[mythtv-users] hdhomerun pixelation

[Tom Dexter]

On 2/23/19, James Linder <jam at tigger.ws> wrote:
>
> Following quite enthusistic endorsement here I got a HDhomerun tuner. I got
> the quad that exposed a few defects in the sheduler
> (like one rule; record one program on one channel at one time with two
> recorders and get two recordings)
>
> There is occasional pixelation specially on HD but signal strength on myth
> and on the standalone hdhomerun setup is 100% (what ever that means)
> Same antenna connection, but split 2 ways with their antenna to two
> flyleads, to a haupage dual usb tuner showed signal levels around 60% and
> also occasional pixelation, but only on HD.
>
> Since we don’t know what happens internally to the antenna signal, it could
> be 6dB down (1/4) of the original, or it could be internally amplified.
> I don’t want to get an amplifier if there is already an amplifier.
>
> What experience do other homerun users have?
>
> James
>

I have two of the HDHomeRun Connect units (HDHR4-2US)..though none of
the quads. They've been great for me. I have a roof mounted antenna
with a mast mounted amplifier. Aside from some issues in really bad
weather, the only thing I have noticed has been with NBC HD (out of
New York) ever since they changed frequencies and moved to a different
antenna in mid-2018.

Since that change every once in a while I'll get pixelation on NBC.
When that happens I check the signal with hdhomerun_config and
generally the signal strength and signal to noise appears OK but the
"seq" (signal error quality) occasionally drops from 100 to 0
periodically. I check the strength with aliases like this:

alias h4='while true; do hdhomerun_config <id> get /tuner1/status;
sleep 1; done'

Here's what NBC looks like normally:

h4
ch=8vsb:605000000 lock=8vsb ss=85 snq=82 seq=100 bps=8390816 pps=797
ch=8vsb:605000000 lock=8vsb ss=85 snq=81 seq=100 bps=8013312 pps=761
ch=8vsb:605000000 lock=8vsb ss=85 snq=77 seq=100 bps=12356864 pps=1174
ch=8vsb:605000000 lock=8vsb ss=84 snq=76 seq=100 bps=12842656 pps=1219
ch=8vsb:605000000 lock=8vsb ss=84 snq=76 seq=100 bps=12525312 pps=1190
ch=8vsb:605000000 lock=8vsb ss=86 snq=78 seq=100 bps=12289184 pps=1167

When I have that issue, that seq=100 drops to 0 for a second or two on occasion.

All in all though they've been awesome.

Tom