HDHR QAM - Random HD/SD Rec/Playback

[Polypro]

Here's the situation: I have an HDHR set up for QAM. Everything works correctly for the setup, scan, etc... On Tues, both House and Fringe are played back in an SD resolution (Sage reports 4:3 480i) from my WJBKDT Fox station. Last night, Bones recorded in HD fine. Then Til Death was in SD, Do Not Disturb in SD, and (because of GW's address) my Manual recording of the news caught the end of DnD...in HD? I doubt the station is switching resolutions...Is this a bug where Sage is not doing PID filtering, recording all the sub channels, and (randomly) not picking the right one for playback? I bet the SD stuff is from SD station 2.2 (which I have disabled/not in lineup at all) and not the 720p 2.1. So far it's only happened on Fox.

P

[pjpjpjpj]

While this is, of course, only guessing, it sounds like an issue I have with my local CBS affiliate – that is, they still are behind on their equipment, and they have to do manual switching from SD to HD transmission. And very often – way too often – the guy in the control room forgets. I can’t tell you how many NFL games I have seen that have started in SD and suddenly switched to HD, and then back to SD for the halftime show, and start the second half in SD, then finally remember to switch back to HD…. (sigh). Anyway – it could be no problem with your system at all, and just human error with your local affiliate….

[paulbeers]

Do you have multiple Fox "digital" channels? I know my Fox has both 16x9 digital (17.1) and a 4:3 "SD" digital (17.2) channels. I had both setup on my Sage server (why, I still don't know) and if Zap2it did not have it the 16x9 channel marked as HD, it was kind of a crapshot as to whether Sage choose 17.1 or 17.2. However, if you do not have multiple channels setup then I would guess it is as pj stated.

We also notice that our locals can not display weather warnings in HD, so they will often during storms swhich to the SD feed over the HD channel in order to show the weather warnings...

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

We also notice that our locals can not display weather warnings in HD, so they will often during storms swhich to the SD feed over the HD channel in order to show the weather warnings...

Yeah - that too. If there was any sort of screen crawl on your program, or even a little warning bug from weather issues, most affiliates have to kick to SD for those.

[Polypro]

Fox does have a digital SD sub channel, 2.2 (HD is 2.1) but I don't have it anywhere set in Sage. The plot thickens though...last night I decided to watch CSI:NY 'Veritas' and noticed that the preview thumbnail wouldn't show...when I played it, it started out as CBS HD but switched to Fox SD after a commercial jump? I have some weird stuff going on right now. I've promoted my 3 OTA tuners while I try to figure this out.


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[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Fox does have a digital SD sub channel, 2.2 (HD is 2.1) but I don't have it anywhere set in Sage. The plot thickens though...last night I decided to watch CSI:NY 'Veritas' and noticed that the preview thumbnail wouldn't show...when I played it, it started out as CBS HD but switched to Fox SD after a commercial jump? I have some weird stuff going on right now. I've promoted my 3 OTA tuners while I try to figure this out.


P

That is definately odd. I would start up debugging and see if Sage Support can help you on that one as I am all out of ideas!

[pjpjpjpj]

Polypro... now that you mention it... since I have had my setup, every time I have done an upgrade/install, I have had a few issues at first with two of my PBS stations that have 5 subchannels each. They both have digital channels x.2 through x.6... but when I did the upgrade, channel x.2 was showing x.3, x.3 showing x.4, and so on (and x.6 was blank). I solved it by doing a channel scan in the Sage tuner setup (channel listing screen, where you can turn channels on and off). That straightened it out previously, and I would not have the problem again.

But just yesterday, it apparently happened again, on its own. We noticed it this morning when two shows that my wife had recorded overnight were the incorrect programs (they were the shows that were on the next-highest subchannel). So before I left for work, I did another channel scan in Sage, and it straightened out the channels.

So now I am waiting to see if it "sticks" permanently. If not, I would think it is clearly a 6.4.8 issue. And then I will start trying to identify WHEN it gets messed up (my guess would be when the channel guide updates from zap2it?). Of course, the odd part is that it only appears to lose it's way on these two PBS stations.

So perhaps, Polypro, you are seeing this same thing, but only on your single Fox station? I'll keep you updated if I see the behavior again.

P.S. Did you by any chance have a zap2it update hit at about the time that it switched? Check when your last listed update was.

[Polypro]

Sounds similar all right. Only been happening since 6.4.8 as well. My last guide update was today at 7AM, there's another in 3 hours...I/ll check the channels after that.

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