Dual DVB-S configuration question (1 Viewer)

eeknz

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February 19, 2009
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MediaPortal Version: 1.1.3.0
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3-Wide
Windows Version: Windows 7 Pro
CPU Type: E8400 3GHz
HDD: WD320
Memory: 2GB PC800
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L
Video Card: nVidia 8600 GTS
Video Card Driver: 185
Sound Card: on board
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Nova-S Plus
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S (Optus D1)
1. TV Card Driver: 2.122.26109
2. TV Card: HVR-3000
2. TV Card Type: DVB-T & DVB-S (Optus D2)
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: PDVD8
MPEG2 Audio Codec: PDVD8
h.264 Video Codec: PDVD8
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case:
Cooling:
Power Supply:
Remote:
TV: Samsung Plasma 51"
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI-D > HDMI


I moved the Optus D2 connection to a new dish with c-band LNB for IS5.
While trying to determine which hauppauge card I needed to change, I ended up breaking everything. If I set either hauppauge tuner to D1, and only ever have the LNB connected to the Nova-S, I can get the preview channel to work.
Does this mean that drivers with the same name are addressed as a pool? I always thought they were each totally seperate.
This is important because I have to set the LFO for D1 to 10750. If I then set the LFO of the second card to 5150 for the C-band line, the settings on the first card change also and D1 stops working.
Hauppauge cards under MP don't seem to support 22K or Diseqc, based on both my reading and my failure to make it work in the past.
How exactly do you go about having custom parameters on different cards with different LNB's, if changing one card breaks the other card when the driver names are the same? Do I need to go get a DVB-s card made by someone else to get a different driver name? That's not exciting.
This system was a clean 1.1 install with upgrades to 1.1.3

I have tried using LNB1 on the first card and LNB2 on the second card, but the changes in advanced settings are still applying globally.

Would be keen to hear from anyone who has got a D1/IS5 combo working.

Andrew
 

mm1352000

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    Hi Andrew

    I have to say that I'm *really* confused after reading your post. Let me try and get this straight:

    You have three LNBs on 2 dishes for access to Optus D1, Optus D2, and IS5.

    D1 LNB LOF = 10750 MHz
    D2 LNB LOF = 10750 MHz
    IS5 LNB LOF = 5150 MHz

    Dish 1 = D1
    Dish 2 = D2 + IS5

    Nova S Plus -> dish 1
    HVR 3000 -> dish 2

    Is that right?

    Assuming it is, let me try and answer your questions.

    While trying to determine which hauppauge card I needed to change, I ended up breaking everything...
    Just a note: be careful that you turn off *everything* connected to your LNBs before you change cables around. You risk damage to your tuners.

    Does this mean that drivers with the same name are addressed as a pool? I always thought they were each totally seperate.
    This is important because I have to set the LFO for D1 to 10750. If I then set the LFO of the second card to 5150 for the C-band line, the settings on the first card change also and D1 stops working.
    Okay, I have absolutely no idea what you mean by "addressed", but I think you're referring to the LNB LOF settings.
    If you *don't* use the override frequencies then the settings are independent.
    If you *do* use the override frequencies then the override frequency settings are applied to *all* tuners. This is a problem that I hope to resolve in MP 1.3.0.

    In your case, you should try using the "Ku-Circular" band setting for Optus D1 and D2, and the "C-band" setting for IS5. That should give you independent LNB access. If it doesn't work then let me know - there is a work-around.

    Hauppauge cards under MP don't seem to support 22K or Diseqc, based on both my reading and my failure to make it work in the past.
    Well, there *is* code for supporting DiSEqC with Hauppauge cards. I would have to concur that my Hauppauge Nova S Plus is not able to switch with 22k or DiSEqC... but it doesn't work in *any* software, including WinTV! I think Hauppauge may have issues with switch compatibility. I'm in contact with them about this. It would be helpful to know if DiSEqC/22k switching works in other software for you...

