johnw248

[johnw248]

I have now also observered instances where I can get a “Subscription Required” blue screen in a program for about a minute and then the recording returns. I haven’t found any log that shows this issue other than the Ceton Web Gui log wil show the conditional access retracted and video set to 0 and then returns about 30 or 40 seconds later and gets a new authorization.

 

At this point I really don’t know if this is an issue with a CA issue with the cableCARD or a communication issue between the Ceton tuner and the cableCARD.

If you get this in a recording, you can pinpoint the time by playing the recording (which will be marked partial in recordedtv/scheduled/history as a partial recording due to a signal loss) by playing the recording and just skipping ahead until you hit the sub required screen and noting the time on the time line and then adding that to the recording start time.

If you are withing a reasonable time (like half an hour) of the issue, you can do a diagnostic scan and file it with your bug report. If it’s longer than that you can try reading the log (check to the debug time stamps to get GMT of the log) and trying to find the occurance. The ability to read the log took me some time to get used to, but you can do it and then copy that part of the log as proof of the incident.

I’ve notice that this is now happening on all systems (both Cisco and Moto) and with and without SDV so whatever the cause, it is widespread.

 

John

[johnw248]

-9 dBmV is just on the edge of being low, but only worth attacking if you see if happen on alot of the channels.

No SDV rules out TA communication errors.

With both type 1 and 2 failures the log file gets wiped and reset. With the Sub Req error where the recording continues there may be something in the log that will refer to getting a conditional access pmt and resetting and retuning. I don’t know why this is happening but since you see it on a Moto controller and I see it on a Cisco controller it points to a problem with the way the tuner is communicating with the cableCARD.

I would start a ticket with Ceton and if you find the card crashed, run a scan from the diagnostic tool even though it can’t find the card and then again after you reboot. If you have an uptime reset, do a diagnostic scan and file it and if you see the partial recording in the recorded tv history, you can check the log, run a scan and figure the time of the error by skipping through the recording to the Sub Req screen and checking that time against the recording start time.

Hopefully they’ll be able to pin this down soon.

John

[johnw248]

There’s a thread on windows experts with many of the same people. All with the problem, all with MS “working” on it, no one with success.

It just seems to continue, very hit or miss, titles with cover art on the computer don’t have cover art on an extender and so forth. All seem to get metadata for cast, synopsis, etc but cover art is another thing.

John

[johnw248]

Just what is happening will depend on several factors and it would help to know:

1. Type of cableCARD (and hence the headend controller) Moto or Cisco
2. If you have SDV in your area
3. Signal level on stations with this issue, if it appears random, the oob signal level

I’ve seen the following four types of failure:

1. Card crashes. The card stops responding and disappears from media devices. A machine reboot is necessary to bring it back up.

2. Card crashes. The card stops responding but recovers. In media devices (if you keep Network open) the card (or usb device) returns at the bottom. Uptime is reset in the web interface.

3. CableCARD crashes. The card or usb stays up, uptime is not impacted.

4. CableCARD error or conditional access problem. This only impacts stations which are copy once (0x2) and will appear as subscription required for about a minute or so in the recording.

 

In cases 3 and 4, if you go to Media Center, recorded tv, scheduled, history you’ll see the recordings listed as recorded, not recorded or partial. Each recording can be clicked on for additonal information. Usually this is where you’ll see ended for use by another component which in my experiece is a cableCARD crash/reset.

If you have a cisco card, you can open the Ceton web interface and click on cableCARD and then open Diagnostics and it will show you the boot time of the cableCARD. If you made a note of this with your last error, you’ll know if the card restarted and when. The Ceton LOG also has a lot of information but it may be a bit difficult to find what you’re looking for. Check for things like card restart or reset, server busy, etc.

