[mythtv-users] Fwd: Pixelation/Bad Recordings HDHR Prime -- I am at my wits end

[Captain Hook]

On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 11:35 AM, Captain Hook
<captainhookzero at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 6:03 PM, Mike Perkins <mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk>
> wrote:
>>
>> On 30/08/13 19:21, Captain Hook wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> There's an interesting theory.  I do have a Sprint LTE phone, but there
>>> is
>>> no LTE in my area and I am on wifi at home all the time except when the
>>> screen is off.  I do have a Sprint Airrave in my house as well (mini cell
>>> tower via internet) since my signal is horrible in my house, though it is
>>> quite far from my Prime and so is my phone 95% of the time.
>>>
>>> That said, I do know for sure that I have had damaged recordings when I
>>> have not been home, so I don't think this is the cause, although I guess
>>> it
>>> could be some other sort of interference.
>>>
>> But did you turn your mini-cell tower off when you went out? My bet is
>> that it would still be there, polling, even if you were not.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Mike Perkins
>>
>>
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>
>
> I did not turn off the mini cell tower; it stays on all the time.
>
> I have rewired everything again as I am not comfortable using an amplifier
> to amplify my signal, only to use multiple splitters to reduce it back down.
> It doesn't seem to make sense.  Instead I have connected the Monster cable
> 4-way splitter (-7.5dBmV/output) to the cable coming in from Comcast and
> connected my HDHR Prime directly to one of the outputs.  Another output of
> the Monster Cable splitter is connected to another splitter
> (-3.5dBmV/output) which goes to my TVs.  Another output of the Monster Cable
> splitter then goes to my existing long run to my cable modem.
>
> I am now seeing between -0.5dBmV to +1.8dBmV on the HDHR Prime depending on
> channel and +1.87dBmV to +2.60dBmV on my cable modem (it shows 4 readings
> for downstream).  In addition, the cable modem seems to now be showing three
> upstreams when before it was only showing 2.  Although it does say DOCSIS
> 2.0 for two of the streams and DOCSIS 1.X for another.
>
> I am going to send back the Motorola amplifier as I am no longer using it in
> this scenario.

I had pixelation again in some recordings so I started attempting to
catch it when it was happening with Live TV.  It was pretty prominent
on ESPN HD, which I rarely watch. I noticed that this channel had a
signal strength of +5.86dBmV, at least at that time, so it appears
that my signal from Comcast is not constant at all.  Generally I was
seeing 0-2dBmV last time I checked, and compare that with the
approximately -3.5dBmV I was seeing at the beginning of this thread.
I am also seeing something strange; Myth was showing me 37% signal
strength in the menu that fades away when you first turn to the
channel, but the HDHR Prime Config GUI was showing 100%?  Is this
common?  Unfortunately I seem to only be able to view the "signal
strength" in MythTV when I change the channel and am not able to bring
it up manually, which I think is by design, based on a quick Google
search.