VMC/TV Pack - splitter trouble tuning Freeview DVB-S

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › VMC/TV Pack - splitter trouble tuning Freeview DVB-S

AgentX20

51 posts

Master Geek

#28468 1-Dec-2008 09:26

I've been running a very reliable VMC setup with a PVR-150 for a long time, but wanted to extend the capabilities of my system. I can't get DVB-T so I decided to add Freeview via DVB-S via a new Hauppauge HVR-3000 card.

I reinstalled Vista and added the Fiji TV Pack and got that all installed without too much trouble. At one point my boot-loader went AWOL which was mysterious but otherwise it was an uneventful install. However I'm struggling to get my head around this new TV Pack.

I've got the PVR-150/Sky working ok - although it's added 1000 channels. I've seen reports of this elsewhere so I know about the need to manually disable all the channels. One thing that puzzles me actually here is that my Sky box (Motorola) only seems to recognise two digits for the channels which would prevent me switching to new Sky channels in the 100+ range right? (The 1000 channels might be an artifact from when I told VMC setup to try three digits).

The other catch is that they've changed the EPG format so my EPG setup no longer works. But hopefully the satellite EPGs will sort that... although again I see there are a lot of problems there.

The main problem I have however is I think related to my splitter. Initially I could pick up 11 channels on the DVB-S - although because I couldn't find the channels in the guide I couldn't actually test them. While I couldn't work out where MVC had actually added them (maybe at the end of the 1000 channels!?) the channels at least were detected. At this point I spotted that Sky was reporting no signal. I have a single-power pass splitter so I swapped the cables over so that the Sky STB is passing power and Sky came back straight away.

The catch is, and this is the bit I don't get, is that that the DVB-S no longer detects any channels when I do the transponder scan. The signal reports full strength but I get no channels. I'm going to pick up a [url=http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4932efd20297f2042740c0a87f3b06ae/Product/View/L4036]Diode splitter[/url] today so both channels pass power, but seeing as the Sky box is on all the time shouldn't that be sufficient??

In the end, if I can't get this tuning sorted, and a satisfactory EPG running, I guess I'll have to revert to vanilla VMC. Media Portal sounds like a good alternative but my testing with that wasn't great with the TV Service crashing all over the place whenever I changed channels and the app locking when I stopped playback.

cyril7

9073 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2499

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#181316 1-Dec-2008 10:42

The Sky service and DTH freeview service are in the same spectrum space, if you sky box is powering the STB (ie on the power pass port) and turned on then your DTV-S card should see the signal it needs. You only need to scan 12483 and 12456 on D1 to get the FreeView channels, dont bother scanning the rest as its all Sky encrypted. Have you checked you DVB-S cards LO setting are correct.

Cyril

AgentX20

51 posts

Master Geek

#181321 1-Dec-2008 11:04

cyril7: The Sky service and DTH freeview service are in the same spectrum space, if you sky box is powering the STB (ie on the power pass port) and turned on then your DTV-S card should see the signal it needs.

Yup - that was my understanding. The STB is on, working, and is on the power pass connection. The DVB-S card is seeing signal, but just doesn't detect any channels...

You only need to scan 12483 and 12456 on D1 to get the FreeView channels, dont bother scanning the rest as its all Sky encrypted. Have you checked you DVB-S cards LO setting are correct.

Cyril

Those are the two transponders I'm specifically scanning. It worked with the DVB-S card on the power pass connection (and Sky lost signal) so it is a bit of a mystery why it doesn't now it's been swapped to another splitter connection.

VMC only asks for the LNB value and not the hi/lo values. Maybe I can find them in the registry.

Thanks - at least you've confirmed my suspicions re the power passing on the splitter and that it SHOULD work. I'll swap the cables again tonight and see if it still picks up the channels there. If not I'll know something's gone awry under the hood.

cyril7

9073 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2499

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#181325 1-Dec-2008 11:09

Hi David, I would suspect that you may have the wrong LO setting, there is only one required in a basic NZ setup, in Europe they have Universal LNBs that require hi and lo settings, but here its either 10750 or 11300. If you cannot workout what LNB you have then go into the LNB setup of the Sky box, dont change anything, but from there you should be able to see what its set to.

