DVB-S tuner help

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › DVB-S tuner help

samnorr

34 posts

Geek

# 38582 31-Jul-2009 20:26

I have bought this tuner card to allow me to watch Freeview on my PC with Windows 7 MC. I have an unused Sky dish on the roof that was already there when I moved in, and there are two cables coming out of the wall connected to it.

I have just installed the card and plugged the satellite cable into it. The drivers all installed fine and it looked like it was going to work - but both Media Center and the bundled WinTV software are unable to detect any channels, or get any signal from the dish at all.

Can the dish simply be plugged straight into the tuner without requiring any set-top-box? I definitely thought it could be, but I've just saw something on the web saying to connect a tuner to the output of an STB, and connect the STB to the dish. I can't believe that an STB would be required when the card already is a decoder.

Can someone please help me? I really am frustrated and confused right now, as it didn't mention I needed anything else on the box or the manual.

samnorr

34 posts

Geek

# 241089 31-Jul-2009 21:06

bump

farcus

1012 posts

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# 241105 31-Jul-2009 22:11

from haupage website for your product

Free-to-air digital satellite TV on your PC screen. And listen to satellite radio, too! WinTV-NOVA-S-Plus brings high-quality digital satellite TV channels to your PC! Simply plug WinTV-NOVA-S-Plus into your PC, load the Hauppauge software and then connect up a satellite antenna (DiSEqC 1.0* is supported). Watch and record hundreds satellite TV from different countries and cultures!

duckquack

75 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

# 241106 31-Jul-2009 22:11

Have you tried manual setup instead of the auto. I couldn't get a signal in Win 7 with auto setup but after selecting manual (single transponder) and using freq 11300 (freq depends on the age/type of transponder on your dish), I think the other freq is 10750 if 11300 doesn't work, but someone else might confirm this. Worth a try anyway.

samnorr

34 posts

Geek

# 241114 31-Jul-2009 22:57

duckquack: Have you tried manual setup instead of the auto. I couldn't get a signal in Win 7 with auto setup but after selecting manual (single transponder) and using freq 11300 (freq depends on the age/type of transponder on your dish), I think the other freq is 10750 if 11300 doesn't work, but someone else might confirm this. Worth a try anyway.

Thanks for the reply.

I just tried your suggestion, but still no luck. The signal strength meter has no bars showing at all.

I noticed that the card has a 13 pin socket on the side of it - but has no mention of this on the box or in the manual. Could this possibly be for powering the satellite dish? My power supply has no plugs that fit in it, so I would probably need some kind of adapter if that was the case. But then why on earth wouldn't they mention it anywhere?

Does anyone else have - or has had - one of these cards?

I might get up on the roof tomorrow and check the dish - is it likely that any cables might have came out of it somehow?

LennonNZ

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# 241134 1-Aug-2009 06:50

Ignore the 13 pin socket.. it does nothing and is not supported for anything usefull.

I've had one of these cards for years. works fine

Are you sure the sky dish is in a useable state?

duckquack

75 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

# 241150 1-Aug-2009 09:33

Do you know someone that has a stand alone Sat Box that you could plug in and check the signal. It's also worth checking the connection to your card to make sure the signal is actually making it to the card.

mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

# 241158 1-Aug-2009 10:03

LemmonNZ: Does the Nova S Plus then provide LNB power straight from the PCI bus? I have one working just fine, but I also have a SKY box which is providing the power through a DC power path splitter. Not sure what happens if I remove the SKY box from the system i.e. whether the Nova S Plus provides power without that additional connection.

Cheers Mike

samnorr

34 posts

Geek

# 241187 1-Aug-2009 12:19

I've just looked carefully at the instructions that came with the card - and I found this note:

"Note: Please ensure that your satellite dish is correctly aligned and the Sat cable is connected directly from the LNB and not via a set top box."

So does this mean that the dish should be getting power straight from the PCI bus? If that's the case, then maybe the problem is with the dish or the connections.

samnorr

34 posts

Geek

# 241213 1-Aug-2009 15:15

UPDATE: Hey everyone, just letting you all know that I finally got it working - with both WinTV and Media Center.

I think the reason it wasn't working was a combination of both using the wrong cable (as I said there are two coming out of the wall, but only one seems to be connected to the dish), and not using the right settings.

I climbed up on the roof and checked the label on the LNB, and found this forum page that talks about the settings for a near identical model to mine (except mine was 10750 MHz, instead of 11300). I tried the settings with one cable, but it still didn't work. So I plugged in the other one, tried the same settings and scanned for channels, and this time, it WORKED!

Thanks to everyone who's been helping me.

duckquack

75 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

# 241240 1-Aug-2009 17:01

glad to hear of your success, don't worry we have all faced the same frustrations at some stage. Just as well Geekzone provides a forum to solve them!

Regs

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Microsoft NZ

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# 241340 1-Aug-2009 23:16

mruane: LemmonNZ: Does the Nova S Plus then provide LNB power straight from the PCI bus? I have one working just fine, but I also have a SKY box which is providing the power through a DC power path splitter. Not sure what happens if I remove the SKY box from the system i.e. whether the Nova S Plus provides power without that additional connection.

Cheers Mike

i have two nova-s-plus cards in my win7 mce (prev in win xp mce) and no set top boxes. I can tune in channels on both h-pol and v-pol OK so they definately provide power. would need a dual throat lnb if i wanted both cards to share the same aerial and use hpol and vpol simultaneously though.

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mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek
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# 241383 2-Aug-2009 10:32

Thanks Regs. So the Nova S Plus must be providing LNB power automatcially and without the need for additional power connectors - hence the need for power pass splitters when used with an STB or I guess when using two of them.

Cheers Mike