Problems with Diseqc and WinTV Nova

[Christopherve7alb]

Hopefully someone can help me shed some light on this issue.

I have a WinTV Nova S plus PCI satellite card that I have used for the better part of a year to receive the FTA channels from G19 (97W). I have used the tuner successfully with two pieces of software; WinTV (bundled with the tuner card) and NextPVR. Recently, I decided to add a second dish to the configuration so I hooked up a dish aimed at 87W to the tuner card via a standard Diseqc (4x1) switch. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the two satellites working with the tuner card using either software application (although I am focusing on the bundled WinTV software for now). If I connect either dish directly to the card I can receive the expected channels, but, if I connect the two dishes to the card via the Diseqc switch I can receive only one or the other but never both without rebooting my PC (seems to be quite random which satellite will come in). I have tried 3 different Diseqc switches and verified that the switches work as expected on a regular FTA receiver (Fortec mercury 2). The only thing I can think of at this point is that the WinTV card specifically states that it will only work with Diseqc 1.0 and the switches I have state that they are either 1.2 or 2.0 (thought they were backwards compatible though).

Hopefully someone has experience with the WinTV cards or suggestions on how I can get the two satellites to the one computer.

 

[Pi314]

I do not have a Win TV card, however I had a similar problem when I first connected multiple dishes to the microHd, I had to select port 1 for c-band, port 2 for Ku, etc... Is there a function to tell the PCI card to use the specific ports on the 4x1 switch?

 

[KE4EST]

Post some screen shots of the DiSEqC set-up menu.

 

[kittyhas1000legs]

Seeing this reminded me that I have an unused WinTV Nova S2 sitting in my computer (waiting for LOS). Here's what my screen looks like if I choose a 4x1 switch:



I assume yours looks the same, using WinTV 7. The "None (Single LNB)" option shows the same, but only lists Sat A. Are you 100% sure the LO settings are the same as they were before?

Edit: does yours say 1.x or 1.0 on the screen? WinTV 6 or 7?

 

[Christopherve7alb]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm running WinTV version 7 (latest version from their website) and my setup screen looks just like yours kitty. Only difference is I have the LOF2 set to 10750 rather then the default of 10600. I'm assuming Sat A corresponds to LNB 1 and Sat B to LNB 2. Attached is a screenshot of my setup screen.

 

[Magic Static]

Set the LOF #1 to 10750

 

[Christopherve7alb]

Set the LOF #1 to 10750

Will do when I'm at the computer again, I've always had it set to 9750 with the single sat. setup but I'll give it a go.

 

[Magic Static]

Yea, you would think it would still work but I'm thinking the 22mhz tone isn't happening when you selected the 1x4 switch so the receiver is using LOF1 instead of LOF2

 

[Christopherve7alb]

No joy unfortunately, still the same issue of just one satellite at a time.

I have made one observation though; it seems to get stuck on the first active port on the Diseqc switch i.e. if I have ports 2 and 3 occupied it receives the signal on port 2, but if I have ports 1 and 2 occupied then it receives the signal on port 1.

 

[wallyhts]

If your open and driver's are supported use different software perhaps ts-reader ($) or other.

 

[Christopherve7alb]

Thanks for the suggestion wally, but I need something that will stream TV over my network/the Internet as I watch the programming on several different computers throughout the house that don't have satellite tuners installed.

Still no luck on getting Diseqc switching running, I've now opted to install a second PCI tuner card (had one lying around already) and use that for the alternate satellite. I just need to run another RG6 line into the house. Darn frustrating that I can't get something as simple as Diseqc switching to work though.

 

[iron.puppy]

You might want to try LOF1 =10750 , LOF switch = 0, LOF2 = 0 make sure you put 0 in the box not leave blank ... That's how DVBViewer works ... do that for both birds

 

[Christopherve7alb]

Thanks for the suggestion iron, I gave it a go without success. After reading a lot about this issue on various WinTV forums it seems to be a fairly common issue, at least I'm not alone on this one. Darn PC tuner cards are definitely not ready for prime time though.

 

[Magic Static]

They are way more involved than a STB for sure. I used a Hauppauge NovaS2 in MyTheatre for a while. You might download that and give it a try. Trial version runs for an hour and then you have to restart it, but it's full featured. It doesn't stream like you want though. I myself use a SlingboxHD Pro which can serve me all my satellite, OTA and access my media library anywhere in the house or the world.