Comcast QAM San Francisco Bay Area broken

[sTVb]

Not sure it's specific to Hauppauge ATSC tuners. I saw the same behavior during the initial setup of my HDHR. After removing my PVR150 and VBox 151, everything has been stable for a month now. I haven't tried to add them back in, since they pull in so few channels compared to the HDHR anyways.

[mkanet]

Oh okay, its a larger spread problem than I thought. I wonder how so many people missed this bug. I guess it took a channel update from the cable company for us to do a rescan to reveal the problem.

Since Im one of the fortunate people who have a great variety of ATSC channels, I like the idea of sageTV automatically failing over to my Hauppauge ATSC card if there's any disruption in my cableTV service.

Originally Posted by sTVb

Not sure it's specific to Hauppauge ATSC tuners. I saw the same behavior during the initial setup of my HDHR. After removing my PVR150 and VBox 151, everything has been stable for a month now. I haven't tried to add them back in, since they pull in so few channels compared to the HDHR anyways.

[mets3145]

I briefly skimmed this thread, so if I did not answer your question, I'm sorry.


It seems like you are having issues with your Clear QAM with Comcast and scanning for channels.

I had a similar problem like 3 weeks ago. I fixed it by attaching splitters from the wall to the digital tuner to lower the signal strength. Apparently the Hauppauge 1600/1800 can't handle too strong of a signal and craps out.

As for the problem with not correctly tuning the channels. Personally, I have all the channels except for KRON HD and CW HD. My TV has them, but my 1600 can't seem to find the signal via a scan. I have all the other clear QAM channels though. It might be a problem that requires patience until Comcast is 100% done with the digital transition in SF.

As another note: I had 30-1 which was Comcast Sports in Clear QAM for like 3 days before it disappeared, and I've started getting G4 2 weeks ago on 99-13.

[mkanet]

Actually, this specific bug was reproduced by 2 other people here so far; and, already submitted to sageTV support. Keeping up with Comcast's QAM remappings is actually super simple and only takes a couple of minutes ...just scan in HDHR software (with their lineup server enabled) and rescan in SageTV as well (for HDHR and Hauppauge). The problem is that it just doesnt work correctly.

Originally Posted by mets3145

I briefly skimmed this thread, so if I did not answer your question, I'm sorry.


It seems like you are having issues with your Clear QAM with Comcast and scanning for channels.

I had a similar problem like 3 weeks ago. I fixed it by attaching splitters from the wall to the digital tuner to lower the signal strength. Apparently the Hauppauge 1600/1800 can't handle too strong of a signal and craps out.

As for the problem with not correctly tuning the channels. Personally, I have all the channels except for KRON HD and CW HD. My TV has them, but my 1600 can't seem to find the signal via a scan. I have all the other clear QAM channels though. It might be a problem that requires patience until Comcast is 100% done with the digital transition in SF.

As another note: I had 30-1 which was Comcast Sports in Clear QAM for like 3 days before it disappeared, and I've started getting G4 2 weeks ago on 99-13.

[mets3145]

Based on what I understand is your problem it is that you aren't getting accurate Clear QAM channel scanning.

I want to make sure in the event I receive the same error. For me, only KRON and CW are not accurate in Clear QAM. How many were inaccurate for you?

[mkanet]

It sounds like you havent scanned for new channel changes in HDHR Setup and sageTV yet. If you have your hauppauge tuner listed as a capture device in sageTV, you most likely will have the same problem as us too (provided you have the latest non-beta sofware for both HDHR and sageTV).

FYI, Comcast changed KRON and CW QAM mappings about 1 week ago. Those were the only two channels that were wrong for me too at first.

Originally Posted by mets3145

Based on what I understand is your problem it is that you aren't getting accurate Clear QAM channel scanning.

I want to make sure in the event I receive the same error. For me, only KRON and CW are not accurate in Clear QAM. How many were inaccurate for you?

[mets3145]

Originally Posted by mkanet

It sounds like you havent scanned for new channel changes in HDHR Setup and sageTV yet. If you have your hauppauge tuner listed as a capture device in sageTV, you most likely will have the same problem as us too (provided you have the latest non-beta sofware for both HDHR and sageTV).

FYI, Comcast changed KRON and CW QAM mappings about 1 week ago. Those were the only two channels that were wrong for me too at first.

"wrong for me too at first".... what else was changed? So far everything is good for me except for those... which ones did you experience issues with?

