MarkSS, how did you get on with the DVB-S?

[pmcguire]

Any advances on your side yet?

Paul.

[Mark SS]

Sorry, I managed to install the latest beta on Saturday but didn't get round to testing it propery. I'll be back home on Thursday and will have a proper dig in to the DVB-S stuff and report back then.

The PreDefinedScanSat.frq is empty in the latest beta so that stops most people from testing anything. I'll post up my frq on Thursday so UK users can have a crack.

[Mark SS]

Installed the 6.0.15 beta last night to test the DVB-S and can get some but not all channels. I can see E4/More4/ITV so its not just a case of the CAM decryption not working. Key channels which I need before using this permanently didn't work for me e.g. SkyOne and anything on 11817 (UKGold etc).

Doesn't seem to be any particular pattern to suggest why its a bit hit and miss so I'll get in touch with Qian to see if he can spot anything in the logs.

I've attached the PredefinedScanSat.frq I've put together if anyone wants to give it a try. One strange issue is that none of the channels will tune immediately after doing the scan, you'll need to reboot before tuning works.

[Lucas]

Same experience here. I only tried with the free to air channels on Astra 2.

I also had to reboot to get channels to start playing although one played before the reboot.

Before the reboot I could play only the channels for which I did not change their logical channel number.

After the reboot some of the channels that I remapped worked. Very good pic quality!

But on most channels I get "No Signal".

[tsheal]

Hi,

Have just been getting DVB-S to work with my FloppyDVB card and 6.0.15. I too have not received all channels I would suspect. However, I have cross referenced the frequency definitions in the 'predefinedscansat.frq' file as posted by MarkSS with the definitions on the astra website and noticed some errors. In particular it will explain why BBC3 and associated channels are not being received as that particular transponder is defined as being 10773 V in the file whereas I believe it should be 10773 H.

I will have a play this evening and let you know.

Thanks,
Tristan

[tsheal]

I've just taken a bit more of a look, and I note that Mark has used a symbol rate of 27500 for the 12285kHz transponder responsible for Sky One. The website quotes 27000 for all transponders on that satellite which is Astra 2B.

As I said in my last post, I'll rewrite the transponder details and rescan either today or tomorrow.

Cheers,
Tristan

[Mark SS]

Well spotted that man! I'll have another crack with your alterations.

Edit: Just checked lyngsat (my source for the data) and it definately has 27500 for 12285kHz and everyhing else on 2B. Will try 27000 anyway.

[tsheal]

I have been using www.astra2d.com, which despite its name gives info on all sats at 28.2 East.

You may get a chance to try it again before me as my wife is taking me xmas shopping this evening. I'm in the middle of rewriting the file now, so I'll post it as soon as I'm done, and you can have a go.

Cheers,
Tristan

[tsheal]

Hi,

As promised I have created a new scan file based upon the info contained on the www.astra2d.com website. I will have a go either tonight or tomorrow evening (xmas shopping dependent).

Hopefully this will yield better results.

Cheers,
Tristan

[Mark SS]

Its definately 27500 for that transponder. Checked Lyngsat, KingofSat, MyTheatre, DVBViewer and checked the stream with TransEdit.

I've left another scan running with the change for 10773, will report back when its done.

[Mark SS]

Only changed the polarity for 10773, left the symbol rate to 27500 Astra2B.

Running the beta separately from V5 at the moment so deleted wiz.bin/bak, cleaned out epg and channel entries from properties file and did a fresh scan. All channels were found, don't appear to be any gaps. Rebooted before and after the scan, maybe that helped.

The majority tune all the time, some are showing no signal on occasions. There is a problem with multiple audio streams on some channels whereby the stream for visually impaired users is selected instead of the main audio. This can be corrected by choosing the other audio stream in the options but on changing back the choice is lost. Sky One is an example where this is occurring.

Some entries in the frq are missing the stream id field which I'll go through and add in manually this evening to see if it improves the tuning.

Be aware of the channels which have regional variations as the additional description isn't in the stream (and can't therefore be grabbed by Sage) e.g. Sky One UK and Sky One Ireland. You'll need to refer back to Lyngsat to check which one you should enable.

[tsheal]

Hi,

MarkSS, good to see that all channels can be received. Will be trying myself this evening. What support is there currently for the CI slot on a FloppyDTV card. Can this be used yet? Also, what is the best CAM to use with Freesat from Sky?

Cheers,
Tristan

[Mark SS]

I'm using the Technotrend S2-3200 PCI card so not sure what the state of support for the Floppy devices is at. CI support for TT devices is working and I can decrypt all of my subscription channels.

The only CAM that works reliably for Skys NDS encryption at the moment is the Dragon/T.Rex. There is software in development for the Diablo Light CAM that supports NDS but theres very little information about it. One member an AVForums appears to have been supplied this CAM with an early release of the software but so far the decryption is far from reliable.

[Lucas]

Mark, the above files that you have attached have .txt extensions.
Shouldn't they be renamed to .frq in the SageTV dir?

[Mark SS]

Yes they do need to be renamed. The forum doesn't allow uploads of .frq.

I don't believe its possible to just drop the file TechnoTrend BDA-DVB Capture(DVB-S)-0.txt into your Sage directory, I provided it for reference purposes for people to compare their results. It may work if you do a scan, shut down sage, put the file in place and then restart but I haven't tested it. Not sure what data ends up in the wiz.bin file after a scan or if Sage just uses the frq.

[Lucas]

SageTV uses the .frq and the .properties files. Wiz.bin is only for show info I believe.

I am more inclined to avoid the SageTV scanning and hand-edit the TechnoTrend BDA-DVB Capture(DVB-S)-0.frq file inserting channels with their VPIDS and APIDS if I can workout the exact format just like we needed to do with the initial DVB-T functionality.

[Mark SS]

Video and audio pids don't appear to be specified in the DVB-S frq files at the moment. I was going to suggest adding them to Qian, will do so.

[Lucas]

Mark,

would you now consider the current DVB-S status adequate for use in a day to day system for Sky Digital after your configuration above?

[Mark SS]

Tuning isn't working consistently so I'd wait. SkyOne for example, tuned on first attempt but after I'd flicked through a few other channels and tried it again, 'No signal'. Update from Qian appears to have resolved the audio issue.

[Paul365]

FWIW I still get that inconsistent tuning problem from time to time using DVB-T on either of my 2 tuners, though they are hauppauge - 1300, 3000.

Its no where near as bad as it used to be though and is entirely usable.