New Router=NO Error Popups & Pixelation Free! InfiniTV6ETH

[JazJon]

It's only been 3 days, but I might be on to something that cleared up my InfiniTV 6 ETH

I've been suffering from Media Center error popups. I'm paraphrasing here, but the usual No Tuner, Tuner not ready, No Signal, something something error with a number code etc. The recordings still record though (most of the time) I've also been having worse pixelation than usual. It's been really annoying and power cycling didn't help.

Recently I decided to replace my Linksys E1000 router running DD-WRT firmware. My internet has been acting wonky or slow/laggy. I often got "limited" network on various pc's on the network too for no reason out of the blue

It was time to try replacing my basic home router. Instead of getting yet another basic home router, I wanted to take things to the next level. A SUPER ROUTER! I chose PF Sense

You can turn ANY old computer into your new Super Router as long as it has two network cards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0JFfpG4BWI

I put together a SuperMicro 1U box my roommate had, Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525 @ 1.80GHz (2 gigabit ports, 1 IPMI port) 80GB SDD drive, 4GB ram, and installed..........
PF Sense. http://www.pfsense.org/

It's super easy to download & burn the ISO, bootup, install, and you get a very slick, faster, powerful fast router. The GUI is far beyond anything I've used on any router before. Built in VPN, the works. It's one of the only professional router options that still have UpNP enabled via GUI. (even NAT-PNP!)

My internet has never been faster or more responsive, outstanding performance.

Ok here's where the Ceton stuff comes in. Ever since I added this new Router, Media Center has been ROCK SOLID! Not one single popup error message, every recording is pixelatin free.

So again, it's only been 3 days, but I'm thrilled. Is it possible my old router was mucking up the network in such a way the InfiniTV 6 ETH was getting messed with? I'm using the same gigabit switch, and wires. The only thing that I changed was the Router. I'm using the same private IP ranges etc.

[STC]

Nice to hear, glad you found the problem.

FYI I think E1000's are really bad. I've replaced four so far for clients to fix all sorts of problems. Each time the problems went away.
These were all on latest stock FW.

[RyC]

Hmm... I used to have a pfsense router, but then I moved and am temporarily using a WRT54GL. I wonder if it's really that easy...ill have to try it out. I'm seeing occasional stuttering with both the HDHR Prime and the ETH 6.

[STC]

If you're switching your tuner traffic through the ports on the router it's worth investigating.

[tzr916]

I have questions about this subject (my ETH6 tuners are working fine)...
Assuming no tuning adapters/Moca/etc, if the network setup is:
One ethernet cable from Internet Modem to Router.
One ethernet cable from Router to un-managed Gigabit Switch.
Then ALL devices connected only to the Switch.
The Router performs the DHCP when you first connect/power up the devices (tuners/wmc pc/extenders/etc).

1. After that, no tuner traffic actually touches the Router.... right?

2. If I power off my Router, will the tuners/wmc/extenders still work? or do they loose the dhcp address and freak out?

[adam1991]

I have questions about this subject (my ETH6 tuners are working fine)...
Assuming no tuning adapters/Moca/etc, if the network setup is:
One ethernet cable from Internet Modem to Router.
One ethernet cable from Router to un-managed Gigabit Switch.
Then ALL devices connected only to the Switch.
The Router performs the DHCP when you first connect/power up the devices (tuners/wmc pc/extenders/etc).

1. After that, no tuner traffic actually touches the Router.... right?

2. If I power off my Router, will the tuners/wmc/extenders still work? or do they loose the dhcp address and freak out?

That's my exact configuration. Everything works internally without the router turned on.

The router *shouldn't* affect internal traffic, but that's not to say a bad router isn't polluting the network overall.

[STC]

^ Polluting being the operative word.
There's a lot more to IP protocol packets bouncing around requiring their own actions than most people realize.
Coupled with buggy protocol drivers equals problems.

