DVB Enhancer for SageTV

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by ytulpan

2) I have 2 dual tuner and 2 single tuner cards in my server. For some reason (hardware bugs in the dual tuner cards, and maybe YES changing FEC to 5/6 from 3/4) I cannot receive 2-3 YES transponders with them. I get a huge number of packet errors. I can receive those transponders with the other tuner cards. Is there any way I can tell dvbe4sage not to use a specific tuner with a specific transponder ? I would have solved this by myself with 2 instances of dvbe4sage, but than I have to share the CAM and this is too messy.

i think it's much simple and headache less to replace to compatible dvbs cards!

[ytulpan]

Originally Posted by bjkiller

i think it's much simple and headache less to replace to compatible dvbs cards!

There are not so many dual tuner cards, and who knows what other issues I may find with them. I tried also a 4 tuner card that crashed every 5 minutes in 64bit windows. In addition, the 2 problem transponders are not hosting very interesting stuff.

More important is issue #1 which is completely unrelated.

[mpogr]

@ytulpan,

For starters, I'd suggest you to revert back to 236 (the version released last year) and try it out again. Chances are the changes made since then didn't make any difference, and you just have signal/cabling problem. I'd suggest you to recheck your dish connection and cabling you use for each and every card. Remember, the more splits/cards you have, the weaker is the signal each and every one of them gets.
I used dual-tuner cards myself and they worked very well, so I don't think the problem you're experiencing is because of them. TechnoTrend cards are known for their ability to deal well with weak signals (especially their USB models), some other brands don't do this as well as TT. You might need to install an inline passive or active signal amplifier. But the biggest benfit would be upgrading your cables for quality pre-built ones. As I mentioned before somewhere on this forum, I had a lot of troubles with my current Foxtel DVB-C setup until I replaced all the cables with pre-built quality ones. Once this was done, all my problems vanished...

[ytulpan]

@mpogr

Thanks.

I have made all checks that you mentioned. Regarding issue #1, I checked with my oldie goodie TT3200s that served me well for over one year. I also connected the pre-split RF feed directly (even though I have an amplifier, good splitter and good cables, but just to make sure). 236, 247 made no real difference. The reason I believe there is some software problem is that the recordings play perfectly well with the sage extender - with subtitles.

YES have made a lot of changes lately. I suspect there is something in those changes that affect dvbe4sage somehow, in the way it writes the tables; so that some players may get it and some don't.



Issue#2 is a card problem, no question; These are dual tuner TBS cards and the manufacturer kind of admitted to a problem. I just don't want to throw away my cards and try others who may not work as well. If I can channel the 2 nonworking transponders to the "good" cards, it would be nice; but this is really a particular situation - if there is a ready made solution then OK otherwise forget it.

[ytulpan]

@bjkiller

bjkiller, what tuners do you have ? Can you perhaps try to play a YES recording with the latest VLC ?

Thanks in advance, Yossi

[mpogr]

I did use the dual-tuner DVB-S2 PCI-e TBS card for a couple of months before leaving for OZ (I still have it, BTW, but can't use, as I'm on cable now), and it worked quite well. Sure enough, the signal quality was inferior to that of TT cards, but it worked, including HD.
If YES changed something, I'd like to see the log to understand the changes. I think you have my GMAIL address, so, please, send it there.

[ytulpan]

@mpogr,

Thanks. I dont have your email. Sent you a private message.

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by ytulpan

@bjkiller

bjkiller, what tuners do you have ? Can you perhaps try to play a YES recording with the latest VLC ?

Thanks in advance, Yossi

Hello,

I do not know any issue, i have right now 3 USB TT tuners connected to YES Dish no issues at all, and 3 more USB TT tuners connected to Platforma HD dish - there 3 transponders (i stable to view only 2 HD transponders, the 3rd SD channels have some noises it's can work days without a issue, but other day it's unable to lock the freq.)
if you want i can test with YES something, in general i do not have any issue with YES.

[Whitey]

Isn't DVBE4sage supposed to detect when channels move? The BBC HD channels moved transponder yesterday and I got a "no signal" from sage until I restarted DVBE4Sage then all was fine. I don't remmeber having to do this before

Whitey

[mtnz]

EDIT: Well, it seems I'm an idiot. 'Run as Administrator' in Windows 7 fixes my previous problem.

