Scanning help

[Mrsauga]

I've read several threads regarding the same issue however I'm not able to resolve the problem of no channels being found during the scan.

As I understand it, as the scanning process is taking place I should see the channels pop up in the list that are found, encrypted or not. I am using WinTV v8 with the Hauppauge 955q tuner. My source is connected directly into the back of the tuner which connects to my mini PC. The signal, from what I thought, or presumed, was the digital QAM.
For some insight, the cable going into the tuner used to go into a digital set top box which converted the signal to HDMI. This cable goes into the tuner now, direct, as I mentioned earlier.
So, my signal could be analog I suppose, however I have tried every option in my device list, ie Analog Video Capture, ATSC ATSC Tuner, and the QAM ASTC Tuner.

I know it was mentioned that analog signals need the SoftPVR software but since I seen the analog vid cap tuner option in my device list I have not installed it.

If I try and use the WinTV8 software as well, and choose any of the provided options, the scan comes up blank.

Thanks.

[sub]

Hi. QAM is for when you have the cable connection going directly to your PC. In your case it sounds like you're going via digital set top box, so this won't be QAM.

In this type of setup, the set top box is outputting analog. The tuner can't scan for channels in this type of setup, since there is only the one channel that the set top box is currently tuned to, so you have to tell it what channels are available via the set top box. i.e. Head to the Settings -> Devices screen, double click the analog device, then hit the import button. On the screen that pops up, you tell it how the signal is coming from the set top box. It sounds like you're using coax, so this typically means setting the input source to "fixed-channel" ch3. You also need to select your epg source. Most people in that part of the world use schedules direct, but you could also use xmltv etc. hit ok and you should be good to go.

[peejay]

Hi sub,
From my reading of the problem Mrsauga is no longer using the set top box but is going straight to the tuner.
Paul

[Mrsauga]

Hi guys,
thanks!

I have been spending a lot of time in here trying to understand this whole thing and I left out some important information. My STB signal comes from a dish, which has two transponders. One for HD and SD and one for just SD channels. The cables from the transponders go into a multi dish switch (Videopath SW44) mounted outside. The providers coax cable also goes into the SW44 connection labelled 'To Power Inserter', which then goes into the house into this Power Inserter. From there the coax goes into the STB and sends the output via HDMI cable into my receiver.

I read something about using the composite cables from the STB into the tuner, but I don't want to have to go that route. I have a working epg and xml file so that isn't an issue. If I went to Schedules Direct does that mean the channel scanning now comes obsolete as I would just map channels, or would it still need to scan the channels?

The cable which came from the Power Inserter is the one I hooked into the back of the tuner, originally connected to the STB. My guess is it would never have found a channel since it's not a direct cable from the ground so to speak. As far as connecting to the tuner, I can go through the STB if that's what I'm supposed to do, but the 955q tuner doesn't have the HDMI input from STB out signal.

Hopefully this added info will guide someone in assisting me in getting this to work.

Thanks for the help so far!!

[Mrsauga]

i.e. Head to the Settings -> Devices screen, double click the analog device, then hit the import button. On the screen that pops up, you tell it how the signal is coming from the set top box. It sounds like you're using coax, so this typically means setting the input source to "fixed-channel" ch3.

OK, this worked. I now was able to import the channel list. Sweet. New issue. When scanning channels, any channel found not encrypted has a checkbox filled in. When I import my channel list there is no way of it knowing which is encrypted. Since this was my first time I was able to click on a channel and watch live TV I'm not sure what to expect. Each channel I choose loads a colored snow screen, scrambled. I'm assuming this is an encrypted channel. Could it possibly have something to do with the decoders selected?

[Graham]

OK, this worked. I now was able to import the channel list.

It appears that you have the setup shown here ... but with a single dish and only two cables from the dish into the SW44 ... https://www.amazon.ca/Videopath-Express-...entries*=0

My understanding is that the only function of the "power inserter" is to amplify the signal from the dish ... the signal is not altered.

The effect of all this is that you have a "standard" satellite signal coming into your home. Satellite TV companies charge a fee to their customers and I would expect that the TV company encrypts its broadcast signal to prevent non-customers from receiving the signal without paying the fee.

I would expect that the "receiver" decrypts the signal and outputs a signal to your TV. I expect that you select channels to watch on your TV by pointing a remote control at the receiver. The receiver will also be a tuner and will select a single channel from all of the channels that are available from the dish.

The Hauppauge 955q is described here ... http://hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr955q.html ... and I can see nothing to suggest that this device is able to understand a satellite signal. Plus, an encrypted signal would not be understood by any tuner even if the tuner was a satellite tuner.

I do not know of any way that you will be able to receive an encrypted satellite signal without using the receiver provided by the satellite TV company to decrypt the satellite signal.

You could acquire a tuner device that allows you to receive a signal from the receiver. Devices are available that will receive a signal via HDMI or via Composite or via S-video.

I expect that the receiver that you have is only able to output a single channel at any one time. NextPVR would be able to receive only a single channel at one time so you could watch that single channel on Live TV via NextPVR which adds nothing because you can watch a single channel on TV by connecting the receiver to the TV via the HDMI cable. Alternatively, NextPVR could record the single channel but you would not be able to watch or record any other channel via NextPVR while NextPVR was recording.

It may be that there are "free" satellite channels in the US (meaning no monthly payment to a satellite TV company ... we have free satellite in the UK). You would be able to receive these free satellite channels if you had a satellite TV tuner in your computer.

Please forgive me if I have misunderstood any part of this ... I don't use satellite TV. Good Luck. Graham.

[Mrsauga]

Hi Graham,
I think you nailed it. I should have spent more time trying to understand what I have and what is available for what i have.

So, the coax comes from the ground into the SW44 then all the transponders hook up to the SW44. The coax would still be getting a encrypted signal if I went into the tuner direct and bypassing the SW44? So no matter what, as you see it, there is no other way than the options you mentioned above?

Thanks for the detailed info.

[Graham]

So, the coax comes from the ground into the SW44 ...

Coax or electric power cable for the "power inserter" ?

[mvallevand]

The coax from the dish needs to feed the transmission from the LNA's to a tuner whether it is an STB (analog) or PC tuning card (digital) for decoding. For digital NextPVR can read the digital signal from the PC card but the decoding doesn't bybass any Nagravision encryption on the stream. That is why you need to get analog output from the STB using the SD analog output into NextPVR. The 955q isn't going to work for you though because it doesn't have an IR blaster to tune channels on your STB.

Martin