Skystar 2.3 only one with Blind Scan?

[Robbert]

Hi Everyone,

Maybe a stupid question, but is the Skystar 2.3 the only one that ever had Blind Scan of all the PCI DVB cards out there? I currently have a Twinhan 102g, which works great, but I really miss the blind scan that my Pansat box has on-board... Does anyone know why blind scan is such a problem on DVB PCI cards? It seems like pretty much every receiver box out there has it built in...

Thanks,
Robbert

 

[cbpa]

Hi Robert,

So far that seems to be about it. The chip feature you're looking for is autosymbolratedetect. Many companies manufacture chips with this feature but they haven't been incorporated into the dvb cards that I know of (except for the older SS2 2.3). One guess is that these chips may have power and heat dissipation issues.

I've written to the manufacturer of the SS2 asking if there were any future plans to reincorporate this feature or any hints as to how to work more closely with the board (using the SDK calls with their driver causes great overhead and works slowly). They ignored the first question and said I was on my own with the second part. The best I've been able to do with this card so far is use a table of "most frequent symbol rates" and step through the frequencies and polarities - still too slow.

Since I'm most interested in news feeds, I've been waiting for years for this.................

 

[Robbert]

That's a bummer. Same here with the newsfeeds. Would be nice to automate some of that scanning and with a PC, even record some of it automatically.

Hopefully some other company will see the light and come out with a PCI card that CAN do blind scanning...

Thanks,
Robbert

 

[kurtsat]

I have Transponder Finder "THScan" that is only working for TwinHan 1020, 102g, etc.. It works O.K. but slow and better than nothing.

THScan 1.0.5 ReadMe

Note: This app was developed using TwinHan WinDTV v2.5 drivers, installed using other drivers should work but may have issues. You may need to download and install the WinDTV v2.5 SDK for motor control. Follow the instrucitons on editing the reg.reg file with the SDK then merge it into your registry.

Installation:
Make a new folder and place THScan.exe and Symbol.txt in it.

Notes:
1. The symbol.txt contains a list of common symbol rates. Feel free to add to or remove from this list. The ones listed are all I could find on lyngsat for KU band transponders.
3. Currently it only supports KU band since that is the dish type I have. I may add C later if somone can answer some of my questions and test it.
3. Only Standard and Universal Linear LNBs are supported. (for now)

Use:
1. Close all other DVB applications.
2. Run ThScan
3. Choose LNB Type (Standard or Universal)
4. If you are using a Positioner and wish to move the dish:
a. Enter the position number into the DiSEqC Positioner box.
b. Click Goto and wait for dish to complete the move before begining scan.
5. Choose H or V polarization
6. If you have a DiSEqC switch choose a switch position if none choose 0;
7. Enter a Start and End frequency (withing the KU band) in MHz
8. Enter step size. This is the amount that is added to the start frequency as it scans.
9. Choose a Signal Strength Threashold. The signal must be at least this strong or the frequency is skipped. This option will realy help speed up the scan since it can skip dead frequencies.
10. Hit Scan
11. When it is done or you hit stop a log file is written (thscan_DD_MM_YYYY_HH_MM.log) which is formatted as a transponder INI that can be imported into a DVB viewing application and scanned for viewing.

Send questions, suggestions or bugs to caveman@upperspace.com

--CHANGE LOG--

1.0.5
Update added DiSEqC positioner support to goto stored position.

1.0.2
Fixed: Bug with invalid or blank lines in Symbol.txt file
Update: Read of Symbol.txt so it no longer requires a 0 at the first of the file.
Update: Log file name now has Date & Time stamp in file name so log files are no longer overwritten.

1.0.1 Initial Version

 

[Robbert]

Thanks for the tip! I am running it right now, but oh boy.. is it slow.. Well.. Better than nothing I guess!

 

[BKP]

How slow are we talking here.. And does it do a nice complete scan..

 

[jerryt]

How slow are we talking here.. And does it do a nice complete scan..

Skystar2 v 2.3 with the hardware SR chip can do a whole satellite blind scan in about 60 seconds.

Software blind scans can take hours, ever with the Skystar2 v2.6.

 

[BKP]

Hours!!!!