Driving me crazy

[grandalf]

I have just spent a week trying to setup Sagetv 5.0 with Haupauge Nova t-500 dual DVB tuner. I have tried doing my own frq files but not sure of the format. I can find several examples but not sure of the right format, some show id first and others frequency, some have # some do not. I seem to have collected about 5 formats to date, all different. Knowing the correct one would be an advantage. I have tried most of the tools, but are unable to get any data back. WinTV downloads data, but locks up when trying to write the file. I have also tried several Radio times grabbers with no result either. Is it actually possible to get this to work on "Emley Moor" transmitter, has anyone done it. I like SageTV but cannot believe it is on sale in the uk with no DVB support. I have tried Mediaportal and GBPRV, the both work fine with this card. If I can get it to work before the trial runs out, it would be a better option for me, otherwise back to Mediaportal. This is my first post on this forum, I apologise if I have it in the wrong section?. Any advice or frq files gratefully accepted.

Total noobie to this!

[Mark SS]

DVB isn't supported in V5 so thats where you went wrong to start with. Download the latest beta from the beta forum which has native DVB-T support and see if you can get that working. Anything related to card setup and the like you should then post within the beta section while any issues you're having with grabbing guide data you could post back here.

[grandalf]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. I tried with V6 first without much luck, and had other issues with it anyway. Read that five was more stable and that it had been got working with appropriate frq files. I guess I got the wrong info about this. Has anyone got working files for Emley Moor that they could share with me so that I can try again before I finally give up with this one.

[Mark SS]

http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=SE222128 seems to suggest that you may not receive all channels from that transmitter. Also check using http://www.dtg.org.uk/consumer/coverage.html or http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

What happens when you scan using the cards own software? If you get a signal from this you can use the values to build an frq for V5 as I don't believe the format has changed between versions. An example V6 file is in the following thread (NB channel names are missing first later) - http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21732

You said you had problems with V6 but what were they? Seems to be stable for most people, or at least the DVB-T functionality is.

[grandalf]

Thanks again for the reply,

I have tried to find the appropriate info before from the links you suggested. What I am trying to find are the PID codes and the correct format for frq files. Are the pid codes the same for all transmitters?. Channel frequencies for Emley I have already. I have tried the aussie scanchannelsbda, it recognises both tuners, but will not pull in any channels, I read somewhere that the current card drivers will not work with this program, the older drivers are not now available for download. The UK vers of this prog also has dissapeared from the net. V6 for me just kept freezing up, even after new xp install. I think it was vers 0.14, I will try 0.15 as a last ditch attempt. As I said before this card is fine with other progs, and gets a full chan lineup. Looks like it could be a great program, apart from the freeview issue. I can understand these problems with open source software, but question the wisdom of selling commercial software in the UK without this being properly supported. Again thank you for you time and observations.

[Mark SS]

You've mentioned the selling in the UK issue a couple of times but not sure I see your point. The software is sold with a feature list which didn't include DVB support for V5. It has been added for the next release which is currently in beta and is working well for most people.

I bought the software at V4 fully aware that there was no built-in support for DVB-T and went through the pain of getting it working with the SBDARecorder add-on.

[grandalf]

Thanks again for your kind comments,

It wasnt really a snipe at SageTV as such, I think its a great program, hence all the effort to get it working. However as we are now in the process of shutting down analogue transmitters, and indeed some areas can only get digital, I still think it was a little premature to launch here before full digital compatability. I grant you that no inference was given to that effect, so I am not critical on that score. Must have got it wrong about V5 working on freeview, so many conflicting comments!. I have been working through a step by step guide to getting it working with V5, this is not working for me, bearing your V5 comments in mind, I am not that suprised. I will try V6.15 tonight and see if I get a result. If not I will put this one on the back burner for the time being.

[Mark SS]

Make sure you get the latest version which is a 6.0.16 RC1

[rickgillyon]

DVB-T was working natively on the v5 release, but was beta/unsupported.

If you scan for channels within Sage in v6, do you find any channels? If not, raise a bug report and Sage will help you out...

[grandalf]

Thanks for the help guys,

I managed to get V6.16 to scan the channels into a pair of frq files after errors about a recorded file kept coming up (not recording anything?). Any attempt to watch TV or show listings resulted in having to do a hard reset due to lockup. I reinstalled V5 and used the generated frq files in 6. This at least allowed me to look at listings, even though they where empty. Still any attempt at watching TV resulted in lockup. On both versions whatever I did caused the recording icon to show. After a few hours of this I installed GBPVR, this works fine, just cannot decide between that and Mediaportal as both work as well as each other. I think I will wait for a later version of SageTV and maybe try again in the future. I can only think that it does not like these cards or BDA drivers. Thanks again for the advice.

[Mark SS]

If you're giving up on Sage I'd suggest trying the TVEngine release of Media Portal.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by grandalf

I think I will wait for a later version of SageTV and maybe try again in the future.

I have read of plenty of other people using these cards with Sage, and v6 is pretty solid with DVB-T, so there's obviously something going on with your setup. It's worth remembering that if you can't get an answer here, this is only a user-to-user forum - contact Sage Support or the beta bugs address, and Sage themselves will help you. I've always been impressed with Sage support, they've resolved all of my problems in the past (well, the ones pertaining to Sage, anyway... ).

[grandalf]

Thanks again,

Will try both of these suggestions.

[pjwerdna]

I've got a single tuner Nova 500 working with 5.0.4. I had to work out the frq file manually (frequency from the DVB-T set top box I've gotm and the other enttries from eductaed guess workand map the channels to the right numbers but otherwise it works fine.

I've also got a Nova-t 500 working with 6.0.15. Scanning worked in 6.0.15, still had to map the channels to the right physical number from the frq file though. Also picking up the OTA program guide only showed "now and Next" program details so I switched to XMLTV.

I did briefly try the Nova-t 500 with 6.0.16 RC1, but couldnt get it to scan or tune without some playback error.

FYI the 5.0.4 format of the frw file is (e.g.)

#ch:index onid tsid program_id freq band 0 ctrl_bits(1:enable; 0:disable)
ch:1 9018 4100 4164 505800 8 0 1	#BBC ONE
ch:2 9018 4100 4228 505800 8 0 1	#BBC TWO

For 6.0.15

#ch:index onid tsid program_id freq band 0 ctrl_bits(1:enable; 0:disable)
ch:1 9018 4100 4164 506000 8 0 1	#BBC ONE
ch:2 9018 4100 4228 506000 8 0 1	#BBC TWO

i.e. the same, but the frequency seems to be slightly differant. (These entries are for Crystal Palace BTW)

One thing I did notice was that Sage appears to lock if the tunning is wrong and it tries to display a channel with "No Signal".

Did WinTV work at all? If not then that suggests there's something wrong with the tuner or drivers.

[grandalf]

Thank you that is useful info. Since last playing with sage I discovered that I was having problems with XP drivers, replacing them with the motherboard supplied ones resolved a lot of problems that I was having with other PVR software. I now feel compelled to try sage again when I get a bit of time.Thanks to all of you for your timely advice.