DVB-S2 channels freezing

[mansoniac]

Hello,

 

Not sure if i post in the right subforum here. Please move if necessary.

I´m Using DVBViewer Demo with DVBSky S960 USB-DVB-S2 Receiver in an unicable Setup.

DVBViewer found a gazillion of channels, and i can succesfully watch every channel. Also Signal quality is usually around 80%.

After a few seconds to maybe 2 minutes, every time each channel freezes. It does not recover.

I need to retune to watch further.

I have 2 of the S960-Boxes and also tried two Power adaptors. Problem persists. I read a lot users here use these boxes without problems?

I don´t have these problems using TV built in tuner.

Thank you for help.

Now i´m testing with DVBViewer Demo, but I really would like to use DVBViewer pro, since it seems it´s the only PVR Software that can handle my unicable Setup.

This Tuner comes with a tool called "UnicableTool", where you can set unicable parameters for the Driver itself, but somehow this doesn´t work.

 

support.zip

[Griga]

FIrst of all I'd recommend to install suitable decoders, because the Microsoft decoders included in Windows don't cover all video/audio formats that are used by DVB channels and may not  work reliably under certain circumstances. Please install the LAV Filters, that have proved to be the best choice for DVBViewer. Use the installer an consider that DVBViewer as 32 bit application requires the 32 bit version. However, additionally installing the 64 bit version is ok.

 

51 minutes ago, mansoniac said:

After a few seconds to maybe 2 minutes, every time each channel freezes. It does not recover.

I need to retune to watch further.

 

How does it freeze? Video and audio simply stop? Does the signal quality drop to 0?

 

Please also watch what is displayed on the DVBViewer Filter Property Page. What happens when the channel freezes? Any error messages? Does the number of queued video/audio buffers drop to 0? Does the continuous update of the PCR and Video/Audio PTS (Presentation Time Stamps) stop in Graph and DVB display mode?

 

Where does your DVBSky box get the signal from? Is it connected to a simple Unicable LNB, or to communal Unicable equipment?

 

[mansoniac]

vor einer Stunde schrieb Griga:

How does it freeze? Video and audio simply stop? Does the signal quality drop to 0?

Yes, audio stops first, then a few ms later video stops. Signal quality goes down, not to 0 but to somewhat around 5%, according to status bar.

 

vor einer Stunde schrieb Griga:

Where does your DVBSky box get the signal from? Is it connected to a simple Unicable LNB, or to communal Unicable equipment?

it´s connected to a axing SES-556-09, which is connected to a standard Quad-LNB. This multiswitch is cascadable, but i´m on first position.

 

vor 1 Stunde schrieb Griga:

Please also watch what is displayed on the DVBViewer Filter Property Page. What happens when the channel freezes? Any error messages? Does the number of queued video/audio buffers drop to 0? Does the continuous update of the PCR and Video/Audio PTS (Presentation Time Stamps) stop in Graph and DVB display mode?

I will check in detail this later when i´m back from work. But i already looked at this property page. No errors, no discontinuities.

[mansoniac]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb Griga:

FIrst of all I'd recommend to install suitable decoders, because the Microsoft decoders included in Windows don't cover all video/audio formats that are used by DVB channels and may not  work reliably under certain circumstances. Please install the LAV Filters, that have proved to be the best choice for DVBViewer. Use the installer an consider that DVBViewer as 32 bit application requires the 32 bit version. However, additionally installing the 64 bit version is ok.

Did install them yesterday (after creating support.zip). I set every filter possible to the LAV-filters but: this didn´t help my case.

[mansoniac]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb mansoniac:

What happens when the channel freezes? Any error messages

Sometimes I get "graph too late" 

[mansoniac]

vor 6 Stunden schrieb Griga:

Does the number of queued video/audio buffers drop to 0? Does the continuous update of the PCR and Video/Audio PTS (Presentation Time Stamps) stop in Graph and DVB display mode?

Yes, drop to 0 and and video/audio pts updates stop. 

[Griga]

1 hour ago, mansoniac said:

Yes, drop to 0 and and video/audio pts updates stop. 

