Official DVICO TViX M6620N HD (ATSC/QAM) Tuner Topic - Page 4

My question is, do I need to setup anything software-wise on the PC side for the TViX to see/play the files, or can they simply sit on any of my shared HD folders as they are now, and be accessed? If there is more to "serving" them, where might I learn more about setting that up? (NAS?)

Thanks for the clarification on QAM - got it.

You can do whichever you like. TViX can use the same "SMB" shares that your other network devices access on the PC or you can run DViCo's NFS server on the PC or you can run a uPNP server such as Tversity or Twonky. The advantage of the uPNP servers is that they're automatically found by the TViX, whereas the SMB and NFS shares must be manually set up on the TViX, which some people find difficult.

I switched my 6620 over to OTA and it does not seem to lock up on stations anymore but it did reboot itself twice now, once as I was channel through all the OTA channels it got to one and just rebooted, the next time I was just switching from watching a .mkv file back to watching TV and it just rebooted. Is this also a glitch in the latest beta firmware?

Using OTA I do get all the guide info for all channels unlike some of the channels from Comcast in my area. I think I lost the ability to see what the resolution of the channels are using OTA though? On cable it would say 1080i or 720i (even though it is supposed to say 720p) but on OTA I do not see this info?

I will sign up on the TVIX forum and put in my Netflix request. That would be killer if they could add it in.

Thanks for the suggestion. The previous fw isn't a viable option as it caused frequent lockups and reboots. The current beta in most ways works better.

Is "scan skipping" the ability to manually de-select stations from the active list? If so, how do you access this feature? I can't find it in setup.

Are there other 6620 owners here who have Time Warner service? If so, are you having the problem I'm having with PBS coming through on a 'non-numbered' channel at 1008-0?

No, it's part of the scanning operation and is accessed via the |<< and >>| keys, as suggested on the scanning page.

The next firmware is supposed to be imminent, so I wouldn't invest a lot of effort in trying to solve the PBS station problem until you see whether or not that's fixed. (There's not really much that you can do anyway, unless you have other equipment that can capture a clip of the station's transport stream for DViCo analysis)

I just imported some video from my Video Camera and it won't play on my 6600n it is an AVI File from a sony DCR PC1 that has the Mini DV tapes. I am using Window 7 to import the video. When I go to play the file it just displays a black screen and zeros on the counter. Shouldn't this work? I'm still thinking of returning this thing and just getting a cheap PC instead.

Brian--

"AVI" is a wrapper that can hold very many different sorts of streams and it sounds as though the format inside yours isn't supported on the TViX. I can suggest two ideas before you return the box. 1) Try any of the other choices on the camera of download format if there are options. 2) Sign up on the TViX MyQ&A Forum and ask DViCo for suggestions about your specific case. They may ask for a clip to test.

I think my M6620N is starting to die a slow death....

It now is rebooting all on its own for no apparent reason. I will be watching TV and it was just reboot and come back to the Menu selection screen.

Also I have it setup to record a show everyday while I am at work and it lists the show but when I go to play it there is nothing recorded and the files size is right around 200kb give are take.

It seems to be fine if I leave it on Movie watching and just stream files to it for viewing as I have not had one reboot while watching HD .mkv files of BSG so I think the dual tuner section is what is causing all the issues and is going bad in my unit.

Anyone else have any of these types of issues?

-DK

DK--

I've not seen nor heard before of this problem with the 6620, but earlier TViXes sometimes had loose tuner connections that could cause problems. I suggest that you try reseating the tuner module in the unit in case it has become loose.

Will the warranty still be intact if I do that?

I have no problem doing it.. just want to make sure it will not void any warranty incase it is a bad tuner module, or unit.

-DK

I don't know. Check with your vendor.

DK,

Are you using the firmware the unit came with? Mine did as you describe or would sometimes freeze until I updated to the beta from the Dvico site.

Still not perfect but much more predictable.

DK--

OH, now I remember--you're using the latest beta fw. If you're seeing crashes (reboots) while watching QAM, I think that it's because of the background EPG scanning introduced in that fw combined with the QAM scanning bug in that fw that incorrectly maps encrypted channels into the available-channel list. You'll either have to back up to the previous firmware or make sure that you delete all of the encrypted channels from the GoTo list.

I am using the latest beta fw but I switch my unit over to my OTA feed as I wanted to see if I still had reboot issues and it does.

The OTA also gives more guide data then what comcast is sending to me in my area.

Could it still be an issue with the beta firmware?

I'm not sure, I haven't seen rebooting during OTA viewing with the b5 firmware but it definitely has some DTV problems and my testing has been limited, so it could still be a beta issue. I suggest that you try an earlier fw version to see if the same reboots persist. If so, then I think that some sort of hw problem is more likely indicated.

Hi all. If the 6620N is used to record a show to the internal hard drive, is it then possible (and easy) to copy it off to another drive, such as a USB drive plugged into the back?