[hemicuda]

I don't know what happened from last weekend to this, but everything is working fine w/ the HDHR now. Rescanned w/ Setup and got the station ID's and channel numbers to match my guide data. Then removed both HDHR entries and added them w/ a rescan in Sage an everything fell right into place. My 1800 is another story. I wish it had a setup app like the HDHR. I have to manually remap ALL the channels sage finds during a scan from X.Y to match the ZZZ guide format. I gave up on the music channels as they don't scan in w/ the same X.Y numbers my TV shows. The HDHR should be enough to cover them though.

[mkanet]

Comcast changed KRONDT 4-1 and KBCWDT 45.1 QAM mappings about 9 days ago for many people in the SF Bay Area.

You can either choose to leave them wrong, or use HDHR Setup scan for new channel changes (which will find the right channels they should be on). You can confirm this by use the "View" command. This should show the correct channels (even KRONDT and KBCWDT). After that, you hit "Apply". Then, you go in sageTV's channel setup and rescan for new channels for the HDHR channel line up. THATS' where it screws things up... and messes it up for all the channels.

There's only one way to get this all working for both HDHR and all its channels (including KRONDT and KBCWDT) and the Hauppauge; broken down step-by-step:

1) Remove the Hauppauge capture card and both HDHR capture devices from sageTV channel setup.
2) Delete all HDHR scn and frq files from the sageTV directory
3) Scan for new channel changes in the HDHR Setup software with lineup server enabled and hit "Apply". You can verify that the channels are all correct by using the "View" button for each channel.
4) Go back to sageTV; add the HDHR tuners and scan for new channels on your lineup.
5) Add the Hauppauge card back in sageTV channel setup and scan for new channels

Do NOT scan for new channels in HDHR channel setup under sageTV once you do steups 1-5 or it will screw it up again.

Originally Posted by mets3145

"wrong for me too at first".... what else was changed? So far everything is good for me except for those... which ones did you experience issues with?

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Comcast changed KRONDT 4-1 and KBCWDT 45.1 QAM mappings about 9 days ago for many people in the SF Bay Area.

You can either choose to leave them wrong, or use HDHR Setup scan for new channel changes (which will find the right channels they should be on). You can confirm this by use the "View" command. This should show the correct channels (even KRONDT and KBCWDT). After that, you hit "Apply". Then, you go in sageTV's channel setup and rescan for new channels for the HDHR channel line up. THATS' where it screws things up... and messes it up for all the channels.

There's only one way to get this all working for both HDHR and all its channels (including KRONDT and KBCWDT) and the Hauppauge; broken down step-by-step:

1) Remove the Hauppauge capture card and both HDHR capture devices from sageTV channel setup.
2) Delete all HDHR scn and frq files from the sageTV directory
3) Scan for new channel changes in the HDHR Setup software with lineup server enabled and hit "Apply". You can verify that the channels are all correct by using the "View" button for each channel.
4) Go back to sageTV; add the HDHR tuners and scan for new channels on your lineup.
5) Add the Hauppauge card back in sageTV channel setup and scan for new channels

Do NOT scan for new channels in HDHR channel setup under sageTV once you do steups 1-5 or it will screw it up again.

Have you tried a different line-up for teh two types of tuner cards? Like San mateo digital cable for the HDHR and Palo Alto for the other? I can't understand why they would be mixed up like this unless the had the same lineup, and we know it's not good to share lineups across tuners.

[mets3145]

Any chance you can just tell me the frequency for KRON HD and CWHD?

For SAGE TV:
KRON used to be 118-4-2 and CW used to be 88-44-1. Can you tell me what they are now?

Also, do you get 30-1? According to HDHOMERUN, it's TBSP but when I got it, it was Comcast Sports Clear QAM.

[mkanet]

Mike, you know I didnt even think about it until now. For some stupid reason, the ONLY thing that really fixed this problem was to pretend like I'm adding a completely new line up for each HDHR tuner... as if the "Use the same channel lineup" feature is broken.

Below, is what I had to 4 TIMES!! Once for each HDHR tuner:

1) "Use US, Canada, or XMLTV Guide Data with this Source",
2) Select same zip code, and same exact cable provider.. ANDDD...
3) "Use the same channels as the other sources using this lineup",
4) ...and finally "scan for channels".

WTF?! Yeah, this definitely needs to be fixed!

Now, I dont know if using the same zip code and same provider for each separate lineup created one line up with the same name or four separate lineups with the same name.

