[linux-dvb] Problems getting Pinnacle PCTV Sat to lock

[Bob Dunlop <bob.dunlop@xyzzy.org.uk>]

Hi,

I'm having a problem getting a Pinnacle PCTV SAT card to lock on to any
signal and hoped someone could help me interpret the output from szap, or
provide any other hints.


# ./szap -l UNIVERSAL -n 3
zapping to 3 'Sirus test 3':
sat 0, frequency = 11977 MHz V, symbolrate 27500000, vpid = 0x0000, apid = 0x0000
using '/dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0' and '/dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0'
status 05 | signal c8c8 | snr 0000 | ber 00000000 | unc 00b6f906 | 
status 00 | signal cccc | snr 3006 | ber 00000000 | unc 00b60000 | 
status 00 | signal cccc | snr 6127 | ber 00000000 | unc 00b60000 | 
status 05 | signal c2c2 | snr 3639 | ber 00000000 | unc 00b60000 | 
status 01 | signal cccc | snr 35a0 | ber 00000000 | unc 00b60000 | 
status 03 | signal caca | snr 2d42 | ber 00000000 | unc 00b60000 | 
status 07 | signal 9898 | snr 32c2 | ber 00000000 | unc 00b60000 | 
status 07 | signal 9b9b | snr 2e9d | ber 00000000 | unc 00b60000 | 
...

And that's it.  Status never gets better than 7. (FE_HAS_VITERBI)

I get similar responses on other transponsers listed in dvb-s/Sirius-5.0E
and from running  "scan -v -l UNIVERSAL dvb-s/Sirius-5.0E".


Is a signal of 0xC2 good or bad ?  Why when we get the best status indication
is the signal lower ?

How to interpret the snr number ?  I know from the driver comments that it's
not a scale and that the driver writer didn't know how to interpret it.


I'm using the DVB 2.4 kernel drivers package (1.1.0) running with a 2.4.24
kernel and have applied BTTV patches from http://bytesex.org/patches/2.4.24-1/

/etc/modules includes:

  # Pinnacle PCTV card
  videodev
  bttv card=0x68 i2c_hw=1 bttv_verbose=1 bttv_gpio=1 bttv_debug=1
  dvb-core dvbdev_debug=1 dvb_frontend_debug=1
  v4l1-compat debug=1
  cx24110 debug=1
  dst dst_verbose=1 dst_debug=1
  dvb-bt8xx debug=1

resulting in:

  $ lsmod
  Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
  sr_mod                 14776   0 (autoclean)
  ide-scsi               10864   0
  scsi_mod               60916   2 [sr_mod ide-scsi]
  dvb-bt8xx               4412   0 (unused)
  dst                    11028   1
  bt878                   5520   0 [dvb-bt8xx dst]
  cx24110                 6916   1
  v4l1-compat            13896   0 (unused)
  dvb-core               42528   0 [dvb-bt8xx dst cx24110]
  bttv                  115148   0 [dvb-bt8xx bt878]
  btcx-risc               2504   0 [bttv]
  v4l2-common             3360   0 [bttv]
  video-buf              13168   0 [bttv]
  i2c-algo-bit            7624   0 [bttv]
  i2c-core               13828   0 [dvb-bt8xx bttv i2c-algo-bit]
  videodev                6816   2 [bttv]


I've tried two different cards,  manufactured about 10 months apart looking
at the batch codes but otherwise identical.  Needless to say both cards work
perfectly in a Windows box.  I've even moved my hard disk into the Windows
hardware and booted and tested with that in case it was my test box hardware
that was causing the problem.


The whole thing feels so close to running that I'm sure I've just missed
some simple step that someone who has done this before would do without
thinking.  Some extra enable or module required to move to the FE_HAS_SYNC
level perhaps ?


Are there datasheets and programming information available for the chips ?
I don't mind spending some time reading,  I find it a good way to learn.
-- 
        Bob Dunlop


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