Problem tuning to a certain transponder

[mash]

Hello, im trying my new sundtek device with tvheadend server running on fedora 14 linux.
Everything is well except when trying to tune to a certain transponder. The transponder im trying to tune to is on the Thor 6 sattelite (0,8W, 10934.00 H, its contains dvb-s2 channels for the swedish network telenor.
Using tvheadend and only letting it "idle scan" trough transponders it sometimes picks up the transponder and is able to get the services from it, however mapping these services is a no go since it only seems to be able to tune to the transponder once in a while, i onde was able to watch the channels too but now when im trying i get nothing.
I got some concearns that it might be a signal quality problem on my end but i got no STB to check the signal and no idea how to use the USB-Tuner to monitor the signal from linux. Any help is appriciated as to how i would go about solving this problem, for example, how would i check the signal on this one transponder?
It might be worth mentioning that using w_scan i get a "no signal" when scanning the transponder in question.

[Sundtek]

You can check the frequency manually by running following command (this is just an example):

/opt/bin/mediaclient -m DVBS2 -f 11347000 -M PSK8 -S 22000000 -V V -E 2/3 -d /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0

-m DVBS2 .. for dvbs2
-f frequency
-M Modulation
-S Symbolrate
-V H(orizontal) or V(ertical)
-E FEC
-d device

To see the signal statistics you can run:

/opt/bin/mediaclient --readsignal=0 -d /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0

You can open 2 terminals and run the commands at the same time.

No signal doesn't mean that it's not there, on Astra one and the same frequency is referenced with different transponder parameters in the NIT table of some transponders.

readsignal=0 -- read infinite (abort with ctrl-c)

[mash]

Ok this stuff is damn confusing me, i do this:

/opt/bin/mediaclient -m DVBS2 -f 10934000 -M PSK8 -S 25000000 -V H -E 3/4 -d /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Using device: /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Setting DVB-S/S2 tune Parameters
using HI/LO Band frequency: 10934000
Modulation: PSK8 (DVB-S2)
Symbolrate: 25000000
Voltage: 18 Volt (Horizontal)
FEC: 3/4
Tone OFF
Frequency: 1184000
Syntax OK
Checking for lock:
. [LOCKED]

So far everything is fine, it changes the frequency to 1184000 for some reason but according to http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-thor6.php the frequency is 1093400, anyway thats not the main issue, its locked and i do this

/opt/bin/mediaclient --readsignal=0 -d /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0

and get this:

SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:  42254 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:  12724 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:  27152 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:  41580 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:  56039 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:   4963 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:  33851 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:  33851 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF
SIGNAL: [..............................   ] ( 92%)  BER:      0 FREQ: 1184000    Hz LOCKED: YES SYS: DVB-S2 SYM: 25                                                                             000000 FEC: FEC_3_4 MOD: PSK_8 VOLTAGE: H(18V) TONE: OFF

Ok so the signal is fine, to see if its the right transponder i do this:

/opt/bin/mediaclient --tsscan=/dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0

which results in it returning the channels im trying to get:

CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
CAT:
CA system: 0b00
PMT PID: 0x0101
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More First HD
    --> 0x0201 (27)
    --> 0x0284 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
    --> 0x0285 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025c (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025d (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025e (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025f (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
PMT PID: 0x0102
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Sport HD
    --> 0x0202 (27)
    --> 0x0288 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
PMT PID: 0x0105
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Hits HD
    --> 0x0205 (27)
    --> 0x0294 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
    --> 0x0295 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0258 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0259 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025a (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025b (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
PMT PID: 0x0104
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Live HD
PMT PID: 0x0108
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More First HD
    --> 0x0201 (27)
    --> 0x0284 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
    --> 0x0285 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025c (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025d (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025e (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025f (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
PMT PID: 0x010b
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Sport HD
    --> 0x0202 (27)
    --> 0x0288 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
PMT PID: 0x010a
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Hits HD
    --> 0x0205 (27)
    --> 0x0294 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
    --> 0x0295 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0258 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0259 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025a (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x025b (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
PMT PID: 0x0109
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Live HD
PMT PID: 0x0103
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: TV4 HD
    --> 0x0200 (27)
    --> 0x0280 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0240 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
PMT PID: 0x0107
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: TV4 HD
    --> 0x0200 (27)
    --> 0x0280 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0240 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
PMT PID: 0x0100
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: CANAL9 HD (D)
    --> 0x0203 (27)
    --> 0x028c (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
PMT PID: 0x010f
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: CANAL9 HD (D)
    --> 0x0203 (27)
    --> 0x028c (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
PMT PID: 0x0106
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Series HD
    --> 0x0206 (27)
    --> 0x0298 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
    --> 0x0299 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0260 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0261 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0262 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0263 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
PMT PID: 0x0110
  Encrypted: Yes
  Service running: Yes
  Provider Name: Telenor
  Service Name: C More Series HD
    --> 0x0206 (27)
    --> 0x0298 (ISO/IEC 13818-3 Audio)
    --> 0x0299 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0260 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0261 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0262 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
    --> 0x0263 (ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 PES packets containing private data)
Total found: 14 PMTs (incl. unknown 0x0000)
Scan finished after 160 packets (30080 bytes)

