SageTV crashes during source detection/channel scan - very detailed explanation :)

[vanfanel89]

Hi all,

I recently was recommended SageTV by a coworker after BeyondTV took a dump on me and Windows Media Center stopped accepting guide listings (not to mention getting only 20 channels through the digital source).

I have Comcast cable, I have an ATI TVWonder HD650 PCI version (and its an ATI card, not rebranded visiontek, or diamond or anything - an actual ATI card ).

I have the latest BIOS on my board, latest drivers, latest Java version and Sage 6.6.2. I am running Vista 64 bit with all the latest updates.

For the life of me I CANNOT get this to work. Here's what happens:

I get to the source selection menu and click on "Add New Source"

I then see "ATI AVStream Analog Capture" so I click on that

It then shows "Digital TV Tuner" and I click on that

Next thing I see is this message: "The connection to the SageTV Service has been lost. The connection will be reestablished once the SageTV service restart."

So I fire up the SaveTV Service Control Panel, it says that the SErvice ie enabled, but stopped. So I click on "Start" and make sure that "Enable Service Recovery" is checked.

I then go back to SageTv and click the back button; it goes back to the screen that shows "Digital TV Tuner" but now the button has a red border... I let it sit and it bounced back to the screen stating "ATI AVStream Analog Capute" - so I click on it again, and yet again i see the screen that says "Digital TV Wonder" - click on the button again. AND AGAIN - I see the same error about the service stopping. I go back to the service control panel, click refresh - and yet again the service is enabled but stopped.

I click on "Start", service is started, I go back to SageTV and press the back button and get to the screen where it asks me if I want to use Cable TV or Antenna. So I click on Cable TV, then I click on "Use US, Canada, or XMLTV Guide Data with this Source", then I click on "Cable or Satellite" and select my zip code.

In the next screen I choose my local line up, it starts downloading the appropriate data. Then it gets to the scanning of channels - I have it do a full channel scan.

The green bar for channel initialization starts, then a few seconds later it pops up with a message "The channel scan found 0 tunable channels. There were no channel changes in the scan." So I press OK and I am greeted WITH THE SAME "The Connection to the Sage TV Service has been lost..." message. Go back to the control panel and yet again - the service has stopped. I re-enable it, click the back button on SageTV and now I am back to the Channel Setup window except a new error popped up: "Watch request failed. ERROR (-17): The Playback Request could not be completed due to a network failure" I press okay and it bounces back to the setup window asking me to choose between basic cable and extended cable.

So once again I click on "Extended Basic Service (which is what I have)", back to the scan window - full scan but before doing so, I ensure the service is enabled and running... then I click on full scan again - rinse and repeat, same "The channel scan found 0..." error, same "The connection to SageTV service has been lost" error... same "Watch Request Failed" error... and the process has stopped yet again.


I am at the end of my wits here. I've never experienced this kind of trouble and SageTV was praised to me. Here I am with the freakin Trial version not even working. BTW I've reinstalled SageTV twice already, and still same results.

So can someone explain to me WHAT am I doing wrong? Is it cuz my TV Tuner isn't supported? Something else? I am planning on installing Windows 7 tomorrow (due to other reasons) and hope to try it then but somehow I do not have high hopes... any help would be VERY highly appreciated!!!!!

Thanks

[Opus4]

Are you trying to tune clear QAM channels with that tuner? I don't think it is supported for QAM tuning.

The SageTV System Requirements lists supported tuners. A lot of people like the SiliconDust HDHomerun for QAM & OTA digital tuning.

- Andy

[vanfanel89]

I am pretty sure the software does work with the TV Wonder 6XX series; IIRC the guy who told me to get it had it running on similiar specs.

If the software does not supprot unencrypted QAM tuning with this card, why did it even show the ATI Digital TV Tuner as a viable option? I do not think its a problem with scanning - it's a problem with the SageTV service crapping out during pretty much everything. Like I said in my previous post - the moment I start LOOKING for a source, I get these errors, not even when scanning for channels...

[davephan]

I don't think many people are trying to use 64 bit systems or Windows 7. Your tuner card is not commonly used, I have never seen that card mentioned on the forum. So, your system is on the fringe. That's not to say it won't work, but if your system is not similar to others on the forum, it may be difficult to support by other users.

There are other things that can cause problems too. Such as running a video card in your system that is too low end. Recently, I tried swapping out my GIGABYTE GV-NX85T512HP GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card with an old cheap Matrox PCI video card. I had nothing put problems. My tuner cards wouldn't work correctly and SageTV would crash frequently. I switched back to my GeForce 8500 GT, and the system worked fine again.

It can take some setup work and tweaking to get SageTV working perfectly. It's more setup work than using Tivo or a cable company DVR, but the features and expandability clearly are superior to the 'stand alone' DVR solutions. Don't give up too quickly!

Dave

[vanfanel89]

Originally Posted by davephan

I don't think many people are trying to use 64 bit systems or Windows 7. Your tuner card is not commonly used, I have never seen that card mentioned on the forum. So, your system is on the fringe. That's not to say it won't work, but if your system is not similar to others on the forum, it may be difficult to support by other users.

There are other things that can cause problems too. Such as running a video card in your system that is too low end. Recently, I tried swapping out my GIGABYTE GV-NX85T512HP GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card with an old cheap Matrox PCI video card. I had nothing put problems. My tuner cards wouldn't work correctly and SageTV would crash frequently. I switched back to my GeForce 8500 GT, and the system worked fine again.

It can take some setup work and tweaking to get SageTV working perfectly. It's more setup work than using Tivo or a cable company DVR, but the features and expandability clearly are superior to the 'stand alone' DVR solutions. Don't give up too quickly!

Dave

I highly doubt my system is "low-end"

I am running a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H board with a Phenom 9150 and 4 gigs of ram, Radeon HD3650. Like I said, BeyondTV and Windows MCE run flawlessly... so that should tell something about system capability...

[davephan]

I did not say your system was low-end. I said I tried using a low-end video card, when departs from the typical successfully system (just as 64-bit and Windows 7 departs from the typical system), and it caused problems with my tuner cards.

If anything, your system is high-end, and probably few people are attempting to use 64-bit systems or Windows 7.

So, what I am saying is that you might find it more difficult to setup a SageTV system if your system is on the top edge of technology, rather than closer to the average system running Windows XP, Vista, or WHS.

Dave