TV setup issues - PCTV nano stick 73e

[Graham]

is it possible for the driver that is used for the tuner to somehow be different for GBPVR than for the Pinnacle software? (I assume not!)

I have never heard of such a thing. You are not the first to report different results from different softwares. It may be a time-of-day thing. It may be that the softwares handle the stream from the driver in different ways.

The booster that you want is the one with the highest gain ... measured in db.

[thawk]

Just digging around the forum (search for 'channel scan pinnacle') I have found various threads fo folk who have had problems with Pinnacle sticks or DVB-T tuners where they can see the channels in the pinnacle software but not in GBPVR.

e.g.:
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...n+pinnacle
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...cle&page=2
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...n+pinnacle

This makes me wonder if there is some systematic set of problems here with the way the GBPVR software tunes vs the pinnacle software for these tuners.

Reading these threads is mostly a tale of misery with no solutions - only one post I found seemed to suggest any joy:
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...n+pinnacle

However to be honest i've no idea what an all.ini file might be, if it might solve my problem or where it would go in the GBPVR directories. Also I'm not clear what QAM and ATSC are and whether they could be of any relevance to my situation!?

Many thanks for any thoughts

Tim

[Graham]

You may have hit on something here.

Frequency offsets are used in the UK. Is "Explicitly scan DVB-T offset frequencies" ticked in the Misc tab of Config?

[thawk]

I am not at home but looking at my config file I zipped and attached a few posts up the only 'offset' entry that would seem to be relevant is:

<BDAAutoScan166KHzOffset>true</BDAAutoScan166KHzOffset>

This is set to true - is this what I need?

Otherwise I will have to check in the config file this eve

Tim

[thawk]

On another dimension i notice in my config.xml file that the preferred H264 decoder i have set it to is 'Pinnacle H.264 Decoder' - this came up on the list in the config program when i tried this time with the latest version of GBPVR (before it never came up so i assumed it was part of the upgrade!)

However i note in the config.xml file this decoder is not listed as one of the 'SupportedH264Decoders' by GBPVR!?? Is this OK or could it be also a problem?

Thanks for your your help with my many questions!

Tim

[Graham]

<BDAAutoScan166KHzOffset>true</BDAAutoScan166KHzOffset>

This is set to true - is this what I need?

Yes. Offsets are not the problem.

I read the posts that you linked to but nothing jumped out at me. If you have the time and patience, you could resort to trial and error. Does your card have a tuning_special entry in the BDA.INI? I don't know what the different values mean (and the guy who does, Sub, is away working just now) but you could try 0,1,2.

If you can be arsed, you could buy a Hauppauge card off the Internet to be sure about the signal strength and return the Hauppauge for a refund.

[thawk]

Thanks - well a few more things to test but not that much hope i guess - i will have a further play when i get home and perhaps try some tuning_special entries!

Tim

[Graham]

However i note in the config.xml file this decoder is not listed as one of the 'SupportedH264Decoders' by GBPVR!?? Is this OK or could it be also a problem?

On the face of it, this is impossible. GBPVR searches your puter for each of the decoders in the lists in config.xml and the drop down list in config.exe shows the decoders that it found. If it is not in the config.xml list it should not be in the config.exe list.

It is almost certainly a red herring. UK DVB-T Freeview does not broadcast in 264 and it wouldn't affect the scanning for channels in any event.

[thawk]

>>>UK DVB-T Freeview does not broadcast in 264 and it wouldn't affect the scanning for channels in any event. <<<<

Indeed you're right - UK Freeview doesnt seem officially to have the HD channels listed yet - they are rolling out from Dec 09 and onwards across the UK as far as I can see from the web.

But both the BBC and ITV have been transmitting HD tests and i noted on the Pinnacle scan some HD channels I thought - will have to check. But presumably any of those HD channels (indeed this is what the blogs report) will be in H.264 (either the existing test channels or when fully rolled out)?

But as you say this is probably not the source of my current problem!

Tim

[Graham]

I expect that you have already found this but just in case ...

http://www.ukfree.tv

HD on Freeview will use DVB-T2 and there is currently exactly zero equipment available to receive DVB-T2 (chicken and egg?). What transmitter are you on? Have you been digitally switched over yet?

And finally, an old chestnut, have you got the latest drivers for your tuner?