TBSViewer doesn't find QBox II [RESOLVED] or position dish

[jw300]

I have been setting up a new tuner on a 64-bit Windows PC but had considerable problems with the supplied software. Can anyone offer any advice on possible fixes?

TBSViewer version (1.0.2.133) dated 19 Nov 2010 did not find the tuner. The Options - Hardware "Devices" box was empty. It wouldn't even see a DVB-T stick. The earlier version dated 20100921 sees both tuners, so I'm assuming this is not a driver/hardware problem. Unfortunately, as the CD notes advise, this version does not support hardware acceleration, so does not perform well enough to use.

The working version of TBSViewer would not position my dish motor. It did not seem to be passing DiSEqC commands at all. ProgDVB was the same.

DVBDream's latest version (1.5e) does operate the motor from the channel selection panel, with USALS enabled, so the QBox II hardware and drivers are working for that program. Operation through the Options-Positioner utility (Ctrl-F2) is more hit-and-miss, with frequent program crashes, though that may be more a problem for the developers.

Is there any chance of finding fixes for TBSViewer? If not, I may have to purchase the DVBDream software, despite its instability.

[cody]

have you tried with:

http://www.tbsdtv.com/download/common/TBSviewer_v20110112.rar

it's the latest version.

[jw300]

The latest version does find the Q-Box II, and plays well enough except for certain HD channels with AC3 audio, but a filter upgrade cured that (for WMC as well).

I'm quite liking the TBS Viewer software for viewing, but am still struggling to operate the DiSEqC motor. I can see parameters in Channelscan for both stored position (Goto n) and angular position (though it's not clear if it uses an algorithm like USALS), but these don't seem to be stored anywhere for use outside the scan - there isn't a "satellites" file in the storage directory. In any case, entering either parameter has no effect on dish position during the scan. Is there any documentation on this software?

Besides the rather unstable DVB Dream, I have found only one other program that will operate the motor - DVBLogic's "DVBLink TVSource", which must be used with Windows MC and does not always work first time when changing satellites. I spent a lot of time trying to get ProgDVB to work, but did not succeed. There's no trial version of DVBViewer, but the suggested Transedit MMC tool did not work with the motor, suggesting there would be problems with the main product.

From extensive forum reading, I learned that DISEqC controls are not fully supported through BDA, and each manufacturer may have different implementation for some commands. A program may only work if it has been modified to operate with specific hardware. Does TBS have a list of applications which have been tested with DiSEqC? Would that list include its own TBS Viewer?

[cody]

for ProgDVB and DVBDream we provide device modules on the installation CD and they should work. instability of DVBDream is one of the disadvantages of the application, but ProgDVB should work. we work closely with DVBLogic for providing support in their application of TBS hardware and that's why it also works. TBSViewer is based on DVBViewer - it's highly optimized OEM version of DVBViewer and at least based on your tests and report it seems the core of DVBViewer has some problems to operate DiSEqC motor Q-box S2. other than that there are other third-party application that i know include DiSEqC support for TBS hardware like Mediaportal. anyway, what i can suggest is to try AltDVB 2.2 - it's very light-weighted and thus stable application that was revived with recently released BDA device module for it that includes support for TBS hardware:

http://code.google.com/p/altbda2

also, that module is fully open-source and together with TBS SDK:

http://www.tbsdtv.com/download/common/TBSDTV-SDK(1007).rar

it will be possible to be fixed in case of troubles even from a third-party software developer.

[jw300]

Thanks for that info - I'm sure it will help anyone else looking for a solution. Media Portal looked promising until I read in a support forum that it could only support DISEqC switching and there were no plans to implement positioning. [I've since read in their documentation that it supports DiSeQC positioning on a "QBox-S2", so 'll give it another try.] There seems no point in taking a chance on buying DVBViewer if it uses the same interface as TBS Viewer.

