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Latest Ceton InfiniTV 4 Info Thread - Page 67

post #1981 of 4509
2/23/12 at 11:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by erickotz View Post

kcr6419,
The windbg output you have of ehrecvr crashing in psisdecd looks very much like an issue we are currently pursing with Microsoft. Do you have a support ticket open with us for this issue? If not, can you open one for this and indicate in the ticket I requested it. Based on what we have seen so far, one or two specific channels will be what triggers this.
Based on our analysis so far, this appears to be a Windows Media Center issue, and in fact, I can reproduce this issue using an ATI DCT and the transport stream being played to it (so without an InfiniTV at all)

PM sent with all the info.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks!
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post #1982 of 4509
2/24/12 at 3:54am
I updated the firmware, and WMC suddenly let me set up the TV with the Ceton.

Called Comcast to activate and after two relatively painless calls I finally got the cablecard activated.

Here are my current problems.

1. It seems like no expanded channels are coming in. No sports package or HD besides the network. I assume after reading most of this thread this is a problem on Comcast's end. I get the error message that I am not subscribed.

2. EVERY channel but those offered on basic cable (like 10 channels) are "copy once". This is incredibly frustrating as I was planning on using this to record many disney channel and other cable channels to the network to share. I realized premium channels (HBO Showtime) or shows (HD NFL) might be "copy once", but not standard def big ten network! Is it common to have Comcast mark 90% of their standard def channels as "copy once"? Do I have any chance of getting this lifted? This is probably going to be a dealbreaker for me and this device. The Hauppuage HD PVR was a pain in the ass, but at least I could keep the shows I was recording on the network.
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post #1983 of 4509
2/24/12 at 8:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mariob33 View Post

I just installed a second ceton PCIe card in my originally fault free setup and now I'm seeing a repeating MSG telling me the channel is not activated. This MSG will not allow me to tune to specific channels. Also, since adding the second card the delay between channel changes is atrocious. And the little windows spinner spins forever. Has anyone e else seen similar? Could it be 2 cards in one machine?

That is the exact text of the message? It sounds to me like your second CableCARD may not be properly activated
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post #1984 of 4509
2/24/12 at 9:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MASrules View Post

The card is set up and being seen by everything, WMC says no TV Tuner signal. Is it possible I don't need the tuning adapter and the signal is just too weak and that is why I am getting the no TV tuner signal?

Frustrating...

We've had the PCIe InfiniTV quad tuner card for a year, and have been using it with a CableCARD since August. Here's the protocol I've developed (by trial and error) for when recordings fail or channels are not found:
  1. Leaving the computer on and WMC running, pull out the CableCARD and wait 15 seconds, then slide it back in. Tune to Live TV in WMC and wait up to a minute. (This is similar to the old method of disconnecting the coax for 60 seconds when the set-top box was acting up.)
  2. If that doesn't work, then close out WMC, launch it again, and go back to Live TV.
  3. If that doesn't work, then reboot the PC, reopen WMC, and go to Live TV.
  4. If that doesn't work, then call the cable company to get a "hit" on the CableCARD.
  5. If that doesn't work, then call the cable company to re-pair the CableCARD.
  6. If that doesn't work, then return the CableCARD, get a new one, and run through the activation procedure.
Maybe we've been lucky, but so far every single one of our viewing/recording problems has been due to the CableCARD itself, and has been resolved by doing one or more of the above. Step #1 usually does the trick.

WAF still at high levels.

I should add that we don't have a lot of complications in our system -- no TA's and no networked tuners, just one Ceton in one PC. So YMMV, but I'm throwing this out in case it works for you and saves a lot of time and frustration.
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post #1985 of 4509
2/24/12 at 9:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MASrules View Post

I updated the firmware, and WMC suddenly let me set up the TV with the Ceton.

Called Comcast to activate and after two relatively painless calls I finally got the cablecard activated.

Here are my current problems.

1. It seems like no expanded channels are coming in. No sports package or HD besides the network. I assume after reading most of this thread this is a problem on Comcast's end. I get the error message that I am not subscribed.

2. EVERY channel but those offered on basic cable (like 10 channels) are "copy once". This is incredibly frustrating as I was planning on using this to record many disney channel and other cable channels to the network to share. I realized premium channels (HBO Showtime) or shows (HD NFL) might be "copy once", but not standard def big ten network! Is it common to have Comcast mark 90% of their standard def channels as "copy once"? Do I have any chance of getting this lifted? This is probably going to be a dealbreaker for me and this device. The Hauppuage HD PVR was a pain in the ass, but at least I could keep the shows I was recording on the network.