    How exactly do you go about having custom parameters on different cards with different LNB's, if changing one card breaks the other card when the driver names are the same? Do I need to go get a DVB-s card made by someone else to get a different driver name? That's not exciting.
    Huh? The driver name has absolutely no bearing on the LNB settings. Tuners can always be given separate settings. The problem you're hitting is a TV Server code limitation as explained above. It is easy to work around. :)

    I have tried using LNB1 on the first card and LNB2 on the second card, but the changes in advanced settings are still applying globally.
    Yes, exactly - the LNB LOF overrides apply globally. You shouldn't use them unless you absolutely have to. Try the other "band" settings as suggested. Note that the other settings (frequency, symbol rate etc.) only affect the single scan.

    mm
     

    eeknz

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    February 19, 2009
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    Thanks for the speedy reply. To make it less confusing.... D1 is on the nova - D2 was on the HVR.
    I got a new dish, unplugged D2, and put that into IS5. Only 2 are active.

    I can't confirm the IS5 dish is even pointing to the right place as yet. I haven't been able to get anything out of that except the sat finder telling me something is there. I'll get that sorted by someone with a compass that works.... Assorted androids seem to make 331 deg be in a very wide range of places.

    So we have D1 still connected to the Nova all working fine, as long as the 10750 is set as an over ride. The HVR has no DVB-S right now (till the dish pointing is sorted), just DVB-T.

    There are 2 DVB-S cards shown in the list, and predifned D1 channels already there.
    If I remove D1 from the settings of the card it's in, and turn it on on the card that has no LNB connected to it, I can still make Stratos or SBS preview just fine.
    This means either the channel definitions don't care what the tuner settings are once they have been set, or when I preview SBS on D1, the system knows it wants a Hauppauge card, so it goes and looks, finds 2, and magically finds the channel from a card with the correct name, even though the one with the settings has no cable connected, and the with the cable connected has no settings defined. - This was not was I expected. I thought removing a sat definition from the card would cause all the channels looking at it to stop working. Perhaps that would happen after a service restart?

    Also, any setting you enter on the custom area of one card, will appear, and overwrite, settings in any other card. As you've explained, this is by desgin..

    No offence intended with the Diseqc comment. Perhaps a better phrase would have been Diseqc doesn't seem to work on Hauppauge cards regardless of software....

    Based on what you say regarding the custom parameters, I expect that when the dish is confirmed correct, the problem will be this:

    The standard C-Band settings should work fine, but the Ku settings don't seem to be working without the 10750 setting. If I have the setting turned on, then it will be applied globally, so the 10750 will also apply to the C-Band, and therefore make it not work. If that is correct, it would be impossible to get that configuration to work.
    I can't check just now as it's in use by Mrs, however I may be on Ku Universal, not Circular. Perhaps the 10750 will not be needed if I change that to Circular... It's been a while since I've messed with them, and using the 10750 was what I had to do to get it working again after I broke everything.

    I'm sure there are people here running the D1/IS5 combo. Perhaps I need to change to 11300 LNB for D1 to get what I want working.. I will reconnect D2 when I get a 3rd DVB-S card, as I'm really not even going to try switching again.

    Has that helped make it more clear?

    Andrew
     

    mm1352000

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    Hi again Andrew

    Has that helped make it more clear?
    Absolutely - thank you! :)

    So we have D1 still connected to the Nova all working fine, as long as the 10750 is set as an over ride. The HVR has no DVB-S right now (till the dish pointing is sorted), just DVB-T.
    Right, understood.