I am getting a new problem now though. I'm still unable to actually record a channel. I get the following error and a 0B .ts file:

2011-06-09 14:29:52.078 #2: Starting recording on tuner="Hauppauge WinTV 88x DVB-S Tuner/Demod", Ordinal=2, SID=1011 on ONID=169 ("Trackside"), Autodiscovery=TRUE, Duration=60, Frequency=12671000, Symbol Rate=22500, Polarization=H, Modulation=QPSK (DVB-S), FEC=3/4
2011-06-09 14:29:52.093 #2: Loading filter "Hauppauge WinTV 88x DVB-S Tuner/Demod" - succeeded!
2011-06-09 14:29:52.093 #2: Tuner Filter Info = "Hauppauge WinTV 88x DVB-S Tuner/Demod"
2011-06-09 14:29:52.109 #2: Loading filter "Hauppauge WinTV 88x TS Capture" - succeeded!
2011-06-09 14:29:52.109 #2: Loaded our transport stream filter
2011-06-09 14:29:52.109 #2: Added demux filter to the graph
2011-06-09 14:29:52.109 #2: Connected demux to our filter output pin
2011-06-09 14:29:52.109 #2: Loading filter "BDA MPEG2 Transport Information Filter" - succeeded!
2011-06-09 14:29:52.109 #2: Using tuning request-based tuning method...
2011-06-09 14:30:09.109 #2: Could not lock signal after 5 seconds, stopping recording of service 1011 ("Trackside") on source="Hauppauge WinTV 88x DVB-S Tuner/Demod", Ordinal=2
2011-06-09 14:30:09.203 #2: Graph successfully stopped
2011-06-09 14:31:24.812 Encoder stopped!

This channel works in DVB Dream.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Else I'll probably figure out my mistake in another few months.

EDIT2: Well, I'm getting some strange behaviour. According to DVBE4Sage (and Lyngsat), a certain transponder is at 12456000, whereas DVB Dream sees it at 12295000. Forcing DVBE4Sage to record on 12295000 and dumping the whole transponder, I am able to record one of the channels on that transponder. I'm going to play around with my LNB frequency settings, it's possible I made a mistake somewhere.

EDIT3: Yes, my LNB frequency settings were wrong. I seem to be making lots of obvious mistakes getting this all set up. Time to reinstall SageTV and hope this all works.

[mtnz]

Well, I think I've got most of my problems figured out. DVBE4Sage seems to be working well enough on Sky NZ and Freeview NZ. I had the same problem as zzmystique with the Freeview broadcast of the Prime channel. It works when a Freeview transponder is set as the Initial Frequency but not when a Sky transponder is set. I think this is because Sky uses its own broadcast of Prime, so doesn't include it in its set.

I managed to overcome that problem by using diseqc.ini with two different entries for the same satellite (one for Freeview and one for Sky). Probably not the best solution, but it works.

I'm still having problems with the SBS feed on Optus D1 Vertical. I've temporarily disabled diseqc and have set the SBS transponder as my initial settings. The network is picked up, but the transponders aren't. I can't do a recording using autodiscover. I can using manual transponder settings, but that doesn't work with SageTV.

I've attached my full log file. You can see my initial attempt to record here:
2011-06-16 16:35:33.848 #3: Current network NID is 12802
2011-06-16 16:35:43.910 #3: The initial run for autodiscovery finished
2011-06-16 16:35:44.113 #3: Signal locked, quality=100, strength=87
2011-06-16 16:35:44.176 #3: Graph successfully stopped
2011-06-16 16:36:00.212 Service SID=898 on ONID=12802 has Name=""
2011-06-16 16:36:00.212 Autodiscovery requested, but cannot find the transponder for SID=898 on ONID=12802 (""), no recording done!

The second attempt here (without autodiscovery) works:
2011-06-16 16:46:36.492 Service SID=898 on ONID=12802 has Name=""
2011-06-16 16:46:36.492 #3: Starting recording on tuner="Pinnacle PCTV 3010iX BDA DVBS Tuner", Ordinal=3, SID=898 on ONID=12802 (""), Autodiscovery=FALSE, Duration=60, Frequency=12648000, Symbol Rate=12600, Polarization=V, Modulation=QPSK (DVB-S), FEC=5/6

This seems to be similar to problems other people in this thread have had in the UK (cpass, Bacon2002). If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be highly appreciated.

[mpogr]

You might want to increase InitialRunningTime from default 20 to 40 or even 60 seconds.

[mtnz]

Originally Posted by mpogr

You might want to increase InitialRunningTime from default 20 to 40 or even 60 seconds.

I've already tried it at 60, and just tried it again. I've attached the log, but the results are the same.

I've also tried 'ScanAllTransponders=1', that didn't help either.

Is there any way to just manually enter the settings in DVBE4Sage? Just tell it to use 12648 V, SR 12600, FEC 5/6 when it receives ONID 12802?

[mpogr]

There is already sort of manual configuration, added by one of the new contributors to the project. It's actually an ability to dump all currently acumulated provider information and then load it upon the application startup. I assume, if this file is edited with manually provided information, it will be used as well.
There is still no binary redistribution of DVBE4SAGE including these changes. If you're able to and are willing to fiddle with this, you can grab the code off the SVN and compile it yourself. I'm planning to play with this myself a little bit and make a binary release soon.

[mtnz]

Originally Posted by mpogr

There is already sort of manual configuration, added by one of the new contributors to the project. It's actually an ability to dump all currently acumulated provider information and then load it upon the application startup. I assume, if this file is edited with manually provided information, it will be used as well.
There is still no binary redistribution of DVBE4SAGE including these changes. If you're able to and are willing to fiddle with this, you can grab the code off the SVN and compile it yourself. I'm planning to play with this myself a little bit and make a binary release soon.

