Help with a Skystar S2

[uglyned]

Hi,

 

I'm having a few problems with a Skystar 2 HD DVB-S2 card in Windows 7 32-bit.

 

At first I downloaded a set of drivers myself from Technisat - v4.6.0.9999 but they were terrible. Windows detected the card OK (before drivers Windows thought it was a network card). Transedit could scan transponders and find channels but couldn't view them - massive number of errors.

 

I removed them and installed the version that Windows recommended I download - 4.5.0

 

These are much better but not perfect. Even with recording service resetting the card after resume, it doesn't want to work sometimes. If I scan a transponder in Transedit sometimes it works and other times I just get a red blob like either the card can't find anything or Transedit can't find the card. Sometimes that happens or other times the card wakes up and scans the transponder.

 

Can anyone help? Are there some better drivers out there?

 

Thank you

[Griga]

Skystar 2 HD DVB-S2 card

When it comes to TechniSat, you have to be very precise with the name, because it's more than confusing...

 

SkyStar 2 (no DVB-S2 card, preferably use the WDM / Network / NDIS driver, requires installation of the whole TechniSat software)

 

SkyStar S2 (a DVB-S2 SkyStar 2, see above, BDA driver is not suitable for DVB-S2 due to bandwidth limitations, requires hardware PID filtering that is only supported by the WDM driver).

 

SkyStar HD (a relabeled TechnoTrend S2-3200, up-to-date BDA driver)

 

SkyStar HD 2 (a relabeled Azurewave card, up-to-date BDA driver from TechniSat).

[uglyned]

Thanks Griga. It appears to be a Skystar S2. So I need to install all of the software instead of picking out the BDA drivers?

[Griga]

So I need to install all of the software instead of picking out the BDA drivers?

Yes. After installation it is recommendable to remove the data application (Server4PC) from the auto start. It is only required for internet via satellite.

 

AFAIK using the SkyStar S2 with WDM driver in DVBViewer Pro/GE only requires the following files in program files\TechniSat DVB\bin:

 

- Sky2PCAVSrc.ax: DirectShow source filter, must be registered in your system!

 

- skydll.dll

 

The other stuff (including DVBViewer TE) can be removed.

[uglyned]

Thanks again.

 

I've done the software installation and rebooted but not removed any files or software yet.

 

But now I have a weird problem.

 

The device is identified properly in devie manager as a Skystar 2 PCI. Transedit did a rescan and found it. It seems to work consistently well in Transedit now.

 

However, recording service and DVBViewer can't see the card at all when I do a hardware scan.

 

In device manager, although it is now detected with the correct name, it is still grouped under network devices.

[Griga]

it is still grouped under network devices.

It is a network device, believe it or not

 

However, recording service and DVBViewer can't see the card at all when I do a hardware scan.

Reboot and try again. Here it works with DVBViewer Pro (I also have a SkyStar S2).

[uglyned]

I tried a reboot and that had no effect so I shut down and hard powered off then restarted.

 

Now Transedit can't open the device, although it does detect that it's still there. I don't know what to try now...

[Griga]

P.S. ...and disable energy saving for the device (auto-switch off) in the device manager.

[Griga]

I removed them and installed the version that Windows recommended

...and make sure that Windows doesn't re-install the BDA driver behind your back. It should not be listed under Audio/Video/Game Controllers anymore, or with other words, the BDA driver should not be installed.

 

It's running with WDM driver 4.5.1 under XP here.

[uglyned]

Thanks. I'm using WDM driver 4.5.1 under Windows 7 32 bit but it doesn't like it.

 

Now I can't open the card in Transedit, although it does detect it. DVBViewer and Recording service don't detect the card.

 

The site I got the drivers from (dvbskystar or something - not an official site I don't think) said it was Windows 7 compatible.

 

Turned power management off too.

[Griga]

I'm using WDM driver 4.5.1 under Windows 7 32 bit

Maybe Window 7 requires driver and software 4.6 (the latest from the TechniSat site)? The 4.5.1 has been released in November 2009

 

Please note: WDM driver and software version must always match.

[uglyned]

Have downloaded and installed 4.6 now. I had it anyway as I'd tried it first for the BDA driver when I first got the card, but that went badly.

 

It's really weird.