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Diagnostics
H/W Model: 0800, Ver: 0012
MAC Address: 00:21:BE:49:3C:2E
SL. No: PKGTSGSQW, Mode: MMODE
Boot Time
Thu Jan 26 2012, 5:35:37 PM GMT
Current Time
Sun Jan 29 2012, 3:38:28 PM GMT
Free Memory: 1554 KB
Bldr Ver: 124
OS Ver: PKEY1.5.2_F.p.2801
Build Time: Feb 3 2011, 17:13:46
Resource Status: 00021C1F00027DBF
BFS: Received, Hub ID: 44

[johnw248]

Update on copy protection for TWC LA County North (Chatsworth headend). Now virtually everything is copy once except for OTA retransmissions and some SD channels.

[johnw248]

Great news! Now, did they know about it before we all started complaining? If not and it happens again we should all start our rants after we get a couple of days behind schedule so they can start working on it sooner (actually they should be able to monitor this considering the business they’re in).

[johnw248]

For your HP Z560 you WILL need a PID. It’s required whenever you run a cableCARD device with Win7. It is part of the licensing deal with MS and CableLabs. With Win7 the PID generated by the DCA is generic so if you run the DCA on another machine you can copy it over to this machine. BUT the other thing the DCA does is remove the Special BIOS requirement.

SD has published a generic key in their form on the HD Prime so you can copy it from there. I though you were running the other machine in which the generic key might not work since it would have had a unique manufacturer’s lot key.

If you’ve run the by-pass and you still can’t set-up the tuners then there something else wrong with the Win7 installation. If the problem is just you can’t find the tuners then you can run the OCUR discovery job to detect the tuners for Media Center.

[johnw248]

If you are currently running ATI DCTs or if you have run ATI DCTs then you DO NOT have to run the DCA. It won’t complete because it sees your Bios is already cableCARD enabled. If you run into a problem where there is no PID use the one from your Vista Sticker. I don’t think the generic will work in this instance but it might. Anyway the PID should just appear white on white and if you can click next you don’t need to enter anything.

John

[johnw248]

Before you run the DCA, run the Windows experience factor (the test looks at that). Your graphic card is good, is your monitor HDCP compliant? (The nVidia driver for the 430 will tell you) Also the DCA would like more than 3 gig RAM and might not pass you on that.

BUT, search here for by-pass DCA. Read and follow the instructions and it will pass the test for you. There might be other problems that could prevent you from setting up cableCARD but it should get you to the next step.

BTW, what you are seeing is Quick TV is only channels that are not marked for protection. What you get will vary widely by content provider/cable company.

John

[johnw248]

Your loss of OOB signal is probably your problem. It’s the 74.250 mHz control signal that delivers the channel tables and authorizations for the TA (and the cableCARD uses the same thing for its OOB lock so you can check that on your cableCARD tab in the Ceton web interface.

Just looking at this, I’d call TW and have them come out and check signal strength. That your most likely cause of the OOB lock error. It might be on the edge and drops off from time to time. Remember that no cable system has either a flat response from dc to 1000 mHz and that the signal level will vary over time. You can check signal level on a few channels in the web interface by clicking on each tuner when it’s in use. You should try and get a signal level +/- 7 dBmV although TW thinks that +/- 10dBmV is good enough. But considering your issue they might just put an amp in the line. Let them do it for two reasons: A) they don’t charge for it and B) they’ll spec it for the right levels down and up. (The amps aren’t adjustable but they come in several versions).

With any luck, if you’ve had issue with pixelation on some channels, that should clear up as well.

OOB FREQ: 75.250 MHz
CARRIER LOCK: YES
SNR 24 dB GOOD Really not as good as your channel below. Should be 30+
DATA: YES
HUNT MODE: NONE

INBAND FREQ: 561.000 MHz QAM256
CARRIER LOCK: YES
SNR 36 dB GOOD  Yes good

 

John

[johnw248]

I don’t have a Moto TA (although I hear there is alot about them on the Tivo forums) but here’s how to get to the diagnostics.

