New beta firmware candidate for InfiniTV tuners available

[kd6icz]

I just looked through your ticket. The tuners on your InfiniTV are reporting a signal-quality issue which appears to be the root-cause here. If you can reply with the requested information, we will reach out to Time Warner on this.

I replied to your email. Just to add too the previous info it's now occurring on other channels that have been recently moved to old analog frequencies. The most notable their precious Dodgers channel was moved to 315 MHz (old analog channel 39).

[CoteRotie]

Will there be any more firmware updates for the infinitv 4 usb from ceton?

This firmware is compatible with all InfiniTV tuners, including the USB InfiniTV.

Ceton support told me this firmware is not applicable to the InfiniTV 4 PCIe. They said I have the latest version (InfiniTV Firmware version 13.5.6.132)

I don't see any updates available in the diagnostic tool, so maybe this firmware version is compatible, but for the PCIe InfiniTV4 provides nothing new/different?

John

[golfdude]

this beta has tuner pooling for the eth, correct?

[icedtrip]

Finally registered to the site after running into a problem with updating this firmware. Recently started doing a little clean-up of the htpc and decided to check out a newer firmware to see if performance has improved. When I try to update the firmware it fails saying "Saving new firmware to device failed". I tried the older firmware too in order to see if it was just this one and I get the same response. Thoughts?

Edit: this is the InfiniTV 4 PCI

[RyC]

Finally registered to the site after running into a problem with updating this firmware. Recently started doing a little clean-up of the HTPC and decided to check out a newer firmware to see if performance has improved. When I try to update the firmware it fails saying "Saving new firmware to device failed". I tried the older firmware too in order to see if it was just this one and I get the same response. Thoughts?

Edit: this is the InfiniTV 4 PCI

The flash chip is dead, open a support ticket to RMA it

[icedtrip]

that doesn't sound good. Bought it last November so I guess I should still be good on RMA.

[wrylac]

I will be calling first thing in the morning. They moved the Dodgers channel to an old analog frequency (channel 39 / 315 MHz) and about an hour into the game it started to macroblock and eventually ended up at the weak signal screen.

If you can't watch the one thing TWC has to offer that no other provider has then what are they good for?

Here in the West Valley recently I also started to get the macroblocking on the Dodgers channel after about 40-50 minutes of viewing. It is also showing up in my recordings that are on TNT. When I'm watching the Dodgers live the solution I've found is to change the channel to almost anything else and then back and it'll last another 40-50 minutes before I have to repeat the process. That is of course useless to me when I'm recording something to watch later when the macroblocking is throughout the last third of my recording.

I'll be more diligent about sending in tickets so a solution can be found more quickly but it's hard to want to do while I'm in the middle of watching the Dodgers play.

[kd6icz]

Here in the West Valley recently I also started to get the macroblocking on the Dodgers channel after about 40-50 minutes of viewing. It is also showing up in my recordings that are on TNT. When I'm watching the Dodgers live the solution I've found is to change the channel to almost anything else and then back and it'll last another 40-50 minutes before I have to repeat the process. That is of course useless to me when I'm recording something to watch later when the macroblocking is throughout the last third of my recording.

I'll be more diligent about sending in tickets so a solution can be found more quickly but it's hard to want to do while I'm in the middle of watching the Dodgers play.

I'm happy that I'm no longer an isolated incident! Yes tuning away to a know good channel and then tuning back will buy you another block of time as long as you don't wait until it's completely trashed. If you wait to that point you have to reboot the tuner.

[wrylac]

What ever you guys have done in the last couple of days with Time Warner here in LA. It seems to have worked I'm no longer getting the macroblocking during extended viewing of the Dodger channel. The recordings on TNT are also coming up clean.

Thanks guys.

[timaster]

3) The TA never EVER EVER sends more than one channel map to the infinitv tuner. What I have noticed, and I don't know if it is causative, or coincidental, is that when I have to do the reset, when the TA syncs to the inf6, the number of channels in the map is different than what it was previously. I'm not sure what this means, or if it is significant. Does anyone normally see more than one channel map update on the TA screen? Does the lack of subsequent updates mean that as the cable system adds/changes/removes channels, I wont see some them til I reboot?

And a question, while I can see the number of channels in the TA map, is there some way to actually get the list out of it? You can do it for the cable card one on that screen, but the TA one would be highly useful.

So today, troubleshooting an issue that I'm pretty sure was a headend issue since Cox is both continuing a conversion of many channels to SDV, and is also adding some new channels, I preemptively rebooted the eth6 and the TA. Before rebooting the TA, I checked the Cablecard screen and saw that 376 channels were in the map. On the TA screen, it was showing 604 channels in the ONE map that it had received (erkotz PLEASE note previous post on my infinitv issueshere.)

