Problems with TBS8921 card

[dkoscak]

I bought TBS8921 card a month ago and I'm using it in my HTPC which is based on Window 7 64-bit. I use driver 1.0.0.3.

During full scan of Astra 19,2 or Hotbird 13 transponders I get occasional BSODs (Windows blue screens), no metter if it's done from latest DVBDream or Mediaporal which I use as HTPC software. I saw here on the forum that others are getting BSOD's in other situations, so could it be problem with the driver, version (1.0.0.3) is quite fresh ?

Also I'm having problems in Mediaportal when I try to switch from DVB-T channel ran on other manufacturer's card (BGT-3500) to any DVB-S(2) channel on this card. Mediaportal is not able to run graph and obtain signal lock after this switch, so I get 'no signal' error even though there is plenty of signal available. Could it be also some problem with the driver ... ? Using only DVB-S channel works ok, although DVBDream has noticable faster zapping than Mediaportal - is there any special BDA support for this card built-in DVBDream that other programs don't have ? And I get very fast zapping od DVB-T channels in Mediaportal which I would like to see also on this DVB-S card

[cody]

hi, thank you, for reporting back those issues to us - we're looking to improve stability of current 8921 drivers and it's possible the BSODs are caused by them.

while i can't comment much on Mediaportal issue with switching between DVB-T and DVB-S2, because it seems more like something wrong with Mediaportal there is nothing special in DVBDream support of TBS cards, because there is SDK available for our hardware how to implement the support for them in third party application:

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

i hope with next driver release the instability problems will be solved.

[crazycat]

because there is SDK available for our hardware how to implement the support for them in third party application

BlindScan for 8921/6921/QBox3 implemented in driver ? What about info for third party application (KSPROPERTY_BDA_BLIND_SCAN) ?

I implemented functions supporting RFScan (spectrum analyzer) and BLScan (BlindScan) in my StreamReaderEx:

Code: Select All Code

typedef enum POLARIZATION
{
   POL_NONE=-1,
   POL_H=0,      // Horizontal
   POL_V,      // Vertical
   POL_L,      // Circular Left
   POL_R,      // Circular Right
   POL_18V = POL_H,
   POL_13V = POL_V
} POLARIZATION;

// Viterbi rate (DVB-S) indication
typedef enum VITERBIRATE_TYPE
{
   VR_AUTO,            // DVB-S: automtic detection of viterbi rate
   VR_1_2,
   VR_2_3,
   VR_3_4,
   VR_4_5,
   VR_5_6,
   VR_6_7,
   VR_7_8,
   VR_8_9,
   VR_9_10,
   VR_1_4,
   VR_1_3,
   VR_2_5,
   VR_3_5
} VITERBIRATE_TYPE;

// Modulation type
typedef enum MOD_TYPE
{
   MOD_AUTO,         // Automatic detection of modulation type
   MOD_QPSK,         // QPSK (DVB-S)
   MOD_8PSK,         // 8PSK (DVB-S2)
   MOD_16APSK,         // 16APSK (DVB-S2)
   MOD_32APSK,         // 32APSK (DVB-S2)
   MOD_QPSK2,         // QPSK (DVB-S2)
   MOD_QPSK_T,         // Turbo QPSK (DVB-S2)
   MOD_8PSK_T,         // Turbo 8PSK (DVB-S2)
   MOD_16PSK_T,      // Turbo 16PSK (DVB-S2)
   MOD_DSS

} MOD_TYPE;

typedef enum STD_TYPE
{
   STD_AUTO,
   STD_DVBS,
   STD_DVBS2,
   STD_DSS,
   STD_TURBO
} STD_TYPE;

// Spectral inversion
typedef enum INV_TYPE
{
   INV_AUTO,         // Automatic detection of spectral inversion
   INV_OFF,         // Normal
   INV_ON            // Inverted
} INV_TYPE;

typedef enum PILOT_TYPE
{
   PILOT_AUTO,         // Automatic detection of S2-pilot
   PILOT_OFF,         // Off
   PILOT_ON         // On
} PILOT_TYPE;

typedef enum ROLLOFF_TYPE
{
   ROLLOFF_AUTO,      // Automatic detection of S2-rolloff
   ROLLOFF_35,         // 35% RollOff
   ROLLOFF_25,         // 25% RollOff
   ROLLOFF_20         // 20% RollOff
} ROLLOFF_TYPE;

typedef enum FRAME_TYPE
{
   LONG_FRAME,         // Long frame (DVB-S2)
   SHORT_FRAME         // Short frame (DVB-S2)
} FRAME_TYPE;

typedef enum STRM_TYPE
{
   TRANSPORT_STREAM,   // Transport stream
   RESERVED_STREAM,   // Reserved stream (DVB-S2)
   GEN_CONT_STREAM,   // Generic continous stream (DVB-S2)
   GEN_PCKT_STREAM      // Generic packetized stream (DVB-S2)
} STRM_TYPE;

