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MediaPortal 1
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Installation, configuration support
Would a second identical satellite tuner card be properly recognized and work as expected?
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<blockquote data-quote="mm1352000" data-source="post: 1088665" data-attributes="member: 82144"><p>Hello again</p><p></p><p></p><p>Argh, sorry - yes that's required for DVB-S2 support. An oversight on my part. I've updated my original post. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Let's get the other easy stuff out of the way first.</p><p></p><p>Yes, that only applies for DVB-IP/IPTV which is why I didn't mention it. It won't help.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The ID strings come from Windows. As long as they're unique (which Windows guarantees) you don't have to worry - TV Serve won't have any chance of confusing configuration, tune requests etc.. I note that the one character which is different encodes the PCI (or PCIe) slot that the card is plugged into.</p><p></p><p>Now for the main issue...</p><p></p><p>Regarding the "freeze" part of the equation: MediaPortal will not respond while waiting for TV Server to tune. Normally that unresponsive time is only a second or two at most so not a big deal. However if tuning is not immediately successful the unresponsive time can blow out a bit making it appear like MP is frozen. PMT timeouts (which your logs tell me you're experiencing - you'd probably see them as "PMT not found" errors) are a relatively common cause for this.</p><p></p><p>PMT is program map table - a dictionary of substream (video, audio, subtitles etc.) info for the channel which TV Server needs in order to start timeshifting or recording. In short, the TV Server tuning process:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Select capable and available tuner.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Apply tuning parameters (frequency etc.) and wait for signal lock.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Grab PMT and send decrypt commands if necessary.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Wait for clear (decrypted) stream.</li> </ol><p>If this process fails with one tuner, TV Server automatically tries the next, and the next... until tuning is cancelled or successful.</p><p>Based on your current PMT timeout setting (which is the default value) TV Server will wait for PMT for up to <strong>20 seconds per tuner</strong> for PMT. Since you have two tuners, the implication is that MP could be "frozen" for up to 40 seconds.</p><p></p><p>Now to the point.</p><p>You can reduce the "freeze" time by reducing the PMT timeout setting value here.</p><p><a href="http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/06_General#Scan_Tab" target="_blank">http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/06_General#Scan_Tab</a></p><p>A value of 2 or 3 seconds (=> 4 to 6 second per tuner freeze) is okay for many people.</p><p></p><p>You can also control the number of tuners TV Server tries for timeshifting here (maximum free cards to try):</p><p><a href="http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/08_Timeshifting" target="_blank">http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/08_Timeshifting</a></p><p>There's an equivalent and separate setting for recording here:</p><p><a href="http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/15_Customization/001_TV-Server/Configuration/07_Recording" target="_blank">http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/15_Customization/001_TV-Server/Configuration/07_Recording</a></p><p></p><p>Hopefully that allows you to mitigate/manage the "freeze" part of the equation to your satisfaction.</p><p></p><p></p><p>In short, one of the key points to take from my explanation above is that you're seeing freezes etc. because your tuners aren't tuning reliably. You don't see "all tuners busy" because TV Server has [correctly] identified a free tuner and is actively trying to tune the requested channel. However, the tuners aren't playing ball nicely.</p><p></p><p>Neither tuner 3 nor tuner 4 always fail or always succeed, which makes it quite tough for me to understand the cause of the problem. It would be much easier if I could simply say "oh, tuner 4 is not working at all - go check it out"... but that doesn't appear to be the case.</p><p></p><p>My suspicion is that the tuners are not able to independently tune due to the way they're connected to your dishes.</p><p>Consider:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Are you 100% sure your connections to the dishes are independent? In other words: is there <em>any </em>shared equipment apart from the LNBs?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Are you 100% sure that the outputs on the LNBs are really independent? In other words: are you sure the LNBs can receive both linear vertical (or circular right) and linear horizontal (or circular left) at the same time?</li> </ul><p>From the way you asked your question and your understanding of previous explanations I assume(d) that you know:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You can't feed multiple satellites down one cable (ie. you can't add a splitter on the output feed from a DiSEqC or 22k switch).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You can't receive horizontal (or circular left) and vertical (or circular right) transponders from one LNB output at the same time.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">LNBs need power to operate which is supplied by the tuner(s) and/or STB(s) (ie. you can't use a one-port-power-pass splitter unless the tuner connected to the power pass port is active).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Just because an LNB has multiple outputs does not mean each output can be connected to a different tuner to make it possible for all tuners to receive the same channels independently (ie. outputs can be one band only, or one polarity only... or in general not independent from the other outputs, as in all outputs get the same polarity).