Originally Posted by mikesm

Have you tried a different line-up for teh two types of tuner cards? Like San mateo digital cable for the HDHR and Palo Alto for the other? I can't understand why they would be mixed up like this unless the had the same lineup, and we know it's not good to share lineups across tuners.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Mike, you know I didnt even think about it until now. For some stupid reason, the ONLY thing that really fixed this problem was to pretend like I'm adding a completely new line up for each HDHR tuner... as if the "Use the same channel lineup" feature is broken.

Now I'm confused about what you've been doing: the "Use the same channel lineup" option is an advanced part of the instructions I wrote (from option d in step 4) since it does not go to the Channel Setup menu afterwards & thus doesn't present you with the chance to do the required channel scan for each HDHR tuner. If you don't perform the channel scan, your HDHR tuner will not tune properly. How have you been doing the channel scans if you've been choosing this option?

Under option d of step 4, I say not to select "Use or Copy an Existing Channel Lineup for this Source" for a digital tuner unless you are copying the .scn & .frq files manually, per the tips section. What I said not to do looks like the way you got to the option that says "Use the same channel lineup", unless I missed a setup path to get to that point.

Below, is what I had to 4 TIMES!! Once for each HDHR tuner:

1) "Use US, Canada, or XMLTV Guide Data with this Source",
2) Select same zip code, and same exact cable provider.. ANDDD...
3) "Use the same channels as the other sources using this lineup",
4) ...and finally "scan for channels".

Which part of those 4 steps seems wrong to you? That sounds like what my instructions say to do. This isn't what you've been doing all this time?


BTW: once a lineup is already in use by a different tuner, option C in step 4 of my instructions is the simplest channel mapping option because it creates a lineup containing only the channels the HDHR tuner can receive.



Oh, and for people using non-HDHR digital tuners: you can use the .scn file from an HDHR tuner if they are to be tuning the same channels -- copy & rename the .scn file and the other digital tuner can use the same fast channel scan as the HDHR tuners. This is what is used for option d in step 4 & can be applied to more than just the HDHR tuners.

- Andy

[mkanet]

Andy, with just one HDHR dual tuner, I have always created one lineup and do a respective scan for that lineup, then just added the second tuner and selected the "Use the same channel lineup" option (without copying and editing any frq/scn files). This always worked for me. Using "Use the same channel lineup" option also always worked for all my R5000s. So, I figured adding yet another HDHR would be no different.

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So, what you're saying is the only way to use the "Use the same channel lineup" option would be to manually copy frq/scn files for HDHRs? I wonder how I got away with never having to do a channel scan for my second tuner on my original HDHR all this time.
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I'm very puzzled as to why sageTV software wouldnt just use the tuning information it got from the first scan and use it when someone select the same lineup with the same exact type of tuner. Is there a reason for this?

Last question.. when I scan for new channels in HDHR Setup and press "Apply" to create/update scn files in SageTV's directory, do I need to do 4 separate "Scan for new channels" for all HDHR tuners? Is there any way to make this a bit less of a PITA?

Originally Posted by Opus4

Now I'm confused about what you've been doing: the "Use the same channel lineup" option is an advanced part of the instructions I wrote (from option d in step 4) since it does not go to the Channel Setup menu afterwards & thus doesn't present you with the chance to do the required channel scan for each HDHR tuner. If you don't perform the channel scan, your HDHR tuner will not tune properly. How have you been doing the channel scans if you've been choosing this option?

Under option d of step 4, I say not to select "Use or Copy an Existing Channel Lineup for this Source" for a digital tuner unless you are copying the .scn & .frq files manually, per the tips section. What I said not to do looks like the way you got to the option that says "Use the same channel lineup", unless I missed a setup path to get to that point.



Which part of those 4 steps seems wrong to you? That sounds like what my instructions say to do. This isn't what you've been doing all this time?


BTW: once a lineup is already in use by a different tuner, option C in step 4 of my instructions is the simplest channel mapping option because it creates a lineup containing only the channels the HDHR tuner can receive.



Oh, and for people using non-HDHR digital tuners: you can use the .scn file from an HDHR tuner if they are to be tuning the same channels -- copy & rename the .scn file and the other digital tuner can use the same fast channel scan as the HDHR tuners. This is what is used for option d in step 4 & can be applied to more than just the HDHR tuners.

- Andy

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Andy, with just one HDHR dual tuner, I have always created one lineup and do a respective scan for that lineup, then just added the second tuner and selected the "Use the same channel lineup" option (without copying and editing any frq/scn files). This always worked for me. Using "Use the same channel lineup" option also always worked for all my R5000s. So, I figured adding yet another HDHR would be no different.

Mike-that stopped working with the 20080727 software/firmware for the HDHR. That was the reason the instructions in the FAQ were created. The process had changed.

