Twinhan 1020a TSReader Lite Parse PID's in Directv stream

[doctor J]

Trying to help with project at "other" site involving channel mapping to Directv satellite transponders by parsing PID streams in data chain. No interest in video/music or any grey activities.

Twinhan 1020a seems to be the only hardware that will do DSS streams and TSReader has a source module for Twinhan 1020a specifically for DSS content (ie: Directv).

I've spend several days searching issues with "new" cards that are "knock offs", drivers of multiple souces that may or may not work. Conflicts from other "tuner cards" (video capture , analog TV, etc) and issues not fully uninstalling other devices or old drivers. Issues about satellite .ini files, and inability to lock tune all reviewed.

Bottom line , I can't get it to work.

I have a new VP (?twinhan) 1020a card installed with drivers from CD functioning in DTV audio and DTV video "sound media devices". P4 2.54 GHz ASUS P4-800 with generic NVida 256 video card and fresh install of windows XP updated to SP3 dedicated to this project.

TSReader Lite installed. Can make card output 14 v and 18 v so it should be driving multiswitch. Have sonora HRPID1422 driving LNB and locking polarity so current shouldn't be a problem, do not need for card to power LNB. Have signal strength of 80-90 on Birddog meter locked at card input with quality pegged so signal itself should not be an issue.

Have tried some plugins for TSReader from DBrott Directv IRD software version project.
Tried several .ini files for satellite transponder info.

I can't get the data in the transponder/mux rt hand pane of TSReader to show frequencies.
If I try to manually input , uncertain of exact info needed .

Again Bottom line - No Lock!?

TSReader seems to show unlocked signal 72, in bottom left pane, so something may be there but no data streams.

Any help, advice, references, screen shots of functional dss setup would be greatly appreciated.

Please

Doctor j

 

[B.J.]

Trying to help with project at "other" site involving channel mapping to Directv satellite transponders by parsing PID streams in data chain. No interest in video/music or any grey activities.

Twinhan 1020a seems to be the only hardware that will do DSS streams and TSReader has a source module for Twinhan 1020a specifically for DSS content (ie: Directv).

I've spend several days searching issues with "new" cards that are "knock offs", drivers of multiple souces that may or may not work. Conflicts from other "tuner cards" (video capture , analog TV, etc) and issues not fully uninstalling other devices or old drivers. Issues about satellite .ini files, and inability to lock tune all reviewed.

Bottom line , I can't get it to work.

I have a new VP (?twinhan) 1020a card installed with drivers from CD functioning in DTV audio and DTV video "sound media devices". P4 2.54 GHz ASUS P4-800 with generic NVida 256 video card and fresh install of windows XP updated to SP3 dedicated to this project.

TSReader Lite installed. Can make card output 14 v and 18 v so it should be driving multiswitch. Have sonora HRPID1422 driving LNB and locking polarity so current shouldn't be a problem, do not need for card to power LNB. Have signal strength of 80-90 on Birddog meter locked at card input with quality pegged so signal itself should not be an issue.

Have tried some plugins for TSReader from DBrott Directv IRD software version project.
Tried several .ini files for satellite transponder info.

I can't get the data in the transponder/mux rt hand pane of TSReader to show frequencies.
If I try to manually input , uncertain of exact info needed .

Again Bottom line - No Lock!?

TSReader seems to show unlocked signal 72, in bottom left pane, so something may be there but no data streams.

Any help, advice, references, screen shots of functional dss setup would be greatly appreciated.

