Microbud and MyTheatre

[iammike]

Ok guys, I've got my Primestar dish working reasonably well now pulling in Anik using the lnb I bought from Pete. With my Fortec receiver that is. I was trying to set it up with MyTheatre last night and wasn't able to make it work. I followed the instructions I'd seen elsewhere for setting up C-band, but it didn't seem to work. My basic process was to click on the C-band button, in the diseqc settings panel, which set up the default values for the different freqs. I've got the C-band dish hooked to port 4 on my 4-way diseqc switch, so I checked the first diseqc switch box and picked uncommitted lnb4. The positioner and second diseqc switch check boxes were left blank. I applied the changes and then tried to scan, but didn't get any channels. Switching the cable back to my Fortec I could get channels on the same transponders. I've got an old Dish network dish 500 dish with lnb's pointing at 110 and 119 on ports 2 and 3 and I can get GolTV and Nasa, and all the KU signals come in fine on port 1, so I'm pretty sure MyTheatre is talking to the switch okay. Anybody got an idea of where I screwed up?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Cascade]

Mike, try taking out the switch and using just the Cband LNB, see if that works.
MT has some probs with switching sometimes.
You could also try ProgDVB

 

[iammike]

Mike, try taking out the switch and using just the Cband LNB, see if that works.
MT has some probs with switching sometimes.
You could also try ProgDVB

Good idea, but I tried that already. No dice. It works fine whether connected directly to my Fortec or through the switch so I think its just a MT configuration issue. I also tried ProgDVB, although that's not the environment I want to run in, it didn't work either. Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jerryt]

The Diseqc switch setting should be "Commited LNB4", only use the uncommitted setting for cascadable (uncommited) switches in series with a commited switch. You can have up to 64 LNBs with MyTheatre.

Try connected direct to the LNB. The PCI cards have weak power supplies sometimes. So if it works without the switch and with your Fortec, it might be weak power from the PCI card.

Let us know what you find out. I have a C Band LNB coming.

 

[iammike]

Jerry,

Thanks for the suggestions. I've done some experimenting this evening with mixed results. Changing to committed lnb4 didn't fix the problem, however that is the correct setting. My original setting was in error. I also tried without the switch and had no luck. Then I tried setting the Fortec next to the PC and taking the line from the dish to the Fortec and the IF output from the Fortec to my Twinhan card. I did a scan with MT and immediately had channels. On the off chance that once I had a channel scan I could make the PC card work, I switched back to the original cabling but was unable to get any signal on any channel. Went back to slaving the Twinhan to the Fortec and it worked again. I saw my first episode of Canadian Idol tonight. (Anybody know what time zone ASN is in?)

At this point, I'm starting to wonder if the c-band lnbf takes more juice than a KU lnbf. My Twinhan card can talk to both my KU lnbf and my old Dish lnbf's through the switch without problem. It doesn't seem to be able to talk to the c-band lnbf regardless of configuration, unless its slaved to the Fortec. I do have around 100ft or so of cable between my PC to the dish. It's possible it might work with a shorter run, but that's not really possible for me.

 

[jerryt]

What numbers do you have in the "LOF1" "SW' and "LOF2" boxes of MyTheatre for the C band LNB?

It would appear that the Fortec is providing something that the PC can not or is not. Either settings or power.

When you slave the PC to the Fortec, the Fortec maybe acting as a power inserter. (Providing the current requirements of the LNB) If that is the case you could try buying an power inserter on Ebay.

When slaved, Can you switch the diseqc and channels with the PC?

Let us know what you find.

 

[iammike]

I'm using the values MT inserts for LOF1, SW, and LOF2 when clicking the c-band button. I didn't actually try it, but I'm fairly certain that I have to have the frequencies correct to get a signal through the Fortec. I also didn't test it, but I'm also fairly certain that I won't be able to access the switch in that configuration. I'm at work right now, but will double-check tonight. On the question of the power inserter, I didn't think you could use one with the FTA systems. In this case, the Fortec isn't really a power inserter but is the signal source (I think).

 

[jerryt]

My guess is either the LNB is drawing too much power or the PCI card can't supply enough current.

Can you swap out the LNB or the PCI card for another one?

You could measure the volt out at the LNB. Connect a standard "DC passing" splitter in line with the LNB and then measure the voltage on one of the open ports of the splitter. should be at least 13 or 18 volts, depending on if you are selecting a vertical or horz channel.

Channel master has a power inserter for one LNB.