Technisat Skystar S2

[Przemek211]

it's great that this card is now popularity, but please come back to my questions.

I see now that picture on h.264 channels probably hasn't a lot of frames, because in bustling scenes picture is 'jumping'. I tried CoreAVC, Cyberlink, Arcsoft. I off on arcsoft deinterlacing, but still this problem.

Next problem: after few changes of channels i must: rebuild graph, because video is no start (but in 'tray' of program i can see bitrate and other informations).

There problems weren't seen before reinstall.

Sorry, for my english.

[Andrey123456]

Did you try new driver? How it is? I think to get support you must provide support.zip file generated by support tool.

 

After you fix your problem could you please run 4 hour discontinuity test.

Edited September 22, 2009 by Andrey123456

[Przemek211]

yes, i'm using 4.5.0 and 4.5.1 (WDM and BDA), but i don't see whatever changes.

What's the test? Am I understand you? After 4 hours of watching the card is no longer working?

Edited September 22, 2009 by Przemek211

[Griga]

Question about transedit: I want to select only one program of transponder and check discontinuity in this mode.

Only possible in "whole transponder" resp. "HW PID Filter off" mode. Use the Analyzer. It shows the missing packets for each stream separately. For highlighting the streams belonging to a certain program expand the PAT node on the left side, right-click the desired service and click "Select PIDs".

 

Please note: A discontinuity resp. gap in the data stream may comprise several (consecutive) data packets. The Analyzer doesn't count discontinuities, but missing packets. The value is always greater than or equal to the number of discontinuities.

 

@Przemek211: Your reports don't seem to be SkyStar S2 related (rather decoder, video renderer or graphics card related).

[Andrey123456]

Griga, I made anoder test like you did using TS analyzer. With latest technisat WDM driver and DVB-S transponder I got the same results as you. Everything is ok and I achieved 39Mbit/s datarate. Without long time stability test yet.

 

Now I am testing DVB-S2

 

first disapointing results from 13E, whole transponder mode:

 

DVB-S

12466V 29900 3/4 OK

 

DVB-S2

12265V 27500 3/4 ok

 

11278V 27500 2/3 failed

12341V 27500 2/3 failed

11996V 27500 3/4 failed

 

AMOS 4W 11519V 30000 2/3 failed

 

failed means a lot of missing packets, reception impossible.

 

all failed transponders have a lot of PIDs, more than 32

 

Data rate supposed to be less than 40Mbits/s.(according status bar of TS analyzer)

How can you comment this?

 

 

 

as I understood I can not activate PID filter in analyzer, right?

Edited September 22, 2009 by Andrey123456

[Griga]

12265V 27500 3/4 ok

DVB-S2 27500 3/4 is not ok here. I guess you didn't use the "null packet filter off" tweak like I did. So you don't get the real transponder data rate, and your results depend on the null packet percentage.

 

Nevertheless it's clear by now that the SkyStar S2 is only usable for DVB S2 reception with WDM (network, NDIS) driver and hardware PID filtering, not with "open whole transponder" switched on and not with the BDA driver, due to the limited bandwidth. That's a hardware limitation, and there is no work-around for it.

[Andrey123456]

Do you see any limitation for receiving only one filtered program from 9E transponders 12303 V DVB-S2 26400-2/3 and 12380 V DVB-S2 26400-2/3 ? Full transponder? (could you please post here formula for calculating maximum DVB-S2 bitrate)

I know it may be hard to assume, but I want at least evaluate possibility of this feature before buying new dish and subscription. Thanks in advance.

[Derrick]

DVB-S2 works with a more efficient channel coding. In the formula above you can skip the RS outer code rate 188/204. In contrast to dvb-s which is always qpsk, dvb-s2 uses also 8psk (and even 16apsk) . With 8psk you have to multiply the symbolrate by the faktor 3 (2 for qpsk). Afaik the S2 card don't show which modulation is used. Therefor you have to consult the transponder lists to know the used paramters.

