Help me get out of WAF debt !

[Dingdul]

My first post and one out of frustration I'm afraid. Wonder if you can help me please.

After many months of researching/trialling various HTPC solutions I decided upon Sage and indeed have a shiny new HD-200 with plans for one in each room

However after several weeks of trying I simply can't get a baseline channel lineup. My fundamental issue is that, whilst HDHR/Win7 can see the 25 or so OTA digital channels available to me (Perth, Australia), on each scan attempt Sage will only pick a subset.

For example, scanning 5 mins ago presented me a lineup of ABC, Seven and Nine channels however no sign of SBS, One and Ten. A cleandown of mappings and second attempt gives SBS alone. A third attempt I have Nine, One and Seven. Not once have I seen more than 75% of my channels returned in a single Sage scan yet have no idea why.

I've followed countless other threads discussiing adding channels and frq files, however am wondering if I'm experiencing an underlying issue that no amount of remapping or tweaking can resolve.

I've had a masthead amplifier installed and get high nineties for all my channels. Running latest HDHR firmware a betas for both Sage TV and extender.

Any help appreciated as the wife's completely through with this and I'm not far behind her. Many thanks!

[Dingdul]

This afternoon I have undertaken;

- clean Win 7 and updates
- install of HDHR beta s/w (released this week)
- install of Sage TV beta s/w (released this week)

Same issue - HDHR reports there are 25 OTA channels however at best I can get Sage TV to scan 16 of these. And each scan within Sage returns a different set of channels.

As a test I ran Win 7 Media Centre for the first time. Within 10 mins it had found the 25 channels and all are viewable without problem.

So what do I do? I don't want to bin my new HD-200 as it's still my best option for a whole-house solution. I must say those few minutes with Media Centre were a breath of fresh air though!

[david1234]

Is there a reason you are installing the beta software instead of the release versions? I'm all for beta testing, but you have to go back to the baseline if the beta doesn't work for you.

[doc]

I've never used a HDHR but with my digital tuners you can copy and paste the details in the frq files. I don't know if you could do a scan, save the file somewhere, do another and so forth, and then merge all the channels into one consolidated frq file.

It may be worth raising a support ticket and getting some official help.

Its definitely worth hanging in there. I'd be lost without the HD200 now.

[Dingdul]

Originally Posted by david1234

Is there a reason you are installing the beta software instead of the release versions? I'm all for beta testing, but you have to go back to the baseline if the beta doesn't work for you.

Thanks, yeah I've tried the official release versions

[HuMan321]

Originally Posted by Dingdul

This afternoon I have undertaken;

- clean Win 7 and updates
- install of HDHR beta s/w (released this week)
- install of Sage TV beta s/w (released this week)

Same issue - HDHR reports there are 25 OTA channels however at best I can get Sage TV to scan 16 of these. And each scan within Sage returns a different set of channels.

As a test I ran Win 7 Media Centre for the first time. Within 10 mins it had found the 25 channels and all are viewable without problem.

So what do I do? I don't want to bin my new HD-200 as it's still my best option for a whole-house solution. I must say those few minutes with Media Centre were a breath of fresh air though!

Are you scanning within Sage?

[sic0048]

Edit - actually it sounds like my idea below isn't applicable at all. There is another thread where people are experiencing the same issue. I would suggest that you submit a problem ticket with SageTV to make sure they get this issue resolved before Windows7 is formally released.

Original message:
Ar the .scn and .frq files (one for each tuner) actually located in the correct SageTV program folder? I had a similar situation running Vista where Vista decided to place the .scn file in another location for "security" reasons. So I had to manually move the .scn file to the correct SageTV program folder before SageTV would pick up on the scan created by the HDHR setup software.

I'm not familiar enough with Windows7 to know if this same "feature" on Vista is carried over to Windows7, but I figured I should mention it.

[jasonl]

As of the 20090411 HDHomeRun software release, HDHomeRun Setup does not generate scn files when using Digital Antenna with SageTV.

Jason
Silicondust Support

[Dingdul]

Originally Posted by doc

Its definitely worth hanging in there. I'd be lost without the HD200 now.

Thanks, I will hang in here.

Sage seems the only viable option with a robust extender (although my HD200 experience is somewhat rocky thus far - will post separately on this). If/when my issues are ironed out I'll gladly purchase additional units.

Mind you, if there was a good extender for Windows Media Centre then I'd be progressing that avenue instead as Sage is definetely too 'hands on'.

[Striker:WG]

Originally Posted by Dingdul

Thanks, I will hang in here.

Sage seems the only viable option with a robust extender (although my HD200 experience is somewhat rocky thus far - will post separately on this). If/when my issues are ironed out I'll gladly purchase additional units.

Mind you, if there was a good extender for Windows Media Centre then I'd be progressing that avenue instead as Sage is definetely too 'hands on'.

the xbox 3shitty is supposed to do a decent job of extending windows MCE, have you looked into it? what were your issues with it?

-Striker-

[Dingdul]

Originally Posted by jasonl

As of the 20090411 HDHomeRun software release, HDHomeRun Setup does not generate scn files when using Digital Antenna with SageTV.

Yes, I was pleased to note my HDHR purchase and install was immediately after 20090411 and therefore the scn configs would not be required. But with Sage and HDHR between them unable to return me a consistent or complete list of available channels I found myself wishing for something that was less automated.

ANYWAY I've temporarily shelved my HDHR in favour of a couple of Pinnacle USB HDTV sticks that are doing the job nicely - both returning my 25 digital channels and theoretically enabling me to progress wider aspects of my set-up until such time as I need to re-locate the server away from any antenna points. What's strange, however, is that the signal strengths reported by HDHR and Pinnacle are significantly different - is this to be expected?

For example, using same cable and points, plus some toing and froing to allow for any dips in incoming signal, one HD channel shows as 95% strength / 92% quality within HDHR yet 67% strong / 100% quality within Pinnacle's tuner app. Again, same (expensive) cables. Similar variations are observed on other channels...

And for further confusion, the Pinnacle tuners are reporting 100% on all channels within Sage.

So who should I believe? (1) HDHR which I'd kind of previously assumed as a benchmark given the apparent attention to detail in its stats reporting and commentary in this forum, (2) the native Pinnacle app about which I know nothing though am reluctant to doubt, or indeed (3) Sage's tuning of the Pinnacle sticks?

Next step I suppose is to get the antenna guy back with his gadgetary.

[Dingdul]

Originally Posted by Striker:WG

the xbox 3shitty is supposed to do a decent job of extending windows MCE, have you looked into it?

Quite apart from the XBOX being a gaming unit (and myself not a gamer) I understand it is particularly noisy. I was hoping the likes of Linksys would work towards a more robust extender given the increasing emphasis on Media Centre with Win 7 however by all accounts on the Media Centre forums if anything Linksys are backing away.

[Dingdul]

Originally Posted by Striker:WG

what were your issues with it?

Thanks Striker, I've posted separately into the HD200 forum on these specifics.

Originally Posted by HuMan321

Are you scanning within Sage?

Yep, it was within Sage

Originally Posted by sic0048

Edit - actually it sounds like my idea below isn't applicable at all

Thanks for taking the time to help though, appreciated.