Please

Doctor j

I'm a little confused relative to exactly what you're trying to do, but you should have no problem getting a lock (assuming that you're using the Twinhan1020dss.dll source), unless the Twinhan card isn't working well with your switches, etc. I used to have problems with the Twinhan card when I had an inadequate power supply on my computer. Even though the voltages looked OK, there was noise on the coax that interfered with the 22KHz/DiseqC signals. Noise went away when I upgraded the PS on the computer. But I use my 1020a slaved either to a DTV dish or to my 90CM dish with an Invacom quad lnbf. Or you can lock the DTV signals on G3C with a regular LNBF. If you can't lock the transponders, something is wrong, so it might be best to first bypass any switching problems by either slaving or completely bypassing the switches.
Also, I'm not sure why the freqs don't show up in TSREADER. That suggests to me that you aren't using the DSS source, because TSREADER has all or most the transponders listed for me, except that the DSS transponders aren't listed unless you're running the DSS source DLL.
BTW, I don't think there are any "grey activities" issues with respect to the audio, as it isn't encrypted.
But if you're using the proper source DLL, and have the proper LO freq and transponder freqs keyed in, you shouldn't have any problems, unless TSREADER LITE is different from the pay version that I'm using. The regular TSREADER display shows all the PIDs, although they are numbered differently from normal DVB stuff, so it won't interpret what PID is what. I'm not familiar with the DBrott plugin you mention. That sounds interesting. I have used 2 plugins with DSS signals. First, to PLAY audio, you can use the AudioRip plugin. It has an option for DSS mode. Also, I use a plugin called DSS2DVB or DSS-to-DVB or DSS-2-DVB, or something like that. There used to be a web page where you could get this plugin, but the web page went down (apparently there were some pirate capabilities involved even though use with TSREADER doesn't involve any bypassing of encryption or anything gray).
Anyway, I'd recommend looking for a copy of the DSS2DVB plugin.

 

[doctor J]

Thanks for the reply.
I'm beginning to think the card is bad but setting up a straight line, lnb to card is a good idea that i had been considering.

I am using the dss.dll source but things just don't seem right about the transponders. I ve been trying to get alternate .ini files for the satellite folder and see if i can make any progress.

I'll try the plugin you mentioned. I have seen that referenced in my studies.

The goal is to view the PID streams and by evaluating certain headers byte by byte, the channel map of all conus and lil channels can be tagged to which satellite and exact transponder. Since these change frequently it is an ongoing program.

doctor j

 

[Smith P.]

That INI should have a section [DSS].
If not, just use the values 12224/R/20000/auto and try to tune to tp1.
BTW, in that window make LNB setup: 11250, port1 before click OK.

 

[doctor J]

1020a card F/U

Twinhan 1020a (ver3.2) shorter PCI card will not tune Directv PIDs.
Ver3.1 (taller-3 3/4 inch) card works for DSS w/o any problems.

I wasted 3 weeks!
Hope this info helps someone else.

Doctor j

 

[Smith P.]

Actually, it's named 'low profile', not shorter.

Here is pictures of both. As I can see a board LVER:3.1 using LG sat tuner, while VER:3.2 - unknown. That's the answer why it can not lock to DSS transponders.
I'll remove the unknown tuner from 1020a PCB and expose bottom side ot its PCB, hope I'll see what chips it used.

Another fact: on other side the board v3.1 have a second sticker with MAC address, when 3.2 don't; driver reported same model ID: "ST-03T";
P/N of 3.1 is P109310-331, 3.2 is 1093100-311-A.
So, beware of the non-DSS model !

 

[B.J.]

Actually, it's named 'low profile', not shorter.

Here is pictures of both. As I can see a board LVER:3.1 using LG sat tuner, while VER:3.2 - unknown. That's the answer why it can not lock to DSS transponders.
I'll remove the unknown tuner from 1020a PCB and expose bottom side ot its PCB, hope I'll see what chips it used.

Another fact: on other side the board v3.1 have a second sticker with MAC address, when 3.2 don't; driver reported same model ID: "ST-03T";
P/N of 3.1 is P109310-331, 3.2 is 1093100-311-A.
So, beware of the non-DSS model !

Wow, I thought all 1020a boards were the same. That must be a precursor to the 102g card or something. I bought a spare 1020a, just because of the DSS capability. This post sent me down to the basement to see which version the spare is, however my basement is about a foot deep in wires broken electronics, so I couldn't find it. I'm definately going to go clean the room out enough to find it though, because I want to make sure I have a backup. I don't use the capability often, but it's nice to know that I can at least get the audio on those channels and see the PIDs in TSREADER.

 

[starman345]

I wasn't aware of this either, my 1020a tunes the dss freqs no problem, I thought they all did. I think there was a 1020 board(green in color maybe?), then the 1020a.

 

[B.J.]

