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TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled.

Added by Rob Hunter over 11 years ago

I have spent the weekend trying to set up an XBMC / tvheadend system. A few problems, so I thought I'd share.

Server System:
Asus P5K Premium motherboard
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (NOT overclocked)
NVIDIA Corporation G84 [GeForce 8600 GT] (rev a1)
4GB RAM
Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS x64
TBS6981
Sky minidish
Astra 28,2, Freesat.

TBS drivers used:
v121119
v130127
v130506

Tvheadend builds
3.2 patch 2 (stable)
3.4 (stable)
3.5.117

Clients:
XBMC on Windows 7.
XBMC on Ubuntu 12.04 x64.
TVHGuide on Galaxy Note, ICS.

Tvheadend appears to have issues when both adaptors are enabled on TBS6981. Manifests as:
-Some multiplexes on both adaptors become "Faint" or "No signal". Either after Initial Scan or later when idle scanning enabled.
-Service mapping does not map all mappable services.
-Failure to tune to a service

If one of the two adaptors is then disabled and Idle Scan is enabled on the other, all the multiplexes revert to "OK" on the enabled adaptor, service tuning is swift and painless and all mappable services will map without a problem. Once the second (either) adaptor is re-enabled with Idle Scan, both adaptors suffer a random multiplex quality degradation, failure to start services and mapping may fail..

Adaptor configuration: AdaptorConfiguration.jpg

Example images, based on 3.5.117, TBS v130506, of Multiplex status. Freshly rebooted system, tvheadend started and Initial Scan completed.

With both adaptors enabled:
Mux0-BothAdaptorsEnabled.JPG shows the state of Adaptor 0 multiplexes after initial scan with problems.
Mux1-BothAdaptorsEnabled.JPG shows the state of Adaptor 1 multiplexes after initial scan with problems.

Disable Adaptor 1 and wait 10 minutes (i.e. allow Idles Scan to cover all Mux):
Mux0-Adaptor0EnabledOnly.JPG shows that Adaptor 0 has recovered all Frontend Status to OK.

Disable Adaptor 0, Enable Adaptor 1 and wait 10 minutes (i.e. allow Idles Scan to cover all Mux):
Mux0-Adaptor0EnabledOnly.JPG shows that Adaptor 0 has recovered all Frontend Status to OK.

Re-enable Adaptor 0 and wait 10 minutes (i.e. allow Idles Scan to cover all Mux):
Mux0-BothAdaptorsReEnabled.JPG shows the state of Adaptor 0 multiplexes after idle scanning and problems have returned.
Mux1-BothAdaptorsReEnabled.JPG shows the state of Adaptor 1 multiplexes after idle scanning and problems have returned.

In the above procedure no services where accessed.

When accessing a service, failure to open the service occurs at random. The only sure thing appears to be accessing a service on a multiplex that is already having one of its services accessed.

Failure scenarios using one XMBC client or TVHGuide (In all cases both adaptors are enabled):
-Attempt to tune to a service, possible failure.
-Tune to a service, success. Tune to a second service, possible failure.
-Tune to a service, success. Tune to a second service, success. Return to the initial service, possible failure.

Failure scenarios using two clients, one XMBC and one TVHGuide, or 2 XBMCs (In all cases both adaptors are enabled):
-Attempt to tune to a service, failure.
-Tune to a service, success. Tune to a second service, failure.
-Tune first client to a service, success. Tune second client to a service on same multiplex, success.
-Tune first client to a service, success. Tune second client to a service on different multiplex, possible failure.

It should be noted that the service is irrelevant. In one session I can get, for example, BBC 1, and fail to get ITV. 10 minutes later it's vice versa.

With one adaptor enabled there are no issues - I can change to any service without problem.

When tvheadend is struggling to access a service, the Active Subscriptions table of the Status tab shows the service is "Testing" and then "Bad".

Example of Testing when one service is being accessed: SingleChannelTesting.jpg and SingleChannelBad.jpg
Example of Testing when a second is being accessed while another service is successfully accessed: SecondChannelTesting.jpg and SecondChannelBad.jpg (last not uploaded as used all slots, just extrapolate from the last 3)

In an attempt to discount the fact that the issue exists at another level (hardware/driver/signal strength etc.) I have implemented the following scenarios:
-Windows 7 with 2 instances of DVB Dream, one on each adaptor.
-Ubuntu 12.04 x64. szap-s2 to different channels on each adaptor and view stream through mplayer.
-Ubuntu 12.04 x64. One instance of Kaffeine and one instance of me-tv on different adaptors.
-Ubuntu 12.04 x64. Installed and configured MythTV 26 (that was fun) and ran simultaneous clients.
-The old SKY+ HD box works fine.

