Sony DHG-HDD250/500: Official Thread - Page 842

I'm on Verizon FIOS.

Even ignoring the lack of listings, could FIOS be responsible for side to side clocks both being seven minutes off?

That's illogical. The CC should also cause your local channels to be moved. The CC is not decoding the basic HD channels, like TNT. Since my three DHG units do not have a CC installed so I can't help with that. Sorry.

Thanks anyway, anyone else??

It sounds like he is not getting the channels that he is subscribed to. If these channels are at an additional cost then he will have to pay extra for them. If he is paying for the channels then the cable company has to check his account and reping the card to get the channels to work. If the channels are mapped to their virtual locations, like the cable box channels, then the card is working but there may be a problem with the account which is on the cable company end.

He is paying for the channels. The card is being rented from the cable company. They have been called repeatedly. Supposedly the card is authorized. This is the third cablecard (Scientific Atlantic). The tech came out the last 2 times and installed it and says it has been authorized.

Does the level of firmware come into play here?

Is there a known issue with Scientific Atlantic cablecards and this Sony unit?

Anything else he should check?

Thanks!

DHG-HDD250: Cablecard (CC) removed TVGOS works CC removed, TVGOS does not update

I have a DHG-HDD250 with latest firmware. When I run OTA, TVGOS data updates. When I run OTA+Cable (no CC) TVGOS data updates. In both cases, checking the 753... setup indicates that host channel 49-0 is used (which is an OTA host). When I insert the cable card for my subscribed and paid for channel, the grid goes away and the DVR indicates new data will be displayed "within 24 hours"; however, it never updates. The cable provider is Comcast and the location is Colorado Springs, CO.

It almost appears to me that the DVR stops looking for an OTA host after the CC is inserted. It is not at all clear to me whether or not Comcast is re-broadcasting TVGOS data (I suspect that it is not - hence the reason for my setup to include an OTA option). In Colorado Springs, Comcast is only broadcasting digital channels with actual content. I'm curious if anyone has any pointers here. I'd prefer to just have the DVR fix the host channel to the OTA host regardless of the presence of a CC or not.

FIOS isn't causing the clock problem, because others who don't have FIOS have reported the same problem. You are the only one to report no listings, which is why I assume it is a FIOS problem.

Mark

I checked my friend's DHG 250 last night. The cablecard is showing as authorized. He is on the .13 firmware. The grid is up though not all channels on it yet. It has listings for some of the higher channels. It shows the name of the channel and the programs in the guide. Yet if you tune to it there is no picture or sound. I was curious as to whether it was a anti-piracy/copyright issue, so I tried removing the HDMI cable and connected it via Component to the TV. Same results.

If you manually bring up the channels it will show the channel name and what's on it but not video or audio.

After he left it off last night it did come up this morning (when he turned it on) and asked him to select the cable company. One of the options was Suddenlink Cablecard so he selected that. Still same results though.

The cable company (Suddenlink) says it's authorized. We're not sure what to do or try next? Any suggestions?

A little primer on CableCards:
All cablecards are two way capable, it is the host that is either one way or two way. S Card means it can support one downstream feed and M Card means it can support one to six downstreams at a time. The S Card has been replaced with the M Card. The DHGs cablecard slot is a one way device and has only one cable tuner.
If either the cablecard or the host has problems or fails you will see a cablecard error message appear on your screen and will have a error code 161-xx. The xx part will be a number from 1 to about 75. Since there was no error code displayed then changing the cards was a waste of time in your case as this is not the problem. The problem you are have is with the EMM, Entiltlement Management Messages which is on their end. There is no need for anybody to come to the house to fix this problem.
Also do not scan for cable channels as the channel line up will download to the DHG automatically when the cablecard is inserted in the DHG and the card is authorized to work on their system. I think you can veiw the channel line up in the preferences section of the DHG menu.