I wasn't aware of this either, my 1020a tunes the dss freqs no problem, I thought they all did. I think there was a 1020 board(green in color maybe?), then the 1020a.

I never had a plain 1020 , but I think it was blue.

I've been working for 2 hours now, and I still haven't found my spare 1020a. I can see the floor though, so I'm making progress.

 

[digiblur]

Although a little more expensive there's also the Genpix device that tunes DSS. You'll also get a few more modulation schemes too.. DCII and the 8PSK DishNet uses.

 

[B.J.]

I never had a plain 1020 , but I think it was blue.

I've been working for 2 hours now, and I still haven't found my spare 1020a. I can see the floor though, so I'm making progress.

Took me 11 hours, but I finally found my backup 1020a. It is a full sized board.

The interesting thing though is that it is unlike either of the 2 pictured above. There is no version number visible anywhere on it. It does have the MAC number on a sticker on the back, but no part number or anything. The parts, and placement appear to be the same as in the picture of the 3.1, but the printing on the board is all different.

I'll take a picture of it if anyone is interested, but it just seems to be an older version of the one pictured above.

 

[Smith P.]

OK, the tuner's can unsoldered, inside a couple chips:
STx0288
STB6000

and name of mfgr: EARDA; the card seems to me is
China tuners for digital television, digital tv tuner suppliers
China Manufacturers Directory In B2BChinaSources.Com-China Products, China Manufacturer Directory,China Suppliers,Chinese Exporters,China Trade

Well, the STB6000 does support DTV [DSS] - http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/bd/10258.pdf

Now back to square 0.

EDIT. Picture of the EARDA tuner.

 

[zamar23]

You should have no problem getting a lock (assuming that you're using the Twinhan1020dss.dll source in TSReader), unless the Twinhan card isn't working well with your switches, etc....Also, I'm not sure why the freqs don't show up in TSREADER. That suggests to me that you aren't using the DSS source, because TSREADER has all or most the transponders listed for me, except that the DSS transponders aren't listed unless you're running the DSS source DLL.
BTW, I don't think there are any "grey activities" issues with respect to the audio, as it isn't encrypted. But if you're using the proper source DLL, and have the proper LO freq and transponder freqs keyed in, you shouldn't have any problems, unless TSREADER LITE is different from the pay version that I'm using. The regular TSREADER display shows all the PIDs, although they are numbered differently from normal DVB stuff, so it won't interpret what PID is what. I'm not familiar with the DBrott plugin you mention. That sounds interesting. I have used 2 plugins with DSS signals. First, to PLAY audio, you can use the AudioRip plugin. It has an option for DSS mode. Also, I use a plugin called DSS2DVB or DSS-to-DVB or DSS-2-DVB, or something like that. There used to be a web page where you could get this plugin.

B.J.

The last available for Twinhan 1020a Azurewave "Generic BDA Tuner" drivers (attached) said to work well with Win7 32-and-64 bit, if one limits available system RAM to less than 4 Gb via Windows System Panel. Current TSReader 2.8.46g recognizes Twinhan 1020a with these drivers, when choosing its DVB-S BDA device source, but it doesn't tune to DSS signals with that source. Also, only AudioRip plugin was reported to work well with the last TSReader, as it hangs on loading DSS-to-DVB plugin in Win7.

It looks like Twinhan WDM drivers and Win XP are better choices for clear DSS reception. Are they still available from Twinhan website? If not, what version was it, and where to find them? Generic WDM Video Capture Drivers for the Bt848 chipset used in Twinhan 1020a are still available from Sourceforge, but its not clear if they're a good fit for this particular card.

Can someone post here last known WDM drivers file for Twinhan 1020a that are known to work well with current TSReader? Despite all advances of DVB-S2 cards and STBs there seems to be no replacement to certain features of this card.

 

[B.J.]

B.J.

The last available for Twinhan 1020a Azurewave "Generic BDA Tuner" drivers (attached) said to work well with Win7 32-and-64 bit, if one limits available system RAM to less than 4 Gb via Windows System Panel. Current TSReader 2.8.46g recognizes Twinhan 1020a with these drivers, when choosing its DVB-S BDA device source, but it doesn't tune to DSS signals with that source. Also, only AudioRip plugin was reported to work well with the last TSReader, as it hangs on loading DSS-to-DVB plugin in Win7.

