Options Service - Hardware

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DVB Devices

Device

This is a list of DVB devices the DVBViewer Recording Service did find in the last search for DVB devices. Red entries show devices that are known to the DVBViewer Recording Service, but are at the moment not connected or disabled in the hardware settings (eg, DVB-T USB sticks etc.). These devices will not be used by the Recording Service.

In this list there is a virtual DVB device, which allows it to use the DVBViewer Recording Service without DVB hardware.

• IPTV Network Device to receive DVB-IPTV.

How many of this devices you have can be chosen with the + button.

Settings

Opens the settings dialogue of the IPTV Network Device.

Delete

Deletes the selected device from the device list.

+

With this button you can add DVB-IPTV network devices.

Scan Devices

With this button you can start a manual scan for new devices. Sometime a driver update needs also a manual hardware scan.

Tuner Type

Here you can adjust which type of reception your DVB device supports.

In most cases the DVBViewer Recording Service should detect the tuner type by itself correctly. If for a DVB-S or DVB-C card the type "terrestrial" is detected, it can be assumed that special drivers / patches for the Microsoft Media Center Edition are installed, with which the DVBViewer Recording Service (and other DVB software) will not work properly. If you encounter any problems you should change the driver / reinstall it.

State

• The default value is Normal. If all devices have this status, the Recording Service takes the first device from the list which does fit the requirements (Tunertyp, DVB-S2, CI, etc.)

• Do not use excludes the selected device from being used by the DVBViewer Recording Service.

This can be useful, if you want to use the device in the DVBViewer or in the DVBServer. Also it does help for testing purposes, if you want to use a specific device, you can disable all other devices.

The default value for network devices is always "Do not use" and should be changed only if you really want to use it.

• With the setting Preferred you can prefer the use of certain devices. If a device fits (Tunertype etc.), is set to "Preferred" and is not in use, it will be used. If you have several fitting devices and all are preferred, the first one in the list is used.

The DVBViewer Recording Service tries to minimize the device changes, because a channel change with a device change does take more time than without device change. A device change only takes place if it is absolutely necessary e.g. tuning to an encrypted channel which needs a device with a CI.

If you switch back to an unencrypted channel the device is not changed. Even if you have a device without CI set to "Preferred".

For recordings the Recording Service first tries to find a (free) fitting device. If no fitting hardware is found, it takes away the device used for Streaming (if it fits). Recordings are always given priority over streaming.

Channel groups

Here you can assign eight channel groups (A-H) for a DVB device. Each channel in the channel list is assigned to a group. The groups are useful in two cases:

1. Different satellites without DiSEqC: You have two DVB-S cards, each attached to a different dish pointing to a different satellite. Then you will assign for all the channels of one satellite the Group A and for the channels of the other satellite the Group B. And you disable in the hardware options the according channel group which the devices do not receive. This tells the DVBViewer Recording Service which hardware can handle which channels.
2. Pay-TV subscriptions: If more than one DVB device is available, it often happens that only one of these can receive encrypted channels. Or you have several subscriptions on different devices.

Suppose you have subscription Y and X plus a number of unencrypted channels. And you have three devices 1, 2 and 3. Device 1 only receives unencrypted, Device 2 only subscription X and additionally unencrypted channels and device 3 receives only subscription Y.

Then you assign all the unencrypted channels to Group A, the channels of subscription X to Group B and the channels of subscription Y to Group C. For device 1 only Group A is activated, for device 2 Group A and Group B and for device 3 only group C.

Note: If "Has CI" is disabled, the DVBViewer Recording Service knows that no encrypted channel can be received with the device, therefore it is unnecessary to create an extra group mapping for the encrypted channel.

Channel groups are not needed in order to distinguish the various reception types (cable, satellite and terrestrial)! The DVBViewer Recording Service manages this by itself. You have for each reception type all the eight groups for use.

Retune

„Retune on missing stream after (sec.)“ might help with device, which need two or more tries to tune a channel correctly. If the DVBViewer Recording Service doesn't get any data at all within the set time frame, it does retune the channel automatically. The Value 0 means this function is disabled.

Mode for low Bandwidth (USB 1.1)

The option prevents the DVBViewer Recording Service from processing two or more television stations at the same time. The resulting amount of data exceeds the transmission capacity of USB 1.1. this would lead to massive trouble in the operation of the DVBViewer recording services.

