Supporting the OnAir USB HDTV GT - Issues

[rpertusio]

Hello,
I am part of the Technical Support team at AutumnWave. Our device, the "OnAir USB HDTV GT" has BDA drivers, and a few people have suggested that our device work with GB-PVR.

Our device information is here:
Autumnwave - OnAir USB HDTV GT

I'm looking for a way to configure the settings, or provide further information to developers to get this supported.

Currently... When clicking "Live TV", the EPG information shows, but the video remains 'blank' and no audio is heard.


To 'BDA.INI' I have added the following:

Code:

[USB HDTV-GT AVStream TS Capture]
TUNING_TYPE=ATSC
FILTER_TUNER=USB HDTV-GT BDA Tuner (ATSC)
FILTER_CAPTURE=USB HDTV-GT AVStream TS Capture
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport

This appears to work. When choosing "Only show devices detected in this machine" it is listed

For ATSC configuration...
I chose a known-working signal (physical channel 34, and logical channel 35-1) and in the "Tuning Request" box, I have typed:

Code:

T:34,35,1

Config...

• "VMR Custom Renderer" is the only option that works. (VMR9 & VMR7 don't show EPG info, and Overlay crashes)
  
• I tried all decoders. (Note: The nVidia Decoder shows the decoder icon in system tray)
  
• I tried Deinterlace settings of both "Encoder pass-through" and "None"
  
• I tried BDA Multiplexers "Microsoft DVR-MS", "Cyberlink" and "InterVideo"
  

Anything else I can try?

I have attached the following in a zip:

• bda.ini - The first entry is what I added
  
• config.xml - With all 'best guess' settings
  
• GBPVR.exe.log - Simply Launched, clicked LiveTV, and Closed the program
  
• GBPVR.exe-native.log - (see above)
  

- Ryan Pertusio
AutumnWave Technical Support
OnAir Solution North America

[sub]

I think MediaPortal is getting in the way. See if it works correctly after uninstalling MediaPortal

15:24:42.343 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - NVIDIA® nForce™ Audio
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - Video Renderer
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - MediaPortal Stream Analyzer
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - GB-PVR PSI Parser
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - NVIDIA Audio Decoder
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - NVIDIA Video Decoder
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - MPEG-2 Demultiplexer
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - USB HDTV-GT AVStream TS Capture
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - USB HDTV-GT BDA Tuner (ATSC)
15:24:42.343 VERBOSE - Microsoft ATSC Network Provider

"VMR Custom Renderer" is the only option that works. (VMR9 & VMR7 don't show EPG info, and Overlay crashes)
I tried all decoders. (Note: The nVidia Decoder shows the decoder icon in system tray)
I tried Deinterlace settings of both "Encoder pass-through" and "None"
I tried BDA Multiplexers "Microsoft DVR-MS", "Cyberlink" and "InterVideo

You shouldnt really have to change any of these. The default VMR7 and VMR9 renderers can only update OSD graphics when a video frame is drawn, but it never gets that far in your case.

I am part of the Technical Support team at AutumnWave. Our device, the "OnAir USB HDTV GT" has BDA drivers, and a few people have suggested that our device work with GB-PVR.

Our device information is here:
Autumnwave - OnAir USB HDTV GT

I notice your device lists Digital Cable QAM support. I would like to talk to you about this. I could help you sell a lot devices if this QAM tuning can be used with your BDA drivers.

[rpertusio]

I think MediaPortal is getting in the way. See if it works correctly after uninstalling MediaPortal

Problem still persists. MediaPortal removed. (Logs no longer show it.)

I notice your device lists Digital Cable QAM support. I would like to talk to you about this. I could help you sell a lot devices if this QAM tuning can be used with your BDA drivers.

Our BDA driver may very well have 'bugs' in it that prevent it from working properly. (BeyondTV, SageTV, appear to use the driver correctly, though.) I personally did not write the BDA driver, but I can pass along information to our development team, if necessary. ( Feel free to email or PM me: tech @ autumnwave . com [Remove spaces])

If any other information would be useful, let me know.
I have attached an updated set of logs

- Ryan Pertusio
AutumnWave Technical Support
OnAir Solution North America

EDIT - I have attached the latest graph.

Also, I may be incorrect... but does the current BDA spec does not allow QAM tuning... at least not until PBDA driver specifications surface in 2007.

[sub]

I'll have a read through the logs in a minute

Also, I may be incorrect... but does the current BDA spec does not allow QAM tuning... at least not until PBDA driver specifications surface in 2007

Yes, thats the root of the problem. That said, some devices do support it via a custom proprietary tuning interface. If your device had one of these, I'd happy to look into providing QAM support for it.

[sub]

The cause of the problem is not immediately clear looking at the logs.

Can you open that filter graph in GraphEdit, and post a screenshot? They're not portable between machines, so I cant open it here.

ATSC HDTV is not as well supported as other types of capture devices in GB-PVR, since I cant test this type of device here in New Zealand. I actively test against analog, DVB-C and DVB-S. DVB-T is close enough to DVB-C. ATSC is a bit different to the rest. That said, it should work since all the other ATSC devices have worked. I'm sure its something minor we have overlooked.

[sub]

16:21:05.234 VERBOSE locked=0 present=0 strength=11000 quality=0

Are you positive T:34,35,1 is correct for a channel you should receive a good signal for?

[sub]

I'm not positive it works with ATSC, but if you press Ctrl-O after trying to start live TV, does it popup a continually updating signal strength meter?

[rpertusio]

I added 2 more "known working" channels. The "T:34,35,1" is correct.

I have attached a filter graph image, as well as a filter graph when running in our own program. In addition, I attached a log of me switching between the 3 channels.

The signal meter does show (on CTRL+O) but no signal appears to be present (empty bars.)

Does this look like a BDA driver issue? Maybe your program reads the BDA driver differently from others.

Thanks,
- Ryan Pertusio
AutumnWave Technical Support
OnAir Solution North America

[sub]

I cant see anything obvious in the logs, and the graph looks correct.

Given your obviously close relationship with the developers though, I think there is a good chance you'd be able to check a couple more things.

Some other manufacturers have made debug drivers available to give some insight into what is happening in the drivers. Even the standard drivers often output some useful information. This info is usually viewed using DebugView from http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/DebugView.html.

For example, the standard Twinhan drivers output the following couple of lines of information each time I change channels:

Lock Freq/Symb/hv/Tone/Diseqc/LnbType/LnbV1/LnbV2/LnbSW/bWait: 618000/6956/64/0/0/0/0/0/0/1
^o^ ^o^ ^o^ Lock ok ^o^ ^o^ ^o^

This first line tells me the frequency, symbol rate etc requested by GB-PVR. Shortly after, the second shows me whether the device managed to lock on to a signal at the given freq/symbol rate etc.

I'm sure it would be very useful to see the frequency or channel number the OnAir driver thought GB-PVR requested, and whether it managed to lock onto a signal.

[rpertusio]

Thanks. I'm awaiting response from developers, and I'll be able to research this issue further. Thank you 'sub' for your quick and helpful feedback!

Thanks,
- Ryan Pertusio
AutumnWave Technical Support
OnAir Solution North America