2 DVB-S2 cards with CI, CI "lost" when changing program

[AHiemstra]

Hello,

 

I'm using DVBViewer with 2 KNCOne DVB-S2+ cards that both have a CineView CI module. Both CI modules are filled:

• S2 card 1 has an AlphaCrypt TD CAM with a Premiere card
  (group A for FTA and group C for Premiere)
  
• S2 card 2 has a CanalDigitaal CAM with a CanalDigitaal card
  (group A for FTA and group B for CanalDigitaal)
  

Suppose I have 3 programs:

• ARD (group A)
  
• NED1 (group
  
• Premiere HD (group C)
  

The following happens:

• When I zap to ARD, DVBViewer uses card 1, which is fine.
  
• When I zap to Premiere HD, DVBViewer still uses card 1, because Premiere HD is in group C and card 1 can display group C, so far fine.
  
• But when I zap to NED1, which is in group B, DVBViewer correctly moves to card 2 (which is the only card capable of displaying group , but somehow it loses the CI module of card 2. There is no CI Menu option enabled and the program does not display.
  

When the 3rd case above happens (black screen & no CAM menu), when I then quit DVBViewer and restart the program, NED1 displays correctly (card 2 has been set and initialized), but now I cannot zap to Premiere HD, because of the same issue - DVBViewer will not recognize the Premiere card.

 

Question: Is this a bug in DVBViewer v3.9.2.0, because it forgets to initialize the CI module when it switches to a new card?

 

Or is this a bug in the KNCOne DVB-S2+ BDA driver v1.9.9.8?

 

Could DVBViewer work around this by releasing the KNCOne drivers and reinitialize the new card it wants to use?

Edited February 21, 2008 by AHiemstra

[Lars_MQ]

The knc one stuff can only handle one CI. It's a limitation of their hardware support library.

[AHiemstra]

I contacted KNC Support about this. They claim that their WDM driver has this issue with only 1 CI Module that is supported.

 

But they also said that their BDA driver v1.9.9.8 (beta) supports multiple DVB-S2 cards, each having their own CI Module. Perhaps someone pls could have a look at that?

KNCOne BDA v1.9.9.8 beta

It would be perfect if DVBViewer could switch to another program that needs another card which is initialized correctly!

 

Thx in advance, Arjen.

[AHiemstra]

I am 99% sure this can be fixed in minutes.

 

If I watch a program from group A on DVB-S2 card A and zap to a program from group B on card B, and both programs need a CAM/smartcard, the menu shows the CAM menu disabled, after the switch. So the only thing that DVBViewer does not do is initialize the new CAM.

 

The evidence: If I rightclick on the screen and go to <view>, <Rebuild Graph>, the CAM of the 2nd card is correctly initialized and I get an image without closing DVBViewer.

 

So the only thing that DVBViewer needs to do when tuning is to see if the new program uses the same card as the previous program. If not, it should rebuild the graph.

 

Then it should work like a PRO version should!

 

It would be great if you could consider this, because having done some programming myself I think this is a relatively easy fix. The only thing that would need some attention would be the recording thread. After I viewed a program on card B and go to standby and the computer resumes to record a program that needs the CAM from card A, the *.ts file is empty because of the same reason.

 

I would pay a second time for the program to get this fixed asap!

 

Thanks, Arjen.

[AHiemstra]

Hi,

 

I just tested again. I have 3 KNCOne DVB-S2+ cards, each with their own CineView and a smart card (I'm a lazy person ). When I do the following, all works fine:

 

• Go to t a FTA program like KIKA - program displays.
  
• Go to Premiere (card 1) followed by Right-click <View><Rebuild Graph> - program displays
  
• Go to NED1 (card 2) followed by Right-click <View><Rebuild Graph> - program displays
  
• Go to Private Spice (card 3) followed by Right-click <View><Rebuild Graph> - program displays
  

... I can repeat this time after time. This would be a rock-solid solution. Perhaps an option in the <Hardware> section of the Options menu?

 

[x] Rebuild Graph after Tuning to a new card.

This would be marvellous...

 

Regards, Arjen.

[Lars_MQ]

No, I will not integrate a workaround, which will only work in one special case. As soon as recordings in the background oder PIP come into play the problem appears again.

 

We have a new API from knc which should help with more than one KNC/CI in the system. When I find the time I will take a look at it. They have taken nearly a year to fix this problem, so some weeks more should not matter

[AHiemstra]

Hi Lars,

 

I understand. Guess you are right.

 

Let me know how I can help to get this fix implemented. I could donate a card or so if that helps you to work on this one. Or beta test your fix.

 

Keep up the good work. I reaaaally love this product and think you could price it a bit higher, say $30. Oops, should I say that as a customer? Sceneo is asking €49 for their VistaTV and I have had nothing but problems in that app.

 

Regards, Arjen.

[AHiemstra]

Hi Lars,

 

And? Were you able to find a free minute yet? Has KNC delivered a solution with that new API?

 

Regards, Arjen

Edited March 10, 2008 by AHiemstra