I'd be willing to bet your CableCARD isn't paired right, and if you get (1) fixed, (2) will fix itself. Some MSOs (like Time Warner) do mark everything Copy Once, but Comcast marks most things Copy Freely
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post #1986 of 4509
2/24/12 at 9:22am
Eric - sorry to harass you, but can you comment on whether it is now considered 'okay' to daisy-chain a TA vs. parallel connection? I use MoCA and need to split the cable with a diplexer already - adding another splitter after that for TA/Ceton card would be nasty.. (card is in the mail )

Thanks a lot,
xnappo
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post #1987 of 4509
2/24/12 at 10:14am
Anyone seeing strange issues with the channel map in their infinitv log?

This is what I see now:

51619.401204: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:687 : accumulating new channel map (221) into old channel map (221)
51619.419500: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:762 : accumulated channel map is different
51619.420536: ocur: cas_cm_CacheNewChannelMap:845 WARNING: No more channel maps will be cached. Cache attempts 68

It used to say this:

01463.313984: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:697 : accumulating new channel map (222) into old channel map (239)
01463.337367: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:772 : accumulated channel map is different
01463.618881: ocur: cas_cm_CacheNewChannelMap:886 : Cached new channel map of 239 channels

This is with firmware 1.0.9.5 many months apart.

Just trying to eliminate anything that could be contributing to the crash and reboot issue.
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post #1988 of 4509
2/24/12 at 10:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcr6419 View Post

Anyone seeing strange issues with the channel map in their infinitv log?

This is what I see now:

51619.401204: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:687 : accumulating new channel map (221) into old channel map (221)
51619.419500: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:762 : accumulated channel map is different
51619.420536: ocur: cas_cm_CacheNewChannelMap:845 WARNING: No more channel maps will be cached. Cache attempts 68

It used to say this:

01463.313984: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:697 : accumulating new channel map (222) into old channel map (239)
01463.337367: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:772 : accumulated channel map is different
01463.618881: ocur: cas_cm_CacheNewChannelMap:886 : Cached new channel map of 239 channels

This is with firmware 1.0.9.5 many months apart.

Just trying to eliminate anything that could be contributing to the crash and reboot issue.

Try clearing the channel map from the ceton diag web page. power down the htpc and power cycle the TA while the htpc is off. boot up and let it redownload the whole channel map and see what it says from then on.
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post #1989 of 4509
2/24/12 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcr6419 View Post

Anyone seeing strange issues with the channel map in their infinitv log?

This is what I see now:

51619.401204: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:687 : accumulating new channel map (221) into old channel map (221)
51619.419500: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:762 : accumulated channel map is different
51619.420536: ocur: cas_cm_CacheNewChannelMap:845 WARNING: No more channel maps will be cached. Cache attempts 68

It used to say this:

01463.313984: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:697 : accumulating new channel map (222) into old channel map (239)
01463.337367: ocur: cas_cm_AccumulateChannelMap:772 : accumulated channel map is different
01463.618881: ocur: cas_cm_CacheNewChannelMap:886 : Cached new channel map of 239 channels

This is with firmware 1.0.9.5 many months apart.

Just trying to eliminate anything that could be contributing to the crash and reboot issue.

This message does not indicate a problem with the InfiniTV, and can be seen in the InfiniTV's normal operation
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post #1990 of 4509
2/24/12 at 11:37am
I tried to read thru all the pages here but is just way to much.

Anybody knows how to improve channel switching? It feels like it takes forever to change a channel. Its almost very discouraging to change the channel on the HTPC, its almost unbearable to change it on the xbox360.

Anybody knows of a fix? a hack? My setup is normal. But enough to power this thing. with 3.0GHz I-7 intel processor and 16GB DDR3 RAM and 1GB DDR5 ATI video card, should be more than enough........right?
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post #1991 of 4509
2/24/12 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by erickotz View Post

I'd be willing to bet your CableCARD isn't paired right, and if you get (1) fixed, (2) will fix itself. Some MSOs (like Time Warner) do mark everything Copy Once, but Comcast marks most things Copy Freely

I had that same problem and it was fixed with a new amplifier from the Comcast installer. The cable card was not being updated properly because the distribution amp I had in my house was blocking the communication between my Ceton and Comcast. He replaced the amp, had them push to the card and sure enough, it fixed the issue. I guess it dirtied up the signal along with amplifying it.

