2 STB's - one PVR 250 - can I do this?

[lchiu7]

Here is an interesting dilemma which might need a feature change in gbpvr

I have both digital and analogue cable from the same company. There are some channels on digital not on analogue but analogue quality is much better for some reason. Most channels are scrambled so I need the STB to view them. This is what I want to do but am not sure if I can

1. Do most of my recording from the analogue STB box using the composite video outputs from the box into the composite video inputs of the PVR250 and USB-UIRT changing the box when I need to.

2. When I want to record a digital channel, do that by recording the RF output from the digital STB, with the PVR250 tuning into the frequency that the digital STB sends the unscrambled channel out

I can do 1. fine - in fact this is what I do all the time now.

I had some problems getting gbpvr to tune into the channel the digital STB outputs. Even though I could create a channel number with frequency in the registry that WinTV2K could use. when I used that channel number in gbpvr all I get is interference. But when I code the exact frequency into the epg for the RF source, I can view the channel fine.

So far so good.

This is the dilemma. When a certain programme is broadcast available only on digital, what I need to do is tell gbpvr to tune into the channel as described in 2. and also change the STB to the right channel. I can't see any way of doing that since gbpvr presumably uses the channel number as the data to send to via the USB-UIRT to the STB and in this case the channel number is a frequency. So it could be a feature request. Add another field in the epg to use as the actual channel number to send out, in addition to the frequency field?

Now if I could get gbpvr to accept the channel number (which is matched to a frequency in the registry) then I could possibly edit the registry and add the channel numbers I need from the digital cable box, all mapping to the same frequency. So gbpvr at the appointed time would presumably switch the pvr250 to the right channel (which in my case would always be the same frequency) and also send the remote codes to the STB

Any other possibilities?

Thanks

[King Mob]

Could you not create 2 capture sources in config, one containing only digital channels and set up capture from the composite input, and one containing only analog channels and capturing from the rf in?

[wtg]

Setup your analogue channels as a composite input source and your digital channels as a "Fixed-Channel, External Tuner" for video source. I think you can then use the USB-UIRT to change the channel for both, but when recording one of your digital channels gbpvr will tune the RF input to a specific channel for recording.

I think that should work.

[sub]

wtg is correct. In addition to this, you want to use a frequency for the fixed channel. You should be able to enter this frequency in the "constant channel" box even though it looks way to small. I hadnt intended this type of usage, but it should work.

[lchiu7]

wtg is correct. In addition to this, you want to use a frequency for the fixed channel. You should be able to enter this frequency in the "constant channel" box even though it looks way to small. I hadnt intended this type of usage, but it should work.

Thanks will try all this out. But in my experimentation did find something a bit strange that I could not work out.

I managed to find the frequency that the STB box outputs using WinTV2K fine tuning application. I then used freqcopy to copy the frequency to the registry. In my case I chose channel 44 and in the registry in the TVAutotune entry there was a dword entry 44 and the frequency. This was fine. I also created some epg for that channel so I could view it in the TV Guide

Having created a second source for my PVR250 as RF, added one channel to it as channel 44. I was presuming that when I chose channel 44 (note there is no channel 44 in my other source setup which is via the composite input) gbpvr would look up the registry entry, find 44 and the frequency and tune into it. However when I fire up liveTV and punch in 44<Enter> nothing happens.

If however instead of putting 44 as the channel number I insert the actual frequency, then when I bring up LiveTV gbpvr tunes into the STB frequency via the RF input and I can see the signal okay.

Am I misunderstanding how gbpvr works here?

Also as an aside, if the source is setup as internal tuner, so presumably gbpvr looks in the registry for the frequency to use matched against channel number, does it still execute the code to drive the USB-UIRT? Common sense tells me that there is no need to since gbpvr is using the internal tuner but I guess only a check of the code would prove or disprove that

Thanks

[sub]

However when I fire up liveTV and punch in 44<Enter> nothing happens.

Has it also got '44' on the channels tab of the config app?

[sub]

Also as an aside, if the source is setup as internal tuner, so presumably gbpvr looks in the registry for the frequency to use matched against channel number

It never looks at registry settings for frequencies. It just tells directshow to change to 'NZ/Cable/44', then Microsoft does the rest.

If you set you capture source to use the 'external tuner, fixed channel' option, then it'll always just use the channel or frequency in the box I highlighted earlier. With this setup, you can have the cable box channel numbers entered in the capture source channel list, and these will be used by the USB-UIRT each time the channel is changed.

[chud]

i have the same setup where i have "basic" cable on digital/HD, and full-on, kitchen sink cable on analog.

the difference in my setup is that i don't use an analog stb. maybe you need to for some reason, but i split the incoming coax between the digital STB and the other into my PVR150 and so use the internal tuner for the analog channels. then from the digital stb i connect via svideo to the pvr150. that way only one irblaster control is needed. i get two EPG's from zap2it (one for each source) and then mask out which channels i want to view with which source.

[lchiu7]

Has it also got '44' on the channels tab of the config app?

44 is the only channel in the RF source. I also have 44 in the channel tab of the config file and both entries have the same channel name. I discovered I had 44 twice in the channel tab, one selected as a favourite, the other not. I changed the one which was not a favourite to another high numbered channel

Now when I am in LiveTV, watching something coming in via composite video and press 44<Enter> I guess gbpvr is tuning to something but all I see is static video. Yet 44 in WinTV2K shows the channel fine

[lchiu7]

i have the same setup where i have "basic" cable on digital/HD, and full-on, kitchen sink cable on analog.

the difference in my setup is that i don't use an analog stb. maybe you need to for some reason, but i split the incoming coax between the digital STB and the other into my PVR150 and so use the internal tuner for the analog channels. then from the digital stb i connect via svideo to the pvr150. that way only one irblaster control is needed. i get two EPG's from zap2it (one for each source) and then mask out which channels i want to view with which source.

It would be good to avoid the use of the analogue STB but my cable company scrambles pretty much all channels - even those in the basic cable setup so I have no choice but to use the box