[Przemek211]

DVB-S2

12265V 27500 3/4 ok

 

11278V 27500 2/3 failed

There are 'polish' transponders, so they are known for me. I see the same, with Open whole transponder on WDM or always with BDA: 12265V works correctly, 11278V don't works (only with unticked Open...)

@ and thanks Andrey for info of S3 mode + Skystar, i used only first step of your tutorial: "uncheck enable the computer to turn off device to save power". I must check how many Wats computer is 'downloading' now.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Przemek211

[Andrey123456]

11278V don't works (only with unticked Open...)

 

If you use WDM driver and do not open whole transponde can you see HD content correctly? Teoretically it must work. If you see the video it means that hardware PID filtering works properly.

If you want to open full transponder, you can try to replace oscillator. some SkyStar2 overclockers statistics

 

http://viaccessfree.biz/forum/showthread.p...+faq#post514538

 

Use google to translate if you don't understand. Someone from that forum recently posted a message that he replaced oscillator on SS-S2 with 80Mhz and he can receive all high speed transponders.

 

Now question to people who know Flexcop specification. What is absolute maximum clock rate for Flexcop? Except additional heat (this problem can be solved) , what other damage can overclocking cause to DVB card?

 

overclocked Skystar2

http://www.scaistar.com/cooling/cool_scaistar.jpg

Edited September 23, 2009 by Andrey123456

[Andrey123456]

interesting article about Skystar2

 

Prehistory

By 1999, grew up the power of personal computers allowed to shift some operations (such as decoding MPEG-2) with the equipment software. Almost simultaneously the progress of electronics has allowed to create single-chip solution for DVB-processing stream. The first decision that appeared on the market was the chipFlexCop II California firm B2C2inc. The chip performs the functions of demultiplexing the stream (PID filtering, and MAC), the overall management of the nodes of the receiver and interface with bus PCI. By indirect information (architecture of the chip is closed), it is the basis of ASIC-chip SPARTAN (architecture FPGA) from XILINX.

 

At the same time was released and the reference design cards DVB-S receiver, code-named Sky2PC. Since B2C2, Inc does not produce maps (fabless), Then in Europe it makes it a partner Technisat and sells it under its brand SkyStar2

 

detailed:

http://gs.ru/article/ss2ovcl_ru.shtml

 

reduced:

http://gs.ru/article/ss2ovcl_eng.shtml

 

 

If FlexCop is ASIC based on Spartan architecture there will be no damage and overheat because of overclocking. Another bottleneck is 15nS static ram. It means clock should not be higher than 66 MHz. For sure there is a bug in ASIC's VHDL which does not allow to use full RAM bandwidth. Because of that bug working at full bandwidth can lead to unreasonable dependence on ambient temperature and RAM batch. If you put faster RAM it can make things even worse. As I see, the only reason to use old FlexCop in new product - it is ASIC, not FPGA. It was produced in large quantity and code inside can not be changed. With new architecture e.g. Spartan 3, much higher performance can be achieved for much lower price.

 

Overclocking of new SkyStar S2 may have sense, but not more than 10 - 15% This is the tolerance that hardware designers usually substract from real limit to allow themselves to be on a safe side.

[Przemek211]

Next question/information to Skystar S2 and DiseqC users.

I have a combination Astra 19,2W (port A) and HotBird 13E (port B ).

When I'm switching channels from Astra to HB, all is good. But vice versa i see often a 17% of signal (the same result if cabel is no sticked to Skystar). I must change to channel from other transponder (sometimes few changes) and i have normal value. It's can be also seen on Channel Search. Often first transponder of satellite isn't scanned (because signal is ~17%). Also on DVBDream, so it's only driver problem.

Edited September 26, 2009 by Przemek211

[Andrey123456]

If it was a driver problem switch would not work at all. Your case probably caused by by line impedance mismatch between DVB card and switch. The problem is known general hardware problem, not SS-S2 specific. TT-S2-3200 has even worse DiseqC curcuit. (from my own experience with both cards)

 

Solution:

 

- connect another sat. equipment to the problematic point, check if switch works

 

if another equipment does not work properly

replace switch

 

else

{

- check your cables, replace all connectors and junctons.

