Ceton InfiniTV4 - Recurring No TV Signal Warnings

[maximus4]

Update:
Problem still there, another week or 2 of sending diagnostics. Ceton support had me change some windows power management settings and download a windows hot fix, with no luck. The last (probably 20th) diagnostic I sent in on this ticket they mentioned I may have a weak signal issue (:l) and my ticket has been elevated to someone that works with the cable companies directly. He had time Warner reprovision the tuning adapter yesterday, 5/25, and as of this morning its back on... but for how long.

I see talk of firmware, I'm on 1.1.5.2 which was the beta sent to me on 3/8 from ceton. The diag tool says I'm up to date.

Sent from my Iconia A500 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

[eman31]

I get the no TV signal message at least 4 times on every recording my card makes. Most of the time it happens in the first minute of recording and then it does actually start the recording so I'm not missing a whole show but the messages are annoying. I just checked my recording history and have had almost 400 "Not Recorded" messages since I last cleared it on March 16th. This has been going on ever since I switched to the public firmware a few months ago.

[iamwarpath]

This happens to me too. I also get a "Subscription required" message also. Both cases are fixed by restarting my computer but your DVR HAS to be dependable. I can't stand restarting my computer twice a week. My ATI Cablecard system didn't get that error message or require a restart.

Between this problem and MS adhering to the "no recording" flags, I feel like switching to Dish Hopper. Please win us back Microsoft!

[KHTPC75]

Update:
Problem still there, another week or 2 of sending diagnostics. Ceton support had me change some windows power management settings and download a windows hot fix, with no luck. The last (probably 20th) diagnostic I sent in on this ticket they mentioned I may have a weak signal issue (:l) and my ticket has been elevated to someone that works with the cable companies directly. He had time Warner reprovision the tuning adapter yesterday, 5/25, and as of this morning its back on... but for how long.

I see talk of firmware, I'm on 1.1.5.2 which was the beta sent to me on 3/8 from ceton. The diag tool says I'm up to date.

Sent from my Iconia A500 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

Ceton made 1.1.7.2 available for public beta. They have a link to it here http://cetoncorp.com/infinitv_support/b ... re-update/

[maximus4]

Long overdue update: my support ticket ended up getting elevated to Mr. Kotz calling up my cable provider and having my tuning adapter reprovisioned... whatever that means, and I've had a month trouble free. That's a new record. I'm going to call it solved for now.

[NCoastTweaker]

update...
so, TV started working randomly last night. it has been working almost 24 hours now. it never stays out more then a week so its right on schedule. .

Maximus,
This happens on my USB version too.. I have to unplug (not power off.. UNPLUG) the TA, the CETON and shutdown HTPC. Plug in TA, Plug in CETON, reboot HTPC.. all workie till it encounters another random glitch. I would not be able to wait a week for it to come back on its own..
You sir have alot of patience..

I have the same issues with subscription required.. (but only on cablecard chans with COPY PROTECT: NONE)
Also have the tuner not available errors every 3-5 days.. partial recordings.. macroblocking etc.. all the same issues described in this thread.

I'm keeping an open mind and have opened TWC and CETON problem tickets.. Now I'm doing the diagnosis dance and putting my trust in the TWC and CETON
support folks.

[maximus4]

It took months of back and fourths with ceton before I got this resolved... and Im not quite sure what reprovision even means... but there is hope! I really wish this set up did not require a tuning adapter or any of the DRM that has been the biggest headache but I guess its inescapable in this day and age.

[NCoastTweaker]

Maximus4,
I've been running the ceton with its default drivers 1.1.0.14 and I haven't seen any crashes or reboots.. just the occasional tuner not avail error.
I just removed a splitter from my cable line to get back 3.5dBmv .. I also had subscription not avail errors too, but discovered that its only on cablecard channels with Copy Protection: NONE.. so the CCI drm from cable is not there.. so subordinate DRM's come into play. I've tried that chann over and over and it has Never worked without the subscription error.. You can see the copy protection status using the ceton diag..
select devices and then for a given tuner click the status tab..

I've asked the cablecard support folks to have the cable provider add a CCI of Copy Freely or copy once to channel 280... (no telling how long that will take) or remove the subordinate copy protection.. (if they can) I'm not sure if they beleive me or not..

So far I haven't seen the tuner not avail for several days.. (and thats ok with me as long as it stays away for good!)

