WHS - HDHomerun - SageTV

[MARudge]

Hi

I have set up HDHomerun to provide TV to my WHS and it works a treat. I can also access the tuners from any other PC in the house if we need to. However that was the easy bit!

I've installed SageTV Media Server on the WHS machine. That went ok.

I've installed Placeshifter on my VistaPC. That went okay too, except for the channel tuning - I only get about 10 DVB-T channels and they tend to be the 'useless' ones like QVC!

I need 2 pieces of help:-

1. How can I get Sage TV to find more channels? Using the HDHomerun software I get at least 40-50 channels.
2. TVTV seems pretty poor at provising the EPG information. Can I improve it anyway or should I be using something else?

Help really apppreciated as I want to see if SageTV really works before my 21 days run out!

Many thanks

Mark

[motobarsteward]

Are you picking your TV up from the transmitter that you think you are? I had similar problems because, although my areal points in the general direction of Oxford, I am actually picking up Salisbury!

As far as EPG is concerned, yes there are other ways which are well documented on this forum.

The EPG side of things, if you are outside of the US, is the weekest part of SageTv and the most difficult aspect of its setup.

[MARudge]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sure I've got the right transmitter - Carodon Hill - there's only one in that direction. I can pick up all the channels using teh HDHomerun software without any problem it is just SageTV that can't seem to tune.

I've been having a look at getting EPG another way and I think I might look at DigiGuide. I used it a long time ago and it was good then. Just have to find some clear'ish' instructions for setting it up.

I'm happy to put the effort in to get this sorted but is SageTV worth it? From the screenshots it seems to do exactly what I've been looking for - central storage of all TV Recordings without a HTPC in the lounge!

May be I'll try uninstalling and re-installing both HD Homerun and SageTV?

[burtonpark]

I set up SageTV fdor the first time about a month ago.
It took me a while to work it out but finally I now have the UK Freesat Lineup woking on two Tuners, with digiguide prviding the data and its been fine for a month or so !
You need:
1
Digiguide providing the listings, with the web service set up with the DG2XML Skin selected
2
XMLTV grabs them using the special digiguide template DG2XML (I can email if you cant find it, as its attached to a posting somewhere).
3
XML Sage plugin imports the data to the sage EPG database.
http://www.lmgestion.net

Hope that points you in the right direction, I am going to try to add some freeview channels into the mix if I can ever get a USB DVB-T receiver to work wothout fault. (I use the NOV HD s2 for fresat and have no issues whatsover)

[starfire]

Originally Posted by MARudge

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sure I've got the right transmitter - Carodon Hill - there's only one in that direction. I can pick up all the channels using teh HDHomerun software without any problem it is just SageTV that can't seem to tune.

I've been having a look at getting EPG another way and I think I might look at DigiGuide. I used it a long time ago and it was good then. Just have to find some clear'ish' instructions for setting it up.

I'm happy to put the effort in to get this sorted but is SageTV worth it? From the screenshots it seems to do exactly what I've been looking for - central storage of all TV Recordings without a HTPC in the lounge!

May be I'll try uninstalling and re-installing both HD Homerun and SageTV?

There is a Predefined file in the sage folder which holds base frequencies which Sage uses when you scan (presumably to speed up the scan), check these are correct for your transmitter.

[mevans]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for the long post....

I'm in a very similar situation to Mark:

HD homerun working fine - it's own setup software picking up loads of channels (60 ish in my case).

"scanchannelsbda_uk_modified by Slingshot72" finding about 30 channels (scanning all of the UK channels)

SageTV only finds about 11 channels - however i am scanning the crystal palace transmitter (which is my closest - and my antenna is pointing in the crystal palace direction!)

There is a Predefined file in the sage folder which holds base frequencies which Sage uses when you scan (presumably to speed up the scan), check these are correct for your transmitter.

I've found this file, and they look correct for the crystal palace transmitter. It's a shame that you can't just scan all UK frequencies (like you can in scanchannelsbda_uk. The "Predefined file" implies that you can do this - but i can't find an entry in the SageTV app for selecting this!

Another point of confusion for me is that when i go to add a source:

Source: Silicondust HDHomeRun Turner xxxxxxxx-0
Input: Digital TV Tuner
Use Tuner on Capture Card to tune Antenna TV (or something like that)
Use US, Canada, or XMLTV Guide Data with this Source

... after this i don't get the option to select XMLTV.

what _should_ happen next?

maybe i'm making this harder than it should be...

mevans

[starfire]

Originally Posted by mevans

Another point of confusion for me is that when i go to add a source:

Source: Silicondust HDHomeRun Turner xxxxxxxx-0
Input: Digital TV Tuner
Use Tuner on Capture Card to tune Antenna TV (or something like that)
Use US, Canada, or XMLTV Guide Data with this Source

... after this i don't get the option to select XMLTV.

what _should_ happen next?

maybe i'm making this harder than it should be...

mevans

Have you setup the XMLTV part yet? If you had then when you select "Use US, Canada, or XMLTV..." then it should list your XMLTV lineup you created (from memory )

[mevans]

Have you setup the XMLTV part yet? If you had then when you select "Use US, Canada, or XMLTV..." then it should list your XMLTV lineup you created (from memory)

Thanks for your help with this - you're right, having now set up XMLTV i get the option for my XMLTV lineup after the "Use US, Canada, or XMLTV...". Thanks for the advice.

I was trying to do things the wrong way around because i was having problems with SageTV/"ScanChannelsBDA - UK 2.6.1 Sage" finding enough channels.

Last night i solved this problem - the antenna distribution amplifier was set up (buy default - it is new) to add too MUCH gain to the outputs. which was presumably overloading the HDHomerun tuners. I reduced the gain to minimum, and bingo!

"ScanChannelsBDA - UK 2.6.1 Sage" then picked up 65 channels - pretty much all correctly allocated to the "correct" channel numbers (as http://www.ukfree.tv/txlist.php - i'll post the freq file later.

I cut/paste the channel summary of "ScanChannelsBDA - UK 2.6.1 Sage" into the freq file that i had got SageTV to for the start of (i selected the "don't use program guide for this tuner" option).

I set up DigiGuide. then DG2XML. then XML Sage plugin (http://www.lmgestion.net) to import the data to the sage EPG database.

XML Sage plugin is set to update at 04:00 hours every morning (run as administrator with password).

Then back in Sage, i removed the two tuners that i had half set up, and then re-added one, this time selecting "Use US, Canada, or XMLTV...", and then selecting the XMLTV lineup that i had created in the XML Sage plugin.

When i re-added the second tuner, i selected the option to use a lineup from another tuner, and chose not to make a copy (since these tuners are exactly the same, receiving the same channels this should be OK?).

It all now works! - i'm soak testing it for a while before i release it on the family...

I now have to get DigiGuide to update itself (when i am not logged on)....

[mevans]

FWIW, here is my frequency file (Crystal Palace)