USB TV tunner for testing OTA

[raczyk]

Hi Folks,

I'd like to buy a USB tv tunner for testing channel signal strength with my laptop. What would you recommend?

Regards,
raczyk

[holl_ands]

TSReader has the (perhaps unique) advantage of displaying bit error rate statistics when the SNR is well below threshold. This greatly facilitates finding the correct azimuth for reception and trying different locations looking for the "sweet spot":
http://www.tsreader.com

However, the Hauppauge WinTV HVR-950Q with 6th Gen Auvitek AU8522AA ATSC chip (and earlier HVR-950, using 5th Gen LGDT3303 ATSC chip) were the ONLY USB Stick Tuners listed as being compatible with TSReader (scroll down to "Terrestrial ATSC" section):
http://www.tsreader.com/tsreader/hardware.html
Both USB Stick Tuners are bundled with Hauppauge's WinTV software and are compatible with Windows Media Center. I also use the easier to use and FREE WatchHDTV program:
http://www.digital-digest.com/softwa...v_history.html

I have the older HVR-950 Tuner so you might want to check whether the newer HVR-950Q has the same problem: TS Reader SNR isn't normalized to a REAL number, so the displayed numbers are very large values that increase when the signal gets better....weird, but usable.

[raczyk]

Thank you holl_ands, will purchase the Hauppauge WinTV HVR-950 and give it a try.

Regards,
raczyk

[holl_ands]

You should get the later "Q" version, unless you are looking for a used stick....

[raczyk]

Indeed just got one "Q" version, it was the only one in stock.

[dsspredator]

I got the one from Monoprice for less than $20.
It works very well.

[holl_ands]

FYI: TSReader website says it works in NT, Win2000, XP and also in Vista (except for some minor bells & whistles we don't need) but didn't say anything about Win7 (other website updates seem to be out of date).

My old XP Laptop has been replaced by a Win7 Laptop (with Intel i7 8-threaded processor), so I figured I would download latest Hauppauge WinTV, which includes Drivers and latest version of TSReader (which needs to use the Drivers). They all seem to be running okay. In WinTV, change channel is UP and DOWN arrows. However, in TSReader I couldn't find any change channel controls and had to Restart the program each time to find the list of channels found in the SCAN process.

BTW: To view a limited length of live video (click on the freeze frame in TSReader), the FREE "VLC" program from VideoLAN needs to be downloaded and in TSReader under PLAYBACK/VLC/Settings the location of the VLC.exe program must be found using the BROWSE command:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

[ExDilbert]

The HDHomerun is also a good option. It's network based so any computer (and some other devices) on the LAN can be used to check signals and watch TV. An free Android signal strength meter is available which is great for adjusting the antenna.

[holl_ands]

In the old verson of WinTV, I could download and install HCWSIGMON.exe, a separate Digital Signal Monitor pop-up window that displayed the CORRECT SNR value, rather than the ridiculously high, non-normalized numbers:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor...l_monitor.html

Since it wasn't available in the latest version of WinTV running on my Win7 laptop, I tried to download and install....but it refused to install....claimed I didn't have Admin priviledges (Yes I did!!!). Further investigation reveals that the correct version of this app is only found on the LATEST version Hauppauge WinTV disc...and I only have the OLD version....but shouldn't be a problem for newly purchased sticks.

[majortom]

Originally Posted by holl_ands

TS Reader SNR isn't normalized to a REAL number, so the displayed numbers are very large values that increase when the signal gets better....weird, but usable.

The good thing is that if ya use the generic ATSC_BDA_SOURCE.DLL
you can modify the source code to printout correctly and recompile it.
I've done that a long time ago and it worked fine for my tuner (inDtube).
Just not sure that all cards report it via BDA the same way.
I think the hauppauge 950Q reports it the same way as mine, but I don't have one to verify that.

if ya wanna try it some time let me know, I'll get it to ya somehow.

Edit: Found one of my old posts on that here

[holl_ands]

Sure, I would appreciate it if you posted or PM'd the file to me as an zipped attachment...

[Trip]

I strongly recommend the Hauppauge Aero-M or 850, rather than the 950Q. Superior tuner chip and works better with TSReader, using the ATSCBDASource driver.

- Trip

[majortom]

yes I have an aero m also.

Holl_ands, I will get that to ya, it and the Visual C++ development environment for it is on an older win xp laptop, I'll have to fire that up again. When I find it I will leave ya a dropbox link here.

BTW, if anyone is in to linux, there's been some pretty cool development going on for DVB cards, and now ATSC with this application.

https://bitbucket.org/updatelee/v4l-updatelee

https://bitbucket.org/updatelee/updatedvb

[majortom]

OK, just checked this one reports snr in tenths of db on my indtube tuner XC3028L chipset where the 950Q used an XC5000 (same mfr, close cousins I think), so 22 dB would report as 220 dB. If it doesn't print correctly for yours, google a program called "debugview" where we might be able to collect some logs and tell what the bda device is reporting, once we know how it's reporting we can try and tune up the dll to make it print correctly.
Or ya can just tell me what it IS reporting and go from there.

http://db.tt/XIvk6cPF

Backup your existing dll to like atscbdasource.dll.bkp or sumthin, then just copy this file to the directory where the TsReader Source dlls live.

[majortom]

BTW, If there's any creative programmers out there this is the snippet of code in the header file, atscsource.h that controls how it's printed out.
In bold is how I have it, while one of the other two commented lines was the original, and the other commented out line was how I had it set for an ATI USB tuner device.

    //
    // This function is called at a 1Hz rate and returns a signal report string which
    // TSReader then displays in it's main window
    //
    BOOL GetSignalString(LPSTR lpszSignalString)
    {
#ifndef NOSTATUS
        if (!m_pGraph)
            return FALSE;

        lstrcpyA(lpszSignalString, "n/a");

        CComPtr<IBDA_SignalStatistics> signalStatistics;
        HRESULT hr = m_pGraph->GetControlNode(&signalStatistics);

        BOOLEAN present = FALSE;
        BOOLEAN locked = FALSE;
        LONG quality = 0;
        LONG strength = 0;

        hr = FAILED(hr) ? hr : signalStatistics->get_SignalPresent(&present);
        hr = FAILED(hr) ? hr : signalStatistics->get_SignalLocked(&locked);
        hr = FAILED(hr) ? hr : signalStatistics->get_SignalQuality(&quality);
        hr = FAILED(hr) ? hr : signalStatistics->get_SignalStrength(&strength);

        if (FAILED(hr))
            return FALSE;

        wsprintfA(lpszSignalString, " Qual %d%% Str %d% dB", quality, (strength/100));
//        wsprintfA(lpszSignalString,  "%3d%% (%6d.%0.2d dbm)", quality, (strength ), (strength % 1000));
//        wsprintfA(lpszSignalString,  "%3d%% (%2d.%0.3d dbm)", quality, (strength / 1000), (strength % 1000));

        if (present && locked)
        {
            lstrcatA(lpszSignalString, " [Locked]");
        }
        else if (present)
        {
            lstrcatA(lpszSignalString, " [Present]");
        }
        else
        {
            lstrcatA(lpszSignalString, " [Absent]");
        }