Lost BBC1 and some other Channels in UK, cannot retune them back

[marttyte]

Hi there,

Having used this forum for several years now I have been very happy on several occasions to be able to look up and solve various issues. Now I have one that I'm completely stuck on how to resolve and would appreciate some help.

First of all, I run SageTV on a dedicated WHS (HP Mediasmart) and connect to it via client devices running around my house using a Homeplug network.

I have two Hauppauge NOVA TD dual USB tuners connected to the WHS. I run standard versions of SageTV and are currently running WHS v7.1.9.

About two days I lost my signal to a few channels (including BBC1 and BBC2 which I will refer to going forward as an example). Odd as I have been using for system for years and in the main it's been very good. I have tried a re-tune and now I don't see BBC1 and BBC2 (but see a large number of other channels). My digital aerial is connected direct to my TV and I had to retune that but that can see BBC1 and BBC2.

Also I have some softward called WINTV with the Hauppauge devices which I have installed and run including a re-tune. This picks up BBC1 and BBC2 no problem.

So in a nutshell it looks like when doing a scan within SageTV with these tuners it's not picking up all the channels which are available when using the tuners via other software. Does anyone please have any ideas? I'm totally commited to the SageTV platform so really keen to get all my channels back and running again. All help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Martin

[michaeldjcox]

Hi Martin,

I've have for a long time abandoned SageTV tuning.

I manually prepare a .frq file to match my XMLTV lineup.

I used to use an old freeview box to get the frq info as it used to give all the numbers needed.

Now I use the ScanChannelsBDA tool discussed here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50797&highlight=ScanChannelsBDA

I wonder if you also use the Sudbury transmitter where all the BBC channels were moved as part of the digital switchover on 6th July (more moves coming on 20th July)

Michael

[marttyte]

Hi Michael,

Yes, I am on the Sudbury transmitter and I'm hoping that come the 20th SageTV will be able to re-tune to BBC1 etc. again. However I'm not convinced because my TV with built in tuner which uses the same aerial successfully re-tuned to BBC1 when they did the move on the 6th July.

Thanks for the tip regarding ScanChannelsDBA, I'll give that a go.

Thanks,
Martin

[pjwerdna]

Originally Posted by marttyte

Yes, I am on the Sudbury transmitter and I'm hoping that come the 20th SageTV will be able to re-tune to BBC1 etc. again.

It will probably still not find those channels and may loose some others as well!

The problem is that the sudbury "DVB-T Region" entry in the PredefinedDVBT.frq file does not have the frequencies set correctly for after the switch over.

You need to either modify the file or create the frq file for your tuners manually using ScanChannelsDBA

[marttyte]

Hi there,

Thanks for everyones help on this. So I have run ScanChannelsDBA (which picks up BBC1 etc.) and copied the output from the log file to my .frq files for all of my four tuners on my Windows Home Server (which is running SageTV). But I'm still not seeing BBC1 on my Channel Guide within SageTV so I'm guessing I now need to buy and install digiguide.tv and follow the instructions here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49586

Is that correct?

Thanks,
Martin

[pjwerdna]

With DBV-T tuners you dont have to have any EPG at all. SageTV wil pick up the program guide thats part of the DVB-T signal. (although Ive found its not particularly good)

Did you enable that channel again? in the channel settings for your tuners?

[marttyte]

Unfortunately I've lost that Original channel line-up (which included BBC1 etc.) as when the problem first occured as part of trying to solve the problem I did a Scan For Available Channels --> Full Channel Scan which lost everything I originally had.

Isn't hindsight wonderful

So is Digiguide.tv the way forward?

[pjwerdna]

all digiguide will do is get you the epg, it wont made the channels appear in sagetv.

If youve changed the frq file and restarted sagetv then the channel should appear in your list! Do any channels appear? If not then the frq file may be invalid. Are you sure its the right format?

Might be a good idea to attach the frq file your using as a text file so someone can check it.

[marttyte]

Thanks again. So when I ran ScanChannelsDBA I copied the content of the output file and edited my four .frq files (for each tuner) that are located on my WHS in C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV. I'm guessing that this isn't correct as I cannot see BBC1 etc in the SageTV Guide. I've taken a back-up of the four files and deleted then from C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV, stopped and started SageTV and I can still see the listings in the SageTV Guide. So I guess I'm doing something wrong here, any ideas?

I've attached one of my .frq files in case that helps (as a .txt so it could be uploaded)

Thanks,
Martin

[pjwerdna]

Well thats the right place and the file looks ok to me

However deleting the files and still having the guide info reminds me of something.

I cant remember where I read it and cant find it. But I "think" it only takes notice of NEW entries in the frq file when a tuner is added. (restart works for changes though)

I think the way I addded my tuners was to scan on one tuner then copy the frq file to the right name and add the second tuner, missing out the channel scan.

However according to this discussion, ScanChannelsBDA for SageTV what you tried should have worked!

[marttyte]

Good news, I've managed to solve it.

The .frq I had is correct but it doesn't drive the EPG withing SageTV. I'm not sure what does exactly but I found another post that gave me a way forward. The post said to rename the .frq to .scn and then undertake a Channel Scan in SageTV which then builds the Channel list (and behind the scenes the EPG) based on the contents of the .scn file (as opposed to doing a real tuning channel scan). So I basically deleted all sources in SageTV, copied the full .frq to create a .scn, and run the scan. It took seconds and I now have a complete Channel lineup with correct EPG. I could then just add new sources using this line-up as you would do normally.

Wow - it's taken many hours but now have SageTV back up and running again successfully. Thanks to everyone for their help.

Is it worth putting this information about .frq and .scn in a FAQ somewhere? (especially as there must be other people in the UK who will have this problem) Does anyone know what's the process for doing this?

Thanks,
Martin

[brewston]

Best bet is if you're OK to write up the procedure in a new thread, then ask the admins to make it sticky in the UK forums

[marttyte]

Here's my .frq file (saved as a .txt) for the Sudbury Transmitter in case that helps anyone.

Thanks,
Martin

[taylormadearmy]

Has anyone got an up to date Crystal Palace .frq file they'd care to share?

Thanks!
T

[michaeldjcox]

Hi Martin,

Any chance of an update on that sudbury freq map.

My reception was great after the switchover and has gone rubbish.

Perhaps a missed another retune.

Michael

[marttyte]

Hi Michael,

Sorry about the lengthy delay, haven't been on here for ages. Did you get your tuning problems solved? I don't think I've done a re-tune for a long while and haven't had any tuning issues lately.