Problems with VistaView DA-1N1-I

[spaceghost]

I put the card in an pc and freshly loaded windows xp pro and did all the critical updates. I then loaded the latest driver for the card from the VistaView website. I then installed GBPVR and the GBVPVR patch for qam on the card.

The scan for qam in GBPVR found no channels. In BeyondTV on another pc, I receive 20-30 qam channels on a HD HomeRun. I actually used the cabletv to that pc, so signal strength should not be an issue. I then tried to configure the card for over the air hdtv in GBPVR. I hooked it up to my antenna. The scan revealed the channels I expected it to (I had use a Hauppauge HVR1600 in BeyondTV on a different pc for ota hd – I knew how many channels I should receive). When attempting to view live tv in GBPVR, no picture was displayed with the message – problem with your signal – signal strength bar totally green – quality bar was blank. No picture – no sound.

I now have two of the cars - both display the same symptoms.

Does anybody have this card working with qam in GBPVR? The analog side works well. Any tips are appreciated.

[sub]

The HVR1600 or HDHomeRun should all work fine with GB-PVR, and are used by hundreds of other users.

It you're lucky, and have the VistaView QAM patch applied from the survival guide thread, and have the new QAM capable drivers for the device, then it should also work. Its still pretty early days for this device with GB-PVR, and its been a bit awkward to develop for. If its not finding any channels, then do a channel scan, then zip and attach the config.exe.log and config.exe-native.log and I'll take a look.

[spaceghost]

Thanks for your quick reply. I have rerun the scan and attached the logs. I am sure I am doing something wrong, but I don't know what it is.

I have both a hdhomerun & HVR1600 in use on another pc - I am tring to build a a small form factor pvr with no external devices - and the HVR1600 card is too large because the ciircuit board is taller than the bracket. The vistaview is nice and small - and the analog tuner gives a better picture than the hvr1600 in my opinion. It appears gbpvr may be the only pvr software that offers support for the qam side of this card at this time.

One other experience with the vistaview - I tried to configure ota hd - the scan found the channels I expected it to find. But when I went to watch them, I got a signal strenth full green bar- but the quality was 0. That scan was yesterday - so it may not be in the logs. I have two vistaview cards - both do the same thing. I fear they may shortly be rma'd back to pcalchemy.

I see I am no longer a junior member - now just a member - woo hoo.

I appreciate your help.

[sub]

There is no sign of any errors, but the device never manages to lock onto a signal.

Are you sure the device has drivers that do QAM? I dont know the version numbers, but apparently the old drivers didnt do QAM.

Also, have you installed the VistaView application and confirmed you can tune in QAM channels on your setup?

[spaceghost]

Yes, I am using the drivers that VistaView claims support qam - 6.210012. The retail box comes only with a driver cd - no vistaview application - their webpage has a download for the SaberView application but it says it is for the 2020 card (dual analog tuner) and it is dated 16.01.2007 - I think that is unlikely to have anything qam related for this card - but I will try if you think I should.

[sub]

Sorry - I dont really know then. I know very little about this device.

[spaceghost]

Seems bizarre they claim gbpvr support for qam - when it doesn't appear to work. I want to make this clear - in no way is this a shortcoming in gbpvr - mfg shouldn't claim something that isn't true. Now have to decide whether to rma or keep them and hope that someday in the not too distant future either gbpvr, btv or sage supports it.

Thanks again.

[sub]

Seems bizarre they claim gbpvr support for qam - when it doesn't appear to work.

To be fair, it was me that told them it was working. They supplied a "loaner" () card, and I've had a user in the US set up that card in their PC, and we've seen it successful scan for channels and watch live tv. There is a problem with recording that I havnt looked into yet, but VistaView are aware of this.

You're only the second user I've seen give it a go at setting one of these up. Up until your failure comments, 100% of users (all one of them) had found the channels and got live tv working. I've remotely connected to that machine and seen it in action myself.

I want to make this clear - in no way is this a shortcoming in gbpvr - mfg shouldn't claim something that isn't true. Now have to decide whether to rma or keep them and hope that someday in the not too distant future either gbpvr, btv or sage supports it.

Up to you really. Its never going to be a mainstream device in GB-PVR like the Hauppauge devices etc.

[spaceghost]

I think they are a small outfit. It is possible the two cards I have are defective - both cards (in two different pc's) were unable to do ota hd, let alone qam. They would show channels in the scan, but in live viewing both would give no signal error messages in whatever software I tried. I experienced that in both gbpvr and beyondtv. The analog is nice - it has the vixs chip and to my eyes it appears to be a brighter, richer analog picture than the HVR1600 - plus at the same bit rate and duration the recordings are a little smaller.

[Tok]

After doing the scan it finds several channels. Only 2 of them show up in the preview window and even then its really choppy. When I try to view the channels in live tv I have the same issue as you. I have several music channels that I know are unencrypted that don't appear to be showing up in the scan.