In all the above cases (not SKY+ HD as only one channel with subscription) I was able to change channels independently in both instances within the same multiplex and across different multiplexes without issue, typically sticking to BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, E4 (SD) and BBC, ITV and Channel 4 (HD). From this I've concluded that tvheadend is probably the choke point!

Happy to provide further details and logs or run tests as required. Fairly technically capable so not averse to guided digging. Rather like the application so would like to help.

Regards
Rob


Replies (41)

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Luis Alves over 11 years ago

There is no more issue to look.

The open source driver is working good.

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Mac Johnson over 11 years ago

Hi Luis,

That's good to to hear. As I recall you said, in a previous post that's now been deleted along with
mine and others, that when you detect a 2 x 'bad' error you issue a reset. Now, is that to the 6981
as a whole or just to that tuner. What if the other tuner is recording is that effected?

Hope your answers affirmative. If so, I'll install your update

Thanks Mac

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Luis Alves over 11 years ago

Hi,

We are talking about 2 different things in here:

1) First I tryied to patch tvheadend to do what you described. Din't work very well, it still did fail sometimes.
2) I have developed a new driver for the card to replace TBS broken driver. Works like a charm.

Just install my driver and official tvheadend.

(no post has been deleted, you have 2 pages of replies)

Regards,
Luis

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Mac Johnson over 11 years ago

Luis, Thanks for the confirmation. I'll grab your modified driver from github and let you know how
it goes.

Thanks. Mac

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Luis Alves over 11 years ago

No problem.

Just to clean things out:
It's not a modified driver (TBS drivers are closed source).
It's a new driver, non-related with TBS.

Follow the instructions in the wiki and all should go well.

Regards,
Luis

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Anonymous over 11 years ago

Messed up my box trying to use the new driver. I'm running Ubuntu 12.04. I originally installed the TBS drivers like this:
cd ~
wget http://www.tbsdtv.com/download/document/common/tbs-linux-drivers_vXXXX.zip
apt-get install -y gcc rar tar gzip
aptitude install -y linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential cvs libncurses5-dev gcc rar tar gzip unzip
cd /usr/local/src/
rm tbs* -r
mkdir tbs6981
cd tbs6981
unzip ~/tbs-linux-drivers_vXXXXXX.zip
tar xjvf linux-tbs-drivers.tar.bz2
find linux-tbs-drivers -type d -exec chmod u+wx '{}' \;
find linux-tbs-drivers -name "*.sh" -o -name "*.pl" -exec chmod u+x '{}' \
cd linux-tbs-drivers
./v4l/tbs-x86_64.sh
make
make install
cd ..
cp v4l-cx23885-avcore-01.fw /lib/firmware/

I've then followed the build and install instructions which seems to go through fine, I come unstuck at "sudo make rmmod". I was hoping a reboot would resolve but now I don't have the new adapters labelled Conexant CX24117/CX24132 as explained in the instructions and the old "TurboSight TBS 6981 DVBS/S2 frontend" no longer work. The device path, device name etc in the adapter config screens are blank.

Output of "sudo make rmmod":

luke@HOMESERVER:~/media_build$ sudo make rmmod
make -C /home/luke/media_build/v4l rmmod
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/luke/media_build/v4l'
scripts/rmmod.pl unload
found 555 modules
/sbin/rmmod videodev
Pulseaudio is running with UUID(s):
ERROR: Module videodev is in use by cx2341x,v4l2_common
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_dvb
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_dma_sg
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_core
/sbin/rmmod v4l2_common
ERROR: Module v4l2_common is in use by cx2341x
/sbin/rmmod tveeprom
/sbin/rmmod altera_ci
/sbin/rmmod cx2341x
/sbin/rmmod btcx_risc
/sbin/rmmod dvb_core
/sbin/rmmod tda18271
/sbin/rmmod cx2341x
ERROR: Module cx2341x does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod v4l2_common
/sbin/rmmod ir_mce_kbd_decoder
/sbin/rmmod ir_rc5_decoder
/sbin/rmmod ir_nec_decoder
/sbin/rmmod ir_sony_decoder
/sbin/rmmod ir_rc6_decoder
/sbin/rmmod altera_ci
ERROR: Module altera_ci does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod videodev
/sbin/rmmod ir_jvc_decoder
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_dma_sg
ERROR: Module videobuf_dma_sg does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_dvb
ERROR: Module videobuf_dvb does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod ir_lirc_codec
/sbin/rmmod media
/sbin/rmmod btcx_risc
ERROR: Module btcx_risc does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod tda18271
ERROR: Module tda18271 does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod dvb_core
ERROR: Module dvb_core does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_core
ERROR: Module videobuf_core does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod tveeprom
ERROR: Module tveeprom does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod lirc_dev
/sbin/rmmod altera_stapl
/sbin/rmmod rc_core
/sbin/rmmod videodev
ERROR: Module videodev does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod v4l2_common
ERROR: Module v4l2_common does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod cx2341x
ERROR: Module cx2341x does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod altera_ci
ERROR: Module altera_ci does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_dma_sg
ERROR: Module videobuf_dma_sg does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_dvb
ERROR: Module videobuf_dvb does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod btcx_risc
ERROR: Module btcx_risc does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod tda18271
ERROR: Module tda18271 does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod dvb_core
ERROR: Module dvb_core does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod videobuf_core
ERROR: Module videobuf_core does not exist in /proc/modules
/sbin/rmmod tveeprom
ERROR: Module tveeprom does not exist in /proc/modules
Couldn't unload: tveeprom videobuf_core dvb_core tda18271 btcx_risc videobuf_dvb videobuf_dma_sg altera_ci cx2341x v4l2_common videodev
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/luke/media_build/v4l'

