DA-1N1-E QAM problems

[Qixotl]

I am using the PCI version of the card (DA-1N1-I) which arrived a few days ago. I have also been struggling to get QAM tuning to work. I can get GB-PVR to go through the long tedious channel scanning process without error messages (and have used the default qam.ini files along with most of the alternative ones on the forum and a stripped down one that I made), but it never finds anything. I assume that the digital channel mapping procedure should at least find the encrypted channel signals along with the clear QAM ones like other tuners, but nothing is detected (and the Recording Status window says "Sleeping" during the entire scan for that ATSC/QAM tuner). There are no receivable ATSC channels in my area, so I can't tell if the entire tuner is faulty (though NTSC works fine). Any further hints about new approaches would be welcomed. Config.exe.log and FilterCheck.log are attached.

- Used both GB-PVR 1.2.13 and the VistaView patched 1.1.15
- "VistaView Saber (QAM)" selected (Device #1 for both analog and digital, otherwise get a crash)
- Used both the default and patched GBPVRTSMon.ax
- Using DA-1N1-I QAM capable drivers (6.2.100.12), reinstalled once
- Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE startup programs disabled)
- MediaPortal scans also find no QAM channels, but can't tell if that is due to the buggy nature of that program (it crashes during analog channel scanning)
- Used service menu from cable set-top box in other room to confirm that the frequencies of the clear QAM channels are in my qam.ini file
- have used multiple coax cables to both tuner ports

[sub]

Can you do a scan again, then zip and attach the config.exe.log and config.exe-native.log files? The zip you attached doesnt have the important -native.log.

[Qixotl]

Can you do a scan again, then zip and attach the config.exe.log and config.exe-native.log files? The zip you attached doesnt have the important -native.log.

Another scan is done and the files are attached. I see why you requested the config.exe-native.log. It at least looks like GB-PVR thinks it is communicating with the tuner card. Still no luck on tuning as usual. Thanks for taking a look.

[whurlston]

It's finding a signal but never locking on. If you have any splitters installed, try removing them and see if that makes a difference.

[sub]

There is no sign of any errors in there, but it looks like the device fails to ever lock onto a signal. Have you seen any application find channels on this card? It'd be good to be sure the card is working, and a strong enough valid signal is being supplied. If it was a Hauppauge device, I'd suggest trying their WinTV software - does VistaView have some equivalent software they supply that can be used to confirm its a GB-PVR problem? (at this stage I dont think its a GB-PVR problem)

[Qixotl]

I removed the spiltter, but I still could not lock onto any channels. I typically get -8dbmV to -10dbmV signal strengths and ~35 db S/N ratios for QAM channels according to my cable set-top box, which I hope would be good enough.

Unfortunately, VistaView does not ship a TV viewing application with their DA-1N1 cards. They market the cards as a Media Center component, but specifically state to use GB-PVR for clear QAM viewing on the driver download webpage. They had some employees coordinating work for clear QAM support in MediaPortal late last year, but I have never seen a confirmation that they were able to make it function right. When scanning for QAM channels in MediaPortal, the signal intensity bar is fully colored for every frequency tested, but the signal lock bar is always blank and no channels are found. Looks like I might have a dud card.

[sub]

Yeah, it is sounding like either a weak signal or dud card. As far as those GB-PVR logs are concerned everything looks fine but the device never manages to lock on to a signal.

[Qixotl]

Just a followup on my travails. The card turned out to be fine. I slapped it into any old computer of mine and it tuned QAM channels with few issues. Unfortunately, that computer does not have enough horsepower to handle an HD channel, so I need to get the card functional in my main computer somehow. I have been installing and uninstalling codecs (and GB-PVR), trying to clean up any bad registry entries, updating motherboard and video drivers, and trying everything else that I can imagine. Using WizBDAChannelTool to transfer the tuned settings from the old computer to the intended one just brings up the no signal screen when those channels are selected.

Only one change has happened due to all of my work. Initially when I was attempting to map the digital channels, the preview window would stay completely black. Today after reinstalling ffdshow with a newer version (and a few other tweaks), I started to see yellow and red lines being generated at the top and the bottom of the preview window. No proper pictures though. Very strange. I seem to have eliminated effect that with my current codec choices (Intervideo). I am nearing the point where I might convince myself to reinstall Windows to see if that will clear the decks enough to solve the conflict, but I do not look forward to that. Vistaview did send me a registry hack to enable the QAM tuner in MCE 2005, but did not supply a way to tune the channels.

The logs again show no signal lock, even using the same cable configuration that I used for the old computer.

[sub]

For whatever reason, the device or its drivers seem to failing to lock onto any signal with when the device is in your main machine. Since the device works fine in the other machine, I'm guessing there is some sort of hardware or software conflict between the capture device or its drivers, and other things present in your main machine.

Sorry, I know thats not particularly helpful, but the problem seems to be occurring outside of the things that GB-PVR has visibility of.