After rebooting, I cleared the cablecard map, and let the TA do its syncup. After updating, the cablecard map had 366 channels, and the TA reported a total of 615. To me this indicates that at least 10 channels were migrated to SDV in the past 3 weeks, and another 10 or so were added on top of those. I say at least 10, since I cant rule out the possibility that some new popular HD channels may have been permamapped, and more than 10 might have been SDV'd. Cox seems to prefer moving a lot of SD content to SDV, which makes sense I guess since it frees up bandwidth for more HD content.

My questions, does the lack of more than one map update from the TA without a reboot cause me to miss new channels showing up?

Does the fact that the infinitv's cache the cablecard channels to nonvolatile memory cause issues (in my experience it does btw), given things like SDV rollouts that move them from permanent slots to moving targets? Would it make sense for Ceton to compare the maps from the headend to the cache and make updates/deletions as needed? Or would this cause problems? Perhaps if the channel is missing after "x" map updates it would get removed? Don't get me wrong, caching the map makes sense, but leaving channels there seemingly forever seems counterproductive in a world of changing channel lineups and SDV migrations.

Should I be concerned that the TA map is never downloaded or updated after the first one? IS THERE ANY WAY TO LIST THE CONTENTS OF THE TA's MAP? I can after all list the cable card one, but that is getting more and more irrelevant.

If there is anything in either of my posts that would give you a reason for me to collect data or open tickets, please let me know.

Thanks!

[kd6icz]

What ever you guys have done in the last couple of days with Time Warner here in LA. It seems to have worked I'm no longer getting the macroblocking during extended viewing of the Dodger channel. The recordings on TNT are also coming up clean.

Thanks guys.

Same here. I get the occasional little blip here and there (very seldom and nothing I didn't get before the digital conversion).. But I've watched two complete Angels games two days in a row and that's something I haven't been able to do for weeks. So things are improving for sure.

[Mpgrimm2]

Same boat here. The first year of using my iTv4 PCIe was great until the switch to sdv, then the tuning errors started so I started updating FW. After about 4 fw updates over next 2 years of owning my iTv4 it would no longer accept FW updates, (a year ago) it started to not recognize the CableCard/no tuner available and 2 weeks ago stopped recognizing it altogether, so its back in the box. Dead.

Figured I was SOL so I timidly ordered the iTV6 ETH (with free Echo combo) last weekend despite my wife's misgivings and just hooked it up at my home's 42" media panel (Phone/LAN/Cable. All Gigabit/CAT6/RG6) which improved SNR etc. vs PCIe version at TV/PC. One of the first things the directions ask is to do a FW update which has me nervous ( Now on 14.4.6.21 Stable ? but shows as beta on Ceton Diag WebPage UI). Got the new CC paired and the MTR700 TA that I used previously showing up in the diagnostic web page (plugged into the iTV6 ETH).

Everything runs great...when it works (Tuners 1-4 on main Win7 PC/3.2Ghz Phenom x4/16gb ram/Gigabyte MB; Tuner 6 on Master BR PC (HP m7350n Win7 2.8Ghz Pent D/4Gb DDR2); Tuner 5 on my laptop (HP DV6-1030us Win7 3.1Ghz Core2Duo/8Gb DDR2/Wifi N for testing only... pixilation expected), 1 Echo in guest BR; 1 Xbox 360/extender in son's room). No lag, pixelation, etc. Channel change times are reasonable, even with everything running. Don't have network tuner drivers loaded either.
Previously on the iTV4 PCIe, whenever I had a power outage/blip (10-20 times a year) or Windows Update reboots main PC (always on/no sleep, etc), I have problems where I either have "no available tuner", can't recognize cablecard, some TA issue or Media Center is asking to "Setup the cablecard" again. When this happens, the only way to get things working seems to be to wipe out/rediscover the tuner configuration via Ceton app and go through the MCE TV setup again (hoping it sees more than 1 tuner).
Yesterday, 2 days into using the iTV6 ETH, I had a power blip/reboot and had to re-setup the tuner on the main PC again, which sucks. Other than buying a couple of UPS's, any thoughts here?
Motherboard drivers are as up to date as the Gigabyte site has (2011) or on a windows update driver version and the iTV6 ETH is on latest "stable" FW.

Currently tuned to NBC HD. Signal Level: 3.1 dBmV, Signal To Noise Level: 37.6 dB (typ.)