- relace cable with onother one, temporary just for test.

}

 

if switch still does not work

replace switch

 

 

Nothing helped ?

 

- set retune if missing stream parameter to 3 seconds

- set DiseqC from siple/1.0/1.1 to custom and program it to repeat commands several times after timeout

 

 

Still does not work?

DVB Card RMA

 

 

personal advice to Przemek211: format your hard disk with low level format (not quick) and instal XP 32bit. Reinstall all aplications. Do not use vista. It may solve all your problems.

[Andrey123456]

Finally I had a chanse to test HD reception and playback on Skystar S2 13E 12130H m2HD 10 - 13Mbits/s no problems, no picture freezings no discontinuities caused by DVB card. I use WDM driver 4.5.1

[pietrek1]

I`m watching all TV channels (mpeg2 and HD Mpeg4 H264) on e.g.: ProgDVB,

DVBDream on my SkyStar S2 card (WDM Drivers).

 

Only data card ? NO, because I`m watching all TV channels (WDM drivers) !

 

Driver: 4.5.1 WDM (SkyStar S2).

 

Internet or TV or radio - all OK, all PASSED (SkyStar S2 on WDM drivers).

 

 

This is only BDA drivers problem !

 

Specification is wrong, because BDA driver (SkyStar S2: 4.5.0 or 4.5.1) was

corrupted (BDA drivers don`t support specification DVB-S2, because hardware

PID is disable - many errors ; card - hardware was good, this is only BDA

drivers problem, software problem - BDA drivers, it`s very simply).

 

This is only Technisat problem.

 

I`m fake consumer and all users of SkyStar S2 card too.

 

Screenshot:

http://www.fotosik.pl/pokaz_obrazek/411605a501916bc6.html

Edited October 17, 2009 by pietrek1

[Griga]

This is only BDA drivers problem !

No, you are wrong.

 

BDA drivers are usually expected to deliver the whole transponder stream, but the SkyStar S2 can't in case of DVB-S2 transponders due to hardware bandwidth limitations. The maximum data rate is 42 MBit/s, less than the data rate of most DVB-S2 transponders. So hardware PID filtering (which means not delivering the whole transponder) is a must for DVB-S2.

 

BDA provides mechanisms for hardware PID filtering (see KSNODE_BDA_PID_FILTER) but the handling in Windows versions before Windows 7 is more or less buggy. So implementing it in BDA drivers will cause compatibility issues (particularly with Windows MCE), and other DVB applications don't support it anyway.

 

However, if the WDM driver is installed, using hardware PID filtering is quite easy, so most applications do it - there you are.

 

As often, there are several things coming together. Your perception of the problem is too simple.

[pietrek1]

OK

 

Simply question:

BDA drivers could be fixed or not ?

Modern drivers or orignal..

 

Specification SkyStar S2 is wrong, because BDA drivers don`t support dvb-s2 (hardware pid).

I bought this card, because specification include BDA DVB-S2 and it`s error (I`m fake consumer).

[Griga]

BDA drivers could be fixed or not ?

Yes, but not in a simple way that makes it work just by installing a new driver. It takes additional measures in DVBViewer and other applications.

 

The BDA driver could

 

- expose the official BDA interface for hardware PID filtering, that could be supported in future DVBViewer versions. However, it would be difficult to avoid compatibility issues with different Windows versions (see above).

 

- expose a vendor specific interface for hardware PID filtering (like many BDA drivers do for DiSEqC), that could be supported in future DVBViewer versions.

 

That's what I've already suggested to TechniSat. A BDA driver for a DVB-S2 card that doesn't work properly with DVB-S2 is a questionable thing...

[Andrey123456]

Do you know if Technisat is going to fix standby bug of Skystar S2? Really fix it, not by keeping the card powered on all the time?

[Przemek211]

If SS S2 is powered on all the time, my computer still consuming 4W and card is ready to work instant wake up. It's no real problem

[pietrek1]

It takes additional measures in DVBViewer and other applications.

