Calling all MP New Zealanders (Both of you!!) (7 Viewers)

[rocklander]

I've got one of those metal 1 into 2 splitters. it's passive, but I spoke to the local aerial guy some time ago (he made up the short patch leads out of it to go to the cards) and he said a single dish should have sufficient signal for up to 5 devices. also, bear in mind, this was never an issue on the same exact hardware running XP sp3. this is only since I did a clean win7 install (only change is I've added 2Gb more ram).

 

[mm1352000]

Hmmm, I'm confused because I thought you said you had access to Optus D2. If you've only got one cable to each LNB, are you aware that you can't tune horizontal and vertical transponders (in particular: any Freeview channel at the same time as any SBS channel) at the same time even though you have two tuners?

 

[Bleazle]

Hmmm, I'm confused because I thought you said you had access to Optus D2. If you've only got one cable to each LNB, are you aware that you can't tune horizontal and vertical transponders (in particular: any Freeview channel at the same time as any SBS channel) at the same time even though you have two tuners?

...unless he has a dual LNB right? I've thought of going that way but SBS is getting "flakey" so I think I'll give it a miss...

Sorry to butt in - you guys get back to it

 

[rocklander]

Hmmm, I'm confused because I thought you said you had access to Optus D2. If you've only got one cable to each LNB, are you aware that you can't tune horizontal and vertical transponders (in particular: any Freeview channel at the same time as any SBS channel) at the same time even though you have two tuners?

...unless he has a dual LNB right? I've thought of going that way but SBS is getting "flakey" so I think I'll give it a miss...

Sorry to butt in - you guys get back to it

I selected optus d2 in the list, but I can't confirm I have access to it or not.. how would I tell?
again, this is the same scenario I had in XP without issue so whilst I'm not arguing that I should be setting it like this, the issue didn't appear on XP with my box set this way is all.

SBS was always a bit 'iffy' for me (I can't give much better description than that cos I didn't really use it, nor miss it.. wasn't/isn't my bag), but my problem occurs (only it seems, after 1700 hours) when changing from:
U tv to tv3
tv3 to tv2
tv3 to tv3+1 (in fact, I just tried this change right now, and get nothing but a black screen.. have to crash out of MP now)


yet I was changing all these options from 11 am today...

nb. I'm not sure if I have a dual LNB or not.. not getting up on the roof to check.. what does a standard sky install have? I doubt the previous owners were particularly tech savv, so it's most likely it's an 'out of the box' sky install.

 

[mm1352000]

I selected optus d2 in the list, but I can't confirm I have access to it or not.. how would I tell?

You would have to have a second LNB on your existing dish or a second satellite dish pointing at that satellite.

again, this is the same scenario I had in XP without issue so whilst I'm not arguing that I should be setting it like this, the issue didn't appear on XP with my box set this way is all.

I get the frustration and I wish I could be there to figure out what is going on - it is much harder to troubleshoot from a distance. I will say that the drivers and OS environment in 7 are completely different to XP so although some parts of your setup haven't changed, others have changed massively.

SBS was always a bit 'iffy' for me (I can't give much better description than that cos I didn't really use it, nor miss it.. wasn't/isn't my bag), but my problem occurs (only it seems, after 1700 hours) when changing from:
U tv to tv3
tv3 to tv2
tv3 to tv3+1 (in fact, I just tried this change right now, and get nothing but a black screen.. have to crash out of MP now)


yet I was changing all these options from 11 am today...

Alright, I think we should do logs (if the other half hasn't got the TV). A short session (no more than 10 channel changes please) with the watchdog (option 1) should suffice. Please take a note of the channel changes that you attempt and the result in each case because I'll want to be able to explain why each failure occurs (if possible).

mm

 

[mm1352000]

nb. I'm not sure if I have a dual LNB or not.. not getting up on the roof to check.. what does a standard sky install have? I doubt the previous owners were particularly tech savv, so it's most likely it's an 'out of the box' sky install.

