How to set up TVH with a satellite DVB-S decoder (Freesat)

Martin Underwood

This is on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ running Raspbian Stretch.

I'm familiar with how to set up TVH with a DVB-T (terrestrial) adaptor.

I'm now trying to make it work (after deleting channels and networks associated with DVB-T) with a PCTV 461e DVB-S (satellite) USB adapter, and it is failing to scan any muxes: they remain at scanstatus=PEND.

The sequence of operations (based on those for DVB-T) was:

1. DVB Inputs -> Networks, Add

network name = PCTV 461 (a free-text choice)
mux = 28.2E Astra
orbital position=28.2E
provider network name = Freesat (a free-text choice)

network discovery=new+changed muxes

2. TV adapters

tree structure is listed:

/dev/dvb/adapter0 (Montage M88DS3103 DVB-S)
-> Montage M88DS3103 DVB-S

-> Universal LNB only

For the Montage line:

satellite config=Universal LNB only

master tuner=this tuner

For Universal LNB line:

Networks = PCTV 461 (as named in step 1)
tune befoer DiseqC=yes
Full DiseqC=yes
turn off LNB when idle = no

higher LNB voltage = do not set

3. Muxes

A list of all the muxes is dispplayed (eg 11778V, 11758H etc), but all of them say "Scan state=PEND" and "Scan result=NONE". Doing this for DVB-T was when the adapter would scan each mux and return the number of channels found.

I must be doing something wrong, but I'm not sure what. Help!

mpmc

You can try playing the 11778V mux, see if you get any output :)

davep

I use the same tuner and find it only works from a completely cold boot; ie switch off power to the Pi and the 12v feed to the 461e, switch on 12v then power up the Pi. If I restart TVH without a reboot, or reboot the Pi without cycling 12v power, most muxes don't work and the few that do have very low S/N.

Martin Underwood

I got it working. I'm embarrassed to say that I forgot to tick the little box "enabled" on the page for the adapter: I never noticed that the discs beside the various entries for the adapter on DVB Input were red whereas the ones for the DVB-T adapter that I used to use were green.

Once I rectified that little problem, things sprang into life. The scanning-for-muxes stage is very slow, but after about half an hour it had done them all, and the EPG entries then updated overnight. I've underlined the bit about the Enabled box in my crib sheet so I (hopefully) won't make that mistake again (but I bet I do!).

Dave, I've not seen the problem of muxes not working or having low SNR. I've been rebooting my Pi several times today, occasionally with full power off but mostly with a warm reboot, and everything has worked fine. And the 12V feed to the 461 has remained on all the time. I have the older model of 461 which has built-in support in Raspbian; I wonder if you have the later one that Brad Love of Hauppauge has been working on drivers for.

davep

Glad you got it working :)

Useful information about the 461e, thanks. I suspect my reboot issue must be caused by the LNB.