I watch exactly two things ever on TV (all other video comes from files): the Daily Show, and NFL football. I am ignorant of television codecs and formats; can anyone comment on whether regular cable-tv broadcasts on Comedy Central and broadcast channels will record properly? I suspect that they will.

Comedy Central is usually delivered as an analog channel and/or encrypted digital channel. The TViX supports neither.

If you want options to record non-local cable channels, see the stickied HDTV recorder comparison chart.

Yes.

Ah, yes I can see that (thank you). I had already reviewed the recorder comparison chart, but I don't have the underlying knowledge and understanding to compare them effectively. There are so many devices and so many options and so many constraints that I am overwhelmed and don't know what to buy.

I don't think the 6620 is the device that i need. Does this site have a forum where a newb can post stupid questions, or post needs, and get hardware recommendations? (I looked for "N00b FAQ" but didn't see one.) What I really need is an informed friend who can help me find the best device.

Could you please tell me where to find the GoTo list?

Um...you press the GoTo key?

I just got my 6620N today. It has the problem described by Elliot: more often than not, a station on cable comes in without audio, using the analog outputs. I just verified that a scheduled recording that is in progress is apparently not recording audio, so the problem probably has nothing to do with output used. Obviously, this would not be very useful. It's been almost a month since Elliot raised this issue here, will updating the firmware fix it at this point?

(I need to figure out how to do that).

It it does, I'll be fairly impressed. This is my third networked player. First was a MVIX MX760HD. Second was Popcorn Hour NMT A100. Both worked, after a fashion, but to my mind had serious limitations and were not ready for prime time.

This one got up and networked in short order. The Samba will probably work when I create an account with a password that doesn't have a character that appears impossible to enter ("="). The DLNA server just works (from a ReadyNas) and the hard drive installed in the 6620n is visible on the Samba network. (NFS is so frustrating to get working in any environment I won't try). So it works both ways, first time. (I can't remember whether the HD in the PH was visible on the network but it was so noisy I had to take it out).

And, it's quiet I had to squint at the fan to verify it's even running (assume it ramps up when needed). Unfortunately, too quiet most of the time tuning in to a cable channel. If that issue is fixed, I probably won't give up on the thing in disgust.

Leporello, I think that the balky audio has been addressed in the newer beta fw, but if you read above you'll see that it has worse problems with QAM tuning so I don't recommend that you jump to that one. What fw are you running? Updating it is similar to the process on the PCH, but much faster. There is supposed to be another beta "real soon now", but DViCo tell me that they've run into some delays caused by the latest Realtek SDK.

BTW, are you certain that the recording does not contain the audio PID? I'm very surprised at that!

Whether I use the Ethernet or Wireless N the HD videos wont stream off the server. Very choppy at best, any suggestions? A Gigabyte ethernet connection would have been nice. USB 2.0 streams ok, but my server doenst connect with USB only external my external HD's. Is there any way to upgrade the Ethernet or do I have to convert all my HD video back to a lower quality. In which case the ability to watch any Hd videos is limited to the size to the internal HD. What a waist of a good media player.

Yes, I tried playing it back with the box, and with VLC, no audio. (while I was recording as I made my last post I was able to play the beginning of the file on my PC as it was recording. I just tried playing the complete file, same thing. A file I recorded by putting the box in "crash record" as I was watching and listening does have audio).

Is this a cable (QAM) problem only? I may just get an antenna.

I'm using FW 1.8.7. I just downloaded the official release from the company but it turns out to be what I'm running. I'm hesitant to try betas. There doesn't seem to be any orderly revision list with problems addressed. If every unit behaved like mine on my cable system I can't believe they'd be selling too many.

So, you got past the problems of establishing a network connection described in your previous two posts. Congratulations on the progress!

There's still something amiss on your LAN, however, since most have no trouble streaming regular HDTV files without any hiccups over a 100 Mbps connection. Troubleshooting LAN throughput problems is not easy. I don't know where to tell you to start, except perhaps by googling "LAN performance diagnostic tools".

Thanks for the confirmation. I just checked and the problem is not fixed in the B5 beta (nor is it limited to QAM--Edit: Actually, it is limited to QAM! Operator error in my test. ).

I have so far not seen a scheduled recording show up with no audio, however. Is that the type that you were making and that had no sound? I know that this issue was listed in release notes of a prior fw, so it's on the radar screen, but I'll report it again.

I scheduled it for M-F 18:30 - 19:30, so I'll see what happens tonight. I'll look again at yesterday's file to see if it ended up in some stream other than where I was listening. Maybe that's what's going on.

I take it this has no capability of capturing entire transport streams, unlike MyHD?

Correct. There's no full-TS option. I imagine that it could be added, but there seems little point in doing so (provided the subchannel-only mode can be made to work correctly).

I look forward to your update on the scheduled-capture audio.