It looks like Twinhan WDM drivers and Win XP are better choices for clear DSS reception. Are they still available from Twinhan website? If not, what version was it, and where to find them? Generic WDM Video Capture Drivers for the Bt848 chipset used in Twinhan 1020a are still available from Sourceforge, but its not clear if they're a good fit for this particular card.

Can someone post here last known WDM drivers file for Twinhan 1020a that are known to work well with current TSReader? Despite all advances of DVB-S2 cards and STBs there seems to be no replacement to certain features of this card.

I'm still using Win2000 and WinXP , so I don't know anything about how these things work with Win-7. I've used a couple different drivers with the 1020s cards, and have copies somewhere, but I think the original disks that came with the cards are as good as anything. I still have my original disks somewhere too.
Re the above thing about TSREADER hanging on loading DSS-to-DVB plugin in Win7, I have also seen the most recent version of TSREADER hanging with this plugin, however if you go into the DSS2DVB .ini file, and change the enabled for 1 to 0 , I've found that it will run, and you can enable it once TSREADER is running. Just remember to disable it before leaving TSREADER, or you'll have the same issue next time. Not sure if this will help in Win-7 or not.

 

[zamar23]

Thanks B.J.

Could you look at WinXp Device Manager to see how the card is identified, and what are exact names and versions of the drivers, its 2 devices are using? Is it recognized in TSReader as Twinhan 1020a DVB Tuner, when you select DSS source.dll? Are there any advantages of using DSS-to-DVB plugin instead of AudioRip? It may be a good idea to let the developer know that it hangs.

 

[B.J.]

Thanks B.J.

Could you look at WinXp Device Manager to see how the card is identified, and what are exact names and versions of the drivers, its 2 devices are using? Is it recognized in TSReader as Twinhan 1020a DVB Tuner, when you select DSS source.dll? Are there any advantages of using DSS-to-DVB plugin instead of AudioRip? It may be a good idea to let the developer know that it hangs.

Well, I'm a bit confused. I have two 1020a cards. I used to have one in an XP computer and one in my main Win2000 computer. I have taken the card out of the XP computer, but I thought that the drivers would still show up, but they don't seem to show up without the card in there.
I did look in my Win2k computer though, and it's under the Sound,video and game controllers, as "DTV Audio" and "DTV Video" Controllers. Drilling deeper, it gives "DtvAudio.sys" and "DtvVideo.sys" as the file names, both in the system32\drivers directory.
The card USED to show up also as a network NIC, before I reinstalled the OS, because I had downloaded a version of the Twinhan drivers which made the card perform as a satellite internet card, however when I reinstalled the OS, I think that I just put the original drivers from the original disk in there.... I THINK. I have several versions of Twinhan software floating around here.
Both the current audio and video drivers say the Provider is "XV Provide", file version 1.5.2.4 Copywright XV Corp 2000-2003. I'm pretty sure that I used to have drivers in there which were newer than that and with a different company name back when I had different firmware in there, but I don't really notice any difference in the way the card works, so I doubt that there is much difference in the drivers.

Relative to advantages of DSS2DVB vs AudioRip, Yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
AudioRip will generally list ALL the audio streams it sees, except for those that happen to be AC3. This has confused me at times as to why some audio streams seem to be missing. AudioRip also displays the audio files relative to their actual PID#s. You cannot stream audio from AudioRip over a lan to another computer.

With DSS2DVB, it will display and play audio whether it's mpeg or AC3. You can also stream either to VLC directly or over a LAN with TSREADER (perhaps not with the LITE version though). DSS2DVB seems to make up fake PID#s though, so they don't correspond to the actual PIDs shown when DSS2DVB isn't running. One big issue with DSS2DVB is that very often, it only lists the list of programs the first time you open a transponder. If you then restart the source in TSREADER, it often comes up with no channels listed. However if this happens, if you close TSREADER, and open it again, it will list all the channels. One BIG advantage of DSS2DVB over AudioRip is that with AudioRip, you can't tell the name of the channel you are listening to, so you have to do a lot of searching and guessing. With AudioRip, most of the main channels other than the foreign channels, and local channels are listed by names, so it's easier to identify which channel is which. Also, one difference is that if by chance they have the video which isn't encrypted, you can play the video with DSS2DVB, however the only channels that I've seen unencrypted have been a couple DEMO channels, one that says "loading" or something. with a matrix of 9 little screens showing.

