1394 Firewire channel change speed - flexible?

[tvmaster2]

I use Firewire channel changing on a cable set top box (Cisco 4742), and quite often have a problem where the channel changes, but the set top box returns nothing but a black screen.

I notice that Firewire channel changing sends the channel in what appears to be one blast, i.e. channel 1005 appears all at once, as opposed to the numbers being selected and displayed one-at-a-time, as is the case with my Hauppauge IR blaster.

When using the cable companies remote, I DO NOT need to hit the 'Enter', of 'Select' button after selecting the last channel, in this case, '5', for the channel change to function.

So, is there some way to slow down the transmission in hopes the box isn't choking on the channel change speed? I changed the milliseconds in 'Setup Video Sources' / 'Remote Control Options', but it's unclear if that's doing any good.

Any other ideas if Firewire channel changing is actually the cause for the cable box to display nothing but black? Anyone else have trouble with their cable companies set top boxes?

[Striker:WG]

i'm wondering the same thing, but I think the issue might not necessarily be the speed of the channel change, but rather the speed of the HDPVR trying to start recording after the channel change.

I've noticed that sometimes I get a black screen after a channel change if i'm using optical audio. If I switch to the analog L/R audio connectors, the tuning is much more reliable.

I suspect that its taking a couple seconds for the cable box to start sending the signal over optical and the HDPVR is really finicky about having an audio signal before it starts recording.

So, is it possible to control the speed of the overall process?

[emveepee]

For me if I use firewire or ir blaster and tune my STB (Rogers ON) I can easily lock the driver on Windows and Linux if I am using AC3. I added a delay in my tuning script to avoid this issue.

With HDMI or RCA if I tune I see the previous channel briefly and the the channel info displays while tuing but there is no error. For me I prefer the delay in my recordings but not in live TV.

Martin

[wayner]

I think Striker might be right about trying to lock into the recording too early. There is some sort of a delay before tuning that I remember lengthening many years ago. Here is a line from my sage.properties:

mmc/encoders/-264632863/delay_to_wait_after_tuning=8000

I believe this setting is in milliseconds so 8000 means 8 seconds. Maybe try that?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

I think Striker might be right about trying to lock into the recording too early. There is some sort of a delay before tuning that I remember lengthening many years ago. Here is a line from my sage.properties:

mmc/encoders/-264632863/delay_to_wait_after_tuning=8000

I believe this setting is in milliseconds so 8000 means 8 seconds. Maybe try that?

Cool, I'll have a look at this and the other ideas. Something is causing the set top box to have a meltdown. Never happens with my IR Blaster/Colossus combo, just the Firewire/HDPVR tuner.