Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH dropping signals

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jwbworks

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Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH dropping signals

#1

Post by jwbworks » Sat Sep 16, 2017 11:05 am

Hi all,

Im looking for help and yes I posted a ticket on the Ticket System on the Ceton site but have not heard back.

I am running a Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH with my Windows 8 media center. This setup has worked great for the last few years. The firmware and the drivers are up to date. However, over the last month, my media center is dropping signals more and more frequesntly. I have Comcast as a cable provider and it is just basic cable.

During a support call, I went into the Ceton diagnostic for windows and monitored Boston NBC which is owned by Comcast. Repeatedly I saw that the Ceton will show that the channel failed to provision but the signal was working in Media center. Then there are times on recorded shows where media center will record some portion of the show then show there is no signal and the recording cuts out.

The support rep said it used to be they would get 1 call a month from a Ceton user, but now its several times a week.
He said he thought it was an issue with the latest windows eight updates, and since Ceton is no longer active he doubted MS would do anything. He suggested submitting a ticket to the Ceton support page as its suppose to still be active, but I have not heard back in a week from posting my issue.

Anyone else having this issue, is there a workaround. I have looked at the Homerum but I don't like the limited tuners it offers.


Thanks

Jeff

MpTrumbore

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#2

Post by MpTrumbore » Sat Sep 16, 2017 4:38 pm

Does it work for a while after a reboot. Say, a few days or so?

I have the 4 tuner PCI version, an early one from the pre-sale launch, and it still works. I started having the same issue with it some time ago. Never found a solution to the problem but did set a scheduled task to reboot daily and that keeps it functional.

mldenison

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#3

Post by mldenison » Sun Sep 17, 2017 11:54 pm

I have 2 ETH's. I have to power cycle them daily, sometimes twice every 12 hours or so, to keep WMC from reporting no signal. I'm on Comcast but I think it is a Ceton issue. My network is rock solid. It's truly a shame that Homerun never brought out a 6 channel device. I would have upgraded immediately.

jwbworks

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#4

Post by jwbworks » Mon Sep 18, 2017 10:26 am

when doing the calls with Comcast I would power cycle everything. the tuner the PC, even pulled the card. None of these fixed the issue. once the pc comes back up I would go to the debug tab on the Ceton diagnostic program and it would be random on the provisioning failing. I will look into power cycling the tuner on a daily basis and see how that works.

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#5

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:08 pm

March 12, 2017 I upgraded from Ceton4 USB to Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH on Win7. Hope the following helps anyone regardless of OS.


i've had the exact same prob as the 1st 4 posts on this thread and found a solution this morning and immediately decided to see if anyone on TGB/Ceton thread needed the info:

My Notes:

May 11th 2017

Jonathan (phone tech at BrightHouse) said that if I had trouble again with a CableCARD to call BrightHouse and ask them to remove the cable card from my account then put it back in and resync it; and that should fix the problem if I ever have trouble again because that's basically what we did today; and that that fixed the problem with not getting Turner Classic Movies.

(Edit: Well no... not... ^^ has not helped tremendously. And Problems multiplied as I was forced to procrastinate. But I did keep ^^ notes as a place to start.)

10/24/2017 5:30 PM
Precilla tried ^^ (remove the cable card from my account then put it back in and resync it) and it only partially fixed missing channels. Said she'd send a technician. Technician is scheduled for 12 to 2 on October 25th.

8:12 PM
Solution discovered: (For loosing channels, poor signal quality, and sometimes not being able to play copy protected recordings on PC and/or Extenders.)

Discovered that the service called, "Windows Media Center Receiver Service" is a key part of getting the stations back. I tried stopping it either before or after power cycling the tuning adapter and Ceton TV tuners and restarting the service before launching Windows Media Center (Edit: pretty sure I stopped it before Power Cycling and Started it after Power Cycling); resulted in Windows Media Center starting with a message saying it was,"Searching For Tuners". And after it found the tuners most of the stations tuned in; but I haven't tested all yet. (Edit: YES! All channels and recordings work on PC and all extenders.)

10/25/2017 5:59 AM
After backing up the PC and restarting it this morning and most channels failed to tune in; after all channels had been working last night and this morning np, I noticed the option to update PlayReady popped up and for some instinctive reason decided not to attempt it; I decided not to run playready update from past experiences with my Ceton4 USB tuners. Turned out to be the right choice because when channels would not tune in again and all I'd done was restart the PC the following occurred; I put two and two together from experience the past few years, plus last night and simply stopped the "Windows Media Center Receiver Service" and restarted it immediately; and voila! as soon as I opened Media Center I got the message again "searching for tuners"; after a few seconds it found them and turned in all the stations again. So, from now on, after restarting PC; ignoring the PlayReady update if it pops up, and stopping and starting the "Windows Media Center Receiver Service" I won't lose my channels. :)
So with it FINALLY fixed i cancelled the service call for today.

Changing the way "Windows Media Center Receiver Service" starts is an obvious thought, but i will leave it for the time being, as is (Automatic). There's the other four startup types for the Service... 1. Automatic (Delayed Start) 2. Automatic 3. Manual and 4. Disabled. But there's no need to experiment.

What is important is to figure out (ask oneself/envision possible reasons) why this is happening. I've repeated the solution three times after three restarts. Each time after restarting, all or some Channel Signals were lost; but without the need to Power Cycle anything, simply Stopping and Restarting "Windows Media Center Receiver Service" fixed it all three times including all four of my Extenders (Xbox 360s) could FINALLY play all channels and all copy protected recordings. (Be sure to have WMC closed, then when it's started and it's attempting to tune a channel look for WMC to say, "Searching For Tuners" and that will be key to knowing that Stopping and Starting the Service did effect how WMC works.) But note, my notes above, as far as I did have my cable card removed from my account, by a phone tech, then put it back in (added back to my account) and they re-synced it; but that MAY not be necessary. And maybe one Power cycle of Tuning Adapter and Ceton is necessary regardless. Hopefully this prob does not return and if it does this solution works again. :)

I tried every combination of everything the past five months until, finally discovering ^^ last night and this morning.

jaimeknapp

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#6

Post by jaimeknapp » Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:45 pm

More to Bee_Dee's issue:

It may well be that the Receiver Service or the TA connection could be called before the USB or ethernet drivers are fully loaded by Windows. You may be able to create a dependency to delay their service starting:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... c-services

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#7

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:33 pm

jaimeknapp wrote:More to Bee_Dee's issue:

It may well be that the Receiver Service or the TA connection could be called before the USB or ethernet drivers are fully loaded by Windows. You may be able to create a dependency to delay their service starting:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... c-services

jaimeknapp,

ty! :)

i have never messed with registry settings but i have always used backup imaging software and it has allowed me to experiment with anything. (Deleting the Windows folder is one of my favorite tricks. ;) )

But after reading ur post and the link u provided plus the topics of several threads of urs, it dawned on me; what if i simply disabled the WMC Receiver Service and then restarted?

Wouldn't it be interesting if; after booting into Win7 with the WMC Receiver Service disabled, and then A. Start the Service or B. Don't start the Service; then start WMC and observe the results for each?

Wouldn't several possibilities in regards to ur post surface?

ty again! :)

jaimeknapp

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#8

Post by jaimeknapp » Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:45 pm

You might try setting the various services to Manual first. They should then be started as required.

Also, as you are looking through the services list, check their dependencies to look for anything unusual, maybe in DCOM and RPC services.

Perhaps not related, but I do not use DHCP served IP addresses for any of my hardware; everything has a fixed IP.

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