Interesting info on TBS tuners

[Comptech]

OK, so I have to wait until fall to see 125W. Love the music choice channels. Well it's here and motored over ther. I am using a TBS5927 that is supposed to do ACM. Tried DVBDream and DVBViewer. I could not scan in anything on that TP. Pulled the TBS5520SE of of Linux and put it on the windows machine. Scanned all the MC channels in fine and they play fine in DVBViewer but not in DVBDream. Dream tries, but can't pull it off. I know I am a little weak with a 14.8 SNR on a ACM signal, but is the 5520 tuner that much better?

 

[arlo]

Interesting post. It grabs my attention because TBS has been on my mind for a long time.
What gets me is your findings, Comp. The card specifications state their capabilities. So they should do what they are advertised to do. But it looks like you have some variables going on. Card choice and software to run them.
You say the 5927 is supposed to do ACM...errr VCM? But it wont. Strange. Because I don't have a card yet. I wonder why it wont. What if you manually put in the tp settings?

The 5520SE does fine? Is the 5927 supported in Linux? And if so how does it compare vs Windows in functionality?
I've read a little on Crazy Scan. Is it a brute force scanning tool?

Because I'm not real versed on blind scanning and can only compare it to how my ham receivers work with their scanning functions. Do your cards simply miss scans because they (software scans) run so fast, or is it something else?
I can set my Icom to scan a frequency range and log those received frequencies. It will scan over and over until I hit stop. And in the course of time, log periodic transmissions.
For the guys who find wild feeds. To me it seems as if they bang a transponder scan over and over looking for a channel to become active. But again. I dont know. I need some insight I guess.

I wish these applications would let me link my satellite receivers to them over TCP/IP. Or even if there was a Linux-esque version of a BDA driver that would let me.

My friend had a chinabox receiver that would get Velocity/Motor Trend. It was a FTA channel. Yet when I entered the tp info in my Os Mio and zereoed in the sat. Nothing. I still dont know how he did it or why mine didn't see it at all.
That was months ago. I gave up trying.

 

[Comptech]

Actually Arlo, both tuners will blind scan and lock the Music choice TP, but only the cheaper 5520Se will scan any channels in, and only in DVBViewer. Been busy today, so will try in Linux tonight and see what happens. PS, the 5520 is a real slow blind scanner, were the 5927 excels at it.

 

[Comptech]

Confirmed through multiple tests with both linux and windows the 5927 will not receive the music choice channels, yet the 5520SE does just fine on them. Verified by Major Tom on Rick's before I got booted again for saying something he sells won't work with them. Yet Majortom is still there.

 

[Comptech]

Rick must be hurting bad, or getting senile. I know he will read this post as he sent me a email months ago when I said this. Since them he had added a donation page and has been ban happy when anyone mentions a problem with anything he sells. A active conversation that his gods agreed to and Me under a fake alias gets banned for saying the same thing. You guy's are cool and don't have to worry about stepping on eggshells while posting the truth. Special shout out to Michael! I need that forum like a nother brain tumor removal. Been at this along time and know what I am doing, rather help were it is appreciated.

 

[Cham]

TBS6903 works ok with the 125W radio channels, at least on my system. This is the older version though not the new incarnation of the 6903+. I use SmartDVB most of the time, EBSPro for scanning. Have several other DVB related software but those two are my go-tos.
I have a 5520SE and was not able to get the 125W channels with it for some reason. It only worked for a couple months and died. Bad investment...

 

[Comptech]

Weird, mine is just the opposite. EBS pro scans them fine with the 5927, but they will not player in viewer, or dream. Swap to the 5520SE and they work fine. I have tried every driver made for the 5927 and same result. Have also found a couple of other ACM signals that are the same. Sometimes I wonder if it is my AMD based system causing the problems. Although Major Tom can only get them on the 5520SE and not on the 6903, witch is the same tuner and demod chipset. He is strickly Linux, and I use both, so thinking shady drivers.

