Tuner problems, either bad signal or faulty card - Terratec 2400i

gecko_101 · **23rd January 2006, 09:18 AM**

Hi everyone,

I've just completed putting my HTPC together and I'm having a few issues with my TV tuner. The tuner is a Terratec 2400i DVB-T card.

I've had a digital terrestrial set top box for a couple of years, it's worked well and I have assumed my TV signal was good enough quality, but now my HTPC is not happy with either the signal or maybe the tuner card.

I get the 'lost signal' message on only some of my TV channels, the live TV will typically last for around 5-8 minutes then the lost signal - blue screen of death comes up.

Because the problem only seems to happen on some channels you could assume that it might actually be a signal problem, but it's doesn't make sense because it absolutely fine with the set top box. The signal guage on the set top box says the signal strength is GOOD signal quality GOOD

The question is - Does a PC TV tuner card need an extremely good signal, or is the card faulty????

Thanks if you have any ideas....

Sambooka · **23rd January 2006, 10:43 AM**

Hi gecko and welcome to the forums.

Tuner cards do require a better signal than some set top box's. Also MCE usually requires a better signal than most of the tuner cards native apps.

I doubt it's a problem with the hardware but it could well be a driver issue. Have you tried a different version of the driver yet?

Also is the antenna patch lead the same one you used for the STB? Do you get stutter on any channels?

Cheers

Sambooka

renura · **23rd January 2006, 11:56 AM**

One of the major issues with Dual Tuners is the way the signal is fed to each tuner.

In some designs, the signal is fed to one tuner and then passed through to the second tuner, this results in the second tuner getting less signal than the first to the order of ~3db. (eg DVICO Dual Tuner)

Another way is to split the signal on-board, after it has been fed into the only antenna input, this will result in both tuners getting less signal than that available at the input. (probably that is the way is done on the Terratec card)

While this is fine if your signal is very good, in the first place, it may not be so in marginal areas.

Another option is to have two separate inputs for your antenna (eg the TwinDVB-T device), thereby feeding each tuner the signal directly, but of course you require two aerial/antennas or an external splitter.

While I am tending to prefer the last option, whichever way you go you are advised to get as good a signal as possible if you want to enjoy trouble free Digital TV

rich110 · **23rd January 2006, 12:36 PM**

This is a long shot in your situation but perhaps worth considering...

Where I live (inner west of Sydney) I am able to pick up more than one sets of channel groups (e.g. 7, 9 , 10) being broadcast from different towers around the city - these can usually be differentiated by the kHz bandwidth of the channels.

From experience with both MCE and other TV apps, I know that different instances of the same channels have a stronger signal strength than others (based on the transmission location).

So, when you're configuring and selecting the channels to be displayed in MCE, it pays to not simply select the first instance of a channel you come across as you go down the list of availibles, but to try multiple instances of the same channel to see if one has a better reception than another.

Or better still, you can use an app like ScanChannelsBDA to see what the best freqencies are for the different channels in your area.

Like I saiud, a long shot but worth considering

Cheers

gecko_101 · **24th January 2006, 04:17 AM**

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I have arranged for a new aerial to be fitted to my house, hopefully this will solve the problem. I talked to the antenna installer and he told me that the channels I was having problems with are the one that are know to have a weaker signal.

It does all point to a bad signal, but some of the syptoms don't make sense, especially that fact that taking the aerial out an in again to the tuner mends the signal is strange, if the signal is back why doesn't the picture appear?... Well hopefully my problems will be solved soon.

I will report back..

Dave

gecko_101 · **25th January 2006, 03:58 AM**

Hi All,

My antenna has been tested and the signal is fine. Apparnently there are problems with this card. I am located in the UK and it appears the problem only is impacting on the UK possibly due to the frequency.

This is the thread if anyone want's more info:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=285531

Susan · **27th January 2006, 02:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by gecko_101

Hi All,

My antenna has been tested and the signal is fine. Apparnently there are problems with this card. I am located in the UK and it appears the problem only is impacting on the UK possibly due to the frequency.

This is the thread if anyone want's more info:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=285531

So what is the verdict on this? Is it worth buying?

gecko_101 · **28th January 2006, 10:55 PM**

Hi Susan,

I'm located in the UK, so this may not apply to all area, but.....

There appear to be significant problems with the drivers for this card. Terratec are almost admitting they have a problem although they do not give a date for the release of a new driver.

I was told that in the UK we use a wider band of frequencies that are used in Europe and this could be the issue, however others seem to have different storys. Basically with some muxes the 'no signal' appears after around 5 minutes.

I would be cautious if you're thinking of buying one!