[JazJon]

Day 4, not one single popup error, all recordings flawless! (not even the slightest hint of Macroblockinng / Pixalation)

If you have a spare PC with two Network Ports, I highly recommend trying pFSENSE out as a test. It's free.

http://files.nyi.pfsense.org/mirror/downloads/

64 Bit = pfSense-LiveCD-2.0.3-RELEASE-amd64.iso.gz
32 Bit = pfSense-LiveCD-2.0.3-RELEASE-i386-20130412-1022.iso.gz
(I'm using 64 Bit)
WinRar will open up .gz files so you can extract the .ISO
Burn the ISO to CD via http://www.imgburn.com/
(or the built in ISO burner Windows 7/8 has)

Boot off the CD, and follow the wizard. It's all GUI, and if you know basic Linksys routers it's the same stuff.

After you get things working one tip is to have DHCP issue Static IP's to your various devices by matching MAC address. They made this process easier than ever in PF Sense.

1) visit h t t p ://192.168.1.1/status_dhcp_leases.php
(or top menu click Status, DHCP Leases)

(this is a random image I found via google search)

2) You'll see all network devices currently active. Click the + sign next to the one you want to create a static lease on. It will automatically take you to
h t t p ://192.168.1.1/services_dhcp.php
(or top menu click Servies, DHCP services)



The MAC Address of the device will be filled in and you can assign what ever IP you want.


Note, The default DHCP range is 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254 (the whole thing)
Change this to something like 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.254 (need to leave room for static IP's)
Again this is on the page: 192.168.1.1/services_dhcp.php
(or top menu click Servies, DHCP services)
This way you can use the first 99 IP's as Static IP's. Every time the device with the Mac address matches up it will get the same exact IP every time. This way my printer, home server, HTPC, and Ceton box never changes.

[adam1991]

Any $30 router worth its salt will assign specific addresses via MAC address.

And that's different than a static address, which is what all my printers and my HTPC are.

[JazJon]

DD-WRT firmware did static IP's too, but it seems any router running DD-WRT has memory leaks or something after awhile. I either need to power cycle it, or clear the UPnP table helped too. I've had several routers over the years all on DD-WRT. None were ever 100% long term. I often got the windows network "limited" warning over the network icon in the system tray for no good reason. Had to power cycle/reboot everything. From what I read PF Sense is rock solid, so hopefully thing continue to be smooth sailing. I'm still amazed oh snappy the internet is over all. 1080P youtube videos instantly buffer up and play every time no delays. Google is snappy instant no matter what I click on. (Comcast Cable here)

[lithium630]

DD-WRT firmware did static IP's too, but it seems any router running DD-WRT has memory leaks or something after awhile. I either need to power cycle it, or clear the UPnP table helped too. I've had several routers over the years all on DD-WRT. None were ever 100% long term. I often got the windows network "limited" warning over the network icon in the system tray for no good reason. Had to power cycle/reboot everything. From what I read PF Sense is rock solid, so hopefully thing continue to be smooth sailing. I'm still amazed oh snappy the internet is over all. 1080P youtube videos instantly buffer up and play every time no delays. Google is snappy instant no matter what I click on. (Comcast Cable here)

I really want to try this. I have a Linksys E4200 running DD-WRT and I have the same issue. I bought it to replace a netgear router that would also drop out.

[STC]

For those into DD-WRT, may I suggest Tomato http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato or ports there-of. In my experience it's much more resilient and feature rich than DD.

With a little bit of care taken in choice of hardware, FW version and configuration, you can build a 100% stable router. I have Tomato running on an Asus RT-N16 for a hotspot and feeding some wired clients in a building at the back of the property and it's been up for 386 days (just checked ) without a hiccup. It would be longer, if it wasn't for a config change requiring a bounce. It's running a couple of VLANS, uses Open DNS for the hotspot and does perform quite a few functions.

[newfiend]

This really is pretty cool, I recently replaced a Linksys router (e4200) as well. I have had it for about a year to year and a half and stared getting weird limited access errors and wireless drop outs. I finally had enough and replaced the Router with an Asus. I love this thing!! No more drop outs or limited access errors. I can stream 1080p .MKV's wirelessly to my Surface off my WHS all the way at the end of the house in my bedroom flawless.. Network performance has increased so far I am super pleased. I initially had an issue with getting my WHS to work with the router but with a little internet research and some help from staknhalo (Ed) got it working great. (Thanks ED!!)
After watching the Video I really like pfSense especially the ability to add in antivirus right into the router.. pretty impressive. I will keep this in mind for later.. Thanks for posting.
newfiend~

[STC]

Any $30 router worth its salt will assign specific addresses via MAC address.

