[mythtv-users] problem solving help

[Peter Abplanalp]

sorry for the top post but i thought it easier due to answering a
number of replies.

my nagios script checks the ss variable returned from the
'hdhomerun_config 10120FF7 get /tuner0/status' command.  the other
values returned are ch, lock, snq, seq, bps and pps.  should i be
following one of the other variables as well?

the quality does come and go a bit but the recordings are usually
always at least a little hosed.

i am using the hdhr on comcast cable in denver, co.  i have a pvr150
connected to the output of a comcast cable box and have never had any
problems with that.  i have 2 other pvr150's connected directly to the
cable and those are also always clean.  the only difference between
the connections is where they are split.  first comes the stb, then a
pvr150, then the hdhr and lastly the final pvr150.  the last pvr150
records fine so i assume that if the signal was degrading due to
splitting, the recordings from that last pvr150 would become degraded
first.

aside: i am assuming that when comcast goes digital, the pvr150's
connected directly to the cable will cease to work.  is that correct?
this is why i got the hdhr to begin with.  these issues i'm having is
why i haven't gotten a second hdhr.  i haven't returned the hdhr
because, as i said, when watching tv on the all the tuners, everything
looks good.  i am not sure the issue is with the hdhr.

i don't have the latest firmware on the hdhr but i will upgrade that today.

the thing that gets me is if i watch tv right now on all the tuners,
including the hdhr, all the pictures seem fine.  is it possible that
during prime time when everyone else in the neighborhood is watching
tv that there is something wrong with the signal then?  as i said, i
graph signal strength in nagios so that is real time while recording
and that always looks good.  i don't know what the other status
variables are but i can graph them easily as well.

thanks for the help, guys.

-peter

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 10:09 AM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>
> On Friday 12 June 2009 09:51:06 Peter Abplanalp wrote:
> > sorry about the ambiguous subject but i didn't know what else to put.
> >
> > i've been running myth for about 5 years.  i've used only pvr-150's.  i've
> > always transcoded recordings.  i've had no trouble with the system at all
> > until last september.  at that time i got a hdhomerun and added it in.
> > since then i've had pretty bad video artifacts in the recordings that come
> > from the hdhr.  both hdhr tuners go to one machine with one disk.  i tried
> > moving the hdhr between a couple of my slave backends including putting the
> > hdhr tuners on different boxes but the problem persists.  i've tried asking
> > on the silicondust forums and they seem to think it is a signal strength
> > issue but i've set up nagios to graph signal strength and it seems to be
> > ok.  also, when i watch tv on all the inputs on different boxes/tv's, the
> > video comes through fine, no artifacts.  i've also tried not transcoding
> > recordings thinking it was the transcoding that was introducing the
> > artifacts.  didn't help.  i'm at a loss as to what i should try next.  can
> > anyone suggest some things to try in order to help figure out what is going
> > on here?
> >
> > thanks in advance,
> >
> > -peter
>
> You didn't mention if your HDHR is connected to an antenna or a cable system,
> there are different types of problems you can have with the two setups.
>
> A strong signal is not necessarily a good one. The BER (Bit Error Rate) is
> more significant than mere signal level. You might have multi-path or other
> problems.
>
> But you say your TV sets accept the same signal without problems. Hmmm... See
> if you can find anything different in the setups of how the signal is fed to
> the sets and the HDHR. You might even be overloading the HDHR, though it's
> unlikely.
>
> Make sure you have the latest firmware loaded in your HDHR, and that cables,
> connectors, splitters etc. are all OK.
>
> --
> beww
> beww at beww.org
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--
Peter Abplanalp