[maximus4]

Good to hear! Why the old drivers? Isnt "newer = better" still true? My signal strength was concerning a lot of folks on here but ceton support didn't seem too concerned. I'm still pretty far in the negatives with no issues. I have the ceton, tuning adapter, cable modem, and 2 non media centered TVs so its split quite a few times, and haven't had any issues since the tuning adapter reprovisioning. Perhaps signal strength isn't as critical as I thought!

[NCoastTweaker]

Good to hear! Why the old drivers? Isnt "newer = better" still true? My signal strength was concerning a lot of folks on here but ceton support didn't seem too concerned. I'm still pretty far in the negatives with no issues. I have the ceton, tuning adapter, cable modem, and 2 non media centered TVs so its split quite a few times, and haven't had any issues since the tuning adapter reprovisioning. Perhaps signal strength isn't as critical as I thought!

I've been reading these threads and don't see where the firmware update made any decernable diff to many users ... at least on the macroblocking. I think the firmware upgrade on the Cisco TA - which was pushed out back in august 2011 by the cableco - may have addressed some of the stability issues.. cause I haven't had any random crashes or stability issues and I'm on the 1501 FW. Just the occasional Channel unavailable errors and the macroblocking..

I just don't see any posts listing specific improvements when using the newer firmwares... (in fact I've seen some folks downgrade from the newest ceton FW) All I can tell you is that the ceton is 99% of the way working.. with the crappy old fw.. i just don't want to introduce any new variables into this mess until I'm sure the Cable Signal / Cablecard / TA are all in spec.. I have a truck roll sched this monday with TWC. They are sending a CABLECARD EXPERT..

They seem to think the TA has too low of SNR on the RDC signal.. (Cisco TA shows 33 dB SNR on RDC and TWC says it must be above 35dB)
So I will give them the benefit of the doubt and let them take their shot at it.. (and re-examine my signal quality)

I've chased too many problems with FW updates. Its difficult to tell what gets fixed after an update. I need repeatable tests with specific issues to know
for sure whats being addressed.. I'm not going to just blindly introduce a potentially new set of issues..

So far CETON support has not told me to update the FW. So I'm taking this nice and slow. One step at a time. First the Cable signal.. then the TA.. then
the Cablecard.. once those are verified as working 'correctly' by the cable company.. then I'll maybe consider introducing another change to FW if CETON deems it necessary.

I had an unscheduled visit from a field tech last Wednesday.. He was adjusting the tap on the street in front of my house. i walked out there and started
talking with him. He told me there were issues with the signal in my neighborhood and other customers were having issues with their set top boxes..
They found some bad equipment and cable segments up at the main node level and had to replace it. (this may have been the cause of my Chan errors)
He was out to 'balance the system' out.. When I told him I was an HTPC cablecard user he asked to come in and see it.. (he never seen one before)

He ended up comming in and checking my line levels inside.. (nice dude!) He stayed about 45 minutes.. and he tweaked my power levels up to where the
line comming into the house is now around +10dBmV on ch 3 and +14dBmV on ch 70 with 38dB SNR's.. it made a big diff on the ceton tuner diags...
Ceton tuners now showing +1dBmV to +5 dBmV with SNR of 36.5 to 37.5.. averages. RDC on the TA still show 33dB SNR though

The cableguy told me there would me more work done on the node this week and to expect more intermittent outages.. He told me he would be back out to
check in on me Sunday. (He may be able to get me a loaner DVR from TWC to put up alongside the Ceton.. to help with testing and diag)

So far I've had one more Channel Unavail failure but only on one HD chan.. Since then its been solid for the last 72 hours. Until I get a clean signoff from TWC on the Return Data Carrier Signal Noise Ratio of the Tuning Adaper I'm not gonna do anything else. I don't want any more signal quality excuses be used to
account for my channel unavailable errors and macroblockimg..

As for the reprovisioning.. I will have to ask what that entails when the cable guy gets here.. Hopefully after I get the TA SNR stuff resolved, I can get TWC
to try fixing the macroblock issue.

I also seen the 29/59 bug on the International Film channel HD.. but I was able to reduce the studder by turning off all the post processing features of my video card. the bug is still there, but the hd6870 is fast enough to handle the frame rate changes without noticable studder.. but only when ALL the video and 3d stuff is disabled.. The IFC still isn't as smooth as channels that don't have the bug.. (its still changing back and forth between 29 and 59 fps) I think the Frame rate changing so much during the program caused a bit of eye strain when watch for long periods. but it may just be my imagination.. hell i've been looking at this thing too long for any little error now..