Cheers
Cyril

Mattv

242 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#181327 1-Dec-2008 11:21

As cyril says you only need the power from the sky box to the LNB. In fact I have found even when the sky box in on standby it is powering the LNB still.
When you went through the DVB-S setup in VMC there would have been a page regarding LNB settings with three options, Automatic, 1 "something" or 2 "something" (sorry cant remember exactly how it was worded) I think if you use automatic you might get problems. I used the 2 something option, setting the upper and lower limits to 10750 and the switch at 10800 which is what I read (somewhere here I think) I should set for my LNB. It worked fine anyway. You may need different numbers if you have a different LNB.

AgentX20

51 posts

Master Geek

#181330 1-Dec-2008 11:31

I'm 95% sure that I have the right LNB setting with 10750 as this is what I had working briefly with Media Portal.

I did try the VMC Universal option initially, and that didn't work at which point I put in 10750 and it detected the channels. Now having switched cables to get the STB to drive the LNB and tinkered with things maybe something isn't quite right any longer so I'll go through the setup again and double-triple check things. I can trawl through the registry and have a hunt around in there as well.

Thanks for the input - I was hoping folks would confirm my basic understanding re the LNB, power pass through etc which you have done which is great.

Should I still go and get a new splitter with diode pass through on both links?

cyril7

9073 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2499

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#181356 1-Dec-2008 13:38

Hi, there is no need to get a splitter with dual power pass unless you want that, as Matt says most Sky boxs leave the LNB power on even if in standby, some dont, regarless if its on its on.

Cyril

Lego

Shop now for Lego sets and other gifts (affiliate link).

AgentX20

51 posts

Master Geek

#181363 1-Dec-2008 14:13

Cheers. I've picked one up anyway - I don't want there to be any reasons for it not to work!

Hopefully I'll make some progress tonight. Thanks again for all the feedback guys - very useful.

AgentX20

51 posts

Master Geek

#181519 2-Dec-2008 08:20

Last night I put the new splitter in and redid the tuner setup and presto - up came the Freeview channels. Success! As expected they were on the end of the 1000 odd channels set up for my Sky STB but I waded through switching the majority off to get things more manageable. I also successfully merged the Sky and Freeview channels once I twigged to the sorting option required.
So I have guide data for the Freeview channels and a few things still to work through (some based upon problems reported by others here that need checking):
- check that the guide data continues to come down when I'm not watching each channel.
- determine how to get guide data in for the Sky Channels (either pull them off of the Sky DVB-S channels or find an XMLTVNZ feed that works with the altered TV Pack EPG formats.
- ensure that scheduled recording work ok...

And one other issue to resolve is the occasional and now more frequent dropping of digits somewhere when my IR Blaster is changing channels. I've put more distance between the transmitter and the Sky STB, but that hasn't resolved it. I'm picking I'm going to have to use something slower than "Fast" for the transmit speed.
Definitely making progress.

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#181529 2-Dec-2008 09:37

I will be very interested if you get this all to work. I have not installed the TVPack yet as my freeview install is working without fault. However I would love to get the Telstra STB connected up as well so that I can record those channels when we want to as well.

Thanks for keeping us all informed on you progress.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 39

#181542 2-Dec-2008 11:11

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=26434

I believe this is your only current option for getting an epg working for sky with tv pack

Mattv

242 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#181543 2-Dec-2008 11:11

Glad you got the signal sorted. As far as I am aware there is still no support for xml based guide data for the TV pack. You should be able to get a full EPG incl all sky channels using this "How to" by Satch. I haven't tried it myself however. I have no problems with getting a full EPG for freeview channels but as I get my sky channels through DVBSBridge sometimes that info runs out if I do not watch a channel for a while. I think Satchs way works around that but does have a few other problems (as he explains).
As for scheduling, I still get the odd glitch there - still waiting for the promised fix from Microsoft. I would say at least 80 % of things record okay straight from the guide but if it is really important to record something, program it manually.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

AgentX20

51 posts

Master Geek

#182095 4-Dec-2008 18:48

I've not had too much time to do any further tweaks on the new install but tonight I've confirmed that TV Pack [i]is[/i] forgetting my pre-set recordings including series recordings. It looks as though this is along the lines of other comments I've read about it resetting when it grabs the EPG updates.
Given the basic requirements for software of this type this is fundamental stuff that's broken. Underwhelming to say the least.