You haven't got the twin LNB (for Optus D1 + Optus D3/C1) that some Sky installs have since the LNB settings that worked were [11300, 11300, 12750]. I'm not sure if Sky's 11300 LNBs have multiple outputs, but unless there are two cables coming to the tuners then there is still an element of dependency between them. That is beside the point though if you're only interested in Freeview (which seems to be the case). Assuming cable, LNB, splitter, terminations, dish are all in reasonable condition (a reasonable assumption since you can get SBS???) then something else is the problem...

mm

 

[rocklander]

righto will do.. always hard to put across emotion in text, but I'm not frustrated with you or the help you're offering, more of a bafflement, heh... I really appreciate the support, and I TOTALLY understand how difficult it is for ya to help out without being here... I also appreciate the fact that the OS is significant enough a change to be a huge consideration, was more commenting on the fact that the signal chain hasn't changed.. is it possible that a weaker (or just 'different') signal would be okay in XP, and not in win7?

I'll get into the testing phase.. will just go to normal TV and use an desktop VDU.

 

[Bleazle]

Re: The splitter - isn't it important to have the "priority one" card hooked up to the side of the splitter that provides the "power" to the LNB? On my splitter it has a red line showing which one that needs to be. I'm pretty sure this caused me some issues when I first went to DVB-S (but that was a LOT of beer ago so I could be wrong - but I don't think I am...)

Having said all of that this might have nothing to do with the problem you're having. I went from an XP setup to W7 (on my HTPC and a client) and didn't have the problems you're having. Did you do a clean install of MP? I seem to remember thinking that the way you described the way you went to W7 seemed a little strange - but maybe I just missunderstood you.

Good luck!!

 

[rocklander]

1->2 (channel up button on remote): ts error
channel 2 start -> tv3 (channel menu of 'ok' button): black screen. end task to bring regain OS control, then restart MP
that created the first log so I restarted a new one
tv3 -> FOUR(remote up button): no problem - yay!
tv -> prime(remote up button): all good - wtf?
prime -> U(remote up button): good too.
U ->tv3+1 (OK button menu): also good...
tv3+1 -> TV 2(OK menu): also good.


I shutdown mp client and that created a new log for that attached


this is totally weird... same process was failing between 1700 hours and 1900 hours..

note that TV1 is the TVNZ mux, and TV 2 is the sky one (I remember there being issues on the XP one ages ago, and it seemed to perform better if I kept these channels in that manner rather than both being the TVNZ broadcast).

 

[rocklander]

Re: The splitter - isn't it important to have the "priority one" card hooked up to the side of the splitter that provides the "power" to the LNB? On my splitter it has a red line showing which one that needs to be. I'm pretty sure this caused me some issues when I first went to DVB-S (but that was a LOT of beer ago so I could be wrong - but I don't think I am...)

Having said all of that this might have nothing to do with the problem you're having. I went from an XP setup to W7 (on my HTPC and a client) and didn't have the problems you're having. Did you do a clean install of MP? I seem to remember thinking that the way you described the way you went to W7 seemed a little strange - but maybe I just missunderstood you.

Good luck!!

hmm.. this is interesting.. I never looked before, but I do see a red link and a black one ("power pass" listed on the red one.. it's a 'hills' brand).
there's every chance I swapped these at some stage, or even if I didn't the OS may have a different 'order' in which it addresses the cards. my XP -> win 7 process was part of a windows upgrade pack (pb tech have them for NZ$240 odd, and that means you can upgrade XP, vista or home starter on 3 machines.. good bang for buck!). the upgrade media looks for a currently installed valid windows OS and if it's XP gives a warning that it will be a fresh windows install.. which is what I essentially got (it just means that if I wanted to do it again, I'd need to install XP first, then upgrade again).

back to the dual LNB stuff.. I'm expecting that I don't have a dual unless sky did that as default. there's defo only one cable coming in from the dish. is it prudent for me to remove optus D2 satellite? bearing in mind that I do get SBS, and I also am having success intermittently.

my gut is pointing to an OS and/or driver and/or codec issue

perhaps my mp likes to take out a couple of hours for dinner?