ATi TVW HD 650 Dual Tuner -- no US cable

[aludal]

I just incapable to add US cable as a second(ary) source.
Original OTA ATSC source was established more or less without excessive blood letting (though there are huge problems with XTML EPG originating from "legacy" MCE source -- but it's a different story).

Now, in the presence of ATSC source, adding QAM source (separate tuner on this particular card, and separate ("stream") driver) has become impossible.

Tried to delete ATSC source, and only then I could establish something out of "ATI 650 Pro" (actually, why? it's a different/older model) with cable. Tried the Tuning assistant, only to find 3 or 4 channels out of my regular 75, all looking like from another (non-US) grid of frequencies.

Have read and searched plenty of this interesting forum, only to find some obscure reference to some sort of config tweak for "us cable", couldn't find it, sorry. On the other hand, the proximity talk was about tweaking bda.ini for US cable. Mine looks like tweaked already (not edited since installation 2 days ago):

[ATI 650 Pro (QAM)]
TUNING_TYPE=ATSC
TUNING_SPECIAL=2
FILTER_TUNER=ATI BDA Digital Tuner
FILTER_CAPTURE=ATI BDA Digital Capture
PIN_TUNER_IN=Input0
PIN_TUNER_OUT=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_IN=MPEG2 Transport
PIN_CAPTURE_OUT=MPEG2 Transport

Maybe I should stop GB Recording service, before attempting to add cable tuner?

TIA
(any advice on simplest working US EPG (both ATSC and Cable) arrangement would be also greatly appreciated -- tvguide.xml from MCE "legacy" I'm getting already, just GB won't read it....)

[luttrell1962]

Hi I have two of these cards, are you trying to get qam channels off of cable. What windows are you using.

If you trying to get qam off of cable most are encrypted, I get like 10 that are not. The card only has one atsc/qam tuner and a ntsc analog tuner. You can't mix cable qam with antenna atsc. If you want both you will need a second card. My cable analog only supports the first 30 channels all the rest are encrypted without using the box. (Comcast)

[aludal]

oh thanks for noticing my cry for help!
It's WinXPSP2, the best CatalystMC can work on. Here, at Charter (analog) cable, I see the different story: my 2nd tuner is QAM (1st one is obviously ATSC, I use it for OTA w/out problem), and in CMC, BeyondTV, MediaPortal I have no problem switching between two -- if with some delay -- but my finely scanned 74...75 analog _clear_ channels are there in every other TVtuner software I tried.

Again, I'm not trying to watch TWO sources simultaneously, God forbid, all I want is to graft a second source: ATI 650 Pro QAM in the GB parlance. Out of negative result, I gather GB can't switch to "QAM" (cable) part from "ATSC" OTA once this latter is configured.

Out

[whurlston]

You can but you will need to switch the cable that is connected to your digital tuner everytime you want to switch from QAM to ATSC or back. Unless you have two 650s the only way you can get Cable + ATSC OTA is if you are connecting the cable to the analog side of the card. This would give you analog cable, not QAM.

Do you have two cards or just the one 650 with two inputs? If you have just the one 650, that second input is an analog input and not a QAM (digital) input.

[aludal]

It's Radeon ATI TV Wonder HD 650 Dual Tuner (PCIE Digital & Analog TV Tuner), to be exact. GB determines it as actually 3 possible sources: ATSC, DVB-T and QAM, all "ATI 650 Pro". Which is wrong, to start with: it's not Pro, and it doesn't have the DVB-T which I believe is a non-US feature.

This is the reason I was asking for a US tweak of that bda.ini.

" that second input is an analog input and not a QAM (digital) input. "
absolutely! Now I need to graft it somehow as a second(ary), switchable, only one working at any given time, source.

Oh, and switching cable is out of question. What for? I have near perfect 75 analog clear channels in my analog cable connected to the analog TV input. CMC, BeyTV, MP work with it just fine.

So, the question remains: what is the GB description of my analog source?

(Lack of filling of EPG, both by TV Guide and TV Listings also worries -- with a brand spank new and fresh files of xmtv.xml and TVguide.xml -- no matter what....)

[whurlston]

It's Radeon ATI TV Wonder HD 650 Dual Tuner (PCIE Digital & Analog TV Tuner), to be exact. GB determines it as actually 3 possible sources: ATSC, DVB-T and QAM, all "ATI 650 Pro". Which is wrong, to start with: it's not Pro, and it doesn't have the DVB-T which I believe is a non-US feature.

All ATI 650 models use the same filter names which is what GBPVR uses to determine the card. So there is no need for separate entries for the Pro and Dual models. The "name" that GBPVR uses for the card is irrelevant.

This is the reason I was asking for a US tweak of that bda.ini.

There is no tweak needed. An entry exists for the 650 digital tuner for ATSC, DVB-T and QAM (the three formats that can be tuned by the 650).

" that second input is an analog input and not a QAM (digital) input. "
absolutely! Now I need to graft it somehow as a second(ary), switchable, only one working at any given time, source.

You need to set up an analog or "direct" recording source, not a digital recording source which is what you were trying to do. See the "Analogue tuner" setup guide posted at http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=43361

Oh, and switching cable is out of question. What for? I have near perfect 75 analog clear channels in my analog cable connected to the analog TV input. CMC, BeyTV, MP work with it just fine.

I said you would need to switch cables because you were trying to set it up as a QAM tuner.

So, the question remains: what is the GB description of my analog source?

For the analog side, you will set up a "ATI Theater 650 Pro"

(Lack of filling of EPG, both by TV Guide and TV Listings also worries -- with a brand spank new and fresh files of xmtv.xml and TVguide.xml -- no matter what....)

Update the guide from Config or the System screen of PVRx2, wait a minute or two, and then zip and post your logs. There is no way for us to know the problem without your logs.

[aludal]

Thank you Mr. whurlston, Senior Member! That "analog" manual did it! Almost, that is: EPG on analog channels was filled like in a minute, the analog source was grafted. Only one things remains: how do I switch to it? from within GB that is? it thinks for 10 sec, then returns me back to that analog cable EPG.

One other little thing is the ATSC OTA GB EPG grid is still empty.

[whurlston]

I would need to see your logs as I mentioned earlier to even begin to guess the issue with either of those problems.

[pBS]

there is only 1 pcie 650 and it's a dual tuner atsc + analog..
it's called pro, combo, or dual tuner...all same card..
the only other 650 chip is pci, which is single tuner only, otherwise same..

as he said, the atsc/QAM share same input connector, the lower one is for analog cable only....

i don't know why tho, they are identical tuners, so could be used either way..
[analog digital] but the drivers don't allow it..possibly circuit board connections also..

[aludal]

"I would need to see your logs as I mentioned earlier to even b moreegin to guess the issue with either of those problems."

Thank you very much, I'd rather would read myself here more, so I might try to solve my problems myself. I'll try to ask for help only when I'm really really stuck. After that "analog" breakthrough, I still have some space to wiggle.
However, when the real need arises, which exactly log would be needed? They are big...

To Mr. pBS: yes, I've read it elsewhere, tuners are identical -- the production is cheaper that way -- it's just the output circuitry can process a single stream from either tuner.
Speaking of which, still couldn't find the place in GB, or in Config where I could explicitly switch the sources. Clicking EPG channel/program may not work because I don't see any mapping in analog case