 

This means, DVBViewer gets no data anymore from the driver.

 

5 hours ago, mansoniac said:

Signal quality goes down, not to 0 but to somewhat around 5%, according to status bar.

 

Same here if I tune a frequency without signal with my DVBSky S960C.

 

It smells like signal loss, and comes down to the question, where and why the signal gets lost after some time.

 

8 hours ago, mansoniac said:

I have 2 of the S960-Boxes

 

Same behaviour with both? This would shift suspicion to the Unicable system. What about the user bands that are not used by the S960? Are they all assigned to you or to other people/flats?

 

[mansoniac]

vor 14 Stunden schrieb Griga:

Same behaviour with both? This would shift suspicion to the Unicable system. What about the user bands that are not used by the S960? Are they all assigned to you or to other people/flats?

yes, i bought 2 boxes and also tried 2 different power supplies. Same misbehaviour. If it´s the boxes/driver...why no one else here (on this forum) has problems with these? With a regular TV tuner there´s no problem, so i guess data from multiswitch is stable. The user bands that are not in use are routed to other Sat outlets in my appartment, so i would know if someone interferes. Also right now it´s the only outlet connected. These multiswitches are cascaded, thus everyone of the 4 appartments in this house is connected to it´s own switch and every appartment has up to 6 available user bands independant from other appartment.

By the way: Thank you very much for helping.

[Griga]

Looks like there is some instability, maybe a loose contact, or the SES-556-09 and the S90 don't fit for some reason... has the SES-556-09 an own power supply? How is the S960 connected to it? Via a wall antenna socket? If yes, which one?

 

Anyway, in DVBViewer only the symptoms of the signal loss become apparent, but they don't reveal why and where it happens. Finding the reason for it without suitable measurement equipment comes down to blind guessing.

 

A cheap satellite finder like this one, connected between the antenna cable and the S960 antenna input may be useful to monitor at least the most important parameters:

• the LNB voltage delivered by the S960. In an Unicable installation it should be 13/14 V throughout, except while a DiSEqC channel change command is sent to the Unicable SCR (Satellite Channel Router), that requires 18V.
• the incoming signal (if there is any or not).

 

[mansoniac]

Good morning,

 

yes the multi-switch is powered with it´s own power suppy, thus feeding the LNB.

The S960 is connected to a wall antenna socket. What do you mean which one? I think it´s quite generic, isn´t it?

i think i will try this cheap satellite finder, but i´m afraid i have to try a different DVB-S2 card...

Anyway thank you a lot for your support.

[Griga]

16 minutes ago, mansoniac said:

The S960 is connected to a wall antenna socket. What do you mean which one? I think it´s quite generic, isn´t it?

 

It isn't. There are special Unicable wall sockets like Kathrein ESU (see "special features") that protect the Unicable system from being disturbed / disabled by (Non-Unicable) receivers that behave badly. For example, if a receiver outputs 18V for more than 400 ms (which would disable Unicable tuning for all other receivers connected to the same SCR), it is disconnected automatically.

 

[mansoniac]

 

vor einer Stunde schrieb Griga:

It isn't. There are special Unicable wall sockets like Kathrein ESU (see "special features") that protect the Unicable system from being disturbed / disabled by (Non-Unicable) receivers that behave badly. For example, if a receiver outputs 18V for more than 400 ms (which would disable Unicable tuning for all other receivers connected to the same SCR), it is disconnected automatically.

I see.

Yes, there must be some sort of magic hidden somewhere, because i have 4 wall sockets in my appartment and the available frequencies (Unicable slots)  are written on the socket with a homemade label, and i found out other frequencies don´t work. So i guess these outlets have some bandpass inside...

I will check what outlet.

[mansoniac]

i checked. The outlet is programmable. it´s axing SSD-6-10.

https://axing.com/produkt/ssd00610/

[mansoniac]

So, just to let you know:

I found the solution to my problem.

it was not a hardware problem.

It was the Media portal TV-server interfering. even when no media portal clients are running.

After uninstalling, DVBViewer works flawlessly.