the channel at 83-1, then the Hauppauge 1800 in Sage had the channel at 83-x-x. If I remember correctly, I took the base number from Silicondust, set the middle number to 0, and then stepped through digits for the last number until I found the channel I was looking for.

Now that it's set up, I'm glad I'll never have to do it again (I hope!)