I don't have any premium channels so I don't know if the bug is on those or not.. I told the cable company, but they are probably not going to do anything about it anytime soon.. (if ever) I could tell the CSR (female of course!) was rolling their eyes when I called in to report it.. Don't judge me CSR! I used to have a life before I got this ceton.. now my new hobby is Quality Assurance for them and TWC..

[NCoastTweaker]

2nd cableguy visit was a waste of time. Tech showed up with no spare Cablecards or TA's.. The call was scheduled by TWC cablecard support to address the low 33dBmV on the RDC of the TA..
Yesterday on May 15th around 11am I finally got to see the tuner glitch first hand.. Also captured a Ceton Diagnosis info file and sent to Ceton.

I seen the program I was watching stop.. and the error "Channel Unavailable" at that point none of the ceton tuners would work.. Tested non cablecard channels and the hauppauge tuner worked fine.. I launched the ceton windows application and noticed that the "go to infiniTV device webpage" tab was grayed out and non responsive.. Fortunately the info collection script worked. After I sent off the zip file, I was left staring at the error.. Last time ceton asked me if I tried using the WMC ceton diag.. so this time I tried it.. it issued a message saying NO TUNERS FOUND.. or something to that effect.. Went to device manager and did see the ceton tuner under Network adapters.. also seen the TA under USB controllers..

I decided to just unplug the power from the ceton InfiniTV USB box.. waited 10 seconds.. when powered on.. diagnostics immediately seen it. and evrything started working again.. including the ability to tune in channels. So I took another info dump and sent that into Ceton support too.. Also left phone msg with them.. They called back within a few hours. They reviewed the info files and told me the same thing about the tuners.. they just went away! they provided me with additional troubleshooting instrutions.. said that if this happens again.. try to ping the Tuner IP address from a cmd prompt.. if it pings then they think a FW update may resolve it.. So now I'm waiting around for the next one to happen so I can try the ping..

Oh and I asked about the RF connector on the InfiniTV box.. it is split 4 ways and does have approx -7dBmV insertion loss.. (that info came right from CETON support)
So if you want to see 0dBmV or higher on the cetons, you need to feed it a +7dBmV or higher power level from the wire connecting to the ceton.. (Not sure if the PCIE version is the same in this regard)

I'm glad to see Ceton support spot a known symptom.. just waiting for them to comment in the problem ticket on the FW update recommendation.

[JazJon]

I've had this No Signal error pop up randomly for as long as I can remember as well. I've had multiple Beta firmware updates via support tickets and it did help a bit, but I still get them once in awhile. They want me to capture PCI bus traffic using wireshark. http://www.wireshark.org/

A few minutes of capture = gigs of data

This means I need to start and capture data right before some shows are about to record. Well... go figure my bad luck, I've tried many dozens of times, and so far I've yet to capture a recording while the error happens. I'll give up trying and then BOOM "No Signal on channel etc etc"

Like everyone else, I've yet to actually miss a recording, since it always records just fine every time. I just have to clear the annoying errors.

I'll keep trying! Anyone know of a way to automate the WireShark capture so it only happens in a 5 minute window at the top and bottom of each hour? That way I can set it and forget it. I just asked wireshark forum:
http://ask.wireshark.org/questions/1130 ... -each-hour

Ceton is waiting for this diagnostic, they gave me a FTP site to upload it once I get it. (even if it's huge no big deal)

[JazJon]

I've had this No Signal error pop up randomly for as long as I can remember as well. I've had multiple Beta firmware updates via support tickets and it did help a bit, but I still get them once in awhile. They want me to capture PCI bus traffic using wireshark. http://www.wireshark.org/

A few minutes of capture = gigs of data

This means I need to start and capture data right before some shows are about to record. Well... go figure my bad luck, I've tried many dozens of times, and so far I've yet to capture a recording while the error happens. I'll give up trying and then BOOM "No Signal on channel etc etc"

Like everyone else, I've yet to actually miss a recording, since it always records just fine every time. I just have to clear the annoying errors.

I'll keep trying! Anyone know of a way to automate the WireShark capture so it only happens in a 5 minute window at the top and bottom of each hour? That way I can set it and forget it. I just asked wireshark forum:
http://ask.wireshark.org/questions/1130 ... -each-hour

Ceton is waiting for this diagnostic, they gave me a FTP site to upload it once I get it. (even if it's huge no big deal)

I found a solution that works for now. (so I can capture 24/7) See below


______________________________________
Posted on: 24 May 2012 12:26 PM
Hi Jon,
One trick that might be helpful to you is to set up Wireshark to capture with a circular buffer (so it only saves, for instance, the last 500MB of data) - that way you can just stop the capture once the issue occurs.

