Can someone recommend a Unicable PciE Dvb-s2 card <solved>

R Maxwell

After 10 days of nothing but nightmares with a TBS6904 and another TBS card s6982 I have given up and am sending the 6904 back to Amazon.

I am currently using a DVBSky S952 ( 2 tuners ) with a universal LNB but want a card that works with TVHeadEnd in Unicable mode with 4 Tuners. The S952 works great in normal Universal LNB mode.

I actually cant even get the s952 to work reliably with Unicable and TVHeadend so am looking for a solution that someone has tried and know works. Im thinking of a https://www.digital-devices.eu/ Max M4 as an option.

I just cant tell if Unicable is working properly in TVHeadend or if its the drivers. but the S952 works only intermittently in that mode and its very hard to pinpoint where the problem is.

I have used all the cards above in Windows and they work fine, in normal mode and in Unicable mode using dvbdream as a test bed.

any advice welcome

Ron L

For advice on TBS you probably want to contact CrazyCat. He does actually respond to questions and does a lot of development of TBS for both Linux and Win.

DD makes quality devices. Not cheap. Cost is prohibitive for us in North America.

I can't help with Unicable. Not used at all here.

R Maxwell

I have made some progress. I have managed to get my DvbSkyS952 working fine under unicable. I have it on 2 tuners on the same card.

I have also managed to get a TBS6904 working in non unicable at the same time. I can get the 6904 to work in unicable mode but it doesnt seem to work with HD channels and is very unreliable. This is pointing to the TBS Linux drivers Im guessing.

Im returning the 6904 as I also managed to get the TBS6982 to work in non unicable mode. It doesnt work in unicable at all in the same setup.

Im going to try and contact Crazycat and see if he has any ideas. At least I can say that Unicable works !

I only managed to get all this working by using Ubuntu 18 and thus the stable package of Tvheadend. All my attempts using Debian 9, 10, Ubuntu 20 using unstable failed in many ways.

Ron L

The 6904 and 6982 use the same tuner and demod chips, just different bridge chip. One would think they should perform almost identical.

How did you install the TBS drivers?

CrazyCat knows these TBS cards inside and out so he will be able to give you a good recommendation.

R Maxwell

To install the drivers the way that worked was to follow the instructions in the card User guide downloaded from TBS

https://www.tbsiptv.com/download/tbs6904/tbs6904_user_guide.pdf

which was the git clone of their github source

ie
# git clone https://github.com/tbsdtv/media_build.git

# git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/tbsdtv/linux_media.git -b latest ./media

I guess for non unicable it works fine. Funny that I had to downgrade to ubuntu 16 to get it working with 2 cards at once.

Ron L

Cool, that is actually a pretty useful user guide.

Unicable working with Dvbsky and not TBS device would tend to indicate driver issue. Looking at TVHeadend source it seems TVH code is written for first version of unicable and it seems there may be a newer updated version of unicable released since this. I have no idea what issues this may cause.

The drivers you compiled are the open source version. I believe they have gone to open source drivers for all their devices now. My suggestion would be to create an issue on the https://github.com/tbsdtv/linux_media.git explaining the issues you are encountering.

Hans-Gerhard Schehl

Hi!

I'm using a Digital Devices CineS2V6.5 with a DuoFlex-Extension S2V4A (--> 4 Tuners) in an unicable environment (Kathrein EXE 1512) with Mint/TVH/Kodi now successful for several years.

It worked OOTB like charm, drivers a included in kernel - for me a perfect solution.

Regards

Hans-Gerhard

R Maxwell

Ron L wrote:
> Cool, that is actually a pretty useful user guide.
>
> Unicable working with Dvbsky and not TBS device would tend to indicate driver issue. Looking at TVHeadend source it seems TVH code is written for first version of unicable and it seems there may be a newer updated version of unicable released since this. I have no idea what issues this may cause.
>

> The drivers you compiled are the open source version. I believe they have gone to open source drivers for all their devices now. My suggestion would be to create an issue on the https://github.com/tbsdtv/linux_media.git explaining the issues you are encountering.

I asked Crazycat about it, their response was

"This both card based on TAS2101 demod, so look like some issues diseqc control with your unicable switch."

Which I am a bit confused about, is the switch in the LNB ?
TBS have offered to logon my machine and try and figure this out. When I have some free time again I may let them do this, but I dont want to mess up my "working" system so might make up a spare pc to do some tests on.
I'll post my issues as you said on the github site.

R Maxwell

Hans-Gerhard Schehl wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I'm using a Digital Devices CineS2V6.5 with a DuoFlex-Extension S2V4A (--> 4 Tuners) in an unicable environment (Kathrein EXE 1512) with Mint/TVH/Kodi now successful for several years.
>
> It worked OOTB like charm, drivers a included in kernel - for me a perfect solution.
>
> Regards

> Hans-Gerhard

Thanks thats interesting. I was considering a Digital Devices card in the future.