I've now had a chance to try AltDVB 2.2. It is indeed light, and quick to use, but the main benefit is that it moved the dish once I'd added the later (BDA2) driver. It looks a very useful tool for channel searching, but its age shows when it comes to picture quality. When I specified the same filters as TBSViewer, PQ on SD was not good and a lot of frames were being dropped from HD streams. I could download and try a lot of different codecs, but the lack of current support makes me I wonder if it'll be worthwhile. It might be OK for recording - I haven't tried that yet.

SmartDVB seems a more up to date option, with version 0.2 just released. It moves the dish OK when configured as a "Prof7500" (which I believe is very similar to the QBox), picture quality is good on HD and it doesn't crash quite as often as the others. The regular crashes common to all the software makes me wonder whether the hardware drivers are at fault. Often, the processes can't be stopped through Windows Task Manager, and a re-boot is needed to regain use of the tuner.

[cody]

just to tell you that AltDVB is very capable application, no matter that there is no support anymore for it and you can achieve the same video/audio quality in AltDVB as any other application with using custom build graphs with GraphEdit - that could sound very cryptic for you at this moment, but it's actually very easy. i don't want to go out-of-topic, but if you're interested you can google how to build custom graphs with GraphEdit for AltDVB or in case of questions/troubles, you can ask here. also, AltDVB recording is very handy.

[jw300]

Yes. I already had to learn how to use GraphEdit just to get AltDVB to work, as I didn't have any of the codecs in its out-of-date list. I struggled at first as it wouldn't let me read any existing graph files, not having the relevant codecs. Why can't it just work off-line and give a warning?

I finally built a graph using the same filters as I'd been using in other apps (MS DVD-DTV for video, AC3filter for audio) but AltDVB didn't offer EVR as a video render option, so may not have been able to take advantage of it. That said, VMR9 wasn't any better - both showed vertical striping (on a 1920x1080 HDTV), and of course HD frame loss was a show-stopper. It definitely looked a useful tool for the box, so If you have a suggestion for successful video rendering, I'll give it another try. The problem is it's a low-powered PC which relies on hardware graphics acceleration (Intel ION).

SmartDVB seems the best I've used so far for ease of set-up, though maybe not as feature rich as others.

Recording is a challenge I've put off for now. Getting the PC to wake, run the application (if necessary), position the dish, lock tune and stream to file, then go into standby might not be simple. I've found that some apps will not always tune on the first "click" needing a change of satellite. I may need an app that lets me delay tuning after a move.

[crazycat]

can anybody test latest BDA2-module v0.2.0.9 for AltDVB 2.2 with any TBS QBoxs or ODM like Prof 1100, MatchBoxPro?
http://code.google.com/p/altbda2/downloads

i think specific support (DiSEqC 1.x, LNB power control) for this devices now fixed.

[cody]

can anybody test latest BDA2-module v0.2.0.9 for AltDVB 2.2 with any TBS QBoxs ... i think specific support (DiSEqC 1.x, LNB power control) for this devices now fixed.

i will check it - i tested before with older version of the BDA2-module and more or less it was working good with some minor problems - sometimes LNB power shuts down when it's not expected. i hope you know we have SDK here:

http://www.tbsdtv.com/download/common/TBSDTV-SDK(1007).rar

that can give some clues and thank you for your work on the BDA2-module.

[cody]

can anybody test latest BDA2-module v0.2.0.9 for AltDVB 2.2 with any TBS QBoxs ... i think specific support (DiSEqC 1.x, LNB power control) for this devices now fixed.

i will check it - i tested before with older version of the BDA2-module and more or less it was working good with some minor problems - sometimes LNB power shuts down when it's not expected. i hope you know we have SDK here:

http://www.tbsdtv.com/download/common/TBSDTV-SDK(1007).rar

that can give some clues and thank you for your work on the BDA2-module.

@jw300

maybe, the problem is "MS DVD-DTV for video" video codec - at least i haven't ever tried it.