There are a few quirky things going on with the Ceton . Sometimes, if the computer reboots for a windows upgrade, the cable card will not see the cable. All it takes is a reboot removing and reinserting the cable card during the process. IN addition the channel changing process seems to take a lot longer than I would like to see. Other than those two issues, it works like a camp.
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post #1992 of 4509
2/24/12 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by signcarver View Post

I was asking about airflow for the USB version (not PCIe) since my temps went up over 10° after I inserted the cablecard. as well as which "end" to mount the fan (front, back, middle). It seems like ceton could easily design a slide on fan with power supply that powered both the ceton and the fan.

When I rebooted my system and checked the ceton diagnostics on startup, it gave me a warning of temps being above 65 so I decided to just lay an 80mm fan on top of it and temps went down to mid 30's rather than the 60's I was getting. I don't like the hack I used to power the fan but don't have time to make an elegant solution for a while.

FYI
I tried this molex power supply and fan from svc.com on my USB InfiniTV4. It reduced temps from mid 50's to low 30's. I could have gone with a 500rpm fan.

AC/DC 12V 500 mA Power Supply Adapter with 4-Pin Molex Connector
$6.99
Aerocool Shark Black Edition 120mm Case Fan 82/32CFM 27/13dBA
$12.99
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post #1993 of 4509
2/24/12 at 12:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sea3 View Post

FYI
I tried this molex power supply and fan from svc.com on my USB InfiniTV4. It reduced temps from mid 50's to low 30's. I could have gone with a 500rpm fan.

AC/DC 12V 500 mA Power Supply Adapter with 4-Pin Molex Connector
$6.99
Aerocool Shark Black Edition 120mm Case Fan 82/32CFM 27/13dBA
$12.99

That looks like good info! What exactly was happening when your tuner was running hot? "No Tuners available for your request" message? If yes, how did you reset. Pull Ceton power for 10 seconds and reconnect or reboot PC itself?
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post #1994 of 4509
2/24/12 at 12:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MPMorph View Post

I tried to read thru all the pages here but is just way to much.

Anybody knows how to improve channel switching? It feels like it takes forever to change a channel. Its almost very discouraging to change the channel on the HTPC, its almost unbearable to change it on the xbox360.

Anybody knows of a fix? a hack? My setup is normal. But enough to power this thing. with 3.0GHz I-7 intel processor and 16GB DDR3 RAM and 1GB DDR5 ATI video card, should be more than enough........right?

MPMorph,
My channel changing was incredibly slow on my Xbox extenders, and I was getting insufficient bandwidth messages before I made a few changes. I got the temperature of the Ceton way down, and forced my HTPC Network card to 100 Mbps instead of 1.0 Gbps. My HTPC is used only for the Ceton with 3 Xboxes as extenders.

You can go to the advanced tab on the properties section of your network controller. There are two columns in this window labeled property on the left and value on the right. In the property column, highlight Speed & Duplex. Then, in the value column change the value to 100 Mbps full duplex. I also enabled Flow Control and Disabled Green Ethernet. These changes improved my FAF by a great deal!!

If you are using your HTPC for other things, doing this could adversely effect some other network related activities.
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post #1995 of 4509
2/24/12 at 1:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1992lee View Post

MPMorph,
My channel changing was incredibly slow on my Xbox extenders, and I was getting insufficient bandwidth messages before I made a few changes. I got the temperature of the Ceton way down, and forced my HTPC Network card to 100 Mbps instead of 1.0 Gbps. My HTPC is used only for the Ceton with 3 Xboxes as extenders.

You can go to the advanced tab on the properties section of your network controller. There are two columns in this window labeled property on the left and value on the right. In the property column, highlight Speed & Duplex. Then, in the value column change the value to 100 Mbps full duplex. I also enabled Flow Control and Disabled Green Ethernet. These changes improved my FAF by a great deal!!

If you are using your HTPC for other things, doing this could adversely effect some other network related activities.

wow really? Well thats a shame. Going from 1GB to 100mb.

I'll try that.

but it seems kind of weird that even HTPC the switching channels is still bit slow. its like a couple of seconds of black screen before it actually tunes in. Is that normal?
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post #1996 of 4509
2/24/12 at 2:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MPMorph View Post


wow really? Well thats a shame. Going from 1GB to 100mb.

I'll try that.

but it seems kind of weird that even HTPC the switching channels is still bit slow. its like a couple of seconds of black screen before it actually tunes in. Is that normal?