Ron L

R Maxwell wrote:
>
> I asked Crazycat about it, their response was
> "This both card based on TAS2101 demod, so look like some issues diseqc control with your unicable switch."
>
> Which I am a bit confused about, is the switch in the LNB ?
> TBS have offered to logon my machine and try and figure this out. When I have some free time again I may let them do this, but I dont want to mess up my "working" system so might make up a spare pc to do some tests on.

> I'll post my issues as you said on the github site.

Sounds like he thinks there is an issue with the driver. Create an issue ticket. At some point he'll probably ask for some debug or perhaps ask you to test a patch. Reading through previous tickets it seems that different brands of unicable lnbf each have idiosyncrasies.

From what I've read I believe with unicable it's all built into the lnbf. Sounds like a programmable switch that stacks frequencies.

R Maxwell

I'll just post this log here for future record. Its showing the 6904 tuning in fine to BBC 1 but when I ask it to tune into ITV HD it says there is no input source. ITV HD works fine if you connect it via Universal LNB instead.

Im ordering some bits for my spare bits pc and will raise a ticket on the TBS driver site once I can have a test setup running.

2020-12-25 12:36:11.085 subscription: 0004: "192.168.1.11 [ admin | Kodi Media Center ]" subscribing on channel "BBC One Lon", weight: 150, adapter: "TurboSight TBS 6904 DVB-S/S2 #1 : DVB-S #0A", network: "DVB-S Network", mux: "10773H", provider: "BSkyB", service: "BBC One Lon", profile="htsp", hostname="192.168.1.11", username="admin", client="Kodi Media Center"
2020-12-25 12:36:43.785 subscription: 0004: "192.168.1.11 [ admin | Kodi Media Center ]" unsubscribing from "BBC One Lon", hostname="192.168.1.11", username="admin", client="Kodi Media Center"
2020-12-25 12:36:43.786 mpegts: 12363V in DVB-S Network - tuning on TurboSight TBS 6904 DVB-S/S2 #1 : DVB-S #0A
2020-12-25 12:36:43.786 subscription: 0002: "epggrab" unsubscribing
2020-12-25 12:36:44.008 subscription: 0005: "192.168.1.11 [ admin | Kodi Media Center ]" subscribing on channel "ITV HD", weight: 150, adapter: "TurboSight TBS 6904 DVB-S/S2 #1 : DVB-S #0A", network: "DVB-S Network", mux: "12363V", provider: "BSkyB", service: "ITV HD", profile="htsp", hostname="192.168.1.11", username="admin", client="Kodi Media Center"
2020-12-25 12:36:47.227 tbl-base: pat: 12363V in DVB-S Network: TSID change detected - old 07f2 (2034), new 07fd (2045)
2020-12-25 12:36:54.787 subscription: 0005: service instance is bad, reason: No input detected
2020-12-25 12:36:55.787 mpegts: 12363V in DVB-S Network - tuning on TurboSight TBS 6904 DVB-S/S2 #1 : DVB-S #0A
2020-12-25 12:36:56.008 subscription: 0007: "epggrab" subscribing to mux "12363V", weight: 4, adapter: "TurboSight TBS 6904 DVB-S/S2 #1 : DVB-S #0A", network: "DVB-S Network", service: "Raw PID Subscription"
2020-12-25 12:36:58.009 subscription: 0005: No input source available for subscription "192.168.1.11 [ admin | Kodi Media Center ]" to channel "ITV HD"
2020-12-25 12:37:00.009 subscription: 0005: No input source available for subscription "192.168.1.11 [ admin | Kodi Media Center ]" to channel "ITV HD"
2020-12-25 12:37:02.009 subscription: 0005: No input source available for subscription "192.168.1.11 [ admin | Kodi Media Center ]" to channel "ITV HD"

R Maxwell

I thought I better put an update here. I have managed to get both cards working with Unicable at the same time. Ive got 2 unicable on the dvbsky and 1 unicable + 1 universal on the tbs6982se

The only thing I have changed is, I put a new cable onto the unicable splitter to the tbs and the weather is better.

Im including a screenshot of my setup in case anyone is interested.

Its weird because I did a lot of reading about LNB's and Unicable last night and finally wrapped my head around the whole setup.

John White

Hello, I note that you managed to get this DVBSky S952 working on unicable - would you be kind enough to say in detail what settings you used ( on Linux server and TVH program) ?

I have a TVH server (Fujitsu TX120 s3 + Ubuntu 20.02) with two S952 cards which works well with a quad LNB (for Freesat) but having moved house - 4 cables through a 50cm thick stone wall are a tall order so was thinking going unicable.

