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Only 1 channel works http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4067	Page 1 of 1

Author:	chemicalspill [ Mon Apr 04, 2005 6:41 pm ]
Post subject:	Only 1 channel works
Hey everyone just spent my first crazy weekend trying to build a mythtv box. I am using the Hauppauge pvr 350 on a dell server with a 1.8ghz xeon processor, 1gb ram and a 80 gb hd. I was able to get the tv out to work once I read the following threads: First I ran Snapperdragon’s PVR-350 TV-OUT Install Script http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3886&highlight=pvr350 Then I used Alarson’s information on tuner type complete tv-out: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3827 Now for the purpose of my post…I am only able to view one channel (channel 3) on my television. If I change the channel on the keyboard or cable box I just get the diagonal ‘out of tune’ picture even though i can still see the program guide info. I don’t believe it is the physical cable setup because during a previous install of knoppmyth using the forum posts above I was able to get tv-out and record to work on any channel. For the record the physical cable setup consists of a comcast digital cable box to the line in of the pvr 350, line out is s-video/ rca cables to my television. Don’t know what I did this time around… if anyone has an idea I would really appreciate the help. Thanks! BTW thank you to Alarson and Snapperdragon for their respective posts… they kept this newbie’s sanity somewhat intact

Author:	Xsecrets [ Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:15 pm ]
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sounds like you haven't set it up properly, and it's changing the channel on the tuner instead of on the cable box. you know you'll have to have an irblaster or serial connection to change the channel on the cable box.

Author:	chemicalspill [ Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:18 pm ]
Post subject:
thanks for the response. I have the ir cable connected to the pvr 350 card. It has been plugged in since my first install... Is it likely that I specified , via some setting in mythtv, that the tuner's channel get changed instead of the cable box? Or could it be that I still need to do some configuration around my remote and irblaster?

Author:	chemicalspill [ Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:24 pm ]
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CORRECTION: I am actually only receiving static on all other channels besides channel 3. Not sure if that makes a big difference vs. the diagonal 'out of tune' picture, but I wanted to correct that mistake in my original post.

Author:	tjc [ Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:55 pm ]
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You do realize the difference between the IR receiver which connects to a PVR-250 or 350 and accepts input from the Hauppauge remote control, and an IR blaster (transmitter) which is a dongle which lets your box remotely control something like a cable or satellite box right? Without a cable box my cable goes directly from wall to coax connector on my PVR-250. Then the tuner on the card selects the right carrier frequency and decodes a signal. The PVR remote control signals are read from the reciever by lirc, which passes the appropriate keycodes to mythtv, which switches frequencies on the PVR card. With a cable box... Well lets start by sayng "it varies". Many cable boxes are effectively external tuners which decode the signal off the cable then outputs it either to an s-video jack which connects to your TV bypassing it's tuner, or for older sets, re-encodes as a signal which shows up on some fixed channel like 2, 3 or 4, like an old fashioned VCR. The control loop here is much longer, once mythtv gets the keycodes (as above) instead of talking to the PVR card it runs an external program which generates IR signals via a blaster which are received by the cablebox, which then hopefully changes the channel. (BTW - There are also cableboxes which can be controlled via a serial cable.) Setting all this up is much more complicated as you can imagine.

Author:	iscraigh [ Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:19 pm ]
Post subject:
easy way to test this is walk up to cable box and change a channel if the picture changes then you know you need to set up irblaster or a serial connection.

Author:	chemicalspill [ Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:52 pm ]
Post subject:
Now we are getting somewhere! I used the cable straight from the wall into the pvr 350 input and I am able see the other channels properly. I did not know the difference, but I understand your point about the two. So is there any reason why I would want to use my cable box? Is there an advantage to either of the cenarios you proposed (cable box vs. wall)? Does this mean that if i got another tv tuner card that I could split my incoming cable in two and record two channels at the same time?

Author:	iscraigh [ Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:10 am ]
Post subject:
Yes you could split the cable and record 2 shows at once. The advantage of the cable box is that you gennerally can get digital channels that you cannot get without it. (usually movie channels and specialty channels). If this is true in your case what you would do is split your cable before the input to the cable box, take one side of the splitter to tuner #1 take the other side to the input of the cable box. Take the output of the cable box to Tuner #2. You would then have to set up the tuners so they know which channels are available on what input. Can't help you with the setup just starting to play with the program myself.

Author:	chemicalspill [ Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:41 am ]
Post subject:
iscraigh thanks for the clarification. That is good to know... I thought I was going to have a bunch of receivers stacked next to my tv! Whatta relief... Thanks again guys!

Author:	tjc [ Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:54 am ]
Post subject:
I'd have gone on with more detail however... - Without knowing how knowledgable people there's always the possibility that your "trying to teach a fish to swim". - It would take a short book to describe al the possible ways to hook up a system. For example if you don't care about being able to record two things at once you could run one connection from the splitter directly to the tuner input on your PVR card, and another connection from the cablebox output to the s-video input. This would let you use the tuner for unscrambled channels and the box via the other input but not at the same time. (BTW - there are enough different PVR models that I don't know off the top of my head if you even have an s-video input on your 350). Of course whether or not this makes any sense is in an open question...

Author:	chemicalspill [ Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:56 pm ]
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Thanks tjc! Well if I am a fish then call me "Flounder!" It's great to hear all of this information, the more the better, because the myth box that I am building is an experiment. I am very new to linux and home theater for that matter. Hopefully I will have all of these configuration decisions nailed down along with a decent understanding of linux by the time I am ready to put a "real" box together. Cheers!

Author:	Nnyan [ Thu May 05, 2005 12:52 pm ]
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Don't want to hijack this thread but I'm starting to think about how I'm going to remote control my PVR. I have a PVR-500 without any remote control, I have Comcast Digital Cable (around Sacramento). I'm thinking that I will need to get an IR Blaster to control my cablebox and PVR. If I understand what I'm reading correctly an IRBlaster will let me control both the cablebox and PVR right? My only other concern is if I have Digital Cable what channels will I not be able to record on the PVR?

Author:	Xsecrets [ Thu May 05, 2005 1:35 pm ]
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no one irblaster cannot control both the pvr and the cable box.

Author:	Nnyan [ Thu May 05, 2005 1:52 pm ]
Post subject:
ok then, I'll need to get a remote control with an IR rec to control the PVR then an IR Blaster to control the cable box. Do both of these need to be serial (I believe my mobo just has one serial port)? Is there something like the Microsoft MCE remote which has the IR receiver and an emitter to control a cable box with?

Author:	Xsecrets [ Thu May 05, 2005 6:49 pm ]
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not that I know of, but one other alternative is to get an RF remote like the ati remote wonder.

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