Help with black screen and file size is zero

[Gutterman]

First, I only have a DCR-2650 device. I do not have HDHomerun hardware. I had to install HDhomerun software to get Nextpvr to recognize the DCR-2650 device. (This part confuses me a bit) As I said before, when I open the HDhomerun software it says I do not have any devices. Put that info out there in case it helps figure this problem out

I do have a cablecard in the DCR-2650

Based on Graham’s post, I turned off Windows firewall. Now on live TV I have 2 channels I have found that I can see TV, but all the others I check are black. When I record one of the working channels I record TV I can playback. When I record a black channel, I get a black recording but I do get file size greater than zero.

So I need to double check my Windows firewall settings and figure that out

Any ideas as to why a few of my channels work on LiveTV and some don’t? I am using Microsoft DVT_DVD video decoder on both MPEG2 and H264

I attached my logs. In the Nrecord log about 13:21:12, file created ending in …..1330.ts, is the file that successfully recorded something I could view. About 13:44:56, file created ending in ……1350.ts, is the file that recorded a black screen but I did get file size greater than zero

[ttfitz]

First, I only have a DCR-2650 device. I do not have HDHomerun hardware. I had to install HDhomerun software to get Nextpvr to recognize the DCR-2650 device. (This part confuses me a bit) As I said before, when I open the HDhomerun software it says I do not have any devices. Put that info out there in case it helps figure this problem out

I've had this device for quite some time, and except for perhaps the very first version, none of hte HDHomerun software has detected the device, so no worries there.

I do have a cablecard in the DCR-2650

Based on Graham’s post, I turned off Windows firewall. Now on live TV I have 2 channels I have found that I can see TV, but all the others I check are black. When I record one of the working channels I record TV I can playback. When I record a black channel, I get a black recording but I do get file size greater than zero.

Maybe a silly question, but have you activated/paired the cablecard with the device? Your symptoms of getting a black recording of non-zero size sounds like what I have gotten when I tried to record a channel I don't subscribe to, and what you would likely get if the card hadn't been activated.

Any ideas as to why a few of my channels work on LiveTV and some don’t? I am using Microsoft DVT_DVD video decoder on both MPEG2 and H264

I attached my logs. In the Nrecord log about 13:21:12, file created ending in …..1330.ts, is the file that successfully recorded something I could view. About 13:44:56, file created ending in ……1350.ts, is the file that recorded a black screen but I did get file size greater than zero

Assuming your answer above is "yes", then can you tell us what cable company you get your signal from? I believe some companies are encrypting everything, and NPVR only works with unencrypted channels. Have you tried using the device under Windows Media Center, to see if you get signal there?

One thing you can do to check some of this out is look at the DCR-2650's status pages and see what it thinks is happening. From your logs it looks like if you enter "192.168.197.202" into your browser (or 201 or 203 on the end if that doesn't work, I'm not sure which), you will get a page where you can check various things out, like the cablecard status, or the tuners. Use NPVR to live view one of the blank channels, then go to 192.168.197.202/status.html?page=summary and see which tuner is active, then click that link and see what it says about the signal you are getting. Note what it says under "Authorization" and "CCI Protection".

[Gutterman]

My cable is with Charter. I activated the card, but I do not having a tuning adapter. I plan to call them tomorrow and see if I need one or not. My wife picked up the cablecard for me and that is all she came home with.

This is from the DCR 2650 tuner status page of a working channel-

Virtual Channel 103 TBN
Frequency 735.000 MHz
Program Number 5
Authorization unspecified
CCI Protection none
CGMS Protection none
Modulation Lock qam256
PCR Lock locked
Signal Strength 95% (-2.5 dBmV)
Signal Quality 96% (34.5 dB)
Symbol Quality 100%

This is from a black channel-

Tuner 0 Status
Virtual Channel 115 Nick2 (Nick
Frequency 573.000 MHz
Program Number 10
Authorization unspecified
CCI Protection none
CGMS Protection none
Modulation Lock qam256
PCR Lock locked
Signal Strength 100% (0.0 dBmV)
Signal Quality 100% (36.6 dB)
Symbol Quality 100%
Streaming Rate 2.811 Mbps
Resource Lock none

This is the status of the cablecard-

CableCARD Status
Card Manufacturer Motorola
Card Authentication success
Card Activation success
3DES encryption supported

[Zeb]

I'm glad someone with a DCR-2650 posted a reply. Don't have one myself, but wish I could see your Settings/Devices page. I believe you should see two devices of type HDHR, which should definitely be enabled. How many channels are listed for those? Any devices of type ATSC or QAM should NOT be enabled. There don't seem to be any recent threads with screenshots of DCR-2650 Devices pages, but here's a link to a post with two HDHR devices (a dual and a prime) so you can see what I'm talking about: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post457081

Looks like your card is activated alright, and "CCI Protection none" is encouraging. Did you try to set up devices before you got the card? If so, you might need to redo that. It seems certain that the black channels are NOT being caused by the firewall. (Of course you still need exceptions so you can turn firewall back on for security.) In another thread, ttfitz reported occasional problems with USB connection. Any chance one of the tuners was in use by another application?

