SaveTV with 4DTV and HDD200? I need help!

[transco]

After months of trying, I still can't get things working properly. My worst problem is missing channel changes, or having recordings chopped up by retunes. I have the R5000 mod in my HDD200 and am using an IRblaster to tune the 4DTV. If anyone here has this hardware configuration, I'd like to compare notes. Questions:
1. Do you set SageTV to always tune the channel, even if there is no channel change?
2. Do you set the R5000 software to surf mode? If so, what have you set the 'resend sat code' time to?

 

[pendragon]

I use a 920 and R5000 with Sage and have no problems with SD or HD recordings. Sage always sends the channel to the R5000 software which does the tuning through the USB interface. I think it missed a channel change only once out of innumerable attempts. For the moment everything I record is on the same satellite, which means the 920 does not position the dish and the R5000 does not send a satellite code.

I don't have a HDD unit because I don't need it with Sage. Does this prevent tuning directly through the USB interface? If so I would recommend moving the R5000 to your 4DTV receiver.

 

[transco]

No, the USB interface in the HDD200 tunes the 4DTV using an IRblaster. I would still like to know how you have set the SageTV options in the R5000 software and if you have set SageTV to not send channel change when the channels are the same.

If I had it to do over again I would install the R5000 interface directly in the 4DTV receiver. Unfortunately I have already spent a fortune (two USB interfaces and two HDD200's) and I can't afford to have the 4DTV receiver modified as well. Nextcom assures me that it will work with the HDD200 but seem to have run out of ideas as to how to make it happen.

 

[pendragon]

I don't have the 920 R5000 set up any differently application-wise for Sage than the R5000s in my Dish 211s. Sage and the R5000 both send the channel for every recording whether or not the channel is the same as before. Surf mode is not enabled.

For completeness I ran for quite some time on XP with virtually no problems. I had kept a soft log of every recording with performance specifics for over a year. Then I converted to Vista with exactly the same hardware, other than bigger hard drives, and suddenly any recording was hit or miss. I tried everything and made significant improvements, but the failure rates were still much higher than for XP. Several days ago I went back to XP and so far everything is running perfectly again.

My understanding was the R5000 hardware is the same for all of the 'new' mods, which includes the 4DTV receivers and HDDs, other than possibly some jumpers. Nextcom used to swap R5000s between units for a nominal charge. If you can't get their system to work properly following their advice, one would hope they would stand behind their product and offer to move at least one R5000 for free. I have done these mods myself and if one sets aside the learning curve, it doesn't take more than 10-15 minutes to perform at the outside. It's not going to bankrupt them.

 

[Mojo]

For the moment everything I record is on the same satellite, which means the 920 does not position the dish and the R5000 does not send a satellite code.
.

What satellite are you sitting on and what Bud program provider are you using?


Ex-C-band/4DTV user and going through withdrawal


SageTV and 4DTV............I was in TV/DVR heaven for many years

 

[pendragon]

What satellite are you sitting on and what Bud program provider are you using?

I can switch to any of our BUDs, so nothing is actually 'sitting', but the 4DTV is only used on 127W for the HD variants of HBO and STARZ. Not a lot of other HD available on 4DTV, which is a pity. I locked in NPS's yearly rates for both packages at the end of June before the prices jumped. I'm not sure what I will do when that runs out, or whether the channels/providers will still be around.

 

[Mojo]

Thanks for the reply

I thought you was maybe using Skyvision's DSR-410 system setup.

I was just playing around with that ideal.......maybe.