</li> </ul><p>If you're confident about your connections, LNBs etc. my recommendation from here would be to attempt to test each tuner independently. To do that with TV Server you'd disable (untick) one of the tuners here:</p><p><a href="http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/02_TV_Servers#Tuners" target="_blank">http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/02_TV_Servers#Tuners</a></p><p></p><p>...and then try tuning channels to see if the remaining tuner can work okay by itself. Then swap tuner.</p><p></p><p>Hopefully that helps... <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p>mm</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mm1352000, post: 1088665, member: 82144"] Hello again Argh, sorry - yes that's required for DVB-S2 support. An oversight on my part. I've updated my original post. :) Let's get the other easy stuff out of the way first. Yes, that only applies for DVB-IP/IPTV which is why I didn't mention it. It won't help. The ID strings come from Windows. As long as they're unique (which Windows guarantees) you don't have to worry - TV Serve won't have any chance of confusing configuration, tune requests etc.. I note that the one character which is different encodes the PCI (or PCIe) slot that the card is plugged into. Now for the main issue... Regarding the "freeze" part of the equation: MediaPortal will not respond while waiting for TV Server to tune. Normally that unresponsive time is only a second or two at most so not a big deal. However if tuning is not immediately successful the unresponsive time can blow out a bit making it appear like MP is frozen. PMT timeouts (which your logs tell me you're experiencing - you'd probably see them as "PMT not found" errors) are a relatively common cause for this. PMT is program map table - a dictionary of substream (video, audio, subtitles etc.) info for the channel which TV Server needs in order to start timeshifting or recording. In short, the TV Server tuning process: [LIST=1] [*]Select capable and available tuner. [*]Apply tuning parameters (frequency etc.) and wait for signal lock. [*]Grab PMT and send decrypt commands if necessary. [*]Wait for clear (decrypted) stream. [/LIST] If this process fails with one tuner, TV Server automatically tries the next, and the next... until tuning is cancelled or successful. Based on your current PMT timeout setting (which is the default value) TV Server will wait for PMT for up to [B]20 seconds per tuner[/B] for PMT. Since you have two tuners, the implication is that MP could be "frozen" for up to 40 seconds. Now to the point. You can reduce the "freeze" time by reducing the PMT timeout setting value here. [url]http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/06_General#Scan_Tab[/url] A value of 2 or 3 seconds (=> 4 to 6 second per tuner freeze) is okay for many people. You can also control the number of tuners TV Server tries for timeshifting here (maximum free cards to try): [url]http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/08_Timeshifting[/url] There's an equivalent and separate setting for recording here: [url]http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/15_Customization/001_TV-Server/Configuration/07_Recording[/url] Hopefully that allows you to mitigate/manage the "freeze" part of the equation to your satisfaction. In short, one of the key points to take from my explanation above is that you're seeing freezes etc. because your tuners aren't tuning reliably. You don't see "all tuners busy" because TV Server has [correctly] identified a free tuner and is actively trying to tune the requested channel. However, the tuners aren't playing ball nicely. Neither tuner 3 nor tuner 4 always fail or always succeed, which makes it quite tough for me to understand the cause of the problem. It would be much easier if I could simply say "oh, tuner 4 is not working at all - go check it out"... but that doesn't appear to be the case. My suspicion is that the tuners are not able to independently tune due to the way they're connected to your dishes. Consider: [LIST] [*]Are you 100% sure your connections to the dishes are independent? In other words: is there [I]any [/I]shared equipment apart from the LNBs? [*]Are you 100% sure that the outputs on the LNBs are really independent? In other words: are you sure the LNBs can receive both linear vertical (or circular right) and linear horizontal (or circular left) at the same time? [/LIST] From the way you asked your question and your understanding of previous explanations I assume(d) that you know: [LIST] [*]You can't feed multiple satellites down one cable (ie. you can't add a splitter on the output feed from a DiSEqC or 22k switch). [*]You can't receive horizontal (or circular left) and vertical (or circular right) transponders from one LNB output at the same time. [*]LNBs need power to operate which is supplied by the tuner(s) and/or STB(s) (ie. you can't use a one-port-power-pass splitter unless the tuner connected to the power pass port is active). [*]Just because an LNB has multiple outputs does not mean each output can be connected to a different tuner to make it possible for all tuners to receive the same channels independently (ie. outputs can be one band only, or one polarity only... or in general not independent from the other outputs, as in all outputs get the same polarity). [/LIST] If you're confident about your connections, LNBs etc. my recommendation from here would be to attempt to test each tuner independently. To do that with TV Server you'd disable (untick) one of the tuners here: [url]http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/141_Configuration/TV-Server_Configuration/02_TV_Servers#Tuners[/url] ...and then try tuning channels to see if the remaining tuner can work okay by itself. Then swap tuner. Hopefully that helps... :) mm [/QUOTE]
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Would a second identical satellite tuner card be properly recognized and work as expected?
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