[Edit] Here's a post (albeit a year old) saying Charter is good about not flagging channels copy-once: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post435247

[BrettB]

Your tuner status doesn't look quite right to me. Here's what mine looks like for an encrypted channel that I subscribe to:

Code:

Tuner 0 Status

Virtual Channel 829 A&E HD
Frequency 411.000 MHz
Program Number 2
Authorization subscribed
CCI Protection unrestricted
CGMS Protection n/a

Modulation Lock qam256
PCR Lock locked
Signal Strength 100% (3.1 dBmV)
Signal Quality 99% (34.9 dB)
Symbol Quality 100%

Streaming Rate 10.549 Mbps
Resource Lock none

Notice that the Authorization says "subscribed" whereas yours says "unspecified" and my CCI Protection says "unrestricted" (="Copy Freely") while yours says "none".

I am guessing that your channel that works (TBN) is actually an unencrypted, clear QAM channel which wouldn't require a CableCard to receive, record, and play. And the one that isn't working (Nick2) isn't working because of some problem with the CableCard.

My CableCard Status is:

Code:

CableCARD Status

Card Manufacturer Motorola
Card Authentication success
Card Activation success
3DES encryption supported

OOB Frequency 75.250 MHz
OOB Lock 2.048 Mbps
Signal Strength 100% (3.5 dBmV)
Signal Quality 100% (40.5 dB)

Channel List cablecard-oob

The "Card Activation success" on both seems to indicate that yours has been paired OK. However, it could be that the cable company didn't properly configure your subscribed channel lineup on their end. I'd suggest going to the "Channel Lineup" option on the main "Hauppauge OpenCable Receiver" menu. Then compare the channel lists between the "basic" and the "subscribed".

[Gutterman]

I called Charter Cable today and asked them to check my cable channels on my cable card. The tech I talked to looked at my cablecard and said all the channels I am paying for are in my channel line up, and rattled off a few for me to try in Next PVR. When that did not work, the tech reset the card twice, and that did not work either. They then offered to send a tech to my home which I declined.

I then deleted the devices in NextPVR, added the devices, scanned for channels, same problem

I then uninstalled NextPVR, rebooted, installed NextPVR, added devices, scanned for channels, same problem

I then pulled the cable card out of the DCR-2650, removed devices in nextpvr, added device, scanned for channels, it found none, inserted cable card, scanned channels, found channels, same problem

Any ideas? Should I uninstall all of it again, but this time the HDhomerun software as well? When I initially installed all of this I was playing around with NextPVR searching for devices, before I found I had to install HDHomerun

I attached logs, at 8:21 I did live tv for a working channel, and then live tv for a black channel

[Graham]

Does "copy-once" and "copy-freely" and all that apply to channels that are "enabled" via a cablecard?

[mvallevand]

The references to EC_STILL_GOT_VIDEO in your logs can't be a good thing. If you are sure the content isn't encrypted I'd make to change this to false if it isn't already

<AlternateOSDForMissingVideo>false</AlternateOSDForMissingVideo>

Martin

[Zeb]

Martin is saying you should go to Settings/Misc2 in NextPVR and UNcheck the box "Use alternate OSD with missing video" (which might not be checked anyway).

Personally, I'm curious about channel arithmetic. How many channels are supposedly included in your cable package? Under Settings/Devices, how many channels are listed for either device of type HDHR? Are there still only two channels that you can actually watch? Are you even getting AC3 audio?

@Graham: Yes.

[Gutterman]

The settings 2 box was unchecked already. I experimented with it but no changes.

I have found a few more channels that work. They seem to be local channels that work. The History channel, NickJr, Military channel types don’t work. I have Charter cable and I find no info on their webpage on what is encrypted and what is not. The tech I spoke with today said they don’t publish it because it changes every so often.

What is interesting, is channel 1-100 on Charter can be picked up by just a TV with no cable box. If you want higher than channel 100, you need one of their cable boxes. Channel 1-100 does not show in a scan of channels thru the DCR-2650

It seems to be the opinion of the people helping me here is this must be a cable encryption problem on my cable card. That the cable company has not unlocked it yet. Any advise on what I should tell them to fix it? Ask for a new cable card maybe? Or is there some technical term I can use?

Concerning channel 1-100, should I assume these channels maybe unencrypted analog type channels? Will the DCR-2650 not pick these up? Can you recommend a device I should acquire to get these channels?