Not able to get video or sound - Blank (black) screen

[juicygyro]

I've been trying a lot of different things. I've already made sure that firewall allowed NextPVR, Ndigitalhost, and NRecord through- I have no other firewalls running that I'm aware of. I also have downloaded and installed the unlocked SAF 6.2.2 decoder pack and configured it with cyberlink decoders. I also have schedules direct, although it seems like my tuner scan in next pvr is picking up a lot of channels that schedules direct cannot identify. I've called my cable company (Time Warner Cable) numerous times and they assure me that my card and digital adapter are set up correctly (but who really knows with them!). I have next pvr version 3.1.1 and the hd homerun prime. When I try viewing on "Quick TV", I at least get two channels (no more than that) but can't view anything on next pvr. Also, when I tried recordinng something in next pvr and playing it back, I couldn't view anything. I'm running windows 8.

There, I think I have provided as much info as I though of that could be relevant. Any help would be EXTREMELY appreciated! Log files are attached.

[Reddwarf]

Does the recorded files actually contain anything, ie what is the size of the recorded file? And have you tried to play it in VLC?

[Zeb]

I'm not with Time Warner myself, but they have a reputation for flagging most channels as "copy once" or "copy never." If you can only get two channels with "Quick TV," there is probably no reason to expect more channels with NextPVR. It pains me to say it, but with your current provider and hardware, the best software would be Windows Media Center because it can view and record "copy once" channels. You might possibly have already suspected this, since one problem that occurs at least twice in your logs is that another machine on the network is using the tuner:

2013-11-29 16:25:24.245 [DEBUG][21] Status: ERROR: resource locked by 192.XXX.X.102

If you are determined not to use WMC (e.g. you want to stream TV to XBMC clients), then the best hardware might be an HDPVR or Colossus that could capture component output from an STB (perhaps even HDMI output with the right splitter).

If you want to experiment further with NextPVR, then you should focus your testing on the two channels that "Quick TV" is known to receive. Reddwarf's question was calculated to determine whether you have a firewall problem (very common with the HDHomeRun Prime) or decoder problem. If you cannot record a file larger than 0 bytes, it's probably a firewall problem. (Having more than one network adapter enabled has also been known to cause such problems.) If you can record enormous files but can't play them back, that would suggest a decoder problem. Firewall exceptions need to match your current network location setting (i.e. Public or Private). If you have a router firewall, turning off Windows Firewall for testing would not be very risky. Anti-virus software has also been known to cause 0-byte problems.

It looks like some channels are set up for EPG source ATSC/DVB: 2013-11-29 03:13:20.445 [INFO][4] DigitalRecorder.StartStream(c:\devxxxxxx\null.ts)

That could cause some problems if you don't have patch 17 (now included in R1).

[juicygyro]

Hey Zeb / reddwarf,

Great suggestion! I turned off firewall and low and behold, it worked (recordings were, in fact, 0 bytes)! I found that I had multiple instances of the "NRecord" program. Once I allowed the right one through the firewall, I was able to turn back on firewall and was still able to watch tv. However, while I'm definitely able to watch more than 2 channels with npvr (which is still the case on quick tv), I cannot view all the channels that I normally can view with my cable box.

I really did want this to work - I am trying to break away from having to rent cable boxes from the cable company. It's a matter of principle, the law states that we should be able to provide our own equipment. I also don't want to go to WMC because it's no longer free with Windows and because I won't be able to integrate into XBMC.

Is there any way to get all my channels with NPVR, or is WMC the only way? Still seeing a bunch of "unknown" channels with schedules direct. If you have time, logs are attached. Thanks!

[juicygyro]

Was doing a little more tinkering and realized something... With the hd homerun, I have three sets of three tuners: 3 ATSC tuners, 3 QAM Tuners, and 3 "HDHR" tuners. Of course, I know what qam and atsc tuners are, but not sure what the hdhr tuners are or how they work. The QAM tuners are finding approx. 450 channels (which sounds right, since that's about how many i'm getting with my cable box), but my hdhr tuners are only finding about 75 (ATSC are finding none which makes sense). It seems as though only the "HDHR" channels are being recognized by Schedules Direct but the qam channels are not being recognized - as you have seen in your previous post, they are coming up with:

"set up for EPG source ATSC/DVB: 2013-11-29 03:13:20.445 [INFO][4] DigitalRecorder.StartStream(c:\devxxxxxx\null.ts)"

Do you know if it's possible to fix this, to get the qam channels recognized by Schedules Direct?

[mvallevand]

Do you know if it's possible to fix this, to get the qam channels recognized by Schedules Direct?

Nothing is broken, you have to manually map any QAM channels you get to the appropriate channel so SD. From the 450 channels you likley will only have a hadful of clearQAM so the mapping won't take to long, but you do have to spend some time watching to figure it out.

Finding your cableco via your zip code here http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/ will help too.

Martin

[Zeb]

...With the hd homerun, I have three sets of three tuners: 3 ATSC tuners, 3 QAM Tuners, and 3 "HDHR" tuners. Of course, I know what qam and atsc tuners are, but not sure what the hdhr tuners are or how they work. The QAM tuners are finding approx. 450 channels (which sounds right, since that's about how many i'm getting with my cable box), but my hdhr tuners are only finding about 75...

Of course you only have three tuners; the three device types represent different capabilities that are handled differently by the software. With a CableCard, you should use the Type HDHR devices. Frankly, you should disable the Type QAM devices unless you plan to operate without a CableCard. QAM scans are supposed to leave out encrypted channels, but often a number will slip through. I'm guessing that you scanned the QAM devices repeatedly if you managed to add hundreds of encrypted channels. Attempting to tune encrypted channels that way can cause decoders to crash and junk files to accumulate in your live TV buffer.

I've already mentioned the advantages of devices like the HDPVR that can capture STB output. That would also work if you ever switch to satellite. One disadvantage is that you can only record one channel at a time per STB/HDPVR combination.