No EPG Data on some stations with HDHR

[Tiki]

I have two issues - one I figured out, the other still has me stumped...

Issue#1 - Sage and the HDHR no longer seem to handle it correctly if I enter a channel number with a decimal (ex: 2.1) in the HDHR.

Issue#2 - After upgrading the HDHR, Sage no longer gets guide data for some stations.

I am still running SageTV v6.5.9 (the last non-beta release before the current 6.6 version). This week I upgraded my HDHomerun software from the 20081222 version to the latest 20090830 release. I am using both tuners on the HDHR with Comcast Cable.

After upgrading, I re-scanned the channels using the HDHR software (Comcast moved a couple of channels around last week which is why I decided this would be a good time to upgrade the HDHR software and re-scan). After scanning, I made sure all the station names and channel numbers were correct in the HDHR software.

I shut down SageTV (including the service) before upgrading the HDHR software and didn't re-start it until after I had finished the upgrade and run the scan.

After re-starting Sage I re-scanned the channels from inside Sage. The scan went quickly (As it should), but after scanning, my channels were all jumbled. Sage did not assign them to the same channel numbers that I had set in the HDHR software. To make a long story short, I determined that while it used to be OK to assign channel numbers with decimals, it appears that this no longer works properly. For example, the local ABS station (WTVS) is channel 16. I get the SD, HD, and digital subchannels for this station, so previously I set them as 16 = WTVS, 16.1 = WTVSDT, 16.2 = WTVSDT2, and 16.3 = WTVSDT3. This no longer works properly and Sage seems to assign all of the .X channels in order starting as channel 1, leaving me with multiple channels assigned to channel 2, 3, 4, etc.

To clean things up, I removed the HDHR tuners from Sage, Shut down Sage (and the service), re-ran the HDHR scan, re-assigned all the channel numbers so that every channel was an integer (no decimals), then re-started Sage, and added the tuners back. When I added the tuners, I told Sage not to use a tv lineup (as per the latest installation instructions posted on the forums). I ran a scan in Sage for both tuners and the channel numbers all mapped over correctly. However, when I checked the guide data, some channels filled in their data immediately, while others are still showing no data after more than 24 hours of waiting.

I can force it to update the guide data by enabling/disabling a channel and the System Info screen will show that it updated the data, but when I go to the program guide, it still shows no data. The stations that are not populating are WXYZDT (ABC Detroit HD), and WJBKDT (FOX Detroit HD).

What is more strange is that on WXYZDT it will populate the guide data for a single 1-hour show on some days. Also, it shows data for WXYZDT2, but not WXYZDT. And, I am definately getting data for other HD and SD Digital stations that I can only tune with the HDHR.

All of the missing data was showing up in the guide until I upgraded and re-scanned. Any ideas what is going on?

[Tiki]

I may have figured out the issue with the guide data not showing up...

Some additional background: I have a total of 4 tuners installed in my system. Two are PVR-150 capture cards that are connected to cable boxes. The other two are the two tuners in an HDHomerun, which as mentioned above are connected to cable for clear QAM.

The cable boxes are SD-only and cannot decode HD content, so I had disabled most of the HD channels in the lineups for those tuners (it turns out there were a couple of these channels enabled that shouldn't have been, which is probably why their data was showing up). If I temporarily enable the HD channels in the lineup for the PVR-150s (even though they can't really record them), then Sage is able to get the guide data for those channels. Now when I go back and disable the HD channels the guide data is still there.

I will have to keep an eye on it though to make sure it continues to fetch the data for those channels. Depending on what I find, I may suggest that Andy make some changes to this post: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34196. Under Step 4 of this post, I chose to use Option C, but it looks like this only works if every channel that you plan to use on the HDHR is available and ENABLED in a lineup that is being used on another capture device. Originally I had used Option B, but changed to Option C while trying to figure out the other problem related to decimal channel numbers that I mentioned in my original post.

If I can make this Option C configuration work, it would be nice, because I only get about 30 channels in clear QAM, but several hundred appear in the digital cable lineup used by my other tuners with the cable boxes.

[Opus4]

BTW: those HDHR instructions you referred to already recommend using non-decimal numbers in the HDHR channel editor & say to change to non-decimal channel numbers if you try decimal values & have tuning issues.

I'm not aware of an EPG issue for remapped channels when they are disabled on the original tuner, so I'll have to check into that.

- Andy

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Opus4

BTW: those HDHR instructions you referred to already recommend using non-decimal numbers in the HDHR channel editor & say to change to non-decimal channel numbers if you try decimal values & have tuning issues.

I'm not aware of an EPG issue for remapped channels when they are disabled on the original tuner, so I'll have to check into that.

- Andy

You are right - those instructions were the reason I tried changing to non-decimals (however, I had been using decimal numbers for the last 9 months, so something obviously changed). Looking at the scan files that get generated by the HDHR, I'm not sure how the logical channel numbers are encoded, but it does seem to work with integer channel numbers, so I can live with that.

[Fuzzy]

A lot has chaged over the last year in regards to QAM tuning on the HDHR. An update to teh HDHomeRun software pretty much requires redoing those tuners, as each major change has altered the configuration requirements in some way. No matter.. most might as well be using OTA these days anyway.. ;-)

[Opus4]

BTW: Yes, it is known that only enabled channels on the built-in Zap2it lineups get EPG updates; so if the channel is only enabled on a copied lineup, it doesn't get its EPG data. So until that gets worked out in some future version, it seems best to keep the channel enabled on some Zap2it lineup.

- Andy

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Opus4

BTW: Yes, it is known that only enabled channels on the built-in Zap2it lineups get EPG updates; so if the channel is only enabled on a copied lineup, it doesn't get its EPG data. So until that gets worked out in some future version, it seems best to keep the channel enabled on some Zap2it lineup.

- Andy

So, I take it there is no point for me to file a bug report then?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Tiki

So, I take it there is no point for me to file a bug report then?

Not if it is known, no.

- Andy

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Opus4

BTW: Yes, it is known that only enabled channels on the built-in Zap2it lineups get EPG updates; so if the channel is only enabled on a copied lineup, it doesn't get its EPG data. So until that gets worked out in some future version, it seems best to keep the channel enabled on some Zap2it lineup.

- Andy

-Update-

By the way, it appears that you do NOT have to leave those channels enabled on a Zap2it lineup. You just need to enable them for a couple of minutes one time to allow Sage to recognize them and download the guide data. After that you can disable them and it appears that Sage will continue to get the guide data. I have been operating this way for a few weeks now and it appears to be working (I keep scanning ahead in the guide to make sure the data is populated out into the future the same on these channels as on the rest and so far it is).