I am having a strange problem with one HD channel on my system. I am running R5E50 on a 3GHz backend, 1.2TB storage, 512GB RAM, 2 HD5000 tuners, 1 PVR 250 tuner, nvidia FX5200. I am using QAM-256 stations on this system and all work fine but one. The station (channel 235 ABC), when recording HD content, is viewable but, the best way to describe it is that it jumps or stutters or loses sync with the audio. The video may run fast then the audio clicks and pops or the video runs fine but the audio is several seconds behind (eventually it will click and pop and the video will start jumping).

No errors in any log file, channel 235 plays fine on non-HD content and on my other QAM HD televisions, TOP reports very low cpu utilization even with all 3 tuners recording (less than 12 %), all other HD stations record and play fine. The problem is there whether I am using one tuner or all three (when the machine is loaded down or not). The system reports a channel lock and there is no tearing that is usually present with a poor signal.

This started happening when I was running R5D1 and continued into R5E50 – I have tried moving the tuners to different PCI slots (even removed the pvr250 to insure there is no interference issue); I confirmed that it is not a specific tuner (recording 235 on tuner 1 has the same results as on tuner 2).

I am looking for suggestions for where to look next – I am stumped. Perhaps a signal quality problem? And how does one capture signal quality information on a specific QAM channel?

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nbdwt73

In my limited non-professional opinion it does sound like a signal issue. Do you have any other tuners you can try that channel with? like an internal tuner in your TV or a STB or something? Would be interesting to see if other tuners besides the HD5000's have issues.

Martian

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Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

I do have another 32" QAM HDTV that seems to work fine on 235. I have played the two side by side - one works, one doesn't.

Does anybody know of a way to capture signal performance data?

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nbdwt73

You also have to consider receiver sensitivity as well.

Bruce S.

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OK - just a final update in case it will help others. It turns out that Time Warner has an issue with ABC-DT in several markets. My problem (channel 235) is related - dropping frames on HD sources. I complained to TWC and they told me that since I was not paying for digital service (I am using unencrypted QAM) they would not do anything to fix the problem.

I just bought a HD antenna this morning and installed it on one of my HD cards - works perfectly. In fact I am getting more digital channels this way than on my other card on cable.

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nbdwt73

Rochester NY is one of these. When I had cable, 1013 was often unwatchable, usually during primetime. The probem was with "intrusion" of other signals. The local FOX NTSC OTA was the problem. Well, they weren't the problem as they are LICENSED to broadcast on UHF 31. But that signal was close to the one that TW used to pump 1013 (ABCHD) through their wires, and it's susceptible to intrusion with leaky cables/splitters.
The TW tech replaced some cable and splitters and it helped, but it never really went away. Many others have had the same issue.
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Chris