In order to see the CableCard diagnostic screens on the DHG you have to push menu, select preferences, and then you should see a selection for cablecard which will give you the different screens.
I am assuming you have a SA M Card so here is some info to look at.
Note: these links are for Tivos but should show the same information on the DHG as the screens are provided by the cable company.
Connection to the headend,
http://support.tivo.com/euf/assets/files/SA_MCards_OOB.pdf
Checking activation,
http://support.tivo.com/euf/assets/files/SA_MCards_Activation.pdf
Checking binding or pairing,
http://support.tivo.com/euf/assets/files/SA_MCards_binding_cp.pdf
Checking to see if you are subscribed to channels,
http://support.tivo.com/euf/assets/files/SA_MCards_subscribed.pdf
Link to trouble shooting MMI screens,
http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/137

Procedure for cable company to get the cablecard paired and authorized,
1. Make sure your CableCARD has been properly activated by contacting your cable service provider to make sure it has been paired and initialized.
A. Pairing: To pair your CableCARD with your DHG, your cable service provider should ask for your CableCARD Data ID and Host ID, by pressing menu botton on remote, going to Preferences and selecting the CableCARD option.
B. Initializing: Have your cable service provider send the following commands, in order, to your DHG:
- CableCARD Initialization
- CableCARD Refresh
- CableCARD Validate (CCV).

I hope this helps as I been using cablecards since 2004 and I never had a problem with the cards or the cablecard slot. Any issue that was experienced was with procedure errors on the cable company end. I never seen a bad card or host in 8 years. Up until recently I had two cards that preformed flawlessly for seven years and was used in different devices. I just went through the conditional access problem, subscribed channels not functioning, in march of this year when I was moved to a new headend in my cable system that is controlled by a different family member.
Cablecards are really simple to use but for whatever reasons, lack of knowledge, ignorance, stupidity, the cable companies really screw up the use of them.

Thanks so much! I will pass this on and let you all know the results.

MC

TVGOS pages are back online

Thanks to WS65711 for letting me use some of his unused webpage space, My TVGOS webpages are now back online.

They are at: http://www.av-pix.com/mytvgos/index.htm. These pages include instructions for recovering a grid using either the 1.2.13 (TVGOS version 08.01.42) firmware, or the 1.2.21 (TVGOS version 08.01.71) firmware. My HostSUFlags simulator can also be found there.

Mark
Edited by mabuttra - 9/27/12 at 4:52am

Must have been some connection, realized yesterday that both a correct clock and totally populated listings are back.

Working on solving this problem yesterday may have produced more clues. After talking with Comcast to check the status of the activated CC, I asked them about the inability of the DVR to receive TVGOS information only when the CC was inserted into the DVR. They recommended that I unplug the DVR for a while (15 min) and then plug in and try it again. I was doubtful this would do any good but tried it anyway.

What I found interesting is that the Section System-Statistic page now showed the proper, identified OTA host channel! This field would always be blank previously with the CC inserted but would properly identify the Host channel when the CC was removed.

Last night there was download activity; however the DVR indicates that it is still rebuilding the TVGOS shedule list. I'm going to give it a few more days.

Also of note is that the host channel is identified as 0:49-0. I gather that this means (0:) it is an over the air station with the designation 49-0. According to rabbitears.info (http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=tvgos), the TVGOS broadcast is carried through our local CBS affiliate KKTV 11. I would have thought the host channel would have been identified as "11-1" however, the actual "digital channel" appears to be 49. I'm not sure what the "-0" represents as you can't tune to a station with the designation "49-0". It's not a big deal though, I was just curious.

Here is a photo of the System-Statistic page which shows the OTA host channel for Colorado Springs.

A digital host takes longer to build a lineup and listing than legacy. Be patient. Everything looks good.

KKTV transmits on 49. The PSIP changes it to 11. Don't worry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKTV

Actually the Listings come much more quickly with digital, but not until after the HostChan is set and the Lineup appears. It's the HostChan and Lineup that usually take much longer with digital, since the Sony is inclined to miss/drop data packets during the burst.

I passed on the information to my friend. He called the cable company again and got someone who finally knew what to do. They got it working so he's now getting the upper channels on his cablecard. Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

Your Welcome! I am glad somebody got it up and running for him.

