Strong Artefacts - Questionable SNR and high BER

[dpdpkpcom]

Hi there

I hope someone can give me some pointers or advise if I have a faulty card. For quite a while the card has been working fine. It is about 6 months old now.

I have been getting strong artefacts across all channels occasionally and the sound going poor (high-pitched beeps). I have an XBMC frontend and mythtv backend setup. Running mythtv 0.27 and xbmc-gotham-nightly. At first I thought the XBMC frontend could be the problem, but analysing the video taken from the capture card (by mythtv) shows that the video is being recorded with the artefacts on. I have set up some graphs to analyse the signal strength, SNR and BER (bit-error [ratio/rate]) and have attached the result.

My setup is a quad-core AMD 64-bit A10-5700 cpu (with radeon onboard (not used)). 16GB ram. Running ubuntu 13.10 with kernel Linux mythtv 3.11.0-12-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 9 16:20:46 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux.

There is a A400P FXO card in for my asterisk server running the wctdm driver (in case that's relevant).

In the logs, the only relevant thing I can see is :-

Feb 2 11:55:10 mythtv kernel: [241474.683742] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend:
Feb 2 11:55:10 mythtv kernel: [241474.683742] tbs6985fe - Current Delivery System and Mode are unknown
Feb 2 12:06:01 mythtv kernel: [242126.023015] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend:
Feb 2 12:06:01 mythtv kernel: [242126.023015] tbs6985fe - Current Delivery System and Mode are unknown
Feb 2 12:09:01 mythtv CRON[964]: (root) CMD ( [ -x /usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime ] && [ -x /usr/lib/php5/sessionclean ] && [ -d /var/lib/php5 ] && /usr/lib/php5/sessionclean /var/lib/php5 $(/usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime))
Feb 2 12:11:22 mythtv kernel: [242447.136406] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend:
Feb 2 12:11:22 mythtv kernel: [242447.136406] tbs6985fe - Current Delivery System and Mode are unknown
Feb 2 12:15:21 mythtv kernel: [242686.584100] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend:
Feb 2 12:15:21 mythtv kernel: [242686.584100] tbs6985fe - Current Delivery System and Mode are unknown

The Signal strength is pretty consistent ALL THE TIME at around 70%. The SNR can be fine for a while, but then goes quite erratic. And probably at the same time, the BER goes through the roof and I'm pretty sure this will equate to when the picture gets full with artefacts. Unwatchable.

I have checked the satellite feeds from the satellite and redone all the cabling and I'm quietly confident that that is not the issue as the Humax box records absolutely fine !

Pointers gratefully received. Or if TBS think it's a faulty card, could you let me know how I can get it replaced ?

I have checked the seating of the card and that it has power connected to it and it all looks good. The connections are good etc etc etc.....

Many Thanks.....

dp

PS - the BER graph was only just added, so the fact it shows 0 error is not to do with there being 0 error for quite a while, more the statistics were just added.

[dpdpkpcom]

Just to rule out the linux tbs driver, I updated to the latest one (v140113). Still getting the errors in syslog....

Feb 2 13:06:18 mythtv kernel: [ 5.216566] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend Attaching...
Feb 2 13:06:18 mythtv kernel: [ 5.299483] TurboSight TBS6985 DVB-S2 card port0 MAC=00:22:ab:90:37:5c
Feb 2 13:06:18 mythtv kernel: [ 5.299488] DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (TurboSight TBS 6985 DVBS/S2 frontend)...
Feb 2 13:06:19 mythtv kernel: [ 5.769172] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend Attaching...
Feb 2 13:06:19 mythtv kernel: [ 5.850013] TurboSight TBS6985 DVB-S2 card port1 MAC=00:22:ab:90:37:5d
Feb 2 13:06:19 mythtv kernel: [ 5.850018] DVB: registering adapter 1 frontend 0 (TurboSight TBS 6985 DVBS/S2 frontend)...
Feb 2 13:06:19 mythtv kernel: [ 6.321722] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend Attaching...
Feb 2 13:06:19 mythtv kernel: [ 6.402518] TurboSight TBS6985 DVB-S2 card port2 MAC=00:22:ab:90:37:5e
Feb 2 13:06:19 mythtv kernel: [ 6.402525] DVB: registering adapter 2 frontend 0 (TurboSight TBS 6985 DVBS/S2 frontend)...
Feb 2 13:06:20 mythtv kernel: [ 6.874177] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend Attaching...
Feb 2 13:06:20 mythtv kernel: [ 6.955021] TurboSight TBS6985 DVB-S2 card port3 MAC=00:22:ab:90:37:5f
Feb 2 13:06:20 mythtv kernel: [ 6.955026] DVB: registering adapter 3 frontend 0 (TurboSight TBS 6985 DVBS/S2 frontend)...
Feb 2 14:33:04 mythtv kernel: [ 5216.532779] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend:
Feb 2 14:33:04 mythtv kernel: [ 5216.532779] tbs6985fe - Current Delivery System and Mode are unknown
Feb 2 14:38:23 mythtv kernel: [ 5535.022410] TurboSight TBS 6985 Frontend:
Feb 2 14:38:23 mythtv kernel: [ 5535.022410] tbs6985fe - Current Delivery System and Mode are unknown