 

That's what I've already suggested to TechniSat.

 

Could you modern/repair this BDA driver (official or unofficial) and send me more info ?

Maybe, I helplest my friend Marfi (SkyView) and Marfi add this measures, but I must have new BDA drivers and info.

[WildBit]

as mentioned by Griga

"there is no known TechniSat BDA extension for setting up HW PID filters" so you change all the drivers you want but this function may not be available ever. There is a generic BDA driver which seems to work better but of course it simply ignores that parameter

Edited March 1, 2010 by WildBit

[pietrek1]

as mentioned by Griga

"there is no known TechniSat BDA extension for setting up HW PID filters" so you change all the drivers you want but this function may not be available ever. There is a generic BDA driver which seems to work better but of course it simply ignores that parameter

 

Where is Generic BDA driver (vista 64bit) compatible with SkyStar S2 ?

[Cav]

And what about solution?

My Twinhan SP-400 have identical problem with lost signal in dvb-s2 channel.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Cav

[vagabundo]

Hello!

Is there any way to make SkyStar S2 moving diseqc motor?

I wrote to technisat and got the answer that skystar s2 can't use 1.2 diseqc protocol.

I wonder if some plugin like SS2DiSEqC can do it? I have tried version 1.9, but error message pop-up that my card can not be initialized...

Any advide would be appreciate!

[strs65]

Hello!

Is there any way to make SkyStar S2 moving diseqc motor?

I wrote to technisat and got the answer that skystar s2 can't use 1.2 diseqc protocol.

I wonder if some plugin like SS2DiSEqC can do it? I have tried version 1.9, but error message pop-up that my card can not be initialized...

Any advide would be appreciate!

 

In a test I was conducting 2 months ago, the Skystar S2 was indeed moving just fine my SG2100 motor with the SS2DiSeqC plugin, version 1.10 (stand alone, never tried it as a DVBViewer plugin). You also need an old version of SS2DiSEqC.dll (I believe from Skystar 2's 4.3 driver package) in SS2DiSeqC's folder.

Edited December 7, 2010 by strs65

[Griga]

http://www.DVBViewer.tv/forum/topic/43056-why-menu-positioner-in-transedit-is-not-activated/page__view__findpost__p__316958

[strs65]

Nevertheless (whatever Technisat likes to support) the Skystar S2 does move the motor with the SS2DiSeqC plugin and with some other DVB players (although the card works very well with the DVBViewer Pro).

Edited December 7, 2010 by strs65

[dgdg]

I've just installed a SkyStar S2 with network (WDM) driver... no problems up to now. HW PID filtering on/off works (proved by a PID dump). More results later...

 

Is this a solution? Can I use WDM drivers with DVBViewer? I tested "TechniSat SkyStar HD2 PCI" and "TerraTec Cinergy S2" in different PCs. Both cards have the same problem with discontinuities (using the BDA drivers). There are many many other user her, that reported the same problem. This cards do not work with DVBViewer.

[strs65]

Is there a BDA driver for Skystar S2? I didn't find any in the installation cd, nor at Technisat's site. All my tests (including the one with DVBViewer Pro) were with the WDM driver.

[Derrick]

..forget the BDA driver for SS2. WDM is much better

[dgdg]

..forget the BDA driver for SS2. WDM is much better

 

Again my question: is it possible to use WDM drivers with DVBViewer? That's new to me. I asked for a solution for my TechniSat SkyStar HD2 PCI and TerraTec Cinergy S2 some month ago and I did not get any helpful answers.

Edited December 7, 2010 by dgdg

[Derrick]

/edit

 

I confused Skystar S2 with the Old SS2

[strs65]

Again my question: is it possible to use WDM drivers with DVBViewer? That's new to me. I asked for a solution for my TechniSat SkyStar HD2 PCI and TerraTec Cinergy S2 some month ago and I did not get any helpful answers.

 

I believe I answered your question above. Yes, Skystar S2's WDM drivers work with DVBViewer Pro .