The „Mode for low Bandwidth“ should only be activated if a USB 1.1 device is used. If the option has been enabled by the system don't change it. For real USB 2.0 hardware it is not necessary to manually activate this option.

For network devices it can be useful to activate the option. To reflect the real hardware in the server or if you have a low bandwidth to prevent accidentally requesting e.g. Picture in picture for a second channel.

Note: The option does not allow to use a USB 2.0 device on a USB 1.1 port. Furthermore for DVB-S the data rates of many broadcasters are so high that even a single channel may be too much for USB 1.1.

Stop stream while tuning

The option „Stop stream while tuning“ may help with channel switching problems of some drivers, but channel switching does take longer if it is enabled. Use it only, if it is really necessary.

For some devices/drivers DiSEqC works not or only works if this option is activated. If you experience problems with DiSEqC you can test if dis-/enabling this option does help.

Shared LNB

The "Shared LNB" is only available for DVB-S devices (satellite). It can only be activated if at least two DVB-S devices (or a dual-DVB-S) are present.

Enable this setting only for devices which are connected via a two-way distributor to one wire leading to the LNB. If you don't know what this means: Don't touch this setting.

This kind of configuration includes some restrictions on the tuning, if both devices are in use: You can only receive channels simultaneously if their polarization, frequency band and DiSEqC settings do match. If the option is enabled for the devices, the DVBViewer Recording Service considers the restrictions by not allowing a channel selection or recording which would affect a ongoing recording.

Has CI module

This setting is usually automatically set correctly. For devices with optional CI, such as the TechnoTrend S2-3200, however, a CI is always detected, regardless of whether there is really one or not. If it is not connected, you -should disable this setting for this card, especially if other cards are available, which really have a CI.

This setting signals the DVBViewer Recording Service whether it has a DVB device which can handle encrypted channels or not.

Open whole Transponder

For most BDA devices this option has no effect.

The option indicates if the data of the whole transponder from the DVB device should be send to the DVBViewer Recording Service and it filters out the desired data streams or if the filtering takes place directly in the in hardware with hardware based filters. With different hardware this has different effects ... is recommended to leave the option alone, as long as there are no problems. With hardware filters you can get in major trouble with some devices (FireDTV S-2 with older firmware) and it isn't in accordance with the BDA standards.

The SkyStar2 has very good hardware filters and at least older revisions do encounter problems without filters with transponders with very high data rates.

Disable EPG Receiving

Allows you to turn off EPG reception for a device.

Is DVB-S2 device

DVB-S2 is an extension of the DVB-S standard. At the moment it is mainly used for HDTV channels. To receive DVB-S2 transponders you need a special demodulator hardware in the DVB device! In most cases the DVBViewer Recording Service detects automatically the right setting. If it fails, you can enabled it manually here, IF you are really sure you have a DVB-S2 capable device.

Direct Tuning (BDA only)

If „Direct Tuning” is activated the DVBViewer Recording Service set all necessary parameter directly to the driver instead of using the blown up MS interfaces. This is much faster on channel switching. Additionally the DVBViewer Recording Service uses in this case an internal Network Provider Filter. This fixes some MS bugs with Vista 64 Bit („Zugriffsverletzung bei Adresse FFFFFFFF“).

Direct tuning does not work with all drivers, but if it works for you, it is recommended to activate it.

Use internal Network Provider Filter

This option can only be activated if Direct tuning is also activated. If activated the MS Network Provider Filter is replaced with an internal Filter of the Recording Service. Use this options if you get an error with Vista/Win 7 64 Bit „Zugriffsverletzung bei Adresse FFFFFFFF“. There is no guaranty it will work with all BDA-drivers and should only be used as last resort.

External CI (experimental)

Assigns a external USB CI (Hauppauge WinTV-CI/TerraTec Cinergy CI USB) to a DVB device.

Because the whole transponder is routed through the CI you may get problems with high data rate transponders or if you use the CI with a USB-Hub.

Reset after Standby

Only for BDA devices.

If this setting is enabled for a device the Recording Service tries to reset this device after waking from Standby or Hibernate. Not all devices support this. You have to check if the device entry in the hardware manager allows you to “disable” the device.

This function is useful for drivers which don't handle Standby or Hibernate correctly.

Recordings -overview - EPG