DVB-S/S2 and ATSC Combo Cards

[linuxman]

I have the dvbworld 2104 and three atsc tuners running on DvbViewer. A Happauge hvr-950, Avermedia Volar and Avermedia Volar Max. The only thing I don't like about the dvbworld 2104 is that it is so small I keep knocking it off. The Volar max is the best ATSC tuner of the three. It is even a little better than my idle MDP-130.

Hi Oncewaslost.

I looked at the specs for the Volar Max, and the specs say that Windows XP Media Center is required. I am running Windows XP Pro and have no plans to do anything different. Do you know of anyone using it with XP Pro only?

Thanks for you input on the DVBWorld 2104 too.

Hey Starman,

I have a friend who grew up in Germany, maybe I can get him to look at some of this stuff and do a little translating for us.

Point out some pertinent links, and I'll be glad to impose on him.

 

[starman345]

Hey Starman,
I have a friend who grew up in Germany, maybe I can get him to look at some of this stuff and do a little translating for us.

Point out some pertinent links, and I'll be glad to impose on him.

Linuxman, thanks for the offer! but I wouldn' t know where to start? I guess how to setup a multiple tuner system would be helpful. I have noticed there is a "share lnb" option in the hardware pane and I suspect it has something to do with multiple tuners but can't find any info on the forum with the search. I asked the question of multiple tuners setup on the forum and the kind person who answered told me it was mostly done "automatically" by the software.....so I"ve been searching for the "automatically" check box in the software

 

[linuxman]

Linuxman, thanks for the offer! but I wouldn' t know where to start? I guess how to setup a multiple tuner system would be helpful. I have noticed there is a "share lnb" option in the hardware pane and I suspect it has something to do with multiple tuners but can't find any info on the forum with the search. I asked the question of multiple tuners setup on the forum and the kind person who answered told me it was mostly done "automatically" by the software.....so I"ve been searching for the "automatically" check box in the software

I thought that might be the case.

I just looked at my installation of DVBViewer, and I have an older version installed so I am downloading all the newest stuff.

I fired what I have up, but it doesn't see my Twinhan. I think I have the WDM driver installed, and probably need the BDA driver.

I assume that MT will use the BDA driver too, and probably need it to make it work in MT 4.0 beta anyway.

Refresh my memory if you would. Is DVBViewer the program that requires setting the program to one cpu only?

It's been months since I used it, and I am getting senile so thanks in advance for any information.

 

[starman345]

I fired what I have up, but it doesn't see my Twinhan. I think I have the WDM driver installed, and probably need the BDA driver.

Yes, it needs the bda driver, there is a dvbviewer pro beta version on the members page that will recognize the wdm twinhan driver, I haven't tried it, but for the most part I think Dvbviewer likes bda drivers.

I assume that MT will use the BDA driver too, and probably need it to make it work in MT 4.0 beta anyway.

I'm pretty sure I had the bda twinhan driver loaded when I tried MT beta three, bda is all I"ve been using lately.

Refresh my memory if you would. Is DVBViewer the program that requires setting the program to one cpu only?

I think it was the skystar card(s) that need the one cpu only box checked.

It's been months since I used it, and I am getting senile so thanks in advance for any information.

Don't feel bad, only months for you, I forget yesterdays events

 

[linuxman]

Yes, it needs the bda driver, there is a dvbviewer pro beta version on the members page that will recognize the wdm twinhan driver, I haven't tried it, but for the most part I think Dvbviewer likes bda drivers.

I don't think I need to try two beta programs. :yikes:

I'll just install the BDA drivers.

I'm pretty sure I had the bda twinhan driver loaded when I tried MT beta three, bda is all I"ve been using lately.

If I read correctly, I think MT is moving to all BDA drivers only.

I think it was the skystar card(s) that need the one cpu only box checked.

Yes, now that I think about it, you are correct.

Don't feel bad, only months for you, I forget yesterdays events

Holy Smokes! Don't I know it. I could tell a long story about last week and tuning in Hispasat, but I don't want to bore you and don't want to embarrass myself.

 

[linuxman]

Well I am not having the greatest success in the world today.

Installed the BDA drivers for the Twinhan 1020a. They are the latest I have, but seem to be a little older. Version 1.2.3.8 For some reason twinhan.com no longer works for me. If someone has newer drivers, can you post them or post a link?

Grabbed the latest DVBViewer Pro and latest Transedit programs and installed them. I have the dish setting on 91W, and set the diseqc setting properly for G11/G17 as BA for LNB2, course I tried every other setting there too, but can't get a smell of a signal out of any transponder in the list. The GBox comes on, but nothing on the scanner.

So I moved on to MT 4.0 Beta 3. Installed that to it's own directory, got signal from the channels, but it doesn't like any audio encoder I have installed. Says it can't connect the source to the filter.

