HD Homerun Problems - Page 2

IDK but you can use the windows snipping tool or something like gadwin printscreen to do a screen shot of only what you want to show us.

rerun the HDHomerun setup, especially the channel scan. Will come up with the same channels, but better to be safe. Then redo the WMC TV. I had to do this when I switched from the HDHR2 to the HDHR3CC. Nothing changed channel wise, but WMC wouldn't tune anything.

Wow, this comment was absolutely 100% wrong, who wrote this? I didn't realize the Dual was a CC tuner


OP, you're still confusing me a lot. You said the cable length to the router would be 700'. Now everything is working with a switch? You had a network cable connection available this whole time?

As for showing you the channels you don't receive so that you can subscribe to them, that's not going to work. Neither should pay per view. The silicondust (and Ceton and Hauppauge) cablecard tuners don't allow 2-way communication. So you're not going to be able to go to a channel you don't pay for in the guide and press a button to change your subscription like you would on a DVR box from your cableco.

When everything is working as it should the message in WMC will read, "You are not currently subscribed to this channel, please contact your cable provider if you would like to change your subscription"

Additionally, the pay-per-view stuff won't allow you to authorize and view it from the HDHR dual. (I'm not 100% sure, but I believe you can call your provider and pay by phone)

So if you want additional channels you'll have to just call up Metrocast sales department and modify your subscription

I only meant to give a complete picture of what you can expect with all current PC compatible cablecard tuners, because your other post seemed like you were trying to navigate to some channels that aren't in your package so that you may subscribe to them (I think this would work on a typical cable company or tv provider's box, you could just press a button and subscribe right there)

I think we are all mis-interpreting what you meant when you said, "The only internet access I have is through my landlord's router"

I took this to mean you have a landlord who lives nearby, and has an internet subscription set up with a good enough router to provide your rental place with wifi. You then connect to that wifi with USB adapters.

What is your router connected to? What is the switch you replaced it with now connected to?

Was the (now replaced) router in your rental place? And it belongs to your landlord, which is why you referred to it as the "landlord's router"?

A lot of our recommendations may have been half-cocked with everyone thinking that you had no router in the place at all and you could only receive wifi coverage (provided by nearby-living landlord and their internet subscription)

The HDHR Dual will only tune channels "in the clear" or Clear QAM. To get the rest you need a CableCARD tuner such as the HDHR Prime, the ceton InfiniTV4 or the Hauppauge! 2650. It may be that some of those 160 channels are not in the clear? Do you have a CableCARD in that TV?

As far as the router goes, if the landlord has a wireless router then all you need on your end is a wireless access point and then maybe a switch if you need more ports than the access point has.

Thanks for fully explaining

My brain was all over the place today. Sammy2 was correct about the HDHomerun dual receiving only unencrypted QAM

The caveat for you is that your TV can only receive unencrypted QAM as well. There were a very small selection of TVs that were sold with an MCard slot, and he was asking if you were using that kind of TV by chance. It's one of the only plausible explanations for why it can see so many channels

Another is signal tuning at different cable outlets. Have you ever connected the TV to the cable outlet you have the Dual connected to? If not, bring the TV over to where the Dual is connected and screw it into the back of the TV instead. It should show all the same channels as you can get with the dual. This is a stretch, but based on the examples you gave I'm grasping at straws

I suspect the OP's TV can get in-the-clear QAM and analog signals. That would explain the difference. Your run of the mill basic cable package in most areas of the country include the broadcast channels (and maybe a couple of others) in QAM and a whole crap load of analog channels.

Aha! And the Dual doesn't tune those analogs I think..

In general, PC tuners are more sensitive to signal loss. What signal leves are you seeing in the web GUI page for the HDHR? Can you post a screen of the general levels and then for each tunner too?

As one of the posters stated, you should be able to tune everything your TV does! You should break your channels out into two catagories: Analog (NTSC from cable) and Digital (ClearQAM from cable). Once done, you need to focus on these separately since you need separate tuners for each. In fact, one simplification (for testing/proof of concept purposes) is to focus on using your Hauppage 1250 by itself since it tunes EVERYTHING you're subscribing to across the cable! The HDHomeRun is a network-based tuner and has its own pros/cons, and USB-based tuners are known for having poor reception, but for now just focus on the 1250. The only drawback is the 1250 doesn't have on-board hardware NTSC encoding (unlike the 1850 and 2250) thus requires more of your CPU to digitize -- have you told us your system's requirements? Do they meet the minimum that Hauppauge requires for the 1250?

That said, connect a known "good" cable signal to your 1250 and use WMC to scan for channels. It should find everything! You may need to relocate this PC to the cable outlet your TV uses for testing purposes... in fact, connecting to the entry point (in your apartment) of that cable would be the BEST signal you could provide (without adding a $20 RF amplifier). Don't use any splitters or cheap coaxial cable during this test as they can degrade your signal level and/or frequency attenuation.

Feel free to provide these two lists including the channels you are/are not tuning - missing channels could be a function of frequency attenuation... once we know which channels we can assess this.

The Dual's web page does not show signal levels. This is only available with the Prime. To view signal levels with the Duals, you need to use the HDHomeRun Config (GUI) app (or the command line).

I didn't know this as I only have the prime. Thanks for the correction as this information will better help the OP troubleshoot.

I had to update my software and double check to make sure it was still true before I posted. But this is all the Dual's webpage has:

WMC will show signal levels inside the SETTINGS section for each channel.

Yup, there's that as well.

Missing the NTSC stations never entered the realm of possibility in my mind

I thought those were mostly turned off since cablecos couldn't regulate whether or not you went outside and removed your trap filter from your cable line and got every station while only paying for basic

LOL.. Where are you located?

You've introduced another variable - the EDID of the connected TV is now in the mix. When we asked to connect the PC's tuner to the same cable drop we were not anticipating changing monitors as well. This negates the value in knowing what signals are strong enough where your TV is versus where your PC was. Focus... trying to get the Hauppauge tuning all your channels at the TV's cable drop.

I hope you get top dollar for those parts 'cause offsetting DVR rental for 2 boxes will quickly eat up your cash!

Now you're gonna have to try this all over again -- this time with a... h a n g o v e r

Just send your stuff to me and if you aren't too far away I'll come pick it up.. No charge.

www.zap2it.com (WMC uses this for its EPG)
http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/ (Silicondust has this for reference only)
www.antennaweb.org (This will help you pick and properly aim your antenna if you are using OTA)

Who's your provider? I entered you zip code and zap2it shows Charter, which is basically the same line-up I have. The channels in the 200 to 400 range are all SD. Some of them are only available with digi-tier1 or digi-tier2. Silicondust's website only shows antenna but has a nearby zip code that is Comcast. You can also try http://www.titantv.com/ . It shows either Cox or Metrocast. Cox doesn't show anything in that range and Metrocast shows a lot of SD channels in that range. All of these websites appear to give the virtual channel number and not the actual digital channel number.

This is quite confusing to say the least.
Edited by Sammy2 - 1/25/13 at 8:22am

You may be able to call them and ask them to email it to you. Have you done a channel scan in WMC? CableCARD tuners don't have this problem because the channel map is loaded to the card. They have other problems, though, like when that map just randomly disappears and you have to call the CableCo to have them send a CCV hit to the card.