Signal strength...?

[David81]

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered already but after quite a bit of searching I've not been able to find an answer. Is there a way in Sage or some other program to view the signal strength coming into my tuner card. I ask because some of the channels seem to be a bit weak sometimes and I'd like to rule out signal strength as the culprit first. I have a PVR-150 installed in a server packed away in the closet and only use it for recording purposes. Viewing is either done throught clients on the main PC or laptop or through Xbox Media Center on the TV, no HTPC for me yet. System is running Windows 2003, Sempron 1800 CPU and 512MB RAM. The cable comes from a splitter in the newly installed line for our high speed internet. Signal strength at the cable modem reads


Cable Signal Details
Forward Path: Return Path:
Signal Acquired at 614.984 MHz Connection: Acquired
SNR: 33.5 dB Frequency: 19 MHz
Received Signal Strength: -4.8 dBmV Power Level: 47.0 dBmV
Micro-Reflections: 20 dBc Channel ID: 2
Modulation: 256 QAM Modulation: QPSK

Just want to make sure I'm not losing any signal in the run to the server.

Thank in advance.

David

[Menehune]

There is no way that I know of to measure signal strength in analog capture cards. I use a $1000 Cable signal strength meter at work.

Typically signal strengths down to -10dbm are received clearly by TVs without visible snow. Snow in an analog signal tells you are crossing into the realm of poor signal strength and you either need to remove some splitters, get better, lower loss cable or amplify the signal before the splitters to overcome the splitter losses.

The splitter output to your capture card will be -4.8dbm which should be plenty of signal to allow noise free recordings.

[cmaffia]

What is the symptom of Signal Strength?
I am having a recording problem with my SageTV that is connected to the last/furthest coax connection. I am experiencing a problem where parts of programs that have no video and only audio (Example would be the beginning credits of a program where between names, it would stop recording)
I have ruled out all connections to and from A/V connections between Dish Receiver and the PVR-250. It does the same thing whether using composite or S-Video. I have also ruled out the PVR-250 driver.

What I have NOT ruled out is if this problem originates from the receiver and has nothing to do with sagetv and now reading this thread, I am wondering if this is because my coax is too long from my roof to this receiver.

This particular run is coming from the dish on my roof (2 story house)...to my basement... then back up 2 stories to my bedroom.

Any suggestions or opinions?

Thanks

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Menehune

There is no way that I know of to measure signal strength in analog capture cards. I use a $1000 Cable signal strength meter at work.

That wouldn't happen to be a DSAM or SDA would it