Thanks. It took about 3 days to build the grid and to show the listings. Every day the TVGOS screen menu would just say something like "Building the lineup. Check back in 24 hours". Then, this morning it asked which particular cable card/cable company combination I had. I selected COMCAST and voila, I have listings! Very cool. In Colorado Springs at least, it appears that the new firmware, a CC, and an OTA antenna are needed to get listings for cable. It's nice to have this unit working again. Thanks again for the help.

Guys, I could really use your help, I've been pulling my hair out (and don't have any to spare). I have two DHG-HDD250 units. I have no cable, only OTA. About 3 months ago, my local CBS station quit broadcasting TVGOS data (as far as I can tell). I lost grids on both units. Unit A I didn't touch (thank goodness), and after 3 weeks the grid came back, and all is well. Unit B I started messing with, and I still have nothing. First, I went into the 9012 menu and reset TVGOS to factory defaults, put in the same zipcode as unit A, re-scanned the channels, and waited 3 weeks. I never got any grid data, but had a clock which was off about 3 hours. So, after 3-4 weeks, I went ahead and did a full "restore factory default" from the 9012 menu, re-applied the 1.2.21 firmware update from Sony (with the USB in the back of the unit), put in the same zip as unit A, and rescanned the channels. It has been a month now, and I have no grid. I have a clock, but it is off by 8 hours or so. So, I'm apparently still getting good TVGOS data over the air, given that unit A is working fine. But unit B has never came back from my meddling.

THANK YOU in advance for any advice anyone can give me....thanks!

Tune to the host channel. Do both units have the same signal strength?

Thanks Joe - I just checked and both units show signal strength at 94%, with quality being "good". I tuned to the local CBS station in Lincoln NE, which I assume is my host channel.

That's plenty. KOLN should be your host, but I am analog cable and you are digital OTA, so I don't think I can help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KOLN

According to rabbitears.info, both KOLN (CBS) , and KUON-TV (PBS) carry TVGOS. Did you really lose both sources of data? That seems odd. Unfortunately it can take a long time to get a grid from the digital TVGOS data, after a reset. If you go here there is a guide, that I wrote, that documents the process of getting a grid using the 1.2.21 firmware. This won't help get your grid back (only the DHG can do that), but you can follow it, and figure out how far along your DHG is in the process. I wouldn't do any more resetting of the DHG because that will just start it over at square one, which isn't necessary at this point.

Mark

mabuttra, thanks much for your note. In answer to your first question - yes, I agree it is weird that my CBS and PBS stations *both* quit transmitting TVGOS data at the same time months ago, but I don't know what else could have happened, given that both my DHG systems lost grids and clocks at the same time. WRT your guide for getting a grid back, I went thru this, and verified that I was in fact at TVGOS patch level 08.06.44, so I'm good thru step 3. But I still don't have a host channel, apparently. In the "System-Statistics" screen, the Host Chan field is blank. On the ATSC Slicer page, the HostChan column is all zeros. Again, my other DHG systems is working fine, so I'm at a loss...
Thanks again for all you suggestions, I'm open to a Hail Mary at this point...

Ok, now I am confused...I went to look at my other DHG system that is working fine (it has valid clock and grid), and the on the "System-Statistics" screen, the Host Chan field is also blank. On the ATSC Slicer page, the HostChan column is also all zeros...

A blank host channel is normal for .21 firmware. Do you have a valid clock set channel? It's on Clock2 screen.

Yes, on both of my DHG systems (the one that has grid/clock, and the one that doesn't), the clock set channel is 10-0. I assume this is the correct channel, even though my local CBS channel is 10.1 (that's the OTA channel I tune to get CBS)?

Just speculating, but you'll just have to wait for the other data that makes a valid clock. Patience.

Ok, thanks Joe. It's been several weeks but I'll wait some more....

I have no issues with the TVGOS off the air with a cablecard.

I did go back to my cable co, and get a single stream card to replace a multicard. The M card was causing lots of buggy behavior, but an s card cured this.