I really don't know if it will effect the HTPC itself, but I think the Ceton has its own IP address. The computer may look at it like a network card.

Also, I have been considering using an SSD as my OS drive. I have heard that they can greatly increase the speed of a lot of the things we do with an HTPC.

Please let us know how it goes for you.
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post #1997 of 4509
2/24/12 at 3:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MPMorph View Post

I tried to read thru all the pages here but is just way to much.

Anybody knows how to improve channel switching? It feels like it takes forever to change a channel. Its almost very discouraging to change the channel on the HTPC, its almost unbearable to change it on the xbox360.

Anybody knows of a fix? a hack? My setup is normal. But enough to power this thing. with 3.0GHz I-7 intel processor and 16GB DDR3 RAM and 1GB DDR5 ATI video card, should be more than enough........right?

I had the same issue initially along with no signal was detected messages when recordings would start. What I found to be the problem was the amp the cable guy put in place was insufficient and was causing the TA to have to resend requests. I was showing multiple resends in the TA logs when trying to change a channel.

I've since put in a different amp that boosts the return signal as well. I was originally seeing channel changes take 6+ seconds or was getting no signal detected messages. Now it takes 3 seconds and I never get a no signal message.
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post #1998 of 4509
2/24/12 at 3:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by erickotz View Post

This message does not indicate a problem with the InfiniTV, and can be seen in the InfiniTV's normal operation

Excellent. Thanks!
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post #1999 of 4509
2/24/12 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1992lee View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by MPMorph View Post

I tried to read thru all the pages here but is just way to much.

Anybody knows how to improve channel switching? It feels like it takes forever to change a channel. Its almost very discouraging to change the channel on the HTPC, its almost unbearable to change it on the xbox360.

Anybody knows of a fix? a hack? My setup is normal. But enough to power this thing. with 3.0GHz I-7 intel processor and 16GB DDR3 RAM and 1GB DDR5 ATI video card, should be more than enough........right?


MPMorph,
My channel changing was incredibly slow on my Xbox extenders, and I was getting insufficient bandwidth messages before I made a few changes. I got the temperature of the Ceton way down, and forced my HTPC Network card to 100 Mbps instead of 1.0 Gbps. My HTPC is used only for the Ceton with 3 Xboxes as extenders.

You can go to the advanced tab on the properties section of your network controller. There are two columns in this window labeled property on the left and value on the right. In the property column, highlight Speed & Duplex. Then, in the value column change the value to 100 Mbps full duplex. I also enabled Flow Control and Disabled Green Ethernet. These changes improved my FAF by a great deal!!

If you are using your HTPC for other things, doing this could adversely effect some other network related activities.

If you are concerned about dropping down to 100 Mbps, another option is to keep it at 1 Gbps and enable flow control (rx and tx) on the network card advanced properties.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929707/
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post #2000 of 4509
2/24/12 at 7:24pm
Eric, can you give a update on the pixelization issue on copy once channels?
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post #2001 of 4509
2/24/12 at 10:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WideNine View Post

Eric, can you give a update on the pixelization issue on copy once channels?

Open a support ticket if you haven't already. As far as ceton know, this problem doesn't affect many people. So the more people that open tickets, the more of a priority it might be.
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post #2002 of 4509
2/24/12 at 11:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by erickotz View Post


That is the exact text of the message? It sounds to me like your second CableCARD may not be properly activated

I would assume same but I can tune some channels and for spurts the channels in question tune for a second or two. My signals are exactly same for both adaptors.
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post #2003 of 4509
2/25/12 at 5:30am
Has anyone upgraded their firmware to 1.1.2.4 that has had any positive changes? Seems like there are a lot of problems people are having after upgrading.

I'm currently on 1.0.9.5. and not having any major issues. I know the general thought is that you should usually keep everyone updated, but sometime it "breaks what ain't broke"!!

To quote The Clash, "Should I stay or should I go?"
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post #2004 of 4509
2/25/12 at 8:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xnappo View Post

Eric - sorry to harass you, but can you comment on whether it is now considered 'okay' to daisy-chain a TA vs. parallel connection? I use MoCA and need to split the cable with a diplexer already - adding another splitter after that for TA/Ceton card would be nasty.. (card is in the mail )

Thanks a lot,
xnappo

In early January he answered this question:

Quote:
Originally Posted by erickotz View Post

Understood that our directions say that, but we're revising them as it no longer matters. Back in the days where two TAs were required, you couldn't chain them (the second TA in the chain would be unable to establish an upstream connection). We simply advised people to use a splitter as it's much easier to say "don't do this" than "you can do this in situation X, but not Y". You are welcome to chain them, and in fact, I have a few of my setups at home connected in that manner without issue.