MainPc Specs (Built Aug2010):
- Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H v2.0 fw: FF
- AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1Ghz AM3 CPU (Unlocked Cores 3 & 4 = X4 B50)
- Corsair Hydro H50 CPU Liquid Cooler
- OCZ 16GB DDR3 PC10666 1333MHZ (4 X 4GB) p/n: OCZ3G1333LV8GK CL 9-9-9-20 1.65v
- Visiontek Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR5 PCIe (Catalyst 14-4)
- ASUS 8X Blu Ray/DVD Combo Drive SATA
- Ceton InfiniTv6 ETH Fw: 14.4.6.21
(replaced iTV4 PCIe on 7/12/14 due to can't see CableCard/fw fail)
- Seagate 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G (OS)
- Seagate 1TB Serial ATA HD 7200/32MB/SATA-3G
- Seagate 1.5TB FreeAgent Portable on USB (for DVD rips in MCE)
- Cooler Master Gladiator 600 ATX Case
- OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular Power Suppy
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP1
- HP USB eHome IR Receiver for Media Center (for Harmony 700)
- LG 60in Plasma 60PS60 (HDMI-1)

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7/20/14 Update:
Alright. Starting to get problems regularly with the main PC dropping tuners from the iTV6 ETH, No Tuner Available, etc, just by turning TV/AV Receiver OFF/ON, or just randomly dropping out in the early morning while at work (wife sends me a text).

Sometimes when I loose tuners 1-4 on the Main PC (Living Room), I will go check Tuner 5 (laptop) and Tuner 6 (Bedrm PC) and they will be out as well (No Tuner Available) or will work until I try to change the channel and then I will get the no tuner message. Other times it seems like the Main PC (Liv Rm) is the only one with issues and no amount of rebooting PC or power cycling the iTV 6 and TA in the media closet will work causing me to use the Ceton App to Clear Tuner Config, Rediscover Tuners, and then re-setup TV Signal and Guide all over again in Media Center ( I have not had to Clear Tuner Config. on the other 2 PC's with tuner 5,6 yet).

Note:
- MainPC and Laptop have Norton Internet Security, Bedroom PC on has MS Security Essentials.
- Network: Cat6 Cable/Patch Panel, DLink DIR-655 RevA Gigabit Router FW 1.35NA (Lan IP & PW changed from default), Dlink DGS-2208 Gigabit Sw

On the chance, that it is related to my home built PC, I have decided to reformat and reload Win7 x64 Home from scratch... SP1 done, still getting updates. Will make a restore point and load up enough basics for a working TV before heading to bed this morning (Also set up bios/drivers with AHCI SATA vs RAID SATA drivers for MB).

Software plan for mainPC...
- MS Security Essentials (Prefer Norton Internet Security, but give this a shot): done
- Adobe Reader/Flash Player
- Ceton iTV6 Drivers/Diag app Fw: 14.4.6.21
- My Movies for windows 5.00 Build 6
- DvdFab 9
- Netflix for Media Center/Silverlight
- TotalMediaTheatre 6.7.1.xxx (Need for BluRays but not needed immediately. Will wait and see)
- Nero11 (Not needed immediately. Will wait and see)
- Office 2010 (Not needed immediately. Will wait and see)

If this doesn't work, next step will be a support ticket I guess.

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7-24-14 Update (See attached):
- Still having weird loss of Tuner issues that go away by cycling power on the iTV6/TA and restarting the MCE app.

- Only have a basic load of Win7/Ceton/Netflix/Adobe Reader/MS Security Essentials.

- Currently I have traced part of the issue to my DLink DIR655 RevA3 Router (FW 1.35NA) which reboots itself periodically and dumps my entire network. Apparently the Ceton iTV6 ETH can't re-establish communication to my media center PC's once it gets it's assigned Static IP back after the router reboots randomly.

- Yesterday I updated the DIR655 to FW 1.37NA, but it just rebooted (24hrs later).

I am going to go pull the router out of my media panel and put it on the shelf outside to see if it is a heat issue before I spend another $120 - $200 on an A/C Router and enrage my wife further with my recent spending!
(Note: iTV6 and TA are not in my media panel)
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8-2-14 Update:
Managed a week of solid Tuner/Extender use from the iTV6 ETH / MTR700 with my Router outside the cabinet.

Got a text at work from my wife last night saying MainPC/media center had "no tuners available" but came back after power cycling the iTV6 ETH/TA.
Checked the router this morning and sure enough, it rebooted around 11pm for some reason. The router seems to be a big chunk of my problems.

And still need to install the rest of my MCE's apps.

@erkotz,
Q: Would the router/LAN dropout have affected the previous iTV4 PCIe that was dedicated to only the mainPC in the Living room?

Do you have everything connected to the router or do you have a switch in the network connections? I think if you put in an unmanaged (read cheap) Gig Switch 8 port or whatever you need and just a jumper to the router and everything else is inside (tuner, extenders, other computers) you'll eliminate the router issue. This might also help with your no tuners available after a power drop. I would seriously put in some UPS devices if you have that high a rate of power line drops. I have them on all machines and rarely have a power drop issue (although it does happen).