And attached are the latest graphs for the last couple of hours....

dp

[dpdpkpcom]

Is this correct ?

ie to have so many tbs modules loaded when it's a single tbs6985 card ?

tbsfe 13023 4
tbs6985fe 22408 4
rc_tbs_nec 12502 0
saa716x_tbs_dvb 72249 0
tbs6982fe 22408 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6680fe 17791 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6923fe 22408 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6985se 17882 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6928se 17884 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6982se 22408 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6991fe 17785 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6618fe 17791 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
saa716x_core 50751 62 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6922fe 22478 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6928fe 17785 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
tbs6991se 17882 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
stv090x 70414 1 saa716x_tbs_dvb
dvb_core 109805 2 saa716x_core,saa716x_tbs_dvb
rc_core 26854 10 ir_lirc_codec,ir_rc5_decoder,ir_nec_decoder,ir_sony_decoder,rc_tbs_nec,saa716x_tbs_dvb,ir_mce_kbd_decoder,ir_jvc_decoder,ir_rc6_decoder
i2c_algo_bit 13413 2 saa716x_tbs_dvb,radeon

Thanks

dp

[cody]

if it was working for you fine and now it's not then most likely it's some hardware fault that has occurred - as you mentioned you checked your signal with your set-top-box. that's why measuring any statistics with the card is not that useful, especially if the card is faulty. also, "tbs6985fe - Current Delivery System and Mode are unknown" is not necessarily indication of a problem - it could be you just scanning some frequencies without signal. anyway, my opinion is we replace that card - i am going to send you email about it.

[dpdpkpcom]

Just a quick note to keep this forum topic upto date with the latest. TBS have been great, offering to send a replacement on receipt of the faulty TBS6985. QuietPC.co.uk (who I purchased the card off) have been awesome. They're sending the replacement and on receipt I can send the faulty card, minimising downtime and keeping my missus happy !!!

Thanks TBS and thanks QuietPC.co.uk.

Interestingly, quietpc hinted that there can be issues if the temperature gets too hot for the card. I'm not sure what too hot is, but it is housed in a server that sits in a cupboard and it does get quite hot in there (graph attached), but I don't think the temperatures shown would be considered too hot by PCIe card standards ?

Does anyone know if this is too hot ?

Many Thanks to TBS and quietpc.co.uk

dp

[dpdpkpcom]

Keeping the forum updated.

The card arrived today from QuietPC.co.uk - thanks guys !

A noticeable improvement in the satellite snr ratios and definitely the Bit Error [Rate|Ratio]. See attached.....

But, still not convinced it's as good as it can be. Will have to see if I get artefacts on the same scale as before. It's "Watch this space" time

The card was put in at about 2.15pm I think, you can tell from the graphs (especially the BER one) when it became noticeably better !

Fingers crossed !

dp

[dpdpkpcom]

Bugger.

The replacement card doesn't make a difference

I'm suspecting a driver issue. The other thing that has changed (which I should have mentioned!!) is that I changed from ubuntu 12.04 to 13.10. So, different kernel and different mythtv version (was 0.25, but is now 0.27).

Attached are the latest graphs still showing SNR issues.

Any ideas what I can try next ?

Yesterday, I updated the BIOS of the Maximus V Gene (ASRock) Motherboard to the latest version. Disabled Spread Spectrum in the BIOS (as I saw that mentioned somewhere).

Need other ways to troubleshoot now I think ?

Thanks

dp

[dpdpkpcom]

Here's another graph. This is the last 7 days. There's a noticeable spike (when I changed the TBS6985 card I assume) so before that is the old card, after that, is the new.

And I've just watched the first recording and it went full of artefacts after about 5 minutes. It has since got past that and seems to be fine at the moment, but I just wouldn't get this with the Humax.

[dpdpkpcom]

Forgot to say, it only seems an issue on BBC HD, ITV HD, basically any HD channel !

[dpdpkpcom]

Oh dear, the problem persists.

Watched the first program since new card recorded it. I should point out that I also reseated the pci-e 6985 card in a different pci slot (further away from the PSU) just to rule out another thing and the artefacts are still there, but only on HD channels.

Attached is a screenshot of what it records. I should point out that I had 30 minutes of that program with perfect picture and sound and then this. I've also attached a screenshot of the signal and BER etc. It was recorded on the top left card where there was no loss in SNR and no BER for the duration of the recording.

I had also recompiled the driver to rule out another thing.

Just thinking back. The problem didn't occur when I was on ubuntu 12.04. I'm sure this all started happening shortly after upgrading to 13.10, but this might be my poor memory.

So, I'm really at a loss for what to troubleshoot next ?

Any ideas ?

Thank you

dp