newbie WinPVR350 FM Radio and TV problems

[pipkato]

Hello,

Some newbie problems.

I've just started using gppvr with a Hauppauge WinPVR 350 and seem to have run into some problems. I'm new to GBPVR but not to Hauppauge, having used it for years.

I can't seem to get my TV or FM radio channels to work properly.

I don't have my final TV source set up properly but I'm testing the system using a basic 'rabbit ears' aerial (antenna). I've tried to understand the information in the Wiki and used the 'Tuning Assistant' to assign channel numbers to my XMLTV channel list. As far as I can understand it, I have to use this system, as there is no equivalent of the 'Channel Scan' in the Hauppauge WinTV2000 software, which works fine and stores the channels for TV and radio fine.

I did manage to note down some channel numbers from the 'Tuning Assistant' and change the channel numbers in the 'Edit Recording Source' listing and was able to see the Channel when I clicked on 'Live TV'. I'm viewing on my PC monitor.

Then I tried the channel scan on FM Radio. It scanned the full frequency range and I could hear the channel as it went through. But it never stopped at a channel for me to select it and at the end it told me I had no FM channels configured. I did install the Lame.? add-in for Windows 2000 and it confirmed it was installed.

Now I can't see any TV and I have FM radio from some channel playing. I can't seem to stop this FM channel. I've tried 'Stop' and all other options I can think of.

Is there any alternative Tutorial for using GBPVR or any simple guide for non-USA users to handle TV and Radio? I'm in Ireland and have used XMLTV to create the bundle of channels I'll be using (a combination of off-air local TV and UK Satellite TV from a Sky Digibox).

Most other elements of the program seem to be working fine. I still have my Hauppauge software installed but not running when I'm using GBPVR. I'm using Win2K SP4 on an Athlon 2500+ with 1GB RAM. The PC is a SFF Biostar Ideq N200 with NVidia onboard 32MB graphics.

Any suggestions for getting things working? And maybe I've missed it, but how do I select a Composite or S-Video source on the Hauppauge card?

Thanks.

[sub]

I don't have my final TV source set up properly but I'm testing the system using a basic 'rabbit ears' aerial (antenna). I've tried to understand the information in the Wiki and used the 'Tuning Assistant' to assign channel numbers to my XMLTV channel list. As far as I can understand it, I have to use this system, as there is no equivalent of the 'Channel Scan' in the Hauppauge WinTV2000 software, which works fine and stores the channels for TV and radio fine.

I did manage to note down some channel numbers from the 'Tuning Assistant' and change the channel numbers in the 'Edit Recording Source' listing and was able to see the Channel when I clicked on 'Live TV'. I'm viewing on my PC monitor.

I depends which country you're in as to whether you need to this or not. Its particularly easy for USA users, and the typcially dont need to change any of the channel numbers.

Setting up the channels is only a one off activity, so I'm not that concerned that is a hassle. I cant be arsed writting a channel scanning function.

Then I tried the channel scan on FM Radio. It scanned the full frequency range and I could hear the channel as it went through. But it never stopped at a channel for me to select it and at the end it told me I had no FM channels configured. I did install the Lame.? add-in for Windows 2000 and it confirmed it was installed.

I've talked to Hauppauge about this. Apparently they only implemented the SignalPresent() call in their drivers for some models of tuner. I have two PVR350s. One detects channels, the other doesnt. If the FM scan doesnt stop at channels, this means you've got one of the models that doesnt implement this. You'll just have to use the 'add' button to manually setup the stations. Hopefully Hauppauge will fix this in future - I doubt it though. Their radio app uses a different (private/proprietary) method, so there isnt much incentive for them.

[pipkato]

Thanks for that sub, and thanks for creating such a terrific PVR. I was knackered tired last night, so apologies if I sounded a little whingey on the tuning and scanning issues. I actually have two PVR350's so I'll give the FM scan a try soon with the other one.

In the meantime, how do I 'Add' a channel. Clicking on the 'Add' button does nothing. It just sits there showing the frequency range. Any idea why I seem to be stuck with some radio channel which plays when I'm on the 'Live TV' screen, even though the on-screen information refers to a TV channel? Also is there any way I can have off-air tuning via my internal Hauppauge tuner and also be able to select 'Composite' as an alternative input?

Could previous installations cause the above problems? I had mistakenly installed MediaPortal on the Win2K machine before discovering it doesn't run on Win2K. I uninstalled it properly, and it seems to be gone, but maybe you know better on this.

Thanks.

[pipkato]

An update on my FM Radio problems.

I can now 'Add' an FM station - didn't realise I had to type in the Frequency from the keyboard (any way to make it Mono on noisy signals?, or to 'Name' the channel?).

But I have a problem I've seen described elsewhere - I can only 'Add' a single channel. All attempts to 'Add' other channels fail. Did you remember the cause, Sub?

Thanks.