Skystar 2 Express HD - Transedit "Positioner" button greyed ou

[deliol]

I have just bought a Skystar 2 express HD , pci-e card, BDA drivers v.4.7.0.48 are installed. I have a diseqc 1.2/usals motor. The card works for changing preset position satellites in DVBViewer 4.9 , also in Transedit i can change channels between satellite preset positions...

Looking at the tranedit.ini file, i can see that the card is being detected as "Vendor.2=33", same as in DVBViewer's 4.9 hardware.xml where it is also detected as Vendor 33

 

My problem is that in Transedit 3.8.1.0, the "positioner" button is grayed out, so i cannot control directy the motor...

Edited October 3, 2011 by deliol

[deliol]

Here is my support.zip, in case it helps...

support.zip

[Griga]

in Transedit 3.8.1.0, the "positioner" button is grayed out

The Skystar express HD with BDA driver is not classified as DiSEqC 1.1/1.2 capable. We have tried to get information from TechniSat about this matter (more than once), but got no reply.

 

However, your report suggests that the driver supports a new DiSEqC 1.1/1.2 BDA interface (Windows 7 only, won't work under Vista/XP). DVBViewer and TransEdit are using it as fallback if no vendor specific interface is known - that's the meaning of vendor=33. I will think about a solution...

[deliol]

Thankyou for your reply Griga,

Satellite switching works in DVBViewer 4.9 (and also in transedit) for preset positions, so (at least some) diseqc 1.2 commands are passed on to the driver....

I'm sure you'll find a solution, I'm willing to test for you if you have any progress...

[deliol]

I also tested DVbviewerGE 3.0.3 and DVBServer 4.9.0.0 and they both detect the card as version 10 , resulting in no motor movement...

I changed the version to 33 manually in the svrhardware.xml in the server pc and my network client moves the dish succesfully (between preset positions), but this setting doesnot remain after a restart of the dvbvserver....

[deliol]

Hello Griga,

 

are there any news regarding correct diseqc 1.2 support for "Skystar 2 Express HD" pci-e card???

Preset positions commands and USALS commands are working fine, however I need the transedit positioner console for fine tuning and storing the satellite positions.....

Edited October 17, 2011 by deliol

[Griga]

Let's try something:

 

Close TransEdit, change the vendor value in the file TransEdit.ini to 10, and re-launch TransEdit. After that the positioner console should be enabled. If not, try Vendor = 19.

 

However, I'm not sure if it will let the commands in the Positioner Console work. Try... please also check the motor commands outside the Positioner Console with these vendor values.

[deliol]

Let's try something:

 

Close TransEdit, change the vendor value in the file TransEdit.ini to 10, and re-launch TransEdit. After that the positioner console should be enabled. If not, try Vendor = 19.

 

However, I'm not sure if it will let the commands in the Positioner Console work. Try... please also check the motor commands outside the Positioner Console with these vendor values.

 

I had already tried that, but i gave it another go....

 

Using vendor 10, the motor won't move at all in the TransEdit main window. Positioner button is active, but none of the buttons in the positiner console work

Using vendor 19, it moves between stored postitions in the TransEdit main window (for example, if i select a different satellite & frequency and press the 'Analyze' button) . Positioner button is active, but none of the buttons in the positioner console work, not even the "Goto Preset." button!

 

It looks like the commands are not getting through...

[Griga]

Using vendor 19, it moves between stored postitions in the TransEdit main window. Positioner button is active, but none of the buttons in the positioner console work.

The positioner console does no tuning. It just sends DiSEqC commands. That's why I suspect that the driver doesn't send motor commands without subsequent tuning (according to my experience with TechniSat WDM drivers). So TransEdit has to perform some dummy tuning...

 

As first attempt I've implemented a simple work-around in the attached TransEdit version for Vendor = 10 only (!). It is a restricted test version. Some functions are not available, but the scanner and positioner console should work. Please store it in the DVBViewer installation folder and try...

Edited October 21, 2011 by Griga
attachment removed

[deliol]

I tried the test version 3.8.1.2 using vendor 10 in the transedit.ini ....

 

1. Changing preset positions works fine (as before with vendor 33).

2. The positioner buttons sometimes work, but most of the time they don't : I changed Hotbird & Astra 19 to diseqc "none", applied changes & saved, then tried to move the dish between positions using the positioner console and scan , some times the dish moves and the scan is successful , other times it won't move at all ... East/West buttons also show the same behaviour, some times they work, other times they won't do anything.... I had to enter a very large step for the dish to move only slighlty (i used step 15! pressing 4 times East to "loose" the Astra signal), maybe something is not passed correctly to the driver there...

 

The Analyze button is greyed out (you said that some functions will not be available) , it would help if i could run analyze in a transponder, then use the east and west buttons while the analyzer is running to check if commands to fine tune the dish are executed correctly...

Edited October 19, 2011 by deliol

[Griga]

maybe something is not passed correctly to the driver

It's a different problem: The driver doesn't send DiSEqC commands without going through a whole BDA tuning process. So it isn't suitable for a positioner console, because a positioner console doesn't perform any tuning. Sorry to say, but you've purchased the wrong device for this purpose.

