[mythtv-users] Hauppauge 1609 and Pixelation Tests

[Barry Martin]

Hi James!

> My wife berates me for talking funny! My appologies.

Wow! You get to speak?! <bseg>


> I?ve tried lots of tuners, the worst of which was unwatchable on the worst channel on HD
> Without changing anything in the signal path I?m now using the Haupague Win TV usb tuners.
> I?ve not seen a single block or stripe since getting them.

Ah! OK, that is what I thought you intended: with various tuners the 
worst viewing was unwatchable on a weak/distant/incorrectly aimed station.

“Everything” makes a difference: tuner, cable (coax), antenna. With the 
TV tuners seems none list the sensitivity (µV), so pretty much have to 
guess and reply on others’ experiences. (One reason why I posted my 
follow-up which started this thread.)

Use of good-quality cable (coax): RG-6/U vs. RB-59/U – even then there 
are multiple options. Check your cable: I’ve had 
commercially-manufactured extension pieces (~18” long) where the center 
conductor slipped: was pushed during installation so one end barely 
touched the splitter’s connector and the other end extended into the tuner.

Antenna aiming: where the studios are aren’t necessarily where the 
transmitter site is. At my location (house) the studios are in various 
surrounding cities west and south but all except one transmitter are at 
an Antenna Farm 20 mile south-southeaast.

You probably know all that, just a good review (especially that quirky 
cable-slid one!)

Most of the reception problem here seems to be external factors, 
combined with tuner specs, I think similar to your issues. Calm wind, 
good recordings. Windy conditions, start to get pixelation issues; seems 
to be some correlation with the RF Channel (the actual frequency the TV 
station is transmitting, not its virtual channel), though that tends to 
fall apart as locally there are two stations, one RF36 and the other 
RF38, both 1000KW, on literally the same tower. yet RF36 will pixelate 
horribly and RF38 will be a clear picture.

As for the Backend tuners, LIS previously the newer Hauppauge 1609 tuner 
has worked well for me. Admittedly due to a little sloppiness in my 
quickly connecting to an antenna the Backend with the 1609 inside is 
connected to the antenna and splitter feeding the old Backend with the 
1600 and 2250 tuners. IOW the two Backends are on the same antenna and 
so getting the same signal. The new Backend (with 1609) is recording a 
1000% better under mediocre reception conditions compared to the old 
Backend.

Barry

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