I'm afraid this might be a bit beyond my level of expertise. You've seen the types of idiotic mistakes I've made already.

Ideally I'd like these channels to be autodiscovered. I'm not sure why they aren't. I'm going to see if there are any other transponders I can pick up that might have NIT information for these channels.

Also, there was a guide mentioned earlier in this thread regarding setting up over the air EPG data collection. Unfortunately the link for this guide is dead. You don't happen to know where I can find a copy?

Finally, thanks for your help so far. I realise you're just doing this in your spare time, and it's highly appreciated.

EDIT: I did manage to pick up another transponder, but it was on a different network. It also exhibited the same behaviour. I do know that DVB Dream can autoscan that transponder. I might just forget about them for now. I still don't have a multi-switch anyway so can't watch them without disconnecting everything else (and can't use my other tuners).

EDIT2: Never noticed this before, but whenever I change channels on DVBE4Sage, the Sky box upstairs cuts out for a second (I'm just switching between Freeview channels at the moment).

[John@TunerUK]

Hi everybody. I haven't posted in here for a while, because I know you've been busy moving etc, but I was hoping you might now be able to shed some light on a problem I've been having for a while.
Every few days, sage will freeze up, and I'll get an "Error(-10)" message. None of the selected encoders can tune the channel.
When I go to....

Computer management>Event viewer>System

There is an error log that says

"The DVB Enhancer For SageTV service terminated unexpectedly."
Is this a common problem with an easy fix?
I will attach a log, but it stops a couple of seconds before the error.
Another thing to note is that java was indicating an update after the freeze, but not before it. Could that be relevant?

Cheers in advance for any help

John

[mpogr]

Hi John,

Looks like the DVBE4SAGE service crashed. This is usually because of faulty plugins (90% of cases I've seen so far). What plugin are you using?

Michael.

[John@TunerUK]

Hi Michael.
I'm using NDSCam 0.0.0.7
I use a copy I got off another dvbe4sage user, but their system works fine as far as I'm aware. I think 0.0.0.7 is the latest version. I can't seem to find any others online anywhere.
I might just try downloading it off the net and seeing if that fixes anything.
Or is there anything else I could try?

[foleyma]

Hi,

I am trying to use DVBE4SAGE with DVB-T so I can watch/record multiple channels on the same transponder using a single tuner. I have 2 Hauppage NOVA-500T cards (dual tuners). I ran DVBE4SAGE and it recommended some settings in the 20110626125956.txt file it created. I copied these to the DVBE4SAGE.INI file. Current settings are shown below.

[General]
LogLevel=2
SetupType=DVBT
NumberOfVirtualTuners=1
NorthAmerica=0

[Plugins]
DCWTimeout=5
IsVGCam=0
MaxNumberOfResets=1
ServedCAIDs=
ServedPROVIds=

[Tuning]
LNBSW=11700000
LNBLOF1=9750000
LNBLOF2=10600000
InitialFrequency=
InitialSymbolRate=
InitialPolarization=
InitialModulation=
InitialFEC=
DVBS2Tuners=
TSPacketsPerBuffer=1024
NumberOfBuffers=400
TuningTimeout=20
TuningLockTimeout=5
InitialRunningTime=20
UseSidForTuning=0
UseNewTuningMethod=0
ScanAllTransponders=0
ExcludeTuners=
ExcludeTunersMAC=
IncludeTuners=
IncludeTunersMAC=
UseDiseqc=0
AutoDiscoverONID=0
IncludeONIDs=
ExcludeONIDs=

[Output]
TSPacketsPerOutputBuffer=160000
TSPacketsOutputThreshold=135
DisableWriteBuffering=0

[Encoder]
ListeningPort=6969

[Recording]
PreferredAudioLanguage=eng
PreferredAudioFormat=ac3
PreferredSubtitlesLanguage=eng

[Advanced]
PMTDilutionFactor=1
PATDilutionFactor=1
PMTThreshold=20
PSIMaturityTime=10
MaxECMCacheSize=3000
EnableECMCache=1
ECMCacheAutodeleteChunkSize=300
BouquetName=BSkyB Bouquet 1 - DTH England
PreferSDOverHD=0
ExcludeTIDs=PreferredTIDs=

When I start DVBE4SAGE it seems to work ok although it does not seem to find any channels/stations. The log file is attached. I am not sure from the documentation if it is supposed to or not. Should it?

However, if I try to start a recording it does not work. I am located in Brisbane, Australia and I try and record the local Nine Digital station using the following settings:

- Untick "Automatically discover transponser settings"
- Frequency: 191500
- Symbol Rate: 0
- Polarization: Horizontal
- Modulation: 64QAM
- FEC: 2/3
- Network ID: 4014
- Channel/SID: 1025
- Tick "Use SID"

As you can see from the log it fails to record. I am sure about the Network ID and SID but less so about the others, which I got through Google.

Can anyone tell me where I am going wrong?

Thanks,

Mark

[Whitey]

DVBE4Sage doesn't work with DVB-T. It's DVB-C and DVB-S(2) only

Whitey