 

The question is if there is a work-around or trick that forces the driver to do what we want. The first attempt doesn't look very promising

 

It would probably be easier with the WDM/Network driver that is located in the NDIS subdirectory of your installation disk or driver download, because I've already managed to solve this problem for the SkyStar USB HD with WDM driver. However, AFAIK nobody tried this driver with the SkyStar Express HD up to now. You can play a bit with it, if you like. If the installation succeeds, you will have to reboot and perform a new hardware detection in DVBViewer and TransEdit ("Detect Devices" button). And I will have to provide another TransEdit test version that enables the positioner console for the SkyStar Express HD with this driver "by name", which means, I need to know under which name the device appears in TransEdit (if it does at all...).

[deliol]

I managed to install the WDM driver, however for the installation to succeed (in windows 7 32bit), i needed to have the bda driver installed first, then run the technisat setup and answer "Yes" to the question about IP services.... Then a new network device appears named "TechniSat DVB-PC Virtual Network Adapter" , so now i have 2 technisat devices, one in the network adapters (using the WDM driver) & one in the "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" (using the bda driver) ....

Transedit also detects 2 devices, one "Skystar 2 Express HD" and one "TechniSat BDA Digital Tuner" .... Using the Analyzer i can see that it is using the first device to scan correctly.... However, scanning a transponder in another satellite (configured with preset postition) doesnot move the dish...

 

If i set "Skystar 2 Express HD" to "Don't use" status, the scanner and analyzer uses the bda driver and the dish moves again...

Disabling the card in the "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" results in tranedit detecting only a "< PRODUCT ID: 0 >" card, which of course is doing nothing...

 

So, here is the new support.zip:

support.zip

[Griga]

i needed to have the bda driver installed first

...which means, the WDM/Network driver is a mere wrapper around the BDA driver. In previous TechniSat software versions (up to 4.6) it was a stand-alone driver.

 

However, scanning a transponder in another satellite (configured with preset postition) doesnot move the dish..

It can't work. TransEdit blocks DiSEqC 1.2 commands for TechniSat devices with WDM driver (same applies to DVBViewer). The power supply of some cards (e.g. the old SkyStar 2) is not suitable for driving a motor and may get destroyed. That's why I've asked for the exact device name. The attached new test version 3.1.8.3 handles "SkyStar 2 eXpress HD" as an exception (like the SkyStar USB HD). Please try...

TransEdit_3_8_1_3_Test.zip

[deliol]

Success!! Finally...

The positioner console uses thee "Skystar 2 express HD" device and can now send preset positions, move the dish east & west, "go to angular" doesnot work though and blocks all subsequent commands from the positioner console and scanning attempts from the main transedit window.... I can only recover normal operation if i set a satellite to preset postition in the main transedit window and try to scan, then it moves and succeeds to scan...

Will the positioner console work in conjustion with the analyzer window , to fine tune a position?

Edited October 21, 2011 by deliol

[Griga]

"go to angular" doesnot work though and blocks all subsequent commands from the positioner console and scanning attempts from the main transedit window

That's a bit beyond my scope. Is your motor set up and configured for USALS? Does "Goto Angular Pos." move it? If yes, how? Have you entered latitude and longitude correctly? Does the positioner console display a reasonable motor angle (which is sent to the motor)? Does it work with an USALS-compatible receiver?

 

Will the positioner console work in conjustion with the analyzer window , to fine tune a position?

It should work. Both can be active simultaneously. Try the (unrestricted) TransEdit test version 3.8.1.4 from the members area, beta section, and please test the BDA driver again. Maybe a change inspired by the success reported above will do the trick...

[deliol]

My motor does support USALS and i have used another reciever with it (using USALS commands) and it worked fine!.

I just made a little mistake... I had put 23.64 West , where it should be 23.64 East in the USALS settings, so the motor was moving to the completelty wrong direction ....

 

Everything is working fine now with the Transedit 3.8.1.4 version, including the "Go to angular"

The analyzer and the positioner console do work simultaneously, so I can now fine tune every position !!!! Storing positions works too....

 

I tried again with the BDA driver (changing the vendor to 10), but it didn't work (the positioner console opens but does nothing) , so i guess i'll have to keep on using the WDM/BDA combination driver...

Tuning and scanning with the combined WDM/BDA driver is only just a bit slower than using just the BDA driver (and the BDA is fast at scanning , very fast compared to the Technotrend S3200 I had before!)

On the other hand, once i fine tune and store all the positions i want, i can just disable the "Technisat DVB-PC Virtual Network Adapter" and leave DVBViewer working with the BDA driver (as using vendor 33 can tune preset positions)!

 

I assume you will also fix the next version of DVBServer to work correctly with the WDM/BDA combined driver, and also with the standalone BDA driver (it is being detected as vendor 10 by dvbserver and doesnot move the dish - changing manually to vendor 33 moves the dish)

 

Thank you very much Griga for your help!

[Griga]

I tried again with the BDA driver (changing the vendor to 10), but it didn't work (the positioner console opens but does nothing)

Attempts to get that fixed seem to be a losing business. IMO it's a bad DiSEqC implementation in the BDA driver. There are several things you can't do with it, particularly Positioner Console, Unicable and DiSEqC sequences requiring more than one command (e.g. for a motor behind a switch). Nevertheless we have a work-around now

 

I assume you will also fix the next version of DVBServer to work correctly with (...) the standalone BDA driver. (it is being detected as vendor 10 by dvbserver and doesnot move the dish - changing manually to vendor 33 moves the dish)

A hardware database update will probably be sufficient for mapping the BDA device to vendor = 33. However, for the WDM/Network driver a code change is required.

[dtsouk]

Hi,any news about Skystar 2 Express HD for position DiSEqC 1.2 commands problem;