TBS: CI/CAM support and other improvements (4 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

sorry for the multi post - I was getting a posting error : (

Your first few posts - especially those containing links - are moderated (have to be manually approved by a forum administrator). This is done to avoid spam. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

 

[Muscats]

unless all of those channels are broadcast from the same transponder (ie. can be received simultaneously with one tuner), a single CAM is probably not the solution you're looking for.

So would one cam/tuner combo per transponder work? I think there are 3 main transponders for VAST and SBS and ABC are not encrypted if i am reading this page VAST on Optus C1 at 156.0°E - LyngSat correctly?

So with two TBS 5990's I would get 4 tuners, add 3 cams to cover 3 transponders and use the last tuner for SBS or ABC.

Could that work? Baring the fact the VAST may be CI+.

Can you suggest an alternate approach to being able to record multiple VAST channels simultaneously? Our terrestrial reception is becoming increasingly unwatchable and we get quite slow internet i.e. streaming is usually impossible.

 

[mm1352000]

So would one cam/tuner combo per transponder work?

It's really up to you to decide what your requirements and budget are, and then go from there.

Theoretically such a setup would enable you to view and/or record 8 channels per tuner/transponder simultaneously. That would likely be almost all VAST channels. The downside is that at $700 per CAM + smart-card pair, it quickly becomes very expensive.

There are some obvious ways to save money. For example, consider that the ABC and SBS transponders both really only have 4 (or less) channels that you'll have access to.
ABC:

1. ABC News 24 HD
   
2. ABC1
3. ABC2
4. ABC Me

SBS:

1. SBS HD
2. SBS
   
3. SBS2

A CAM that's capable of decrypting 4 channels simultaneously should be significantly cheaper than one that's capable of 8.

On the other hand, the 7 + 9 + 10 transponder may have more than 8 channels:

1. 7
2. 7two
3. 7mate HD
   
4. 9
5. 9 GO!
6. GEM
7. ten
8. 11
9. ONE HD

I don't know if you'd ever want to record all of them simultaneously.

Note that the above analysis doesn't consider radio channels.

I think there are 3 main transponders for VAST...?

Yeah, that seems about right.

There are 8 transponders in total to cover all regions. For any given region you'd have [roughly]:

1. ABC
2. SBS
3. 7 + 9 + 10

On top of that there's the Optus Sport transponder which I'm unsure about.

...and SBS and ABC are not encrypted...?

Sorry, I don't think that part is right.
According to that Lyngsat page all channels except "VAST Information" are encrypted.
SatBeams says basically the same thing:
Satbeams - World Of Satellites at your fingertips

So with two TBS 5990's I would get 4 tuners, add 3 cams to cover 3 transponders and use the last tuner for SBS or ABC.

Could that work? Baring the fact the VAST may be CI+.

As above: ABC and SBS are encrypted, so you need to reconsider that part of the equation. I'm also not sure which transponders you consider to be "main".

In addition to the possible issue with CI+ and/or pairing, the other thing nobody can guarantee is that the CAM will be compatible with the tuner, and that the combination will be able to decrypt the full quota that the CAM claims to be able to handle. In an ideal world all CAMs would work seamlessly with any CI slot... but unfortunately the world we live in is far from ideal.

If all the assumptions go the right way, the setup may work.
Nobody can offer any guarantees.

Can you suggest an alternate approach to being able to record multiple VAST channels simultaneously?

Not really.

With the exception of one brand of tuners, all others that have CI slots require one CAM per tuner and [in theory] can simultaneously decrypt [CAM limit] channels on the transponder they're tuned to as we've discussed. Note that some tuners are limited to one encrypted channel per tuner/transponder even if the CAM can support more. You'd want to avoid those. I'm fairly sure TBS tuners are okay in that regard.

The exceptional brand I mentioned is Digital Devices:
Digital Devices Store

Their tuners/CI slots support CAM sharing. Two big caveats:

1. Each tuner can only decrypt one channel at a time (ie. you'd need 8 tuners to view/record 8 channels regardless of channel transponder allocations).
2. Each CAM can only be shared by up to 4 tuners even if the CAM can decrypt more channels. If you had 1 to 4 tuners you may get away with 1 CAM; 5 to 8 tuners would be at least 2 CAMs; etc.

 

[johnzered]

Will the 1.6+ patch still work wtih Mp1 1.16 release as there are some TV-related changes included in that release?

 

[mm1352000]

Will the 1.6+ patch still work wtih Mp1 1.16 release as there are some TV-related changes included in that release?

I think so (no guarantee), but you'll definitely lose HEVC/h.265 support.

 

[mouse]

I think so (no guarantee), but you'll definitely lose HEVC/h.265 support.

So no way to watch 4k channels with the TBS?

 

[mm1352000]

So no way to watch 4k channels with the TBS?

This question is far too simplistic to give a yes/no answer.
Please read carefully so that you understand properly...

If you install this patch, you will almost certainly (it's untested - not 100% certain) lose h.265/HEVC support from TV Server.
I say "...from TV Server" because you will still be able to view h.265/HEVC videos (not live TV - which involves TV Server) with MediaPortal.

Although h.265/HEVC is often used for UHD ("4k") broadcasts, UHD/4k is not the same as h.265/HEVC.
h.265/HEVC can be used for any channel including SD, HD or UHD/4k.
Conversely, channels with UHD/4k video can use other encodings including h.264/AVC.

 

[mouse]

Clear, thanks...but what a hell!
Who (tbs... Mepo developer...) did you think may give us this support?

 

[mm1352000]

@mouse
If it bothers you so much you could try to merge the code and build it yourself.

 

[johnzered]

I installed 1.16 and applied the patch yesterday and I'm still able to watch encrypted channels so I'm okay for now. Though I'm still hoping that one day we will be able to install a shiny new TV-server with all patches included, until then keep up the good work!