TBS-6205 Card Problems (1 Viewer)

macmr

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August 21, 2011
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FIXED - SEE LATER THREAD ON PAGE 2

I have recently installed a TBS-6205 DVB-T2 PCIE (4 tuners) card along with my existing TinyTwin usb card on a WIN7 system. I had MP setup to use the TinyTwin as the first two tuners as they have been very stable over the years and the TBS tuner as the next 4 tuners. Since doing this I have had various PC lockups when MP uses the TBS tuners

I have done the following to try and fix the problem:

1. Removed the TinyTwin & Drivers
2. Deleted the TBS drivers and reinstalled the latest version
3. Changed MP settings to preload card

None of these changes made any difference. Whenever MP uses the TBS card the PC can become unstable on a fairly regular basis and the PC locks up

Looking for someone that may be able to help sort this out. I will also post on the TBS forum

Thanks
 
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CyberSimian

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    Whenever MP uses the TBS card the PC can become unstable on a fairly regular basis and the PC locks up
    I have two TBS 6284 cards in my HTPC (that card is two generations older than your TBS 6205). I had problems with stability early on, but it seems to have settled down now. I cannot point to a specific change that cured the problems, but these are some areas that you might want to consider:

    (1) Do your PCI-Express slots work correctly? On my Dell HTPC, only one slot works correctly on wake from sleep; the other slot vanishes (so its tuners vanish too). Check that your motherboard has the latest BIOS. I solved my problem by using hibernation instead of sleep.

    (2) Are you using appropriate EPG-grabbing settings? I initially used settings that caused MP to attempt to tune every channel in the EPG, including the ones that weren't currently broadcasting :eek: These latter channels were ones that broadcast for only part of each day.

    If you are in the UK, you should grab the EPG from "BBC1" only, and specify the setting that allows it to collect the EPG info for other transponders (MUXes). For the DVB-T radio channels, you don't need to grab from them at all -- they are provided by the "BBC1" TV channel.

    (3) Are you grabbing the EPG while watching or recording live TV? I found that this seemed to be less reliable than grabbing only when the tuners were idle. I have no explanation for why this might be so, but I now grab once per hour for 10 minutes when the tuners are idle. (Obviously, it does not grab when it is hibernating!)

    Overall, since making the above changes, I have had very few problems related to the system "locking up" (or similar).

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    macmr

    Portal Pro
    August 21, 2011
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    Hi CyberSimian thanks for the reply

    As per your suggestions:

    1. Not sure whether the slots work correctly and had thought of trying another one but I can say I've never lost the tuners. I don't think it's a sleep type issue as all the problems have been when MP is running not on wake from sleep. I am running the latest BIOS

    2. I'm in Australia and there are no channels that I am using that only broadcast irregularly

    3. Yes I had been wondering about the epg and making changes to see if that helps so thanks for the advice

    I will still start a thread on the TBS forum to see what happens

    Thanks
     

    CyberSimian

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    I will still start a thread on the TBS forum to see what happens
    I notice that you have opened a thread on the TBS website, but that after 5 days there has been no response there. :(

    My experience with the TBS website was that the TBS developers only occasionally viewed the site. If you recently purchased the TBS 6205, I would suggest sending an email to their support address, and turning this into a formal request for support. Users who did this in the past seemed to get a response more reliably than posting on the website.

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    mm1352000

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    Yeah, the website is not a support channel for them. If you want support, you must email.
     

    macmr

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    August 21, 2011
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    Thanks apparantly great minds think alike as I only today came to the same conclusion and seeing your replies only reinforces it!

    I have since had a chance to do some more MP setting changes like turning off the epg and changing tuner priorities in case it was a dud tuner but no change
     

    macmr

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    August 21, 2011
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    Ok this is the reply from TBS although I'm slightly confused

    "I am also not sure what the problem is, but one of our customer once have the same issue that MediaPortal work is not stable. He finally update the TbsCIapi.dll on the MediaPortal root directory solve the problem. Please have a try and download the latest TbsCIapi.dll version from our website."

    They say to update it but I can't even find it installed anywhere? Also other references to this file on MP forum are all about satellite cards but this card is only DTV / Cable

    Can anyone give me some clues before I contact TBS again?

    Thanks
     

    CyberSimian

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    "Please have a try and download the latest TbsCIapi.dll version from our website"
    As I understand it, some TBS cards have a CI slot that allows a "viewing card" to be inserted to decrypt channels that are encrypted. I have no experience with this, as all DVB-T/T2 channels in the UK are broadcast without any encryption (and my TBS 6284 does not have a CI slot!).

    Are any of your DVB-T/T2 channels encrypted? If not, then I think that "TbsCIapi.dll" would be used only for encrypted satellite channels.

    mm is the expert, but he is away this week, so you may need to wait a few days for a more definitive answer.

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    macmr

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    August 21, 2011
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    Thanks yes that's what I thought as the 6205 card doesn't have a CI slot so I don't know how the file is going to help

    I have sent another email to TBS asking that question

    And that also explains why MM didn't answer before I turned off the computer last night

    Thanks
     

    mm1352000

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    Hi again guys

    tbsCIapi.dll is irrelevant for you macmr, since you're not using the patch from -->here<-- (you don't need it) and your tuner doesn't have a CI slot. As I've said several times now, your issue seems to be a compatibility issue between the tuner card and your motherboard hardware, motherboard software (BIOS/EFI, BIOS/EFI settings), or driver.

    Regards,
    mm
     

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