hauppaugh hvr-1600 - clear QAM no joy

[JohnInSJ]

Anyone having any luck with this thing getting clear qam channels?

I can return it for something else that works, if anyone has a suggestion.

On comcast, with 111 clear qam channels easily tuned by my HP LCD TV's clear QAM tuner, but zip, zero, nada tuned by the hvr-1600 (in pvrx2 *or* the tv app) - latest drivers, known correct qam card - it's brand new, says clear qam on the box....

Does this thing just not work?

Edit: of course it works fine as an analog tuner, but then so did my old pvr-350, didn't it?

[pcostanza]

I have but only in WinTV. I gave up after talking to my cable company and they told me that only the same OTA channels were being sent in QAM and that was likely to change shortly before the DTV change early next year. I think they're playing games.

[AndyPro]

mine works just fine. Things to check:

Yeah, it's silly, but do you have the cable plugged into the correct port on the card? One side is analog, one side is digital. If you want them both at the same time, you need ot use a splitter.

If you are using a splitter: are you sure that you can get channels on your TV's tuner witht he splitter in there? Sometimes all it takes is a single split to make the signal unusable.

Are you using the absolute latest drivers? If you're not getting it in either GBPVR or the wintv6 (NOT winttv2000...it wont work for QAM) then it's either a cable issue, driver issue, or the card is hosed.

Download the latest fromt he website, run the HWCLEAR program that comes with it (or is already isntalled witht he old software) and re-installt he drivers. Make sure youg et the full package form hauppauge jsut to be sure.. Then reinstallt he whole package, and set up wintv6 to use the QAM tuner ont he proper tab (dunno what it's called..I forget) and scan for channels. Make sure you've got the source correct.

If you get channels in there, you should in gbpvr no problem.

--Andy

[gazoo]

Did you change the QAM.ini files suggested somewhere in this thread: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=27630 ?

That's what helped me get going. I still, however, don't get every SINGLE channel that my TV detected, but I get about 90% or so.

[pcostanza]

I didn't but I may try just to see if it works any better in GBPVR. However in my case, if the signals are the same as the OTA channels I'm getting, it's not going to change anything.
Thanks for the tip.

[Anthony]

On comcast, with 111 clear qam channels easily tuned by my HP LCD TV's clear QAM tuner, but zip, zero, nada tuned by the hvr-1600 (in pvrx2 *or* the tv app) - latest drivers, known correct qam card - it's brand new, says clear qam on the box....

Before you try setting up GBPVR, make sure you can tune QAM channels in WinTV.

Click the "Menu" button, then the "Suite Manager", then the "Sources" button. Select the "Clear QAM Source" item in the source list, then click the "Autoscan" button. This should locate any QAM stations you have available, assuming you have your cable connected directly to the digital port of the HVR-1600, and are not going through a cable box.

With that said, I was never able to get my HVR-1600 working with Comcast cable. I could "view" most stations, but recordings usually turned out jumbled and unwatchable. It was like the horizontal and vertical sync signals got lost, not like a low signal dropout. I contacted Hauppauge and they said they were aware of problems with Comcast, but didn't have a solution.

In my area, the only QAM stations available were the local broadcast stations, plus a few shopping networks, government channels, and spanish channels I wouldn't watch anyway. I installed an outdoor antenna to pick up my local digital stations (I actually pick up more stations than Comcast relays anyway), then use the analog side of the HVR-1600 to tune in the few Comcast stations I'm interested in (Discovery, WGN, and a couple of public broadcasting stations).

It would be nice to go all digital, but for now my setup serves my needs nicely.

Anthony

[JohnInSJ]

Ok, back to the drawing board...

First important point - comcast san jose, digital cable, and yes my LCD TV can/does find *all* the clear QAM channels listed for me here :
http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/lin...code=95129

So, yep, there are clear QAM Channels there for the tuning

Second, I have moved the box into its final location, which has the cleanest cable runs in the house (cleaner then the ones the LCD TV is on... so hopefully)

I've got all the various qam.ini files available

I'm running the stock 1.2.9 gbpvr

Currently, re-running the wintv scans to see what they can find. After that I'll try to scan in gbpvr again.

Of the 1000 or so qam.ini files out there, which is the most likely candidate? In one post, someone said that the "qam.STD.ini" one worked best for comcast...

[fering]

Did you buy the card recently? I believe that older versions of this card did not support QAM.

Found the info:

Note: Product codes 74021 and 74041 support QAM, while product codes 74031 and 74551 do not.. The product code can be found on the tuner label on WinTV-HVR-1600.

From http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/s...driver_34c where it says Scanning for QAM channels.

[JohnInSJ]

Did you buy the card recently? I believe that older versions of this card did not support QAM.

Yes, see first post... card is brand new (ie, yesterday). Card is latest version and supports QAM.

Promising progress - wintv now finds a boatload of QAM channels (it's still scanning) so I am very hopeful it was the cable run, and not doing the first analog/digital scan with splitter hooked up first.

While waiting for wintv to finish (man that is slow), I googled around the forums some more, found I also was lacking a mux, which I need for digital playback. So, I've installed one of those and now MuxChecker is happy. I'll let the WinTV scan complete, then we'll let gbpvr have another crack at it.

Inching closer. Sounds like there are enough gotchas to this that a wiki page would be helpful. I'm now 75% confident its gonna work

[JohnInSJ]

Wow... ok I am so close I can SMELL the DTV

now gbpvr does indeed find a boatload of qam channels. Mapping the channels, the "preview" window works occasionally, but not always - well always audio, occasionally video. Still, was able to map the "major networks" which is really all I am after for this first attempt - since they're clearly/correctly marked.

Now, HOW do I tell the recording service to record on the QAM tuner first, if available, and use the analog second. Ditto for live TV?

We're close - I can feel it!

Edit: And WinTV is tuning the channels in and showing them fine. So, yeah, if I could just SEE it on live TV in GBPVR, I would believe it was working