Thank you,
Ceton Support

_______________________________________

Jon
User

Posted on: 24 May 2012 01:02 PM
Thanks I found what you suggested under WireShark Capture Options.

I assigned a capture file to E:\WireShark my unused 500MB drive.
I add the circular capture option going to my It's set to write up to 220MB per file and only keep a maximum of 2 files.

I have WireShark running 24/7 now and will stop/save the capture 60 seconds after I notice the error message popup live. (will need to catch one live of course)

Stand by

[brennok]

Just when I think my issue is fixed and they close my tickets, my no signal and subscription required messages pop up again. At this point I plan on just returning the CableCARD and passing on Media Center for now. It was mostly to play around with and use for overflow for my friend since I only have a dual tuner TiVo in his room. With the summer schedule this isn't an issue. I just don't have the time to keep swapping CableCARDs since they work for a day or a week and then quit working. A reboot always fixes the issue also since the CableCARDs get stuck in authentication.

[gravymonster]

Just when I think my issue is fixed and they close my tickets, my no signal and subscription required messages pop up again. At this point I plan on just returning the CableCARD and passing on Media Center for now. It was mostly to play around with and use for overflow for my friend since I only have a dual tuner TiVo in his room. With the summer schedule this isn't an issue. I just don't have the time to keep swapping CableCARDs since they work for a day or a week and then quit working. A reboot always fixes the issue also since the CableCARDs get stuck in authentication.

Just to chime in, I'm usually able to remove the cable card and re-insert it and that usually clears everything right up without actually rebooting. Not any less annoying but it can save you from missing any of a particular show if you're watching live tv.

[maximus4]

just another update, after a few weeks i was right back to the same old same old... intermittent signal and constant "no tv signal" errors. anyone else with similar issues have any breakthrus theyd like to share? i just dont know what to do with this thing anymore....

[KFish]

just another update, after a few weeks i was right back to the same old same old... intermittent signal and constant "no tv signal" errors. anyone else with similar issues have any breakthrus theyd like to share? i just dont know what to do with this thing anymore....

I'm new to the green button but have been using the Ceton Tuner since it first came out. I have had similar issues with the "no tv signal" popping up. I had my whole house gone through with Comcast techs, splitters changed, fittings replaced, lines replaced inside and out. It improved but I was still having issues pop up once in a while. The biggest bang for my buck came when I decided to disable MediaCenter in the under Control Panel /Programs and Features/Turn WIndows Features On or Off/Media Features/Media Center. I also cleared the Tuner Configuration and rediscovered it using the Ceton Diagnostic Tool. I rebooted the computer and then enabled Media Center in the Control Panel /Programs and Features/Turn WIndows Features On or Off/Media Features/Media Center. I had to go through the complete Media Center setup again and my problem went away. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate.

[mouseware]

great thread! i have had the infinitv4 since it came out. I've been using it with windows 7 and the first year problem free. over the past year I've had intermittent problems exactly as everyone else here. the last six months have been nothing but a battle with the cable company (TWC) and my pc. finally i built a new media center pc and loaded it up fresh with windows 7 and got probably one good day out of it before getting no tv signal errors, sdv errors, no tuners, etc. I have the RTM for windows 8 so i'm curious to see if this help anything or make it worse. has anyone testing it with the beta of windows 8?

[maximus4]

oh ive re-installed/re set-up/reconfigured plenty of times. it just comes and goes regardless. i dont think its a windows issue. my huappauge always got along with windows nicely, then they went switched digital and life was never the same...

[gtreneman]

I'm new to the Ceton crowd, and recording digitally in general. I moved recently and replaced my two Hauppauge sdtv tuners with this Ceton beast, running WMC7. I am in a large apartment building, so I don't have the same sort of access to a lot of the cabling y'all do.
I feel like I understand the concepts of signal and noise, but am confused if I should get a powered coax amp. My line configuration as it is now is: line in from hallway > male to male adapter (cable is not long enough) > splitter > into Ceton. (other end of splitter goes to modem) Saturday nights I can't watch a football game because the signal breaks up so badly, it just freezes or just throws up the "low signal" screen. When I check the tuner's web diagnostic page (after closing MCE), I get a signal strength of anywhere between -9 and -13 dbmv and noise between 31 and 36 db, while other channels are fine. But other times the same channel will be around -3dbmv. I'm worried that if I get an amplifier, it will; a) not work and, b) push the other channels into an unacceptable signal range. Am I over thinking this? Would it help if I take out the male to male adapter and just have the splitter there?