 

Install software and driver, reboot when asked. When Windows starts everything seems fine - Transedit detects the card, can scan and preview channels fine.

 

Then I quit the ServerPC app from the system tray,

 

Then Transedit can't see the card any more.

 

So I restart the ServerPC app but this time everything is red - it can't see anything. And Transedit still can't use the card.

 

At no point can DVBViewer or Recording Service see the device.

 

Thank you for all your time on this.

[Griga]

At no point can DVBViewer or Recording Service see the device.

Maybe Sky2PCAVSrc.ax is not properly registered in your system. Check it with the RadLight Filter Manager (the filter should show up in the DirectShow section as B2C2 MPEG2 source). If not, try to register it with the RFM (requires admin rights).

 

AFAIK DVBViewer Pro uses the Sky2PCAVSrc.ax registry entries for retrieving the SkyDLL path, and then uses the SkyDLL.dll to detect and identify the card.

 

Lately I've changed the code in TransEdit so that it directly tries to find the SkyDLL.dll in Program Files\TechniSat DVB\bin if reading the Sky2PCAVSrc.ax registry entries fails. Maybe that makes the difference...

[uglyned]

Thanks I'll look at this but also I need to sort out the drivers as I'm guessing that if Transedit can't activate the card then Recording service won't be able to either.

[Griga]

I'm guessing that if Transedit can't activate the card then Recording service won't be able to either.

Both are using Sky2PCAVSrc.ax for initializing the card! So if it is not registered properly, activation may fail.

[uglyned]

I have progress - thank you again Griga!

 

I followed your Filter Manager instructions. Tbe .ax file was not registered so I registered it - found it in the Technisat folder in Program Files.

 

Things are looking better, so far no errors, even after I quit that Server program in the system tray.

 

Will keep testing and post back - but looks like good news.

 

Using 4.6.

[majstang]

Seems this card is the buy of the year...very easy to get working

[uglyned]

Ha - good point. I have worked in IT for 15 years, tried every Google search I could think of and could not get this card working.

 

However, what Me, Google and the card may lack, the excellent DVBViewer support and forum made up for. It's now working flawlessly, without the Technisat software running, after reboot and after resume from sleep.

 

And to be fair I bought it because it was a cheap DVB-S2 card, not because it was the best one.

 

Thank you again. It was the registering of the ax file that made the difference - in Transedit and in the Recording Service.

[Griga]

It was the registering of the ax file that made the difference - in Transedit and in the Recording Service.

Fine It's obviously the installer's fault. It couldn't register the file (most likely due to missing access rights), and it didn't tell you...

 

I'm using these SkyStar 2/S2 cards now for 9 years - enough time to become acquainted with all their flaws... make sure that "open whole transponder" is always unticked, so that hardware PID filtering takes effect.

[majstang]

I'm using these SkyStar 2/S2 cards now for 9 years - enough time to become acquainted with all their flaws... make sure that "open whole transponder" is always unticked, so that hardware PID filtering takes effect.

Yes, but I have never seen such an akward and complicated product to come to terms with and usually this should mean commercial death, but apparently this product has survived and must have some other benefit unbelievable enough.

[uglyned]

Now it works, it's a very fast tuner - much faster than my other dvb-s2 tuner, the Hauppauge Nova s2.

 

It's low profile too, and almost half the price - Hauppauge card is still around £90 and I got the Skystar for £50 from Amazon.

 

Now Channel 4HD is going DVB-S2 and free, I need S2 cards.

[Griga]

but I have never seen such an akward and complicated product

That's not the normal case. Don't make generalisations without really understanding what happened and why it happened. It's a major mistake that I see over and over again in this forum: Users adhering to the first simple assumption they can find, similar to "all Italians are Mafiosi" after having read something about the Mafia. Mostly it's misleading.

 

it's a very fast tuner

It is, and the auto-detection capabilities are excellent. Flag a DVB-S2 transponder as DVB-S, or set the DVB-S2 modulation to a wrong value - the SkyStar S2 doesn't care. Which means on the other side, the SkyStar S2 isn't good for creating channel / transponder lists with correct parameters (in contrast to the Hauppauge Nova S2!), because you don't get feedback if something is wrong. Typically channel lists created by SkyStar S2 owners are not usable for other cards.