Also stick with MS SE, Norton & McAfee are not your friend if you're running cableCARD and network tuners. They seem to be upset with high package usage by devices on a network and will shut things down on scans.

9-8-14 UPDATE:
I want to thank JohnW248 for the suggestion.

After tracking down a large portion of my ETH issue to the router rebooting randomly (thanks D-Link), I figured what the heck and moved the 'high priority' items (Media Center items) directly to the Gigabit Switch before buying a new router. Low and behold after 10 days, the iTV6-ETH, Media Center PC's (1 & 2) and Echo have survived several router reboots without a loss of tuners requiring a power cycle of the ETH and Motorola TA (PC power cycling/restart of MCE never resolved it either).
** Before (7/25) and after (9/2) diagrams attached **

I will add that channel changes seem noticeably slower with the ETH directly on the 'unmanaged' switch vs directly on the router. My NAS seems slower too.

Q: Despite my router issue, is there any reason why iTV6-ETH firmware/drivers can't be tweaked to re-establish a proper connection to the PC/Media Center without a power cycle?

[Crash2009]

I will add that channel changes seem noticeably slower with the ETH directly on the 'unmanaged' switch vs directly on the router. My NAS seems slower too. Q: Despite my router issue, is there any reason why iTV6-ETH firmware/drivers can't be tweaked to re-establish a proper connection to the PC/Media Center without a power cycle?

Recently kd6icz has revealed that the secret to success, with the ETH6, is to install a business class switch.
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... tch#p79201

I'm not a switch expert but I have noticed that people with switches, that have bigger buffers, have less complaints. For example, compare the port buffer on the following switches (listed as kb and MB). Then search those model numbers here at TGB. Then decide for yourself.

Trendnet TEG-S80G (126 kb) $30
D-Link DGS-2208 (144 kb)
Netgear GS-105E (196 kb) $60 at Amazon
Cisco Catalyst WS-C2960 (32 MB) $600 at Newegg

BTW, Nice Diagrams.

[woodchuck]

Recently kd6icz has revealed that the secret to success, with the ETH6, is to install a business class switch. .

Interesting. I have a Cisco business switch for my house and have rarely had ETH6 problems. Just a single datapoint, but they are starting to add up...

[mdavej]

So all I have to do to fix my ETH is buy a $600 switch? Awesome! Tivo is starting to look like a bargain.

[Crash2009]

So all I have to do to fix my ETH is buy a $600 switch? Awesome! Tivo is starting to look like a bargain.

You don't have to spend 600 at Amazon. E-bay is littered with gig switches right now. I bought a Powerconnect 5324 in 2012 for $170, that same switch is $70 bucks now. As far as specs go its pretty close to the 2960.

This suggestion is pure speculation on my part, however we all are fans of more memory, whether it be MB cache, ram, or packet buffer. I'm not a switch scientist, I just wanted to throw it out there for discussion.

Maybe some hardware expert could explain if packet buffer even has anything to do with it. Sounds like another Wireshark project.

[fbacher]

If I read this correctly I should be able to install this image (ceton_infinitv_beta_fw_14_4_6_21.IMAGE) onto my Ceton InfiniTV PCIE-4 Ubuntu system. Alas, I get an error uploading the firmware. I also get the same error ifI try to upload the firmware that is already on the card (20120412_1_1_8.2.IMAGE). Before uploading I shut down mythtv. I also tried running the reset script (the one that resets the card address to 192.168.200.2). Alas that did not work either.
I am having poor SNR lately, to the point that most of my channels can not be tuned. I assume that is my cable providers fault, but now I am beginning to wonder. Their set-top box works fine, but perhaps it has greater sensitivity.

[tzr916]

Recently kd6icz has revealed that the secret to success, with the ETH6, is to install a business class switch.
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... tch#p79201

I'm not a switch expert but I have noticed that people with switches, that have bigger buffers, have less complaints. For example, compare the port buffer on the following switches (listed as kb and MB). Then search those model numbers here at TGB. Then decide for yourself.

Trendnet TEG-S80G (126 kb) $30
D-Link DGS-2208 (144 kb)
Netgear GS-105E (196 kb) $60 at Amazon
Cisco Catalyst WS-C2960 (32 MB) $600 at Newegg

BTW, Nice Diagrams.

I have been using this TRENDnet TEG-S82g Switch without any "major" issues. It has 256KB and costs $32:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833156309

What seemed to help me was on the WMC machine, disable network throttling and tweak these network card driver settings:
IPv4 Checksum Offload - Disabled
Large Send Offload (IPv4) - Disabled
TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4) - Disabled
UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4) - Disabled