SageTV snowy, WinTV fine, PVR350

[db533]

I am struggling to get SageTV to work with my cable operator in Latvia (Izzi). When using Hauppage WinTV, all cable channels tune without problems. When I tune with Sage TV, I can get audio, but all channels are snowy.

Since the card works fine with WinTV, I believe I can rule out cable splitters and the cable service itself.

I have tried setting the source to be both Cable and Antenna with no noticeable difference.

I have seen threads discussing the Unicable Frequency Table (e.g.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14599). Hence I am guessing this could be the case. I have installed FreqShifter and tried to add additional channels with frequencies that are slightly higher or lower, but also no noticeable effect. Unfortunately I cannot find any information about the precise frequencies used by my cable operator.

a. Any suggestions what I could try to get SageTV to tune my cable channels?
b. Can anyone provide frequencies that my vable provider (Izzi) uses?

Thanks in advance,

Dainis

[Lucas]

You are on the right track, the issue is with the tv frequencies definition in Windows registry. WinTV uses it's own method, that's why it works.

Make sure you change the correct table in the registry once you figure out the frequencies.

[db533]

I have obtained the frequencies for the channels from my cable provider. I user Frequency Shifter to clear all existing entries for both my country (Latvia) and the Generic Tuning Space, in both cases clearing the Cable and Antenna sets. (I have a backup of course!)

I then entered the first 30 or so channels and frequencies as provided by my cable operator. I loaded them into all 4 tuning spaces. In the registry I can see that this has been successfully changed with all 4 tuning spaces showing my desired frequencies. I did all this with Sage shut down.

The bad news is that when I restart Sage and then set it to scan for channels, I get the same results as before: all channels are the same snowy channels. What puzzles me the most is that Sage scans a full 368 channels and tunes in to about 70 different channels, but there are only about 30 frequencies that I have listed in the tuning spaces.

Where / how would Sage be picking up what appears to be the old list of frequencies? Why would it still be trying to scan 368 channels if only 30 channels and frequencies are listed in the tuning spaces?

Yours, mystified,

Dainis

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by db533

In the registry I can see that this has been successfully changed with all 4 tuning spaces showing my desired frequencies. I did all this with Sage shut down.

You also need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect. Have you done this?

Also you should be making changes in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\TV System Services\TV Auto Tune.

[db533]

... but this is where Freq Shifter updates the registry.

In case the partial list of frequencies might be the problem, I have now entered all frequencies that my cable operator gave me.

Within TVAutoTune, I first updated TS371-1, replacing all the data within this key with entries for the correct frequencies for channels (using FreqShifter). When this had no effect, I replaced the Generic entries in TS0-1. I rebooted the PC and rescanned the channels. No noticeable effect.

I will now replace the Antenna frequencies too (TS371-0 and TS0-0), but I double-checked that in Sage my video source is defined as Cable, not Antenna.

As I say, where is Sage getting the frequencies to try for 368 channels? When scanning for channels, it ends saying "Testing channel 368". There are only 95 channels with frequencies in the Tuning spaces that I have entered in the registry (as above).

Confused, indeed...

Dainis

[Lucas]

I had the same confusion (if I remember well). In the end I created the same frequencies, in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\TV System Services\TV Auto Tune

for

TS0-0
TS0-1
TS3xx-0
TS3xx-1

where 3xx is my country.

SageTV picks up the frequencies from one of the above locations.

the -0 is for antenna and the -1 is for cable.

This post was my initial reference.

http://www.snapstream.com/community/...s/customorder/

[db533]

So this seems to be all fine.

Could it be something to do with which PAL standard is being used eg. PAL B vs PAL D?

[Lucas]

That could definetely be a factor since each has a different freqs.

[db533]

OK, I am making some progress with Tech support. It appears that there is a bug in the SageTV software that is forcing Latvia (371) to use SECAM_D video standard when it should be using PAL_D.

The workaround appears to be setting mmc/country_code=370 in the Sage.properties file i.e. using the TV tuner settings that are pre-defined for Lithuania.

Don't know what else is affected by this, but this gets me to colour pictures.

Once (if) I get a proper fix, I will post an update.