Generally, I think it is easier for initial diagnostic purposes if you don't daisychain them as there may be a possibility of some malfunction in the tuning adapter preventing signal getting through (including "forgetting to turn it on" as I can see people doing that). I have read that some providers require the cablecard set up prior to installing the tuning adapter and that they have occasionally had problems with setting up the card through the tuning adapter but that may have had more to do with wanting to eliminate/determine the tuning adapter being the source of the problem. Even though I "believe" this, I went against my beliefs and decided to daisychain mine and had no problems but now that I am returning a STB, I might switch it and use the current cable from the STB to go to one of the devices.
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post #2005 of 4509
2/26/12 at 5:42pm
First off, let me preface this with "Yes, it was all my own fault." I know...

Bricked my InfiniTV USB tonight. I had installed the 1.1.2.4 firmware when it was Beta, but was still fighting "No tuners available" and SDV errors while watching TV. Thinking that perhaps there was an issue with the MTR700 I received from Brighthouse I traded it in for a "new" one, changed some cabling around and decided to go back to the 1.1.0.19 firmware that the InfiniTV originally shipped with. That's where it went horribly wrong.

Popped into the Ceton diag app, went to the Update tab and pointed it to the firmware image I just downloaded, or so I thought. In that same directory I also had a copy of the 1.0.9.5 image, and it was this that I pointed the installer to. Off it went, loaded it up and prompted for the reboot, which I did. Not surprisingly, now the Ceton USB doesn't power up (no power lights at all, red or blue).

As Eric mentioned in earlier posts installing older firmware may render your Ceton unit inoperable. There doesn't appear to be anything in the firmware update app that checks whether the image you are attempting to load is appropriate for your hardware, so be VERY CAREFUL if you are working with previous firmware versions.

OK, now that you're done laughing, back to the forum...
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post #2006 of 4509
2/26/12 at 6:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by smcmillan2 View Post

First off, let me preface this with "Yes, it was all my own fault." I know...

Bricked my InfiniTV USB tonight. I had installed the 1.1.2.4 firmware when it was Beta, but was still fighting "No tuners available" and SDV errors while watching TV. Thinking that perhaps there was an issue with the MTR700 I received from Brighthouse I traded it in for a "new" one, changed some cabling around and decided to go back to the 1.1.0.19 firmware that the InfiniTV originally shipped with. That's where it went horribly wrong.

Popped into the Ceton diag app, went to the Update tab and pointed it to the firmware image I just downloaded, or so I thought. In that same directory I also had a copy of the 1.0.9.5 image, and it was this that I pointed the installer to. Off it went, loaded it up and prompted for the reboot, which I did. Not surprisingly, now the Ceton USB doesn't power up (no power lights at all, red or blue).

As Eric mentioned in earlier posts installing older firmware may render your Ceton unit inoperable. There doesn't appear to be anything in the firmware update app that checks whether the image you are attempting to load is appropriate for your hardware, so be VERY CAREFUL if you are working with previous firmware versions.

OK, now that you're done laughing, back to the forum...

I'm not sure if this makes you feel any better or not, but 1.0.9.5 should not brick a USB unit, so I suspect the failure was a coincidence
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post #2007 of 4509
2/26/12 at 6:16pm
Maybe Ceton will give us current owners a deal on the Q when it's out? Especially in light of the almost non-usable state of my PCIe card with the frequent reboots?
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post #2008 of 4509
2/26/12 at 6:22pm
I'd be glad to swap my InfiniTV 4 PCIe for an InfiniTV 6 PCIe if it would help them diagnose and fix the issue we've been having!
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post #2009 of 4509
2/26/12 at 6:45pm
I just got an infinitv 4 and had it up and running with the newest firmware. Tonight I tried enabling the tuner sharing feature and every time I try, the computer freezes right after the screen where I select the tuners to use on the current display. I am forced to hard reset the computer then reset the ceton network settings to rediscover the card. I've tried 3 times all with the same result. Any suggestions?
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post #2010 of 4509
2/26/12 at 6:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by signcarver View Post

In early January he answered this question:

Thanks very much. New to the thread so I missed that.

I currently have a Tivo with good signal levels and working tuning adapter - so hooking up the Ceton next weekend with the same configuration seems like the best bet.

xnappo
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