Tuner Merit Question

[Steve20A]

So, a tuner merit question. I've searched and read a dozen or so threads, but nothing I've seen solves the problem. I've been a Sage user for over 10 years and I'm stumped. I would appreciate any forum insights.

I have an HDHR Prime tuner. Lets call the three tuners P1, P2 and P3. All merits set to 10.

I also have a (new) Connect Quatro tuner. Let's call the four tuners Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. All merits set to 1.

The Prime, via cable card, tunes all cable channels that Comcast sends me in my Basic plan. So, for this discussion, CBS, NBC, ABC. I can get all three in HD via the Prime. All Prime channels are whole numbers (2,7,44, 432).

The Connect Quatro receives OTA via an antenna. The Quatro receives several unique (meaning not available on the Prime) channels. They show up as what I will call fractional numbers - so 23-4, 55-7 or 22.4 or 55.7 depending on if it's Sage or Silicon Dust software I am using. I am about 50 miles from the antennas and while reception is decent, there are noticeable drop outs. It's obvious when I am tuning via the Quatro.

Some stations that the Quatro tuner can see are also stations that are available in whole number channels on the Prime tuner. ABC-HD for example. So that, theoretically, either P or Q tuner could be used to record something on ABC-HD.

I have a recording schedule that always uses P1 and when a second program is scheduled for simultaneous recording, it uses P2. On the rarest of rare occasions, it uses P3 if a third simultaneous program is to be recorded. So far, so good.

If nothing is recording and nothing is being watched and, in the instance I am about to relate, nothing is to be recorded for the next 6 hours, when I try to tune ABC-HD, I would expect a P tuner to be used. But... it uses a Q tuner. Why? Why would it prefer an OTA, lower merit tuner? All things being equal (and I don't see what would not be equal in this scenario) it should use the P tuner. (In the above scenario, I looked out for 21 days and there was only one instance where three tuners were scheduled and that was on day 14 or so.)

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Confused Steve

[tmiranda]

One thought: Are the shows marked as HD on the lineup that the Quatro uses? Sage will always try to use an HD source before a SD source.

[UgaData]

As a work around, rather than depending on the tuner merit, you could create a separate line up for each tunning device (or even individual tuner) and remove the channel(s) from the line up that you don't want that device to tune.

I realize this could be more drastic than what you ultimately want. If the channel is not in the line up, the tuner will not be able to tune it, regardless of the tuner merit.

[Taddeusz]

Do both OTA and respective cable channels have the same name?

I have noticed that for live TV viewing SageTV tends to favor lower merit tuners. I don't know the reason for this but it might be so that scheduled recordings have priority over live viewing.

[Steve20A]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

One thought: Are the shows marked as HD on the lineup that the Quatro uses? Sage will always try to use an HD source before a SD source.

Yes, at least some of them are. But,... the Quatro tuner gets HD transmissions, so if I say ABC-HD either P or Q tuner should be able to tune the program.

Originally Posted by UgaData

As a work around, rather than depending on the tuner merit, you could create a separate line up for each tunning device (or even individual tuner) and remove the channel(s) from the line up that you don't want that device to tune.

I realize this could be more drastic than what you ultimately want. If the channel is not in the line up, the tuner will not be able to tune it, regardless of the tuner merit.

Yes, I could do that, but when I thought about what I was looking to accomplish, I realized I wouldn't do that. What I would like is to use the Prime tuners at all times, unless they are all in use, in which case, use a Quatro tuner. The Quatro was purchased as a test to see if I could get all the national network braodcasts and maybe dump cable. That does not look realistic, as the number of dropouts I have would make full time viewing on the Quatro painful. So now it becomes a backup tuner for when I run out of Prime tuners.

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Do both OTA and respective cable channels have the same name?

Yes, this appears so. Something I noted - all the unique fractional (22.6) channels (stations like H&I, GRIT, LAFF) are shown in the guide, but the fractional channels that match the channels tunable by the Prime (ABC-HD) do not show up. Only one entry in the guide is shown and it is the whole number (51) Prime version of the channel. So when the station IDs (I think) are the same, only one entry is made. I have seen that stated in other threads.

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I have noticed that for live TV viewing SageTV tends to favor lower merit tuners. I don't know the reason for this but it might be so that scheduled recordings have priority over live viewing.

This also appears to be the case. But when no tuners are in use, there is no scheduled recording to be given a priority, so I don't see on what criteria the decision is made.

I thank you all for your responses. I think the ultimate answer is that no one is absolutely clear why a specific tuner is chosen. I understand that scheduling is complex, but it seems that in the simple case of "I want to watch this show" if no tuners are in use, the higher merit should win.

Ah! The mysteries of life...

Thanks again.

Still Confused Steve but Somewhat More Content

[Steve20A]

So, one more question about Tuner Merit.

I currently have three Prime tuners with merit = 10 and 4 Quatro tuners with a merit =1. More often than not, one of the Quatro tuners gets chosen for recording, even though Prime tuners are available. As previously stated, this is bugging me.

If I change the Prime tuner merit to 100, is it more likely to be chosen? Is it the absolute difference in merit values (100-1=99) that contributes to the choice or is a simple 10>1 decision?

Thanks.