Channel preview works but not capture

[Sam]

Running v6.6.2.218 on WinXP SP3, with a PVR-2250 capture card for Comcast clear QAM channels. The box is not headless, but doesn't do much else these days.

At some point, a long time ago, the PC sound output quit though recordings were just fine. A couple days ago, I decided to reinstall the motherboard audio drivers and the speakers starting working again.

But my captures quit ("No signal"), and Sage would not tune any channels. I upgraded Sage to 6.6.2.218 but that did not help. Ran Hauppage's hcwclear and installed the newest drivers for the 2250. Still get "No signal" on all channels.

However, the channel scan DOES find all the channels and gives the signal level as 100%, and you can preview the channels and see the thumbnail view and hear the audio too.

Yet once out of preview mode it will not tune any channel. It tries to start recording but after several seconds of all black says No Signal.

I remember seeing this once before, maybe a year or two ago, and eventually found changing the video or audio renderer or video decoder got things working again. This time, no matter what combinations I try, I can't find anything that works.

And it isn't just the local display -- no file gets produced, nor can I tune any channel using placeshifter or an extender client, and scheduled recordings fail.

What can cause channel preview to work fine, yet capture itself say no signal?

If I start up the Hauppage signal monitor program, it shows the SNR is 40, both correctable and uncorrectable errors are zero, and the status is lists QAM 256, Master Lock, EQ Lock, FEC Lock, VSB Sync, AFC Lock.

I've already tried to reinstall (and upgrade) the 2250 drivers after running hcwclear, upgraded Sage, and tried every combination of AV renderer and video decoder.

What should I try next?

[Motofreak75]

It funny I just picked up a 2250 aswell and I'm suffer from the same issues with ATSC signals. I figured something is fubar because I also have PVR1800 & HDPVR on the same machine. But once I remove the second tuner from sage, the first tuner on the 2250 works like a charm.


Give it a try and remove the second tuner and see if you get the same results.

I have not filed a bug report yet because I use 2008R2, also I have a few PVR cards in the same machine 2250,1800 & HD PVR. Even though that should matter, Hauppauge isn't actual "Star of the week" for producing drivers that actual work or function correctly.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Motofreak75

...once I remove the second tuner from sage, the first tuner on the 2250 works like a charm. ... Give it a try and remove the second tuner and see if you get the same results.

Removing the second tuner did not help.

Note that the 2250 had worked fine for me for a long time (both tuners concurrently) and only quit when I made the dumb decision to try to fix my PC sound output by reinstalling the audio drivers. It now works, and sound works when previewing a channel after a channel scan (as does the video thumbnail), but capture does not work even if just done via the service.

I think the 2250 is fine, and the cable signals are fine (I can preview them), but I can't find a combination of video and audio renderers or decoder that works anymore.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Sam

What can cause channel preview to work fine, yet capture itself say no signal?

Some more info:

Hauppage's WinTV7 runs fine and displays the channels, so I don't think it is a signal quality or driver issue. Plus they show up fine in the channel preview mode of a channel scan.

And previous recordings play fine, suggesting to me the video and audio renderers are fine.

Yet trying to capture any channel results in "No Signal" and no recording.

Any ideas?

[doc]

I could be way off here but just a thought.

This is a dual tuner card right? we don't have that particular card over here.

Do you have .frq files for each tuner? if so have you checked that they have the same content in each file?

I've seen it before when I've set up one tuner and thought all was ok and when I went to watch something got 'no signal'. I think it was because I was scanning on one tuner and afterwards sage would use the other tuner first, and that one had an empty frq file.

Just a thought. I'm probably barking up the wrong tree.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by doc

This is a dual tuner card right?

Correct. And either tuner can do either analog or QAM or ATSC. I have only defined the digital tuners in Sage.

Originally Posted by doc

Do you have .frq files for each tuner? if so have you checked that they have the same content in each file?

I had not checked. In fact they were not quite the same; one had a few more channels defined picked up on a channel scan that I had not disabled yet. So I set both to the same contents and restarted Sage.

Still get No Signal on all channels.

Any more suggestions?