 

Btw, what is your problem with the Skystar HD2? It works flawlessly here with DVBViewer Pro and other DVB players (ProgDVB, DVBDream 1.5, SmartDVB). I had a problem with discontinuities several months ago, but as far as I remember it was mainly caused by my HD5770's Catalyst drivers.

Edited December 7, 2010 by strs65

[Griga]

Is there a BDA driver for Skystar S2?

There was. TechniSat has dropped it. Due to the lack of PID Filter support it was almost unusable for DVB-S2. The maximum SkyStar S2 data rate is not sufficient for receiving a whole DVB-S2 transponder. So HW PID Filters are a must in this case.

 

Can I use WDM drivers with DVBViewer?

Yes, the one for SkyStar2 and SkyStar S2. It is supported since 2002 Actually it was the first and only card/driver supported by DVBViewer for several years, until BDA came up.

 

I have a SkyStar S2 in my PC, and it's working quite well - no discontinuities at all, in contrast to some other cards that I've tested.

 

You also may want to to have a look at this one:

 

http://www.technisat.com/indexeb44.html?nav=PC_products,en,76-1246563456759

 

It's a kind of USB SkyStar S2 with advanced hardware (same type of WDM/NDIS driver with identical interface, no Twinhan/Azurewave stuff like SkyStar HD2 and TerraTec Cinergy S2). It additionally supports DiSEqC 1.2.

[dgdg]

I believe I answered your question above. Yes, Skystar S2's WDM drivers work with DVBViewer Pro .

 

I knew that WDM drivers work with the old Skystar 2 but I didn't know that I can use WDM with Skystar S2.

 

Btw, what is your problem with the Skystar HD2? It works flawlessly here with DVBViewer Pro and other DVB players (ProgDVB, DVBDream 1.5, SmartDVB). I had a problem with discontinuities several months ago, but as far as I remember it was mainly caused by my HD5770's Catalyst drivers.

Discontinuities every few seconds. With every channel (SDTV and HDTV), tested in different PCs. Windows7/64Bit and Windows XP. Is there a WDM driver for Windows 7/64?

[Andrey123456]

Yes, there is. It works fine on my HTPC

 

I use ver 4.5 on win7 x64 and winxp x32

 

here is the latest driver:

Skystar S2 Driver v4.6

[PeterF]

Hey boys, you are writing over two different cards, dgdg ever wants to know things about the "skystar HD2" but he is writing in a threat for the "skystar S2", this are two completely different cards. Its better to separate this postings.

 

PeterF

[Andrey123456]

Nevertheless (whatever Technisat likes to support) the Skystar S2 does move the motor with the SS2DiSeqC plugin and with some other DVB players (although the card works very well with the DVBViewer Pro).

 

Griga gave a link with explanation. In simple words: Driving a motor may burn Skystar S2. If the motor is stuck chance to burn SS-S2 raises up to 100% Do you still want to use third party plugin?

[Cav]

There was. TechniSat has dropped it. Due to the lack of PID Filter support it was almost unusable for DVB-S2. The maximum SkyStar S2 data rate is not sufficient for receiving a whole DVB-S2 transponder. So HW PID Filters are a must in this case.

 

 

Yes, the one for SkyStar2 and SkyStar S2. It is supported since 2002 Actually it was the first and only card/driver supported by DVBViewer for several years, until BDA came up.

 

I have a SkyStar S2 in my PC, and it's working quite well - no discontinuities at all, in contrast to some other cards that I've tested.

 

You also may want to to have a look at this one:

 

http://www.technisat.com/indexeb44.html?nav=PC_products,en,76-1246563456759

 

It's a kind of USB SkyStar S2 with advanced hardware (same type of WDM/NDIS driver with identical interface, no Twinhan/Azurewave stuff like SkyStar HD2 and TerraTec Cinergy S2). It additionally supports DiSEqC 1.2.

 

It's any solution to Twinhan AD-SP400 (Azurevawe) ?

I have identical problem (Discontinuities).

Maybe driver from SkyStar will be good?