New user. I have a few problems.

[polymetric]

Hi, I just got a MyGica A681. I've set it up with NextPVR and Schedule Direct. It's working great, except:

1. I'm not getting some channels. As far as I'm aware, I'm not getting 2 (NBC) or 18 (not sure)
2. I get random crashes and exceptions when dealing with lists. Earlier I clicked bulk map and it gave me an exception, then only displayed a few channels. I also tried to cancel a recording, it gave me an exception and then froze. Right now I have a bunch of schedule conflicts that I'm trying to resolve, when I click cancel/don't record, it either gives me an exception, crashes, or doesn't do anything.
3. I'm getting random freeze ups when pressing most buttons. I click on a timeslot. Freeze. 30 seconds later, I click "Quick Record". Freeze. Not so quick, huh.

Don't get me wrong. It's a great software, I'm glad it's free. I can't believe they survive closed-source on donations like this. I personally think it would be better to either open source it or start charging.

Any comments would be appreciated, thanks.

[sub]

Hi, I just got a MyGica A681. I've set it up with NextPVR and Schedule Direct. It's working great, except:

1. I'm not getting some channels. As far as I'm aware, I'm not getting 2 (NBC) or 18 (not sure)

Do a scan, then post the logs and I'll take a look.

Do you get these channels with any other software?

2. I get random crashes and exceptions when dealing with lists. Earlier I clicked bulk map and it gave me an exception, then only displayed a few channels. I also tried to cancel a recording, it gave me an exception and then froze. Right now I have a bunch of schedule conflicts that I'm trying to resolve, when I click cancel/don't record, it either gives me an exception, crashes, or doesn't do anything.

There isn't any known issues that would account for these. Your best bet is to post (in the support forum) a more detailed description of what you get, like the exception message, and the what you were doing at the time, so we can investigate. Its probably something pretty minor and easily fixed.

3. I'm getting random freeze ups when pressing most buttons. I click on a timeslot. Freeze. 30 seconds later, I click "Quick Record". Freeze. Not so quick, huh.

Again, not a known problem. Reproduce the issue, and post the logs, along with the time the problem occurred and we'll take a look.

The symptoms here in 2/3 make me wonder if the recording service wasn't running? This can lead to delays while the connection times out, and sometimes and exception message.

[polymetric]

Well, apparently I disabled the recording service and forgot to restart it. whoops. 2 and 3 are fixed.

For the channels part: I tried with SichboPVR (slightly nicer interface but not configurable enough), and I got 18 but not 2. I'm also missing 35 on sichbo, but not on nextpvr. Not that big of an issue, I think it might be my tuner (sichbo seems to think it's limited to 18 channels). Log files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d9853qacdym400...2.zip?dl=0

Also, I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum. Feel free to move it somewhere more suitable.

Thanks for your response!

[Graham]

. Log files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d9853qacdym400...2.zip?dl=0

I tried to look at the log files but it didn't go well ... You can create a zip of the log files at Settings --> About. You can attach the zip of the log files to a post by clicking Go Advanced (down and to the right) and then clicking the paperclip icon (above the text).

[sub]

For the channels part: I tried with SichboPVR (slightly nicer interface but not configurable enough), and I got 18 but not 2. I'm also missing 35 on sichbo, but not on nextpvr. Not that big of an issue, I think it might be my tuner (sichbo seems to think it's limited to 18 channels). Log files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d9853qacdym400...2.zip?dl=0

You need to zip the logs immediately after a scan, so that we can see the scan happening.

[polymetric]

Oh, okay. It's attached. I'm now getting 18 and 35, which I was missing before, but still not 2.
Also, I tried to do a manual scan. What unit does the frequency box use? Hz? KHz? Surely not MHz?

[sub]

Do you know what physical channel number NBC is transmitted on? ie, it's logical channel number is 2 (2.1?), but what physical channel is it transmitted on?

Will the channel be called NBC, or is there some local affiliate name?

[mvallevand]

Channel 2 looks like it is on physical 11 in Orlando, but it is coming from Daytona Beach so maybe it is a signal issue. What kind of antenna a are you using, a lot of "HD" antennas are UHF? On this page it looks like you need more than basic to get it http://dennysantennaservice.com/orlando-...tions.html There is even a note about WESH

Martin

[polymetric]

Yeah, I looked on google maps and it looks like everything considered channel 2 is out of range. I'm using a tiny stock antenna that's about a half a foot in total. It's actually quite decent for what it is, although just barely usable. It cuts out a lot. I've ordered this $30 one though, so hopefully that gets a lot better reception.

Also, I don't think I'm receiving any UHF frequencies. Do you think that's just my stock antenna, or the tuner, or what? All I'm getting is 480i.

Speaking of 480i, for the level of compression I'm getting on a 720x480 60i MPEG2 image you'd think a couple minutes would be less than 2GB, but it's not. I've set up this ridiculous batch file system with ffmpeg to copy the streams and compress them into h264, but it's not working too well. My question is, how do you set up postprocessing.bat? I'm sure I could get something working, but the wiki doesn't have a whole lot on that.

TL;DR: Stock antenna is really short. Ordered a better one. What do you need to do to receive UHF/HD signals? How would I use postprocessing.bat to compress recordings?

[sub]

Speaking of 480i, for the level of compression I'm getting on a 720x480 60i MPEG2 image you'd think a couple minutes would be less than 2GB, but it's not.

Recording size depends on the bitrate used by the channel. Usually you'd get something like this:

1080i = 7-8GB/Hour
720p = 5-6GB/Hour
SD = less, maybe like 4GB/Hour

How would I use postprocessing.bat to compress recordings?

I wouldn't recommend recompressing recordings. If you're having to do this, it sounds like you need a bigger hard drive. Disk space is cheap these days.