Ok everything seems fine, however, when starting tvheadend and adding the mux 1934000 etc, it sometimes scans the frequency fine, if i do it fast enough, if i wait a minute or two it wont be able to get a signal from it, and even if its able to scan the transponder it fails at mapping the channels. Ok so i exit tvheadend and i try to do the same procedure again with

/opt/bin/mediaclient -m DVBS2 -f 10934000 -M PSK8 -S 25000000 -V H -E 3/4 -d /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0

etc, but now it fails to lock, and i get no signal from it!

Ok so what i do now is wait, and if i wait a few minutes after stopping tvheadend, everything is fine again, its able to lock on to the transponder, the signal is fine and so on..
It seems like everytime tvheadend is using the tuner it wont work with this frequency/transponder, almost every other transponder is fine but this is not and this damn transponder contains alot of the channels i originally bought this tuner to watch...

I hope all of this made any sense and that you're able to look into my problem :/

[Sundtek]

ah well you need to add "--band UNIVERSAL" to the readsignal command in order to get the correct transponder frequency, without that parameter you get the frequency on the cable, but still everything's fine as it seems. I think you can also manually add transponders in tvheadend, so you should look for that in the transponder configuration setting.

Aside of that you can also run that command while tvheadend is running.

Also check if another application is running in the background and changing the frequency.

/opt/bin/mediaclient --lc

If you have a diseqc switch you also need to take care about it.

Also try to use +/-1-3 Mhz Offsets

[mash]

ah well you need to add "--band UNIVERSAL" to the readsignal command in order to get the correct transponder frequency, without that parameter you get the frequency on the cable, but still everything's fine as it seems. I think you can also manually add transponders in tvheadend, so you should look for that in the transponder configuration setting.

Aside of that you can also run that command while tvheadend is running.

Also check if another application is running in the background and changing the frequency.

/opt/bin/mediaclient --lc

If you have a diseqc switch you also need to take care about it.

Hello and thanks for the feedback, i kept messing around with my problem last night and noticed something i didnt think about earlier, and its about the diseqc, i have a simple diseqc-switch with A and B ports but i noticed when using the builtin scan of the sundtek adapter how it worked even tho i didnt supply it with the proper switch-port where my thor LNB is connected (i didnt supply it with anything of the sort as per above posts).
So what i did was do 2 w_scan, one supplying w_scan with the -D0c flag to tell it which diseqc-port to use and one without -D0c, it turned out that using w_scan with no flag it managed to scan the transponder correctly while using the flag turned out in the same failure as with tvheadend, great news!

Ok to try this out i just opened tvheadend again and removed the sattelite-conf for my LNB 0 and just kept the other one (LNB 1 which is for the Astra 4,8 sattelite). I then removed all my muxes, manually added my problem-transponder and it scanned it perfectly, i went on adding all the other muxes, and everything scanned good. Once it was done i tried to map everything and that also worked out well.

My final test today when i got the time is to try watching and zapping trough the channels inside of XBMC to see if everything is works the way i want it to but i have very good hopes of it doing so.

So i HOPE (and believe) that my problem is solved by doing this.

Thanks for fast replies and good support!

EDIT: Yep seems to be working fine, i wonder how the diseqc only messed up that certain transponder, anyway, problem solved as far as im concearned!

[mash]

Ok it seems to not work very well, after i start tvheadend it works ok for a while but then stops working, then if i restart tvheadend it works again for a while, this is really frustrating...
Is there anything i can do to debug using the tuner software/driver? the tvheadend log really dont give much or maby im not able to find the right log..
The problem isnt only with a certain transponder but like 3-4 transponders, and not only dvb-s2 but also some dvb-s, damnit!

[Sundtek]

Maybe your LNB is faulty/inaccurate and needs some offsets when tuning to a certain transponder after some time?
Or some other device interferes? We do not get that kind of issues from other customers.


You can send diseqc commands the following way:
/opt/bin/mediaclient -d /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 --diseqc="E0 10 38 F0"


/opt/bin/mediaclient -m DVBS2 -f 10934000 -M PSK8 -S 25000000 -V H -E 3/4 -d /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0

as mentioned before try to add/decrease +/- 1-3 mhz eg. 10935000/10933000/etc.