Is there a less risky alternative to scanchannelsbda_uk?

[sheppy99]

I've just managed to grenade my server by remotely running scanchannelsbda_uk on the console.
I just started it, it hung, couldn't be closed and now prevents the server from rebooting. It does this from time to time so I was wondering whether there was a less temperamental alternative way of checking signal quality and strength. Also should I stop the GBPVR service whenever I do this or will it sit there happily as long as nothing is due to be recorded?

[martint123]

I haven't come across anything much like it, other than PVR applications that may show signal quality when scanning for channels.

I've never had problems using it remotely though (my server is headless) and wonder if it is the dos box that hung or the application? I ask this because I've had problems with remote CMD windows in the past but none since swapping over to using UVNC as my remote control app.

Leaving servers running (gbpvr and/or npvr) seems to be fine as long as they are not recording or will be while it is running.

[sheppy99]

Further analysis of the logs reveals it got as far as trying to Tune the first channel 474000 before freezing both the window and the dos box it was running in. The machine wouldn't reboot until I got the USB Nova TD stick unplugged. Apparently it was pretty warm. So in the interest of keeping life simple it's heading for the bin.
So can anyone recommend something that 1) works with GBPVR 2) is good with poor reception (the TD couldn't get 2 of the multiplexes) 3) is dual tuner 4) is stable and works for weeks without a reboot under server 2003 5) is likely to work with server 2008 and finally 6) is PCI or PCI-X

[martint123]

My main PVR server has an old nova-t-500 in it, running XP. It seems to work reasonably well with weak signals, not as good as the TV, but I think that is the norm. (I think that getting a decent signal is fairly essential anyway, to cover for atmospheric/weather problems.
It seems to run for around three weeks of use (heavily into powersaving with hibernate and the like) before the driver gives up the ghost and the box needs a full reboot.

My main machine, used for normal use and testing stuff, has a Pinnacle 7010x in it, this is a dual DVB-T and dual DVB-S and this seems to be more stable than the nova-t-500. The snag being that I don't have a tiny PCIx slot in the pvr machine.
Sorry, no experience of server xx.