Qam.ini Manager

[JavaWiz]

So, how would an high level, no programming experienced idiot like me take the mdb file I just got in WinTV and make my own qam.ini file? Better yet, if my 2250 works fine in XP and scans just great in GBPVR, how can I use the BDA migration tool to take into GBPVR in Vista and/or W7?

First, I used WinTV6, not sure if they changed the schema for WinTV7, second, I use XP, not sure if this will work in Vista the same way.

• If you don't have MS Access, download MDBPlus (this tool will allow you to execute SQL against a .mdb and export the results as a text file)
  
• In MSAccess (or MDBPlus), execute the query in the prior post. This will create a result set of valid frequencies.
  
• Export the list to a text file. In my case, this created a file with 18 frequencies in it.
  

[INDENT]

Code:

97250
553250
559250
571250
589250
625250
631250
661250
667250
697250
703250
709250
715250
721250
733250
739250
745250
751250

[/INDENT]

• Edit the text file created and add the following to the top:
  

[INDENT]

Code:

[CABTYPE]
1=All Countries
2=All Frequencies
[DVB]
0=xx

Where xx = the number of entries generated by the query (18 for my example).
[/INDENT]

• For each entry in the list, prefix frequency with entry number and =. and end it with ,0,0 as follows:
  

[INDENT]

Code:

1=97250,0,0
2=553250,0,0
3=559250,0,0
4=571250,0,0
...
18=751250,0,0

up to the xx entry.
[/INDENT]

• Copy (or rename) the file as qam.ini in your BDA directory. In my case, it was gbpvr/BDA/ATSC/qam.ini.
  
• Run the GBPVR config program and perform a channel scan. You may want to delete (or rename the exisiting .cache file first).
  

The resulting channel scan should locate all the channels at those frequencies (could be more than 1 channel per frequency). In my case, all the valid hits had an * at the end (Unknown4*)

ex:

[SIZE=2]T:667250,0,0~P:2~V:2368~A:2369~PMT:54~PCR:2368~N:>667250.2 Unknown4* (000(AC3))[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]I edited the cache file and removed all the dead entries (ones's without the *), then manaully mapped each channel to a physical entry in the EPG.

At some point, I may write a program to do all the above steps, but at this point I don't have time....[/SIZE]

[pcostanza]

Thanks much. I'll give it a shot but don't hold out much hope in Vista and W7. Will let you know soon.

[whurlston]

Interesting, so the WinTV db actually shows frequencies in yours. I wonder if that's due to you using XP of if there is a way to force it to show the frequencies.

[pcostanza]

Didn't work for me and I'm pretty sure I did it correctly. That was almost fun if it would have worked.

[JavaWiz]

Interesting, so the WinTV db actually shows frequencies in yours. I wonder if that's due to you using XP of if there is a way to force it to show the frequencies.

Here is a little utility I wrote to build the qam.ini based on the data in the WinTV db. It works well for me as the list is limited to only frequencies that channels actually exist (at least as far as WinTV is concerned). I've included the source code if you'd like to include it in your qam file generator.

[Gort10]

GBPVR 1.3.11 with HDHR (Tuner 0 = Digital Antenna, Tuner 1 = digital cable)

After upgrading from 1.3.7 to 1.3.11 I have a problem with finding digital cable channels on a channel scan. If I use any of the default with channel numbers or default with channel frequency qam.ini files there are no channels found on the scan.

If I generate qam.ini using any of the center channel options I find lots of frequencies. Unfortunately none of them are viewable (no signal).

HDHomerun manager operates normally and finds all channels as usual. HDHR tuner 0 (digital antenna) operates normally.

I have enclosed logs generated by using channel numbers and channel frequencies. I have also enclosed logs using center channels. I have included the relevant qam.ini file with each of the logs.

Hope someone can help.

[whurlston]

Here is a little utility I wrote to build the qam.ini based on the data in the WinTV db. It works well for me as the list is limited to only frequencies that channels actually exist (at least as far as WinTV is concerned). I've included the source code if you'd like to include it in your qam file generator.

Sorry, been so busy that I missed this. I work on incorporating it. I aslo want to talk to Silicondust about incorporating their channel lineup too, just been real busy lately.

GBPVR 1.3.11 with HDHR (Tuner 0 = Digital Antenna, Tuner 1 = digital cable)

After upgrading from 1.3.7 to 1.3.11 I have a problem with finding digital cable channels on a channel scan. If I use any of the default with channel numbers or default with channel frequency qam.ini files there are no channels found on the scan.

If I generate qam.ini using any of the center channel options I find lots of frequencies. Unfortunately none of them are viewable (no signal).

HDHomerun manager operates normally and finds all channels as usual. HDHR tuner 0 (digital antenna) operates normally.

I have enclosed logs generated by using channel numbers and channel frequencies. I have also enclosed logs using center channels. I have included the relevant qam.ini file with each of the logs.

Hope someone can help.

Don't see an attachment but I don't need the scans with the "default" settings. I can tell you that only the "Center frequency" settings will let you find anything on an HDHomeRun (unless your Windows TV Tuning parameters have been modified by another driver or manually). The BDA drivers for the HDHomeRun will automatically add 1.75MHz to the requested frequency to reach the "Center frequency" so if you have a program on channel 71 (507000), you need to request a tuning frequency of 505250.

One question: Do you have a software firewall running and if so, did you add exceptions for Config.exe, GBPVRRecordingService.exe and PVRx2.exe?

[Gort10]

I do have a software firewall running, but all of these programs are allowed. My problem has morphed. After generating a new qam.ini file using center frequencies and doing another scan I now get channels I can view, with peculiar exceptions. About half of the HD channels are fine, the rest are offset - meaning a significant portion of the picture (usually the right 2/3) is off the screen. CBS, NBC, FOX are fine. PBS, ABC are offset. Wierd.

[whurlston]

I do have a software firewall running, but all of these programs are allowed. My problem has morphed. After generating a new qam.ini file using center frequencies and doing another scan I now get channels I can view, with peculiar exceptions. About half of the HD channels are fine, the rest are offset - meaning a significant portion of the picture (usually the right 2/3) is off the screen. CBS, NBC, FOX are fine. PBS, ABC are offset. Wierd.

Try a different video decoder.

[gkreis]

I need some assurance I am not about to blow away my channel mappings. I spent a LONG time mapping them.

GBPVR didn't find 5-808 which is my 1080i PBS. I have determined that WinTV shows the frequency as 77250. When I looked at my QAM.INI file in the C:\Program Files\Devnz\GBPVR\BDA\ATSC\HVR1600 folder I found this line.

5=79250,0,4

So I made backup copies of the QAM.INI file in the BDA folder and in the HVR1600 folder (not sure how they interact). I modified each QAM file to not go beyond 5 (so they are quite short to save on rescan time). I altered the frequency from 79250,0,4 to 77250,0,4.

My HOPE is that if I rescan that it will be brief and will find the station so I can map it. I presume mapping to a channel copies info from Scan-1.Cache to some place where the mapping is held (can I backup something that holds this mapping?). Is it in the registry?

I made a backup of Scan-1.Cache so I thought I might then copy the line from the new scan cache and put it in the original so it appears to be have been found when they were all scanned.

Am I doing this the hard way? More importantly, can I protect my current mappings?