Open the Ceton Web Interface 192.168.200.1 and click on the tuning resolver. About in the middle will be a link to the diagnostic map in the Moto, right click that and open it. Now the problem is Cisco and Moto have decided to speak different languages and put things in different places so you’ll have to go through it all and find the channel table download, the TA authorization, configuration file date and download, etc. The relocation message in my experience happens after TW decides to move stuff around which requires a new configuration file and a new channel map. They download a new channel map everyday at 3AM which has the location of where everything is going to be for the next day.

Double check your USB power settings which are different from your sleep setting, go into power setting, and whatever combination you need to do to get to advanced and find the usb connections and choose never. That will keep the usb link live to the computer so that it’ll be live for a request from the Ceton. The Ceton (I think) gets a request from Media Center and then looks to its channel map and if it isn’t there it asks the TA which first checks its Mini Carousel to see if the program is already on the node, if not it requests the program and if it gets a positive it then tells the tuner which then tunes to the channel and the cableCARD decrypts. All this takes some time and sometimes it isn’t fast enough for Media Center which will then put up a No Video message but will try the next tuner and will likely have success on that attempt.

I have no idea why Cisco calls the current node operation the mini-carousel and I don’t know what Moto calls it but the operations will be similar.

But all this has been pretty stable for me for several months with a few hits of no video and recording on the next tuner–but that’s a timing issue between the TA and the cableCARD.

When you find the diagnostic map (or whatever the links are called) please post the menu so we can see what it looks like on the Moto.

Here’s the Cisco link:

DIAGNOSTICS NAVIGATION MAP
Status Summary  Status and boot time and current time
POST and Boot Results
Versions and MACs  Your FW version and mac address
Network and Tuning Status
RF Statistics Your RF connections
PowerKEY Information
QPSK SIL Information
Bootloader Information
SAM Information
SARA Information
Component Information
SAM EDCT Information
SWITCHED DIGITAL VIDEO Your TA IP address in here
SDV MINI CAROUSEL
SDV SESSION INFO A
SDV SESSION INFO B
SDV SESSION INFO C
Tuning Resolver  Configuration file date here
UDCP Your Ceton Card here
Serial Link Protocol  USB Connection here
Serial Link Anomalies  Channel Tables Here

[johnw248]

Well I don’t have the diagnostic map for the Moto unit, but the first thing I would check is if it is downloading new channel maps. In the Cisco unit here’s a sample page:

SERIAL LINK ANOMALIES

 

CHANNEL TABLE HISTORY
Rsp/Upd/Err/Rtx: 22/41/0/0
09/09@03:00:38 Upd v039 Blks=06
09/10@03:00:40 Upd v040 Blks=06
09/10@11:10:27 Rsp v040 Blks=06
09/11@03:00:38 Upd v041 Blks=06

And check the USB Connection:

SERIAL LINK PROTOCOL
InitTime: 08/04@10:17:55
ProtoVer/RxWinSz: 1/4
FirmwareVer: 1.10
UsbDeviceState: Configured
LastUsbResetTime: 09/10@11:10:06

the other thing that might help is going into your power settings and making sure the USB connection isn’t turned off or allowed to go to sleep.

This is if you’re running a Ceton card, if you have a SD Prime there can be other issues that they are still dealing with in FW updates.

[johnw248]

TWC operates both a Moto and Cisco headends in the Los Angeles area, so a little more information is necessary:

1. Cisco or Moto equipment

2. Tuner type

The few times I have seen a relocation its been related to a new config file coming down but those are reflected in the channel table. Perhaps you’re having a problem with the USB link from the TA, but not knowing the host of the TA, its all speculation.

Running Cisco on two machines with Ceton tuners, I don’t have that problem in West Valley.

 

[johnw248]

1. Time Warner Cable

2. Los Angeles (LA County North–Chatsworth Headend)

3. b Locals copy freely everything else on HD with a half dozen expections copy once

4. SDV current 297 SDV channels, total including SDV 650 Need TA, upgraded to six stream

5. Yes

[johnw248]

Not for everyone, some might do better some worse. Shipping will vary and would be a little more for me. But they are “out of stock” (did they ever have any?) so a delivery date is unknown.

But a good deal if you want to wait and missed the Amazon pre-release price.

John

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