TV Tuner Diagonal Lines

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solitaire

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#26220 15-Sep-2008 23:58

Evening All

I am pretty new to this HTPC stuff, so bare with me

Just built a htpc which on the whole i am pretty happy with so far, having mce vista crashing a fair bit but i am sure those are the codecs i have installed so not so concerned about that yet.

What is really getting me down is my tv capture card, a Hauppauge HVR-3000. When i have the rca fom the sky box plugged into the svideo (via the converter cable provided by hauppauge) i get some diagonal lines... they are pretty bad - to the point that the wife made me plug the sky box back into the tv directly...

I also plugged in a regular antenna that is on the roof (that we have never used up to today) and while the picture is clear, i also get diagonal lines as well.

I have a scart > svideo cable coming from sky but i seriously doubt that will fix it as i still get diagonal lines when the sky box is eliminated from the equation... I am running the latest drives off the hauppauge website

I tried running a coaxial cable from the sky into the tuner but it will not tune, im not sure that the tv tuner can tune in the uhf signal the sky box is sending... either way this point is fairly moot i feel, but thought id mention it anyway.

Has anyone else encountered this? I have seen it a lot on the international forums but those yanks never seem to get to the point!

In case my htpc specs are needed:

amd 5200+

gig 'o' ram

xfx all in one mainboard uatx

geforce 8400gs

hauppauge hvr 3000

400w silverstone psu

vista ultimate mce

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#164700 16-Sep-2008 07:37

yep I have that problem too with my hvr-3000 and the analog signal (aerial and s-video).

I think it's Radio Transmitter Interference. See these two articles for me details.

http://www.rsm.govt.nz/cms/reception-problems/what-does-my-interference-look-or-sound-like/pdf/what-does-my-interference-look-or-sound-like.pdf
http://www.rsm.govt.nz/cms/reception-problems/how-can-i-fix-my-interference/pdf/how-can-i-fix-my-interference.pdf

solitaire

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#164717 16-Sep-2008 08:40

Hiya, thanks for the links they make interesting reading.

So the issue must be interferance effecting the card itself i guess... as the signal is fine through the tv. Is their any way to shield the tuner card or am i stuck with it? I tried the link in the page to "resolving radio interferance" but it is a dead link

Any suggestions apreciated - Thanks for your time

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#164730 16-Sep-2008 09:47

I'd like to know how to fix this problem too.

One thing i noticed is that the diagonal lines arnt present when watching freeview. So that led me to believe that mayb the interference is only picked up through analog and not digital. And it seems to be the case with you. sky box digital no intererence, rca analog interference.

I read about EMI/RFI (Electro Magnetic Interfernce/ Radio Frequency Interference) causing ac line contamination. I know we have EMI because the sides of the tv are curved inwards. So i'm thinking mayb the diagonal lines are the result of interference picked up through power. I do have the tv and pc going through Belkin Surge Protectors which come equipt with EMI/RFI Noise Filtration but since i have EMI then these filters porbably arnt doing a good job of removing RFI either.

Where can you get some good EMI/RFI filters from? I just hate seeing these diagonal lines when watching prime and also i wont transfer vhs tapes to pc till this problem is fixed.

Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#164777 16-Sep-2008 12:03

charley: I'd like to know how to fix this problem too.

One thing i noticed is that the diagonal lines arnt present when watching freeview. So that led me to believe that mayb the interference is only picked up through analog and not digital. And it seems to be the case with you. sky box digital no intererence, rca analog interference.

I read about EMI/RFI (Electro Magnetic Interfernce/ Radio Frequency Interference) causing ac line contamination. I know we have EMI because the sides of the tv are curved inwards. So i'm thinking mayb the diagonal lines are the result of interference picked up through power. I do have the tv and pc going through Belkin Surge Protectors which come equipt with EMI/RFI Noise Filtration but since i have EMI then these filters porbably arnt doing a good job of removing RFI either.

Where can you get some good EMI/RFI filters from? I just hate seeing these diagonal lines when watching prime and also i wont transfer vhs tapes to pc till this problem is fixed.