Robertus · **4th February 2006, 11:37 AM**

Hi All,

The 2400i Dt card does have some driver issues, it will not find all the channels, I over came this by the following which may or may not apply for you.

I am runing a total of 4 tuners, 2 AverMedia 777 (161AR's) and one 2400i Dt Dual card.
I had the two Avermedia cards already installed, I then did the installation as per the instructions on this forum for three or more tuners.

The only thing I did not do was re-scan for channels as all the channels were there from the AverMedia cards and all tuner work fine,

I also found that on one of my Media Servers that PowerDVD 6 works better than the PureVideo Decoder which is on the other, I have no problem with stuttering video or audio and can record 4 channels at once. Also the channel change speed is the same as the AverMedia cards (quick) and I cannot tell the difference in quality of picture and do not know which actual tuner card I am watching at any one time.

I have since installed many new drivers and updated Ati Catlyst drivers from time to time (I have a ATI Video card) but find 5.12 the most stable, 5.13 has problems and the new 6.1 seems to break and show no video only audio, locks up MCE where you have use the Task Manager to shut down MCE and re start it. None of the upgrades above have caused problems with the 4 tuner setup and any errror messages of tuners not found.

The Guide works find also, the only thing which is a general MCE thing is that you really need to re-boot your computer every couple of days, I find the Optimisation setup does not really work all that well. The problems with the UK with this card is more serve than for us here in Australia but the drivers ARE a little buggy when it comes to scanning for channels.

We went away for 12 days of holidays over Xmas / New Years and the 2 Media Servers (8 Tuners) recorded 157 shows while we were away, my wife when mad with the remote before we left.

Robert

daern · **7th February 2006, 12:50 AM**

Hi there.

I'm based in the UK, and after having problems with my Shuttle ST20G5 and Hauppauge HVR-1300, I bought a 2400i.

Short version:
Card works superbly on my transmitter, which is only 3 or 4 miles away across the valley. Only minor niggles actually prevent me from being 100% happy

Longer version:
Card was easy to install, with fewer difficulties than with the HVR-1300. MCE tuner setup found all 65 channels first time, without fettling and only the channel guide, which didn't work right, had to be manually configured for each channel.

I cannot use S3 suspend with this card, as when XP returns from suspend, the card reports "no signal" in MCE. I've written a script which detects the resume from suspend and restarts the card's drivers and MCE services, but this is not enough as MCE tries to access the card too quickly and reports it as failed. If anyone has a nice workaround for this, I'd love to see it...

Apart from this, the card has recorded several hours of telly without problem :-)

Daern

Robertus · **21st February 2006, 02:29 PM**

Hi,

Terratec has released a Beta driver for this card, they say it fixes problems with AMD motherboards, my motherboard is Intel based but I believe this driver works better as a whole, I have now been using it for a couple weeks.

Standby (S3) works fine for me, there is also a windows update patch for rollup 2 just released a few weeks ago (a third one) that has to do with DVB-t & video problems & S3 and Guide, patch 908250 from Nov 2005 has no been superceeded by patch 912067 24th Jan 2006 which also incorporates patch 908250, this may fix some of your problems.

Robertus

daern · **21st February 2006, 08:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertus

Terratec has released a Beta driver for this card, they say it fixes problems with AMD motherboards, my motherboard is Intel based but I believe this driver works better as a whole, I have now been using it for a couple weeks.

Yup, running that, assuming that you mean the 250 build...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertus

Standby (S3) works fine for me, there is also a windows update patch for rollup 2 just released a few weeks ago (a third one) that has to do with DVB-t & video problems & S3 and Guide, patch 908250 from Nov 2005 has no been superceeded by patch 912067 24th Jan 2006 which also incorporates patch 908250, this may fix some of your problems.

I'll check what I'm running, but I'm pretty sure that I caught that update. Perhaps not...

Thanks,

Daern

andczo · **24th February 2006, 05:53 PM**

After replacing the SATA cables in my SN25P, my HTPC with this TV card combination works perfectly. S3 is no issue as Hibernator powers this baby up, and then puts her to sleep perfectly on cue. (Thanx Arkay!) Not too sure what I have done to be so lucky.

Must say I did down load the latest beta drivers from Terratec.... and I am running RU2. For me, this combo works great!

Robertus · **27th February 2006, 08:58 AM**

Hi,

You need to run patch KB912067, it superceededs the 250 patch, 912067 was released on the 24th Jan 2006. I also noticed that once you download the this new patch MCE goes a little funny, I had to re-install the EPG guide again. It settled down after a couple reboots.

Check the release notes for this 912067 patch so you know what it changes.

Robertus