    There are 2 DVB-S cards shown in the list, and predifned D1 channels already there.
    If I remove D1 from the settings of the card it's in, and turn it on on the card that has no LNB connected to it, I can still make Stratos or SBS preview just fine.
    This means either the channel definitions don't care what the tuner settings are once they have been set, or when I preview SBS on D1, the system knows it wants a Hauppauge card, so it goes and looks, finds 2, and magically finds the channel from a card with the correct name, even though the one with the settings has no cable connected, and the with the cable connected has no settings defined. - This was not was I expected. I thought removing a sat definition from the card would cause all the channels looking at it to stop working. Perhaps that would happen after a service restart?
    Ahhh, I think I understand what you're doing here - you're unticking the Optus D1 satellite "row" for the Nova S Plus and expecting those channels to no longer work. TV Server doesn't work like that. With the exception of the LNB override settings, the settings on the scanning pages have absolutely no effect *except while you're scanning*. Once the channels are found by a scan, the parameters are saved to your database so that TV Server will always know how to tune them (unless you delete the channels from the channel list in the "TV Channels" section). The other key thing is mappings. Mappings tell TV Server which cards can be used to tune each channel (you probably want to read -->this<--). In your situation, if you deleted the Nova mappings for the Optus D1 channels then the channels would no longer work - TV Server would still no how to tune them, but it would think that there were no cards that were able to tune them. Does that make sense?

    No offence intended with the Diseqc comment. Perhaps a better phrase would have been Diseqc doesn't seem to work on Hauppauge cards regardless of software....
    No offence taken. In fact I completely concur with you - there have been a number of people that I've encountered that have trouble with DiSEqC and Hauppauge cards. My own personal experience has been nothing but failure too. By asking if DiSEqC worked in other software for you I was merely trying to ascertain whether TV Server does have a problem with Hauppauge DiSEqC support, or whether Hauppauge DiSEqC support is just flaky in general...

    Based on what you say regarding the custom parameters, I expect that when the dish is confirmed correct, the problem will be this:

    The standard C-Band settings should work fine, but the Ku settings don't seem to be working without the 10750 setting. If I have the setting turned on, then it will be applied globally, so the 10750 will also apply to the C-Band, and therefore make it not work. If that is correct, it would be impossible to get that configuration to work.
    I can't check just now as it's in use by Mrs, however I may be on Ku Universal, not Circular. Perhaps the 10750 will not be needed if I change that to Circular... It's been a while since I've messed with them, and using the 10750 was what I had to do to get it working again after I broke everything.
    Exactly - when you use the overrides, they are applied globally. Therefore all your LNBs would have to have the same LOF. It is *much* better if you can use the "band" setting (in the satellite rows) as it enables you to [easily] use LNBs with different parameters. The band settings are LNB setting presets. If you turn off the overrides then change the "band" setting in the first satellite row you should see the settings in the override fields change. "Ku-Linear (Universal)" is a common setting in Europe. The values for that are 9750, 10600, 11700... etc. There are 10750 and 5150 presets - the "Ku-Circular" and "C-band" settings. The "Ku-Circular" setting doesn't work for me because it applies the wrong polarisation, but I'm able to use the "NA Bandstacked DP Ku-L..." or "NA Bandstacked Ku-Lo (FS..." very successfully. Anyhow, like I said, there is an easy work around even if you can't use the "NA Bandstacked" settings like I do... :)

    I'm sure there are people here running the D1/IS5 combo.
    I have D1 + D2 + D3/C1... all with 10750 MHz LNBs. I helped Regs over at Geekzone to get D1 (10750) + IS5 (5150) working with MP only a couple of weeks ago. I can also help you, but I think you need to get your IS5 dish aligned properly first.

    Perhaps I need to change to 11300 LNB for D1 to get what I want working...
    11300 would be *worse* than 10750 as there aren't any compatible band presets. I could make it work by doing some maths with the transponder lists, but I don't think you'll need to go to that length. Try the "bandstacked" settings...

    I will reconnect D2 when I get a 3rd DVB-S card, as I'm really not even going to try switching again.
    Fair enough! :)
    For me, switching does work with Technotrend, Terratec, Twinhan, Technisat and TBS tuners. Just not with Hauppauge... :(

    mm
     

    eeknz

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    You are correct. I was taking out the ROW and expecting it to fail.
    I'll have another shot at it when I can rule the dish alignment out of the equation.

    Thanks for your help

    Andrew
     

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