Re how it is recognized in TSReader, I'm not sure, but down in the bottom left, it say "Source: Twinhan 1020a DSS".

BTW, I'm NOT using the most up to date TSREADER on the Win2k computer.

Also, some of what I've said above is probably confused between 3 different versions of the DSS2DVB plugin that I have. I have 3 versions, a 2006 version, a 2008 version and a 2009 version,,,, I think... maybe even a fourth version. I seem to remember the first version didn't work for streaming, and about the only way to play the audio was via AudioRip. That was fixed, but the above noted problems about channels not showing up became a problem, as the DTV transponders changed a bit. The newest version seems to have made the problem of channels not showing up a lot better, but there are still SOME transponders, where I can't get any channels to show up. Sometimes it takes many re-starts to get them to display.

I just realized that when I was observing the freezing upon starting up with DSS2DVB enabled, it was when I've been running the older 2006 version of the DLL, so I might be wrong about that being a problem now. With so many different versions of the DLL floating around, I get them mixed up, and often don't know which version I'm using.

I HAVE found that I cannot leave the DSS2DVB plugin in the TSREADER MDPLUGINS folder, or it will mess up my ATSC sources. It did this both with an Air2PC ATSC card, and also does it with my HDHomeRun USB receiver. I don't have a clue why this happens, but after I am done using the DSS3DVB plugin, I always try to remove it from the folder so as not to mess up the ATSC, and this is why I often accidently put the wrong version back in the next time I use the plugin. I didn't want to just discard the old versions, as I'm not sure that the new version is better in all respects.

Also just noticed that to get more channels showing, you need to have SDT for current mux only set.

 

[zamar23]

Thanks B.J.

The reason to use the latest TSReader 2.8.46g is to be able to use BDA drivers in Win 7 64-bit environment, as WDM drivers can't be installed in such setup. BDA drivers support has improved in this release. However, available generic BDA drivers suitable for Twinhan 1020a seems to not support DSS tuner mode. Hence one needs to use Win XP or Vista and WDM drivers for that. Its interesting, if anyone get success with these BDA drivers at this task? Another cause may be that DSS source.dll in TSReader simply can't work with BDA drivers so far, and this needs to be clarified with the author.

One would need to play more with DSS-to-DVB plugin to ask further questions - thanks for the highlight. Can you post a zip file with the latest 2009 plugin set you have - just look up its .exe installer version in RMC File Properties.

 

[zamar23]

B.J.

Attached are developed in 2004 WDM drivers V2.4.1.0 that come on CD with currently being sold Twinhan VisionPlus 1020a. They are said to produce nothing with TSReader's DSS source.dll, meaning TP list isn't loaded in TS Reader's Muxes panel, when selecting ANY sat in its Sats panel, if the card is activated with these drivers. The card works well so with the same WDM drivers in Win XP and Vista (BDA drivers are needed for Win 7), when Twinhan DVB-S source is selected. Which I guess means that either the tuner doesn't support DSS (if TSReader actually checks this before loading a sat TP list from the corresponding .ini file), or TSReader DSS source can't work with these drivers, or the drivers don't support DSS features of the tuner, if present. Earlier in this thread P.Smith found some card versions based on the same chipsets don't support DSS, but the reason wasn't indentified. It looks like some of these chips contain own memory modules, so may be this feature at some point in time was disabled in the board's BIOS in EEPROM or chipset memory?

Anyone has a different version of WDM drivers set for this card? The driver version, name and location is easy to find out in Windows Device Manager, when looking at corresponding device properties.

 

[zamar23]

Just wanted to close on this. I found someone confirmed on another site the same thing P. Smith posted above. The low profile version of Twinhan 1020a has a different tuner, and it doesn't work with TSReader the same way full profile card does. I tried a low profile card, so no surprise here. It worked with clear DVB-S though.