Maybe you should look a little closer to the tuner than the power filter. The herringbone pattern on analogue you describe sounds like RF interference. Interference in freeview digital won't be the same because it is digital (pixellation or break-up more likely).
I see you have a P5Q MoBo. Have you got the HVR-2200 in the PCI-E slot right beside the graphics card? If so, can you move it further away?

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#164783 16-Sep-2008 12:32

Dingbatt:
charley: I'd like to know how to fix this problem too.

One thing i noticed is that the diagonal lines arnt present when watching freeview. So that led me to believe that mayb the interference is only picked up through analog and not digital. And it seems to be the case with you. sky box digital no intererence, rca analog interference.

I read about EMI/RFI (Electro Magnetic Interfernce/ Radio Frequency Interference) causing ac line contamination. I know we have EMI because the sides of the tv are curved inwards. So i'm thinking mayb the diagonal lines are the result of interference picked up through power. I do have the tv and pc going through Belkin Surge Protectors which come equipt with EMI/RFI Noise Filtration but since i have EMI then these filters porbably arnt doing a good job of removing RFI either.

Where can you get some good EMI/RFI filters from? I just hate seeing these diagonal lines when watching prime and also i wont transfer vhs tapes to pc till this problem is fixed.

Maybe you should look a little closer to the tuner than the power filter. The herringbone pattern on analogue you describe sounds like RF interference. Interference in freeview digital won't be the same because it is digital (pixellation or break-up more likely).
I see you have a P5Q MoBo. Have you got the HVR-2200 in the PCI-E slot right beside the graphics card? If so, can you move it further away?

The HVR-2200 is two slots away from my hd4850 dual slot cooler card. The hvr-3000 is at the very end. Both cards get diagonal line interference when viewing analog. hvr-3000 looks much worse but i think that's just because the analog tuner is crap. What are you trying to find out?

Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#164808 16-Sep-2008 13:51

When I originally had my HVR-3000 in the slot right next to the graphics card I got interference that caused pixellation. I thought that may have been the same cause on your rig. (I fixed mine by installing a shield)
After trying and failing to get s-video working through my HVR-2200 and being massively underwhelmed by 4:3 analogue broadcast TV, I have decided to give up on the analogue side of my cards and just use my Panasonic HDD-DVD recorder for that. In my opinion the analogue side of the Hauppauge cards is not worth the hassle.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

solitaire

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#164831 16-Sep-2008 15:19

Damn... wish i had read this before i bought my tuner...

how did you install a shield out of interest?

In case its relevant: my interferance is not a herringbone pattern... its a series of dark lines going from bottom right to top left, they dont move really but occasionally get a bit worse...

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Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#164858 16-Sep-2008 16:22

solitaire: Damn... wish i had read this before i bought my tuner...

how did you install a shield out of interest?

In case its relevant: my interferance is not a herringbone pattern... its a series of dark lines going from bottom right to top left, they dont move really but occasionally get a bit worse...

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=84&TopicId=21214

For a start don't kick yourself for buying the tuner when there might be no problem with the component itself. Or the positioning of it

The shield was made from kitchen foil laminated inside plastic. Postioned in the case (propped against rear of case) to allow cooling air to still get to components. It worked, but in the end I was concerned about the cooling so I have removed the HVR-3000 and replaced it with a HVR-2200 at the other end of the MoBo. The remaining HVR-3000 is far enough away to not be affected. If it was I will just put a PCI card in the free slot to act as a shield.
I would suggest a temporary shield like I used in the thread above to see if EMI really is the problem.
It might be your power supply, or a cooling fan motor, or even stray FM from a radio freq.
Have you got an amplifier in your TV aerial line. If yes, does it have an FM trap.
Is there a chance the aerial lead passes close to an AC source on its way to the HTPC?

The next HTPC is going to be full size ATX MoBo in an ATX case, not a micro-ATX.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

solitaire

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#164860 16-Sep-2008 16:26

Whoa... Awesome... My geforce 8400gs is about 10mm from the tuner (yep, utax mainbaord)...

going to give the tinfoil thing a try... have a laminater at work so ill make good use of it...

fantastic reply... much apreciated!