Originally Posted by mkanet

So, what you're saying is the only way to use the "Use the same channel lineup" option would be to manually copy frq/scn files for HDHRs? I wonder how I got away with never having to do a channel scan for my second tuner on my original HDHR all this time.

The only way you could have "lucked out" was having .scn file left over in there from a previous scan or without the .scn it would have done a long scan for the .frq. (I think)

Originally Posted by mkanet

I'm very puzzled as to why sageTV software wouldnt just use the tuning information it got from the first scan and use it when someone select the same lineup with the same exact type of tuner. Is there a reason for this?

The reason, I would think is the flexability of the HDHR. On one NDNR device I can have 2 clear QAMs lineups that are the same, 2 clear QAMs that are different providers, a Clear QAM and an ATSC lineup, and just recently introduced, I can share the tuners of a HDHR with 2 (or more) different apps. I can have Sage use one or both with Windows Media Center and share the tuners. (First one in wins who uses the tuner) Or I can dedicate one tuner to SageTV and one tuner to Windows Media Center. Other than scanning each tuner how would you propose to do it? And this also double checks your tuner and the connections/signals/quality you have. You could have 1 good and 1 bad tuner. When better to find out than when you are setting it up. And you shouldn't have to do it that often. I scanned back in July and that's been it. I just keep an eye on my cable company and wait for an email that a channel is moving/changing. Then I'll run it again.

Originally Posted by mkanet

Last question.. when I scan for new channels in HDHR Setup and press "Apply" to create/update scn files in SageTV's directory, do I need to do 4 separate "Scan for new channels" for all HDHR tuners? Is there any way to make this a bit less of a PITA?

As opus said:

Under option d of step 4, I say not to select "Use or Copy an Existing Channel Lineup for this Source" for a digital tuner unless you are copying the .scn & .frq files manually, per the tips section.

So if you manually copy the .scn & .frq files after the first tuner scan you won't need to scan the rest.

To be honest-the easiest way to do this is to actually read and follow the instructions that are posted. And I'm not trying to be mean be but other than the HDHR driver problems Silicondust addressed your issue has been user-created.

Gerry

[hemicuda]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Oh, and for people using non-HDHR digital tuners: you can use the .scn file from an HDHR tuner if they are to be tuning the same channels -- copy & rename the .scn file and the other digital tuner can use the same fast channel scan as the HDHR tuners. This is what is used for option d in step 4 & can be applied to more than just the HDHR tuners.

- Andy

I can confirm that this appears to have worked on my HVR-1800. I copied 1 of the HDHR .scn files as instructed and renamed it to the same text as the .frq file for the 1800. Redid a scan in Sage and all the channels I checked seem to be correct. Once again, end of the week will tell if all the maps are correct when I get time to sit down and check the whole list (120+ channels). If it's good I can move it to the same lineup as the HDHR. It's using an isolated copy right now.

Thanks for the tip Andy. Only took about 15sec to go through the scan instead of 30+min.

[QueOnda]

(hopefully not thread jacking) What channels are you getting on the HDHR with the switch-over in the Bay Area???

[TwistedTweaker]

Can anyone from the Bay Area tell me what channels are coming through? I tried the app on HomeRun and didn't see many available channels, but Comcast support claims you will get the standard high def channels OTA (900's).

Has anyone had any luck with this?

Thanks,

Sean

[mets3145]

Originally Posted by TwistedTweaker

Can anyone from the Bay Area tell me what channels are coming through? I tried the app on HomeRun and didn't see many available channels, but Comcast support claims you will get the standard high def channels OTA (900's).

Has anyone had any luck with this?

Thanks,

Sean

http://www.hdhomerun.com/hdhomerun/channels_us

enter in your zip code and you'll see what channels you should be getting through your comcast cable. Personally, I get everything listed on that site.

Note the following:
30-1 which is listed as TBSP is actually SportsNet, so I get the A's games in HD

also, channel 92-## is Sports inDemand, so right now I'm enjoying the MLB Extra Innings Free Preview.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by mets3145

http://www.hdhomerun.com/hdhomerun/channels_us

enter in your zip code and you'll see what channels you should be getting through your comcast cable. Personally, I get everything listed on that site.

Note the following:
30-1 which is listed as TBSP is actually SportsNet, so I get the A's games in HD

also, channel 92-## is Sports inDemand, so right now I'm enjoying the MLB Extra Innings Free Preview.

Digital conversion hasn't hit my city yet. Can you give me a zipcode which has?