 

[Cham]

The 5520SE never worked well for me in either linux or windoze. I had it working momentarily with a raspberry pi, was able to play one channel for a bit then it stopped receiving. Worked with windows 7 but not very well. It was powered though the USB port and I am thinking it might have been power issues because the unit would get very hot.
The 5520SE is supposed to do S2x where the 6903 does S2 and not S2x, so I would have thought they are a different chipset. Then my 6903 is 2-3 years old and apperently the newer version does do S2x, so the chipset likely changed. Not sure why they use the same model number for different hardware... makes it confusing. Looking through forums there seems to be driver issues with the new 6903 configuration. Maybe TBS will update the driver or someone else will write one that works... Maybe Crazycat has something in his latest package?

 

[Captain Midnight]

Has anyone here tried the TBS5590? A satellite friend of mine is sending me his unit to try out. He's not computer literate enough to set it up and asked if I was interested. Why not? I've never used a USB tuner for satellite but I have an ATSC TV tuner in my PC.

 

[k1cza]

Swap to the 5520SE and they work fine. I have tried every driver made for the 5927 and same result.

Did you continue using the 5520SE, or is anyone here using one?

I just received mine, but my USALS motor will not budge an inch. I tried both DVBViewer and SmartDVB apps on Windows 10, including setting up USALS with my lat/lon. I'm guessing the 5520SE can't provide the motor with enough power? (it came with a special USB cable with a 2nd USB-A input for extra power - yes I have both plugged in)

 

[Comptech]

I have not used it in ages, but keep it just in case. The 5927 works fine for my needs. Also have a 6983 PCIe that works much better than the 6903 I had.

 

[Comptech]

I can't help on the positioner, I use a ACS1 to manually control my big dish.

 

[Comptech]

The 5920SE will receive some stuff other cards won't. But never found it good at blind scanning. Just for giigles download and try EBS Pro and see if it will blind scan. It will take a long time, but if you have something else to scan with it will work well.

 

[Comptech]

I guess what I am saying is blind scan with a good STB, Save your TP list to a thumb drive and copy it to dvbdreams transponder ini file. Do a manual scan of the ABC and CBS Tp's on 95 and 99W for ABC and 89 and 97W for CBS, you will be watching glorious 4.2.2 feeds.

 

[k1cza]

I guess what I am saying is blind scan with a good STB, Save your TP list to a thumb drive and copy it to dvbdreams transponder ini file. Do a manual scan of the ABC and CBS Tp's on 95 and 99W for ABC and 89 and 97W for CBS, you will be watching glorious 4.2.2 feeds.

Understood, thanks. I'm used to that, my os mio+ occasionally misses transponders, so I use signal finder to manually lock and scan the transponder.

My landlord would murder me if I got a BUD Ku only for me. Good thing I like NBC and PBS.

 

[Comptech]

Oh, man you really need a 10 or 12 footer for the good stuff!

 

[Comptech]

Again dowload EBS pro it will move your dish fine. That is what I use for my Ku dish. DVBDream is a good program, but very old and buggy, especially in windows 10.

 

[k1cza]

Again dowload EBS pro it will move your dish fine. That is what I use for my Ku dish. DVBDream is a good program, but very old and buggy, especially in windows 10.

Thanks for the tip. EBSPro also isn't moving the dish. The positioner console froze right up when I tried. I'm guessing it's the 5520SE.

I used my Edision to point the dish at 97w and confirmed many transponders. Then hooked it up to the 5520SE, confirmed the dish hadn't moved, and ran a blind scan. It's stalling out on the blind scan... going 15-20 minutes with nothing. Do my settings look right? I'm using a standard 10750 LO Ku LNB

Update: let it run for an hour, still nothing

 

[Comptech]

Yep, I have never got the 5520 to blind scan correctly. I can put my transponer.ini file for DVB Viewer on dropbox, you can download it and put it in Viewer, then manual scan. Ooops never mind. I am C-band only with a fixed dish on 103w for Ku.

 

[k1cza]

Well I am about ready to give up on the TBS 5520SE and return it to Amazon while I can. After disappointing results on Windows, I gave it a shot on Raspberry Pi, which has been an exercise in frustration.

I got all the drivers installed, kernel modules compiled, and still nothing. Device is showing up fine under lsusb, but I'm having trouble with the modules somewhere, because I'm not getting any device entries to use under /dev/dvb.