MT 3.38 works fine with the driver, so don't know what's up there.

All this is premature I know since I don't have the newer cards I am doing research for. But I just wanted to see if the newer programs worked with what I have, and neither one does.

So like I said above, if there is a newer BDA driver out there for the Twinhan 1020a, please let me know?

 

[brentb636]

It kinda makes me feel better to know that someone else gets challenged by these DVB PCI setups. They are very flexible, but pretty fragile, too.
Keep you chin up, maybe the very same setup will work tomorrow.

 

[linuxman]

It kinda makes me feel better to know that someone else gets challenged by these DVB PCI setups. They are very flexible, but pretty fragile, too.
Keep you chin up, maybe the very same setup will work tomorrow.

Hey Brent,

Somehow just setting overnight won't help either one I don't think.

They are a challenge, and one should expect problems with a beta, but DVBViewer is not a beta, and should work unless the BDA driver I have is too old.

 

[oncewaslost]

Thats interesting, do I understand correctly that you can run all the tuners at the same time or at least 2 of them? I've been muddling through the German on the dvbviewer forums trying to figure this out..

I have recorded with all three ATSC tuners at the same time using the recording service. It takes very little cpu to do this.

If I open DvbViewer while the recording service is recording and try to view a channel that is recording, I get a message that the hardware is not available. I can change to another tuner that is not recording and view. I have not experimented with viewing while recording much because I prefer to use Media Player Classic for viewing recordings. In another post, netbuilder asked about GB-PVR. With GB-PVR, I can view a dvbviewer recording while it is recording. For now, I am still using MPC.

 

[brentb636]

It seems to me that every single card is different. My skywalker-1 has been a dream. I tried a TT s2-3600 and had nothing but problems, trying to use it in the same box as my skywalker. Now I have the s2-3200 in that box, and things are going pretty well. It is a trial.

 

[oncewaslost]

Hi Oncewaslost.

I looked at the specs for the Volar Max, and the specs say that Windows XP Media Center is required. I am running Windows XP Pro and have no plans to do anything different. Do you know of anyone using it with XP Pro only?

Thanks for you input on the DVBWorld 2104 too.

Hey Starman,

I have a friend who grew up in Germany, maybe I can get him to look at some of this stuff and do a little translating for us.

Point out some pertinent links, and I'll be glad to impose on him.

I guess I dodged a bullet with that then. It was on sale w/ free shipping last week at newegg so I jumped on it! I didn't read the specs. I had read a review where it was suppose to be a very good tuner.

I had initially installed it on XP pro SP2. No problems. I then installed SP3 because I was having an issue with the DvbViewer recording service. It still runs fine on XP Pro SP3. The problem I had with the recording service was related to the web interface.

 

[starman345]

I have recorded with all three ATSC tuners at the same time using the recording service. It takes very little cpu to do this.

If I open DvbViewer while the recording service is recording and try to view a channel that is recording, I get a message that the hardware is not available. I can change to another tuner that is not recording and view. I have not experimented with viewing while recording much because I prefer to use Media Player Classic for viewing recordings. In another post, netbuilder asked about GB-PVR. With GB-PVR, I can view a dvbviewer recording while it is recording. For now, I am still using MPC.

Great! oK, now that I know its possible I will try with a couple of satellite tuners and see how that goes. Thanks for this bit of information, it helps a lot

 

[linuxman]

I guess I dodged a bullet with that then. It was on sale w/ free shipping last week at newegg so I jumped on it! I didn't read the specs. I had read a review where it was suppose to be a very good tuner.

I had initially installed it on XP pro SP2. No problems. I then installed SP3 because I was having an issue with the DvbViewer recording service. It still runs fine on XP Pro SP3. The problem I had with the recording service was related to the web interface.

I am glad to hear it runs on XP pro. That helps a lot.

Thanks!

 

[oncewaslost]

Well I am not having the greatest success in the world today.

Installed the BDA drivers for the Twinhan 1020a. They are the latest I have, but seem to be a little older. Version 1.2.3.8 For some reason twinhan.com no longer works for me. If someone has newer drivers, can you post them or post a link?

Grabbed the latest DVBViewer Pro and latest Transedit programs and installed them. I have the dish setting on 91W, and set the diseqc setting properly for G11/G17 as BA for LNB2, course I tried every other setting there too, but can't get a smell of a signal out of any transponder in the list. The GBox comes on, but nothing on the scanner.

So I moved on to MT 4.0 Beta 3. Installed that to it's own directory, got signal from the channels, but it doesn't like any audio encoder I have installed. Says it can't connect the source to the filter.

MT 3.38 works fine with the driver, so don't know what's up there.

All this is premature I know since I don't have the newer cards I am doing research for. But I just wanted to see if the newer programs worked with what I have, and neither one does.

