DiSEqC selection, Extended mode problem

[GeofP]

I am not able to control my positioner using the Extended mode in Transedit and DVBViewer Diseqc.

 

My LNB feed route is as follows:

 

• 
   
  
• Receiver ==> Diseqc switch ==> Positioner ==> LNB
  

Using Transedit, I can set the Diseqc switch using PosA/OptB mode.

Once the switch is set, I can control the positioner using the Angular Position mode.

However, if I combine the commands in the Extended mode, the dish does not move.

 

I checked the signal between switch and positioner using an oscilloscope and observed the following with these commands in the Extended mode:

 

• 
   
  
• Switch Committed followed by Positioner Angular – only the switch command is sent.
  
• Switch Committed followed by Switch Committed - only the first switch command is sent.
  
• Positioner Angular followed by Switch Committed - both commands are sent
  
• Positioner Angular followed by Positioner Angular - both commands are sent
  
• Switch Uncommitted followed by Positioner Angular – both commands are sent
  

It seems that once a "Switch Committed" command (Unchanged or Updated) is sent, no other command can follow.

 

I don't think I have misinterpreted the oscillicope readings and hope someone can confirm my findings and perhaps provide a fix!

 

Of interest, I also note that the Positioner Console is not active unless the Diseqc mode is set to None. Is this intentional?

 

Receiver card: Terratec Cinergy S2 PCI HD, driver 1.01.01.901 (also tried 1.01.02.101 Beta)

Transedit 3.5.4

DVBViewer 4.2.1

Windows XP SP3, Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4GHz

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT driver 6.14.11.9107[/font][/font]

 

Regards... Geof

support.zip

[Griga]

It seems that once a "Switch Committed" command (Unchanged or Updated) is sent, no other command can follow.

Unfortunately the drivers for relabeled Twinhan/AzureWave cards (like Cinergy S2) are known for bad DiSEqC handling. Maybe the driver blocks other DiSEqC commands right after having received a committed command, don't ask me why... in the past there were some self-opinionated attempts of the driver developers to manage DiSEqC (instead of leaving it to the application), all of them more or less off the mark and without real knowledge of the actual requirements.

 

Anyway... have you already tried a delay (let's say 1000 ms) between the committed and the angular position command in extended mode? Does it do something?

 

Of interest, I also note that the Positioner Console is not active unless the Diseqc mode is set to None. Is this intentional?

No. Please describe step by step what you're doing and clarify what you mean by "not active".

[GeofP]

The Positioner commend is not sent even with 9,000ms delay between Switch Committed and Position Angular.

 

By “not active”, I mean when I click on the buttons in Positioner Console, the computer issues a beep and Diseqc commands are not sent to the Positioner.

 

After some experiments, I have found the following:

 

If the Extended Mode stored for a particular angular position contains both a Switch Committed and Positioner command, the Positioner Console is “not active” ie, it beeps when pressing Go To Angular Position and other buttons.

 

The same occurs even if the Diseqc mode for that angular position is not set to Extended, i.e. is set to None.

 

My observation in the previous post, where I said the problem was not there if Diseqc set to None, was because I had selected another satellite position that had nothing programmed in the Extended Mode. When I changed this to include both a Switch Committed and Positioner command, then set the mode to None, the Positioner Console was “not active” for that angular position.

 

Hope this gives you a lead to a solution for the problem!

 

Geof

[Griga]

By “not active”, I mean when I click on the buttons in Positioner Console, the computer issues a beep and Diseqc commands are not sent to the Positioner.

There are two possible reasons for that beep:

 

- The latitude is invalid, so calculating the motor angle fails (the absolute latitude value must be in the range of 0 < |latitude| < 90°).

 

- The call passing the DiSEqC command to the driver returns with an error code.

 

I can't reproduce it here with TransEdit and a Hauppauge Nova S2 HD. I have no motorized dish, but I can let the positioner console send the command sequence (committed -> delay -> angular position), and I get no beep.

 

Did you pay attention to the hints in the manual?

 

P.S. Maybe reading this topic will help. The TechniSat SkyStar HD2 is another relabeled AzureWave card...

[GeofP]

Thanks for your reply. I have been working on this on/off for a few weeks so know the requirements from the manual reasonably well. It is interesting to see the correspondence about drivers of similar cards. The driver which came with the Terratech Cinergy S2 PCI HD did not work with the Positioner, but the later drivers did.

 

The Diseqc function of the card driver definitely works, since using the Switch command and Angular Position command I can control the Switch and Positioner. I am surprised that the Extended Mode has any influence on the card driver. After all, this is internal to TransEdit and only passes single commands to the card driver.

 

Since I can do without the Positioner Console, I decided to ignore this problem (the beep) and re-wire my set up to put the switch after the Positioner, since I know Extended Mode in TransEdit works OK with commands in this sequence.

 

Receiver ==> Positioner ==> Diseqc switch ==> LNB

 

Putting Positioner Angular followed by Switch Committed in Extended Mode works fine in TransEdit.

 

However, when I tried the same in DVBViewer, Extended Mode will not work. Storing the Switch command or the Positioner command in Diseqc for a satellite works fine. Storing the Extended Mode in Diseqc will not work with Positioner followed by Switch, or even with just a Switch command on its own. Also, when using Extended Mode, a previously enable Switch disconnects, so perhaps the command drops the LNB voltage?

 

So, using the Diseqc Extended Mode works (under certain conditions) in TransEdit but not in DVBViewer. I would have thought this was due to the way TransEdit/DVBViewer passes information to the card driver - and it must be doing it in different ways in each program. Perhaps this is another clue to the problem.