Not sure how to proceed, any help appreciated.

Cheers.

EDIT: just noticed dmesg shows this:
[ 19.152266] cx23885: disagrees about version of symbol altera_init
[ 19.152270] cx23885: Unknown symbol altera_init (err -22)

Will try google tomorrow, tried to go back to original driver using the instructions I provided above but it didn't appear to work :/

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Luis Alves over 11 years ago

Hi,

When you get errors like "...disagrees about version of symbol..." mean that you have leftovers from old installations.
From that message you should find and remove any altera_*.ko module from your /lib/modules/..... (I bet you have same module duplicated - one new the othe the old)
And the do the "make install" step again.

If you come to tvheadend IRC channel, realtime help will be provided.

Hope this helps you.

Regards,
Luis

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Anonymous over 11 years ago

I noticed you mentioned something like that in the instructions but I wasn't 100%.

Anywho I did:
find /lib/modules/`uname -r` -name "altera*.ko" -exec rm -rf {} \;
sudo make install

After a reboot I now have the adapters and have copied over my muxes.

Now I'm getting this repeated over and over in tvheadend:
Jul 11 06:07:22.049 dvb: diseqc setup failed -1
Jul 11 06:07:22.093 diseqc: error trying to turn off continuous tone

I think diseqc is some kind of switch that I don't have, but I don't seem to be able to set the option to LNB as googling suggests, I can only choose "Diseqc 1.0 / 2.0" or "Diseqc 1.1 / 2.1"

Cheers.

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Luis Alves over 11 years ago

Hi Luke,

Do you have the firmware in the right place?

[[https://github.com/ljalves/linux_media/wiki/CX24117-firmware]]

Regards,
Luis

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Luis Alves over 11 years ago

Driver is practically finished.
(also supports TBS6980 now)

Updated the wiki with easier install and upgrade instructions.

[[https://github.com/ljalves/linux_media/wiki]]

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Oliver Northam about 11 years ago

Just wanted to pop my head though the door to say thanks Luis. I was having the same issues as everyone in this thread and it was causing havoc with my schedules. Had some problems installing the drivers initially (didn't realise that the firmware step was required) but on my second attempt it worked and I've had no problems since.

Thanks very much for all your hard work on the drivers. I was going to buy another card to get around the problem, so you've saved me time, stress and money :)

Oli

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Anders Falk about 11 years ago

Hm. Would this new driver support TBS6985 too?

//Anders

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Indridi Bjornsson about 11 years ago

Hi,

What about TBS6982? Is that supported by the driver or is that something I don't have to worry about since they do not suffer from the same problems as TBS6981?

Has anyone had any experience with TBS6982?

Regards,
Indridi

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Luis Alves about 11 years ago

Hi,

The TBS6982/6985 is completely different from 6981/6984 (from a hardware point of view).
I plan to make an open source driver for the 6982 (don't know when) but you can use the official TBS drivers without any issue.

Regards,
Luis

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Indridi Bjornsson about 11 years ago

Hi Luis,

Thank you for your reply. Nice to know that officials drivers should be working.
Do you know what chipset they are using?
They seem to be relatively cheap compared to other dual-receivers. Do you think
it's a good purchase?

Regards,
Indridi

RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled. - Added by Adam Sutton almost 11 years ago

No, but 6985 performance should be good. Is for me.

Adam
On Sep 10, 2013 6:39 PM, wrote:

Tvheadend - General: RE: TBS6981 issues with both adaptors enabled.
Anders Falk

Hm. Would this new driver support TBS6985 too?

//Anders
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