HDHomeRun Channel Assignment in Configuration

[Diego Garcia]

I am wrestling with configuring my HDHomeRun digital tuner to work with Sage. Right now the video shows up, but in the program guide many of the channels show up as "No Data".

Does that mean I've assigned a channel to the wrong name, or that Sage hasn't downloaded the latest program information or something else?

Is there a way to force immediate download of a channel's program guide information so I can see if the channel I've assigned is "working"? Or, if not, what scheduling algorithm does Sage use to determine when to download program guide information?

[Diego Garcia]

I'm having "fun" setting up HDHomeRun to work with Sage. I've gone through the HDHomeRun setup/configuration, and assigned channel names and numbers based on the Zap2It website. I've copied the SCN files over to the program files directory (I'm running the Sage background service process under Vista) and configured Sage to include the HDHomeRun tuners. But then things start to get a little wonky.

I can see the video feeds in Sage's configuration preview window, which is good. But for some channels I'm offered a variety of alternative channels (e.g., USA, USAP) which generally display the same feed. How do I choose which one to use?

Also, after making my selections and saving everything, the program guide shows "no data" for a number of channels. Does that mean there's a lag between changing the configuration and Sage downloading updated data, or does it mean I've made a mistake (e.g., picking the wrong channel)? If it's just downloading latency, is there a way to force a download of program data?

p.s. configuring the HDHomeRun to work with Sage strikes me as very complicated. Is there a "how to" available somewhere?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Diego Garcia

p.s. configuring the HDHomeRun to work with Sage strikes me as very complicated. Is there a "how to" available somewhere?

From Tuner Configuration Tips & Instructions:

HDHR setup for Windows

- Andy

[Diego Garcia]

Thanks, Opus. I'd read that document, but it doesn't seem to address the issues I was running into. For example, there are multiple names offered for the same channel, but not all of them can "link" to program guide info. I think I solved that one by opting to choose the ones that are "local" to my area (e.g., USAP -- USA Pacific feed -- rather than USA; the former results in program guide information for me while the latter does not...yet they are both available as choices, and both display the same video feed in the preview window).

But I've run into another oddity. There's as Comcast Sports Network channel that the HDHomeRun picks up, and which is listed in the Zap2It guide for my area as being on channel 40. I can watch the feed in VLC from within the HDHomeRun setup utility. But if I click on View in Sage for the channel I get Lifetime Movie Network instead. Yet the name displayed within Sage is Comcast Sports Network. I don't know if this means there's a problem in my configuration, with Zap2It, or with the cable lineup information that Sage downloads. How do I determine which it is, and what do I do to fix it?

[Opus4]

What version of SageTV and the HDHR software are you using? If you aren't using the latest of each, you should consider upgrading.

Essentially, HDHR setup for QAM tuning boils down to just what the instructions in the above link say: scan in the HDHR software, preview using their software, match the channel you are previewing with the Zap2it web site's listings for your lineup, and enter the channel number & station name in the HDHR software for every channel you've enabled. When scanning channels in SageTV, which must to be done after any change in the HDHR channel editor, the scan should go very fast and map the stations as you mapped them in the HDHR software.

Unless there happens to be a real tuning problem with your setup (which is always a possibility), the vast majority of HDHR QAM issues seem to be errors following the directions exactly as I've written them. So, please double check that you've exactly followed the directions and that the scn file is in the same location where SageTV is creating the frq file. If everything is being done correctly during setup, you are using the latest versions of SageTV and the HDHR software, and you are still having tuning problems, then you should probably contact SageTV. (And, yes, there have been tuning problems reported when the channels were not configured correctly in the HDHR channel editor, which is why I'm asking you to double check your setup.)

Oh -- and EPG data for new lineups and newly enabled channels isn't available immediately; it take some time to download the listings. But, if EPG data never shows up (or the station ID shown in Channel Setup is < 10,000), then you may not have entered the name of the station correctly -- they have to match the exact name as used on your Zap2it lineup.

- Andy

[Diego Garcia]

I haven't upgraded to the latest version of Sage (I'm at 6.5), but will do that shortly to see if it helps.

However, I did just now go back and redo the configuration steps. There were a couple of naming errors in the HDHomeRun setup screen that I missed. For example, I had left the TNT feed as "TNT", rather than "TNTP" as per Zap2It. I may have missed a couple of names or channels, but for the purposes of the examples I'll cite below I checked and verified that the channel names and number assignments exactly matched the Zap2It information.

I then copied the files HDHomeRun made in the Sage directory over in the User VirtualStore location (I'm running Vista) into the C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV directory (I'm using Sage with the background service).

Next, I went into Sage, deleted both HDHomeRun tuners, and re-installed them.

After doing the channel scan, there were a number of channels that should have been mapped which weren't. For example, TNTP was not shown as being available (i.e., no green dot). I've attached a screen shot of what channel setup looks like, but essentially it looks like Sage "recognized" there was a channel at 93-1008-37 (guide number 37) which was TNT or TNTP, but it didn't mark it as available. I've also attached a screenshot of the HDHomeRun screen showing the corresponding channel.

As I said, I'll upgrade to the latest version of Sage next and report back what I find.

[Diego Garcia]

Wow! I wasn't expecting much from a point upgrade (6.5 -> 6.6), but the channel mapping interface is totally revamped, and much improved. I like how all the information is presented on each channel as you review them.

More importantly, the channel scanning and mapping algorithm in 6.6 correctly identified all the HDHomeRun channels I was previously having problems with (as well as continuing to recognize the ones that had been correctly mapped in the earlier version). Watching live TV through the channel guide has me ending up on the correct channel -- always a good thing -- so now I just need to wait for some shows to be recorded to see if they get captured correctly.

Thanks, Opus, for your help.