AndersB Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 I am trying to align my dish as I have a lot of dropped packages on HD channels. In transedit I can see the accumulated packages and dropped packages per channel but I would like some kind of signal quality meter that can show the packages/dropped packages ratio per PID in realtime to help aligning the dish. Does anyone know of any such tool that can be used? Quote Link to comment
Derrick Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Try DVBViewer-pro. It provides for most cards a good indicator. Transedit shows for some cards always 100% though a useful value is available. Quote Link to comment
AndersB Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Try DVBViewer-pro. It provides for most cards a good indicator. Transedit shows for some cards always 100% though a useful value is available. I do use DVBViewer Pro but wasn't aware about it having a channel signal quality meter. I will try it asap. Thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment
AndersB Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 I've looked through the DVBViewer Pro GUI now but can't find any indicator of channel signal quality. Can you be more specific on where a realtime indicator of channel signal quality can be found or is it not available? Quote Link to comment
Derrick Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 ..just cklick here until you see the % Quote Link to comment
AndersB Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 ..just cklick here until you see the % ahaa is that the channel quality...you learn every day thanks! Quote Link to comment
RichardWhite Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 That's just basic signal strength, which isn't really particularly useful in assessing the quality. It would be nice to have BER and SNR readings, but since this doesn't appear to be available in any DVB apps I know of, perhaps this is a limitation of the original drivers, rather than DVBViewer? Quote Link to comment
Griga Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 perhaps this is a limitation of the original drivers, rather than DVBViewer? It's a limitation of the MS BDA design. Quote Link to comment
Derrick Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 That's just basic signal strength, which isn't really particularly useful in assessing the quality. ..it is, I can assure you The reading is independent of an additional attenuation which would be not the case if it was just a measure of the level. For most cards it provides a good means to check the signal quality. If you want more, you'll have to buy expensive equipment. Quote Link to comment
RichardWhite Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 ..it is, I can assure you The reading is independent of an additional attenuation which would be not the case if it was just a measure of the level. For most cards it provides a good means to check the signal quality.Interesting. Sorry for knocking your signal-o-meter, then. However, I've been having what I suspect are signal issues recently on my TT1500, and I've not found the signal/quality reading at the bottom of the screen very useful. Some channels seem to perform better in the 65+ range, while others need to be lowered to around 50 to avoid discontinuities. And even when I have a recording with no discontinuities or errors in the log file, MPEG2repair often manages to find quite a lot of errors, which are clearly visible on playback. To rule out errors from the broadcaster, I've tried simultaneous recordings with a set top box, and those recordings came out fine. On this box, I've got BER and SNR readings, which seem to give more relevant feedback. If you want more, you'll have to buy expensive equipment.I'd certainly be interested to hear more about that, if you happen to know of any specific equipment. Anyway, I hope the original poster didn't mind this slight diversion. Quote Link to comment
AndersB Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 Anyway, I hope the original poster didn't mind this slight diversion. Definitely not. On the contrary, I find this quite interesting. I have ~95% on my HD channels while having high 80s on the SD channels but I am still having a lot of dropped packets on the HD channels showing in transedit. Could it be that I need to lower it as you mention around 50% for best reception on certain channels? /Anders Quote Link to comment
Derrick Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Please add a support.zip. Which satellite/transponder? Quote Link to comment
RichardWhite Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Definitely not. On the contrary, I find this quite interesting. I have ~95% on my HD channels while having high 80s on the SD channels but I am still having a lot of dropped packets on the HD channels showing in transedit. Could it be that I need to lower it as you mention around 50% for best reception on certain channels?I certainly wouldn't say 50% is any kind of a magic number, but for me personally, that worked for quite a few channels, and I'm barely able to tune channels with anything over 75%, which is why I thought those particular readings were a bit misleading, since you'd assume that higher = better. Anyway, like Derrick said, try posting a support.zip. If you're still not able to sort the problem, though, it certainly couldn't hurt to try out a variable attenuator. They're dirt cheap, and that way you can gradually lower the signal in increments as you monitor the readings, and see if it has any effect on your problem. Quote Link to comment
CX23882-19 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) In the current version of DVBViewer Pro, does this meter give the BDA Strength or BDA Quality? I believe that old versions gave Signal Strength, which is fine for some cards, but a lot of them give inaccurate strength readings and furthermore not as a percentage. Signal strength I've seen based on various things, but often it's based upon the gain level of the tuner. I've seen some good estimates and some piss-poor estimates, but it comes down to the quality of the TV card driver. This is almost always an estimate because there is no way to give an absolute value. Signal Quality is fairly standardised (except for certain Hauppauge DVB-S cards which give a fixed value of 94% regardless) Signal Quality is usually a function of the Bit Error Rate (BER), and usually post-Viterbi error correction. Signal Quality is accurate because you could argue that 100% is perfect (no errors per 'whatever' bits) and 0% is complete errors per sample, with various values in between. What you shouldn't do is compare readings between different cards, because they may all measure things differently. I've seen one card which based Quality on the pre-Viterbi BER reading, and this will give very different results to post-Viterbi unless the manufacturer has taken into account that the error rate will be higher (and often they just read the status from the demod's registers). Generally if Quality is over 80%, you're okay. Over 60% you may be okay. Any less than that and I would be looking at how I can improve reception. Edited July 23, 2009 by CX23882-19 Quote Link to comment
AndersB Posted July 26, 2009 Author Share Posted July 26, 2009 Please add a support.zip. Which satellite/transponder? Thor 5, TP 16 support.zip Quote Link to comment
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