TBS 6280 pixellates, jumps, produces green blocks on Windows Media Center

[TTechMan]

Hello all,

My second post and I have another problem.

I recently replaced my TV Tuner with the TBS 6280 PCI-E DVB-T2 Dual TV Tuner Card HD and have been having issues with it. When I watch SD all I receive at least one to six times during the problem is pixellation, picture breaking up and sound breakups. When I watch HDTV its even worse - all I get is green blocks.

I checked the box today and it said that I need a Pentium 4 processor as minimum requirement however I have an Intel Core i3 and for HDTV it says I need a 2.60GHz multi-core processor but I have a dual one clocked at 3.20GHz. Should this make a difference and surely it shouldn't affect my SD signal.

Could it be my TV aerial or not?

Help please...

Thank you!

 

[Stiggy]

What graphics card? It could be a graphics driver problem.

 

[TTechMan]

ATI Radeon HD 5450. Also, can I add that I went into Media Center and checked the signal quality of an SD channel which is only 90%. Does that sound alright or should it be 100%? Hmm.

 

[TTechMan]

HD channels only display 54% - no wonder why the signal quality is awful. Could this mean an aerial replacement or not??

 

[TTechMan]

I then tried my old TV tuner which isn't a HD and received a 100% signal quality??

 

[AMc]

TV tuners have different sensitivity and deal with interference and poor connections differently.

First I would go here and note the transmission frequencies for the various muxes carrying the signal.
News headlines | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
Then go into your tuner settings (on W7 Media Centre. Edit channel>sources) and see what frequencies the tuner is looking at. On my set up it periodically tries to pick up signals from repeater transmitters that have recently been installed. They're closer but my aerial is pointing at the main transmitter and that means a better signal.

I also had lots of problems with macro blocking on DVB-S2 on my 4550 which were resolved by rolling back the ATi catalyst to version 11.4. I don't know if that also affects T2 but I know the bug is still present in the more recent catalyst versions.

What software are you using and what OS as that will help people to help you with settings etc?

If you have a freeview box then that might help to work out if the aerial is poor.

 

[DVD-Man]

Did you use the latest driver for the card from the TBS website? and not the one in the box.

Signal quality is a red herring, I get perfect picture on 54 and 60%

 

[runam0k]

There was a new driver released a week or so ago. Give that a try.

 

[cygnusx04]

I had similar problem with latest ATI drivers. Ended up going back to driver version 8.812.0.0

 

[WheresMyArtisan]

You need to isolate whether it's the TV card or graphics card first. Record a program then watch it on another PC. WTV files will play in Media Player if you don't have Media Center. Copy the file to the other PC before playing, otherwise you might get network jitter.

Mine also shows 54% on HD. I think TBS's signal reporting is nonsense, also I don't think Media Center bothers refreshing the strength readings after the initial channel scan.

I found the only sensible way to check the signal strength was to borrow a freeview TV from another room and temporarily plug it in where the HTPC connects. If you can only check SD strength this way and it's 90% plus then the HD will also be fine.

I bought a cheapo DVB-T signal strength meter from ebay, which was useless for measuring the absolute strength. It was useful to adjust the aerial while standing on the roof though, as it gives an instant comparative reading while you're wiggling it.

 

[WheresMyArtisan]

...or here's a 15-minute clip of BBC Breakfast in HD that I uploaded for someone else having HDTV issues:

DepositFiles

You'll know where the problem is based on whether this plays correctly. I can confirm that this recording is perfect.

 

[Bossworld]

...or here's a 15-minute clip of BBC Breakfast in HD that I uploaded for someone else having HDTV issues:

DepositFiles

You'll know where the problem is based on whether this plays correctly. I can confirm that this recording is perfect.

Hi mate.

If you've still got your file, at 5:35, do you get a microstutter as it pans to Tony Hawks?

It's where she says 'tennis enthusiast... tony hawks'.

 

[richardr]

I get 54% on the HD channels too - looks like that number is fixed!