Hauppauge 2250 merit help needed

[DaveS]

I'm having difficulty setting the merit on my Hauppauge 2250. I have it set up as 3 tuners in Sage.

Tuner 1 is analog composite and is connected to my set top box. I use it to receive scrambled SD channels.

Tuner 2 is set up as an analog tuner connected to my cable. This tuner receives my basic cable programming in SD.

Tuner 3 is set up as a digital tuner and connected to my cable. this tuner receives clear qam HD from my cable.

Tuners 2 & 3 share the same EPG lineup. I've remapped the digital channels on tuner 3 to they point to the correct channels on the EGP that is associated with tuner 2.

When looking in the Sage properties file, I'm having difficulty determining which tuner is which. I only see two Hauppage tuners with merit lines and yet have have 3 tuners in Sage. I know the 2250 can use 2 tuners at once, but aren't there actually 4 tuners on the card (2 analog, 2 digital)? Do each of the 4 (or in my case 3 since I've only set up 3) have merit settings in the properties file? How do you determine which tuner is which, since the settings in the properties file look the same to me?

Also, is there a way to clear out the old unused tuners from the properties file? I have a remnants from old, removed tuners that just make the file more confusing.

Any help is appreciated.

[Fuzzy]

As far as windows/sage is concerned, the 2250 has 2 encoders. Each of those encoders can tune to either analog or digital. This is why there are just two listed in your properties file. The merit settings are per-encoder (in which case, you have two). What are your trying to accomplish by setting up your merits? and which lineups are set on the same encoder?

As for removing the old items, you can simply delete them from the properties file. Just take out all of the entries that share the same number, and you should be good.

[DaveS]

Thanks for the help. I'll delete the unused lines in the properties file and that'll make it much easier to read.

I'm trying to use the tuner connect to the STB (call it #1) as the last choice. That leaves tuner #2 (which would be #2 & #3 above) as the first choice. I've only enabled clear qam channels on #3, and all the basic cable channels on #2. I think I renamed the clear qam channels correctly because the EPG works correctly.

The problem is that sometimes the clear qam channels come in using tuner #1 (STB) and possibly under #2 (SD)(Not sure about the latter). I never want them to come in under #2. The first choice would be #3 (clear qam HD) and the other choice would be #1 (SD on STB). For all other basic cable channels, first choice #2, second choice #1 (STB).

If there are only 2 tuners, then STB should have a merit lower than the other tuner, right?

Perhaps my problem is that I need to unenable the analog version of the clear qam channels on #2?

[Fuzzy]

It sounds like the second encoder (what you are calling 2 and 3) has channels enabled on both. Since they have the same merit, there is nothing to help sage determine which to use. You definately should remove the analog version of the QAM channels if you want it to tune those channels in digital, and set the second (QAM+Analog) to a higher merit than the first (STB).

[DaveS]

I agree it's probably the analog version of the channel being enabled that's causing the problem. I'll try unenabling it and double check the merit settings tonight.

Thanks for your help! I'll let you know.

[Tiki]

This may be slightly off-topic, but does anyone know if Sage can record more than 2 shows simultaneously from the HVR-2250?

It looks like you are limited to either 2x digital, 2x analog, or 1 of each, but it would be nice if you could do 2x digital AND 2x analog all at the same time.

[DaveS]

Thanks for the help, Fuzzy. I think I just had the merit settings messed up. I haven't unenabled the clear qam channels on the analog tuner, but I remapped them on the digital tuner and it SEEMS to be working ok now. If I see that the analog cable tuner starts recording the clear qam channels I'll try unenabling them. The mapping / remapping options confuse me, but I think I've got it right....


Tiki, I haven't actually tried to record 3 channels on the 2250. The product specs say you can only record two and I only see two in my properties file, so I think the fact that Sage treats them as 4 separate tuners is just an internal Sage convention.

[ChaOConnor]

Originally Posted by Tiki

This may be slightly off-topic, but does anyone know if Sage can record more than 2 shows simultaneously from the HVR-2250?

It looks like you are limited to either 2x digital, 2x analog, or 1 of each, but it would be nice if you could do 2x digital AND 2x analog all at the same time.

Tiki... the 2250 is a dual-tuner card. So two is the max you'll get at the same time. Sorry, but to get four at the same time you'll need another 2250 or something like the HDHomerun.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by DaveS

Thanks for the help, Fuzzy. I think I just had the merit settings messed up. I haven't unenabled the clear qam channels on the analog tuner, but I remapped them on the digital tuner and it SEEMS to be working ok now. If I see that the analog cable tuner starts recording the clear qam channels I'll try unenabling them. The mapping / remapping options confuse me, but I think I've got it right....


Tiki, I haven't actually tried to record 3 channels on the 2250. The product specs say you can only record two and I only see two in my properties file, so I think the fact that Sage treats them as 4 separate tuners is just an internal Sage convention.

For clarification, Sage does NOT treat them as 4 seperate tuners. It treats it as two, with each having two inputs (Analog and Digital). You can add the same encoder more than once, as long as it is a different source, but it will only USE each encoder once.