Clearly I would need new LNB and a switch but having no idea how easy/difficult this is - I'm unwilling to commit to expense as the dish is now 4m up on wall of the new house as opposed to 1.8m high in the garden...

Regards John

R Maxwell

Hi, Im including 2 screenshots of my setup. I have 2 cables on normal and 1 on Unicable. I think that the LNB has that setup. I cant remember exactly how you set it up, Im using the black and yellow Inverto LNB Unicable Quad 40mm LNB, 2 Legacy. as far as I recall the 1210 parameter selects a "port" to use on and if you had a second tuner set to it you would pick the next frequency which is 1420. Its a while since I looked at it. My server is debian 10 buster. Basically I think if I remember you just need to make sure you have enough tuners and then you split the cable using simple compatible splitters to put it to each tuner. I found that part a bit fiddly because I put the splitter close to the pc and then the cables are too stiff to position.

I forget what cards are in there now. I will have a look tomorrow.

John White

Thank you for the info and screenshots - I had looked at that LNB in my researches as it seemed well regarded. Think I have room for at least three cards in the server. I'll have a re-look at splitters as well

John White

I've just noticed the screenshots posted 3 days ago by R Maxwell are a different setup from the 2020-12-30 setup - the TBS cards have disapperared and the DVBSky S952 are now on the legacy inputs. Was there an issue with the DVBSky on Unicable?

R Maxwell

I had problems with the TBS cards clashing with the other card if I remember. I gave up and bough the Digital devices card and used that alongside the dvbsky. The unicable worked fine and I will use it for all channels in a future setup,

John White

I'm still pursuing your experiences!

I have now had the new Unicable LNBs in place; connected up my 'small server' (Fujitsu TX120 S3 - only has 2 PCI-e slots) with two S952 cards - eventually works well as my GT-sat LNB supports >4 tuners and it also has a Universal legacy output (thats on a Hauppauge USB stick - Hauppauge kit won't do Unicable - small print on support section of website)

My only issues were that one of the tuners satellite config field would not appear in TVheadend so although dmesg could see it and load firmware - it was unusable. Took me all day to work out problem (swapping cables/cards/splitters etc). Worse still, server is headless in living room and was SSH-ing into it from upstairs study; up n down stairs...

Turned out to be a TVHeadend issue - it didnt create the entry for the tuner properly so the section marked 'satconf' was missing - cut'n'pasted it from one of the other tuner config files and it worked straight away - that probably took minutes to fix and hours to find

Anyway; did you try the TBS card with open-source drivers or with just the TBS closed source ones? Reason is that I have a TBS 6904 in UK (we live mostly in France, hence the Freesat obsession) and could put it in my 'big' full height PCIe slot machine. If it is such a PITA to run TBS on Linux, I may sell it and be done as the DVBSky stuff seems to be perfectly good over the past 5 years (from on my old dish/LNB)

You also say you got a Digital Devices card - the Digital Devices Max SX8 (4/8) Basic? I see your last screenshot shows it with the DVBSky S952 so it clearly works with them so buying is an option for the 'big' server (would have to change the Inverto LNB as it only has 4 Unicable tuner capability). Install instruction look simpler than the TBS install but the card is quite pricey

[back story is that we moved house in France; old house had an 80cm dish in garden - on pole due to line of sight issues. New house has two dishes - 90cm on roof which has only 2 cables into living room and HAD an old 60cm dish on a south facing wall. The 60cm dish went with 1 cable into my new 'study' where plan is to eventually have TVH server for the whole house. Unfortunately need to fit my 80cm dish from prev house 3m up the wall + run network cable from study to living room + feed new sat cable through 60cm thick walls. Result is that in an 'unpopular move'; there's a 'small server' in the living room at present..)]

R Maxwell

I really cant remember much about the TBS, Im not sure I even knew there were opensource drivers. I think I found there whole site and ethos very confusing and I was glad to just put the card away it was so stressful.
The digital devices support was great, the only issue I had with the 2 cards that I remember was the pci ordering but we both found a fix the same time which is a parameter for boot i think.

I cant tell you much about my setup at the moment because Ive only got freesat channels, my french ones on a 80cm dish arent working, I have problems with the multistream from time to time and messed up the angle and am moving soon so not wasting time on it. Next house we have 3 dishes to put up, fun fun.

My experience in a nutshell dvbsky & Digital devices great. TBS pita

John White

I'm still emptying boxes after our move (had 3 mo renting so computers stuff really messed up) and have just found the TBS 6904 I thought was in UK.

After your input, not sure if I want to risk this. Many people do seem to like them but my DVBsky experience matches yours and as I have three spare PCIe slots in the 'big server' I probably don't have to go through the hassle. Perhaps eBay beckons, I'll look at prices they go for as it's all boxed and unused. Only downer is that I think one of my S952 cards came with two low profile brackets. Another eBay scout - you dont see many DVBsky stuff on sale though