Help needed for UK setup

[huemax]

Hi all,
I've just started to try build my first HTPC and could do with a little help from anyone that has succesfully built one.
I hope to build it primarily using my existing PC but once I have gained a little confidence in what I am doing, I hope to house the whole thing in a custom case. My PC is AMD Athlon XP 1700 with 1gb RAM and a seperate Hard drive dedicated to media 160gb. This currently has GBPVR running with an aerial connected for channels 1 to 5 analogue and my ntl cable (pace 4000) conected to a dvd recorder via scart (this is for its svideo output which is connected to PVR350 svideo in.

The problems I have are:

That the cable channel on GBPVR has no sound but it is ok with wintv2000. I find that if I change up channels from 5 to cable the sound disappears and when I change back to 5 that channel also now has no sound. I can fix this on channel 5 by changing down to 4 then back to 5, but it still has no sound on the cable channel. This was setup as an SVideo Exteral Tuner on Capture Device #1.

For outputing to the TV I have an SVideo to scart lead from the SVideo out on the PVR350 but that won't work on GBPVR for either live tv or recorded video. This has been tested and works with wintv2000.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to whats happening here?

[cameluk]

I'm using the same card, I haven't bothered with the aerial as I only use the NTL set top box and using the PVR-350 for capture and playback


From the STB I connect via SCART to the PVR-350,and from the PVR-350 via SCART to the TV

I have the source in GB-PVR set to composite 2. I have a hazy memory of having the same problem when trying to use S-VIDEO in GB-PVR but working in Wintv2000!

You may also want to try both scart sockets on the STB - they are not the same, the one marked video/vcr won't mute the sound if you press mute on the remote

As for the no sound on the aerial when changing channels are you using the latest version of GB-PVR?

[huemax]

So I need to use two scart to composite cables.
What do you use to control channel changes on your ntl box and do you know what model box you have? Mines a pace 4000n. Im not sure whether to opt for USB-UIRT or the Redrat. Any ideas?

[cameluk]

I just used the same cables, but changed the setting in GB-PVR, the cabling must be ok as you have wintv2000 working.

If you have a 4000n, is that on the old C&W network (BBC1 on channel 1)? if so then I believe that the PACE box uses IRDA as the remote protocol rather than the normal RC-5 that most remote controls use. If BBC1 is on channel 101 then you can use a standard USB-UIRT

My old 1000 and 4000 used IRDA so I had to purchase a redeye serial to control them. When NTL upgraded me to a Silver Samsung box, I switched the RedEye to RC-5 mode

[dougt1968]

Where in the uk can a USB-UIRT be bought from?

[smeghead]

I'm in the UK and I struggled to find anywhere so I bought

http://www.redremote.co.uk/serial/index.html

just under £30 and it works really well (on my Telewest PACE box). It connects to the serial port and you need to download the .exe from the website to get gbpvr to change channels. I can provide more info if required.

[criticalhippo]

smeghead - does your gb-pvr change to the correct channel then? I've got an NTL box and have the same redeye serial controller that you got, but I don't seem to be able to convince gb-pvr to use channel 1 for BBC1 - it keeps trying to change to whatever channel bleb is set to (33 or similar). I altered the channel numbers under the channels tab of the config application, but that made no difference The redeye serial controller works fine on its own, so it seems that gb-pvr is still sending the wrong (bleb) channel number to it.

[sub]

Edit the channel numbers in the capture source settings. The place you're changing them only affects the order the channels are listed in the tv guide.

[smeghead]

Yep, mine all works fine. I have a PACE box provided by Telewest (almost the same as NTL!). I don't use bleb, I use the radio times web site and create an XML file that GBPVR imports as part of its EPG update (3am each morning). As part of the utility that downloads the tv schedule, it converts the channel numbers from radio times channel id to the Telewest channel ID (using a text file that it imports). Therefore all the channel numbers in GBPVR config are the telewest numbers. It's useful this way in that if you ever need to config GBPVR again it imports all the correct numbers for the channel listings from the XML file when it updates the EPG (I did need to create the text file to start with, which was a pain, but once it's done that's it).

I don't know what cable box you have but mine needs a 3 digit number to change channels. So, for example BBC1 is channel 101, ITV2 is 113, Sky One is 120.
In the GBPVR config utility I have set it up to force 3 digit output.

[criticalhippo]

Thanks for your help, sub and smeghead - I had been following incorrect advice as a result of searching for similar problems on the forum. Changing the channel numbers in the capture source settings fixed it, and everything works brilliantly now (donation duly made). Sorry for pm'ing you smeghead - I was banging my head against the wall trying to work out why it didn't work, and wasn't sure you'd be following this thread still.