typedef enum INSTRM_TYPE
{
   SINGLE_STREAM,      // Single input stream
   MULTI_STREAM      // Multiple input stream
} INSTRM_TYPE;

typedef enum CODING_TYPE
{
   CCM,            // Constant coding modulation
   ACM,            // Adaptive/Variable coding modulation
   VCM=ACM
} CODING_TYPE;

typedef struct {
   BOOL         Lock;
   DWORD         Freq;      // Frequency (Khz)
   DWORD         Pol;      // Polarization
   DWORD         SR;         // Symbol rate (Sym)
   DWORD         CW;         // Carrier width (Khz)
   DWORD         StdType;   // Tracking standard
   DWORD         ModType;   // Modulation type
   DWORD         FEC;      // FEC
   DWORD         Inversion;   // Spectral inversion
   DWORD         RollOff;   // RollOff
   DWORD         Pilot;      // Pilot (DVB-S2 only)
   DWORD         Frame;      // Frame type (DVB-S2 only)
   DWORD         CodingType;   // Coding modulation (DVB-S2 only)
   DWORD         StreamType;   // Stream type (DVB-S2 only)
   DWORD         InputStream;// Input Stream type (DVB-S2 only)
   LONG         RFLevel;   // RF level (dBm, from -100 to 0)
   double         SNR;      // Signal/Noise rate (dB)
} SEARCH_RESULT, *PSEARCH_RESULT;

// Get device capabilities
STREAMREADER_API DWORD GetCaps();

#define SR_BITFLT   0x01
#define SR_RC      0x02
#define SR_GETMAC   0x04
#define SR_SIGNALEX   0x08
#define SR_SIMPLETB   0x10
#define SR_DISEQC10 0x20
#define SR_DISEQC1X 0x40
#define SR_DISEQC2X 0x80
#define SR_RFSCAN   0x100
#define SR_BLSCAN   0x200

// Get Signal SNR/BER
STREAMREADER_API BOOL GetSignalEx(float* pSNR, float* pBER);
// RFScan support
STREAMREADER_API BOOL RFScan(DWORD freq, DWORD pol, DWORD lof1, DWORD lof2, DWORD lofsw, double* pRFLevel);
// BlindScan support
STREAMREADER_API BOOL BLScan(DWORD freq, DWORD freq_step, DWORD pol, DWORD lof1, DWORD lof2, DWORD lofsw, DWORD minsr, SEARCH_RESULT* pSearchResult);


[dkoscak]

hi, thank you, for reporting back those issues to us - we're looking to improve stability of current 8921 drivers and it's possible the BSODs are caused by them.

while i can't comment much on Mediaportal issue with switching between DVB-T and DVB-S2, because it seems more like something wrong with Mediaportal...

Thank you for your response - looking forward to more stable driver

Regarding DVB-T / DVB-S switching problem, it's really strange, sometimes it works ok, but most of the time not ... Everything is ok if 'rebuilding graph' option turned on, but this slows down channel zapping ... If nothing else helps, I'll try to implement in Mediaportal rebuilding graph only when this no signal issue happens ...

[cody]

@crazycat

it looks very interesting what support you've implemented in your StreamReaderEx. i think we can expose some details for how third-party software do blind-scan using 8921/6921/QBox3 drivers. i will discuss with my colleagues and let you know.

[tempo]

@crazycat
it looks very interesting what support you've implemented in your StreamReaderEx. i think we can expose some details for how third-party software do blind-scan using 8921/6921/QBox3 drivers. i will discuss with my colleagues and let you know.

So more than month was left from the previous post, and what is the answer for Crazycat?
I guess you interested in support TBS cards in different third-party blindscan tools too

[dkoscak]

It seems like other people have started having same problems with mediaportal and TBS cards. It's similar combination - TBS DVB-S2 and some other DVB-T card, different Windows. After tuning tosome channel on DVB-T it's not possible to switch back to DVB-S(2).

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/television-mytv-frontend-tv-server-90/strange-no-signal-issue-93463/

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/general-support-51/tv-server-dvb-s2-controller-stops-working-after-accessing-dvb-t-controller-95136/

I suspect that dvb-t somehow ruins dvb-s graph and only rebuilding dvb-s graph every time solves the problem. Could this be a problem with tbs drivers ?

[luigough]

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but seeing that I don't have much luck with the supplied blind scan tools, I'd like to see crazycat get all the support he needs to implement an alternative blind scan tool. Especially as crazyscan is listed as a thread in this subforum, but this card doesn't seem to work with crazyscan yet.

[steven]

Hi luigough

If we have any progress about this,we will contact you as soon as possible.

Thanks