Agreed. DD would too. It's not that specific of a function.

[tzr916]

I have an EA4500 with v2.0.37 (non cloud) simple dhcp, $30 Trendnet TEG-S8g 8-Port Gigabit Switch, cat5e cable/jacks/patches. Absolutely no networking issues with my ETH6, 2 echos, xbox, htpc, many other wired/wifi devices. Non beta Ceton firmware. Echos do not freeze or reboot. No missing tuners. Tuning takes less than 2 seconds. Extremely rare/no pixellation after dropping ETH6 temp by 4 degrees via vertical mount. Very happy here.

[JazJon]

Another happy day here at home, Media Center is rock solid on Day 5. (all recordings clean, no popups)

This really is pretty cool, I recently replaced a Linksys router (e4200) as well. I have had it for about a year to year and a half and stared getting weird limited access errors and wireless drop outs. I finally had enough and replaced the Router with an Asus. I love this thing!! No more drop outs or limited access errors. I can stream 1080p .MKV's wirelessly to my Surface off my WHS all the way at the end of the house in my bedroom flawless.. Network performance has increased so far I am super pleased. I initially had an issue with getting my WHS to work with the router but with a little internet research and some help from staknhalo (Ed) got it working great. (Thanks ED!!)
After watching the Video I really like pfSense especially the ability to add in antivirus right into the router.. pretty impressive. I will keep this in mind for later.. Thanks for posting.
newfiend~

Another good PfSense package I'm going to try soon is the Squid web (transparent) proxy cache service.
(High performance web proxy cache.)
It's automatic when in transparent mode and should speed page load times up even more!
Here's a how to video: http://youtu.be/kgrrjVFIBVw
I'm going to have my GuRu friend help me out though to make sure I pick optimal settings for my hardware.

[JazJon]

Bummer I got my first Pop Up Errors today! The Recording did NOT start, but all the other recordings happening at the same time are still recording just fine. It's 10 minutes past the start so it gave up. What the heck is error 1073478364 ? I don't see that number in any forum posts when I searched but found an old post here: http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... 46095.aspx

I get the following errors multiple times in a row, so annoying to close so many windows. In the past, I got this multiple times a day, but usually the recording still works. Is this a common bug or potential defective ETH 6? I guess it's time to turn advanced logging back in in ceton diagnostics and will open a ticket.










I can manually tune to 704 just fine by the way for live tv

[JazJon]

EDIT, I take that back about being able to manually tune to channel 704 just fine, it actually hangs on a black screen and then I get: (Do you want to setup a cablecard now?)



Things acting very wonky now damn it

It seems to only happen if it trys to record more then 4 programs at the same time, possible bad tuner? I'm submitting a ticket with full advanced logging now.

[JazJon]

703 American Ninja failed to record at 7:58PM while 4 recordings were going on, then started once only 3 recordings were going on 1 minute later at 7:59PM. It seems Media Center is stuck using 4 tuners max? Is the tuner bad or something else?

I just sent in another capture to my open support ticket

EDIT: American Ninja only recorded 1 minute! (and quit) Current 4 recordings are happening. (that 4 ceiling again?)

[crawfish]

For all you E4200 v1 peeps, Tomato Toastman has been working flawlessly for me for well over a year. I've seen uptimes of over 100 days brought to an end only by long power outages. Besides the wired networking and Internet, it handles all my wireless stuff very nicely, including my iPod Touch and Apple TV which were problematic in Airplay with the Linksys firmware, a commonly reported problem with a couple of workarounds (one was to disable WMM). I like it much, much better than DD-WRT, whose static IP assignments I never could get to stick.

BTW, I hope everyone still using this router has at least updated to the latest Linksys firmware, which addresses the WPS vulnerability.