HDHR Channel Conflict Problem

[wayner]

I am having a weird problem with setting up OTA in Sage with a HDHR. The problem is that I have two channel 2s and Sage seems to be using the wrong one.

When I do a scan on the HDHR setup I get about 40 channels - but here are the ones that are an issue in the HDHR Setup Application:

Tune     Guide Num    Guide Name  Enabled
CH29-4   2.2             WKTVDT2    No
CH29-5   2.1             WKTV-HD    No
CH33-1   2.1             WGRZ-HD    Yes
CH33-2   2.2             WGRZ-US    Yes
CH33-3   2.3             WGRZ-RT    Yes

Note that in the HDHR the WKTV stations on physical channel 29 are disabled.

In the SageTV Channel Setup screens I see that Logical Channel 2-1 is mapped to Physical Chan 33-2-1 station WGRZDT, ID 31507. Logical Channel 2-2 is set to Physical Chan 33-2-2 which is station WGRZDT2, ID 47796.

But when I try to tune the channels in Sage I seem to be getting the WKTV channels. The reason that I can tell this is that channel 2-2 is coming up as the CW network whereas it should be NBC Universal Sports.

So it looks like SageTV is getting confused by the dual channel 2s. But how is that since the physical channels seem to be set up correctly. The "wrong" channel 2s are marginal and don't always come in and I may be able to drop them by reaiming my antenna more towards WGRZ (Buffalo) and less towards WKTV (Utica). It is bizzare that I am getting this channel as I am using an antenna in my attic and I am about 215 miles away from Utica. I live in the East End of Toronto about 500 yards from the shoreline of Lake Ontario on a hill that is about 100 ft above the lake. So I have an unobstructed view to the south and southeast across the lake.

[doncote0]

Check the HDHR preview in the HDHR channel setup application.

If the HDHR preview is wrong, then Sage is not confused about anything, the HDHR programming is.

If it is wrong, do a channel sort in HDHR setup based on channel name. Look for a channel that has a similar name (not number) and try previewing that.

When you find the right one, give it the correct station name and channel designation and enable it (HDHR will automatically disable the other).

Run an update channel scan in Sage and you should be good to go.

Another alternate is to get the channel information from the Silicondust site and manually map the channel that is not working right. Becareful during mapping. Usually channels are mapped in Sage with the center number designation the same for all channels.

In other words,

79-1 for channel 2
79-2 for channel 3
may actually be mapped as 79-180-2 for channel 2 and 79-180-3 for channel 3.

All channels in this example will have the middle number designation of 180.
Look at your Sage channel mappings for each channel to figure out the pattern on your system.

[jasonl]

The HDHomeRun software doesn't generate any channel data for SageTV when using an antenna, so disabling the channel will not affect anything, and it isn't possible for HDHomeRun Setup to somehow inject bad data into Sage.

215 mile reception over the lake during the summer isn't unheard of. Disturbances in the atmosphere will do really odd things to RF, though they usually affect VHF broadcasts a lot more than UHF.

You might want to check your .scn and .frq files to make sure they show reasonable data for those channels.

[wayner]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I have reoriented my antenna from the SE to the SW and rescanned. I have lost a bunch of the channels but I no longer have the channel 2 problem. The channels that I lost weren't really of that much use since how many copies do you need of stations that show essentially the same content? Now I just have to struggle to aim the antenna in a spot to recieve all Toronto + Buffalo channels.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by jasonl

You might want to check your .scn and .frq files to make sure they show reasonable data for those channels.

I found a .frq files in my SageTV folder but what is a .scn file? Is that just for QAM - if so that isn't applicable for me.

[jasonl]

If it's not there then don't worry about it. The frq file is what SageTV uses when tuning.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by wayner

I found a .frq files in my SageTV folder but what is a .scn file? Is that just for QAM - if so that isn't applicable for me.

Yes - it's related to QAM. When you do a scan for QAM channels in the HDHR software, it generates a SCN file and puts it in the Sage folder. Then when you scan for QAM channels in Sage, it just reads the SCN file rather than trying to actually tune every channel. This makes the scanning in Sage go very quickly. Sage then generates the FRQ file once its scan is complete.

For OTA, Sage now recommends that you do not use the HDHR software to scan for channels. Instead, just use Sage to do the scanning. I have not tried this since I can't get any OTA channels where I live (unless I install a rooftop antenna), but I would expect the scanning process inside Sage for OTA to take a while as it attempts to tune every possible channel.