So like I said above, if there is a newer BDA driver out there for the Twinhan 1020a, please let me know?

I have another box with Dvbviewer and a twinhan 1020. The zipped driver file I have is named "BDAdriverV1.2.3.8_WHQL"

This box records five channels an once (same transponder) 7-10 pm every night. I hate to miss anything!

Gotta run I'll check back later

 

[starman345]

Installed the BDA drivers for the Twinhan 1020a. They are the latest I have, but seem to be a little older. Version 1.2.3.8 For some reason twinhan.com no longer works for me. If someone has newer drivers, can you post them or post a link?

I'm using version 1.2.3.8 here as well, if there are newer drivers I can't find them, there are newer packages with the visionplus software but the drivers are 1.2.3.8 still. I read the Twinhan site has been down, you can check on digitalrise.biz, I think it has most of the Twinhan drivers.

Grabbed the latest DVBViewer Pro and latest Transedit programs and installed them. I have the dish setting on 91W, and set the diseqc setting properly for G11/G17 as BA for LNB2, course I tried every other setting there too, but can't get a smell of a signal out of any transponder in the list. The GBox comes on, but nothing on the scanner.

BA is correct for lnb2, you have 5150 for lof I'm sure. In the options, hardware section, is your twinhan set to preferred? All the channel groups (A,B,C) showing? I also have "has CI module" and "open whole transponder" selected.

So I moved on to MT 4.0 Beta 3. Installed that to it's own directory, got signal from the channels, but it doesn't like any audio encoder I have installed. Says it can't connect the source to the filter.

I had a time getting the filters set also, not sure what was happening there, in the end I used nvidia video and audio with vmr7 and it worked.
I think Brent636 summed it up pretty well....flexible but fragile

 

[linuxman]

I'm using version 1.2.3.8 here as well, if there are newer drivers I can't find them, there are newer packages with the visionplus software but the drivers are 1.2.3.8 still. I read the Twinhan site has been down, you can check on digitalrise.biz, I think it has most of the Twinhan drivers.

Hi Starman,

I looked at digitalrise and the only Twinhan BDA drivers I saw there were for internet access via satellite version 1.8. If that's the one I need, I'll snag it.

BA is correct for lnb2, you have 5150 for lof I'm sure. In the options, hardware section, is your twinhan set to preferred? All the channel groups (A,B,C) showing? I also have "has CI module" and "open whole transponder" selected.

I'll double check, but I think I have all that set correctly.

Went back and checked, and didn't have preferred turned on. Soon as I turned it on in the program and in Transedit, it worked.

Thanks for the tip!!!!:up:up:clap:clap

I had a time getting the filters set also, not sure what was happening there, in the end I used nvidia video and audio with vmr7 and it worked.
I think Brent636 summed it up pretty well....flexible but fragile

I'll just wait on the next beta release. I posted in the beta thread what was happening. Hopefully Saar will see it and get the problem fixed.

 

[linuxman]

Well I discovered the Transedit program won't power the LNBs by itself. I have the Diamond, Coolsat 5000 and Twinhan all hooked up to a 4x1 diode steered power passing Hi-Freq splitter which then runs to a powered-multiswitch.

DVBViewer turns on the power by itself ok, but Transedit won't. It sends the signal to the GBox and turns it on, but I have to turn on the Diamond or CS to get Transedit see signals. Don't know what that's all about, but I can work around it for now. It doesn't matter what polarity the STBs are on, but they have to be turned on and not just on standby.

 

[brentb636]

Odd, wonder if it's a BDA driver issue ? My s2-3200 ties to a 4x1 Diseqc switch, and powers the lnbf's just fine . Do you have Transedit in the DvbViewer folder ( as I do ) ? That's the best place for it , to share transponders, etc.
:_?

 

[linuxman]

Odd, wonder if it's a BDA driver issue ? My s2-3200 ties to a 4x1 Diseqc switch, and powers the lnbf's just fine . Do you have Transedit in the DvbViewer folder ( as I do ) ? That's the best place for it , to share transponders, etc.
:_?

Yes, it is in the DVBViewer folder, and it knows when DVBViewer is on if you start it while the program is running, it tells you about it and that it will interrupt the program while scanning.

 

[Larry1]

I regularily use the Twinhan and Nexus-s to record programs at the same time using one instance of Mytheatre. When trying to set it up for the Fusion card, the third device I had all sorts of problems and ended up just installing Mytheatre in another directory to use the Fusion card. All three cards can record at the same time. I think that using separate card(n) profiles, you can have more than 2 cards active with one instance of Mytheatre, but that was quite some time ago so I could be wrong. I just found installing two instances of Mytheatre worked fine for me.
My TwinHan drivers are version 2.4.1.1 (WDM).