AVerTV HD Duet: Missing Channels = Bad Device or nPVR issue?

[TANKtr0n]

The story so far: I started on Server 2012, moved down to Windows 8, and have now ultimately rolled back to Windows 7 after multiple hardware/software issues (maybe it's just me though I'd like to think I know what I'm doing). My AVerTV HD Duet PCI-e card has given me hell since day 1 with WMC & nPVR. I also have a Diamond/ATI All-in-Wonder TV 600 USB Hybrid stick. It worked fine before and after all of this trouble (in WMC). The ATI stick gets all of the channels my TV does - basic/expanded cable with some digital and HD channels. The AVerTV HD Duet however, is an ultra-failure so far and has only been able to scan a total of 14 channels in WMC and a handful more with nPVR; though aside from the major broadcast networks I could pickup OTA, they are all the JUNK channels you get with cable. I'm missing my awesome channels like FX, History, Comedy Central, etc.

I've tried an amplifier, I've tried new low loss splitters, and now I've tried a direct run of brand new RG6/Q direct from the drop coming into my home, I even pulled one of my ATI graphics cards and dumped my CrossFire config to move PCIe slots for this tuner (maybe it was a power drain or PCIe negotiation issue I thought?). None of these attempts have resolved the issue with the AVerTV PCI-e card. Here's the new and interesting news... All of those channels I'm used to on my TV that are missing in WMC and nPVR on the Duet card are show up in WMC through ATSC on the ATI stick. I'd check with WMC on the ATSC side with this card if I could but for some reason it only supports two tuners at once and it sees the ClearQAM tuners first and I don't see quite yet how to change that... :confused:

When I scan channels in nPVR with the ATSC tuners on the AVerTV HD Duet card - I get nothing.

So my question is, how do we tell if my card is bad or if there's something going on behind the scenes with nPVR and this card?

Just to clarify any confusion with this AVerTV card in question - it has one coaxial input to split the signal out internally on the card to ClearQAM x2 and ATSC x2 so it's viewed as four devices by nPVR - though Windows sees it as just one device in Device Manager.

[mvallevand]

Didn't you answer your own question when posting that you have the problem in WMC not just NextPVR? Also the tuner and drivers might not be bad per se, it could also just have an inferior tuner.

Martin

[TANKtr0n]

Didn't you answer your own question when posting that you have the problem in WMC not just NextPVR? Also the tuner and drivers might not be bad per se, it could also just have an inferior tuner.

Martin

Touche. I'm not willing to give up just yet though. I see others using this card online and they have had positive results. Upon further investigation, I found there was a driver update on the manufacturers website but it was well hidden... The card doesn't show up normally in the support list unless you are searching under their FAQ section; once located, I was able to drill down to the drivers. This update hasn't made a difference yet but I still find it alarming and frustrating that the ATI USB stick can pickup all of my channels and this card cannot.

How can I go about troubleshooting this to see why it's marking these channels as either encrypted or not seeing them?

Can I tell nPVR specifics or modify something somewhere on how it views this card? I find it bizarre that it sees ATSC and ClearQAM as two separate things effectively showing 4 tuners. Is this normal (WMC only shows two tuners when polling the device).

Link to manufacturers page included here for the curious and helpful.
http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/Supp...77&tab=FAQ

[mvallevand]

It is normal for NextPVR to identify the ATSC and QAM tuners as different devices when the feature is there, it does it for all capable cards.

Martin

[mikeh49]

I have the Avermedia Duet and it works well for me on Clear QAM (after an RMA due to not restarting when the PC resumes from sleep). If your cable is typical, only the local stations, TWC, shopping, and some Spanish stations will be in clear QAM. Fourteen sounds about right. "Cable" stations like FX, USA, TNT, etc are on my system as SD analog (e.g., Channel 29) and encrypted digital HD (Channel 792 on the STB, physical channel 112.1). The Duet can tune these HD versions, but not decode them. Without a STB, you can only get them in analog SD. The Duet will not see any ATSC channels if connected to cable as there are none on cable, only QAM. ATSC is over the air broadcast digital TV which uses 8VSB modulation; QAM is QAM modulation used for cable digital TV, whether SD or HD. I'd set the ATSC tuners to Disabled in NPVR.

The ATI stick has an analog tuner, so it will get the cable channels in SD analog as well as the clear QAM channels. But, you need the softPVR components installed for NPVR to see the analog tuner (see the getting started sticky).

With a STB you can get the cable channels in HD (if you subscribe) and then you could capture in HD from the STB using a Hauppauge Colossus connect to the component out, or firewire (assuming your box has it) using Network Recorder and SageGraphRecorder.

[TANKtr0n]

So the problem is my Duet doesn't pickup Analog/NTSC and all of my channels are analog except the HD ones which come in on ATSC/ClearQAM? Is there any way to verify this with my tuner or something?

[mvallevand]

If you check your recordings, in North America the audio type for digital broadcasts is typically ac3.

Martin

[TANKtr0n]

Ok, well looks like I'm sending this one back and picking up a different tuner. In the meantime, I could use a little help getting the old ATI Wonder USB working in nPVR. I've went through the walkthrough for SoftPVR and have some troubles. I can't install the WinTV package because I don't have a WinTV device installed. I tried the batch workaround which appeared to work and I've manually entered my settings in the AnalogDevices.xml but the tuner isn't showing up in nPVR. I've attached my filtercheck.log. Here's what I've entered in the config xml:

Code:

<Device filter="BDA 2883 TVTuner">
        <Name>ATI TV Wonder 600 USB 2.0</Name>
        <Type>SOFT_ENCODE</Type>
    </Device>

Am I doing it wrong?

[TANKtr0n]

Doh. Fixed it. Looks like it's Device filter is the Name. Scanning for channels now... Thanks for all of the guidance, folks. Any thoughts on a good PCIe dual NTSC tuner?

[sub]

Any thoughts on a good PCIe dual NTSC tuner?

The Hauppauge devices are always a safe bet. Something like the HVR-2250 would probably meet your needs.