DVBSKY S960

DVB-S/S2 USB 2.0 box from DVBSky. This device and its clone Mystique SaTix S2 V2 USB have a single LNB F-connector port, and include a IR receiver. It's supported by linuxtv as of september 2014. Support in-kernel is expected in Linux kernel 3.18.

Alternatively, compiling V4L from sources given by the producer DVBSky also allows it to run. The IR events are forwared not via LIRC but as xevents, but the shipped remote is not fully supported (e.g. the OK key does not produce a xevent).

Features

• USB 2.0
• Low power
• Integrated IR receiver

Components Used

• RF: Montage M88TS2022
• Demodulator: 2nd generation Montage M88DS3103
• USB Bridge: Cypress CY68013

Firmware and Driver

It's supported by linuxtv as of september 2014. Support in-kernel is expected in Linux kernel 3.18. If your kernel is older than 3.18, you'll have to obtain, build and install the V4L-DVB device drivers.

Alternatively you can use the drivers from DVBSky.

The firmware file name for the experimental driver is dvb-fe-ds3103.fw.
For the mainline kernel driver it is dvb-demod-m88ds3103.fw (since 2013/2014). [1]
Download: http://www.dvbsky.net/Support.html

In kernels 4.10 - 5.1 the driver has an issue that causes the device to hang at some point when tuning. [2]

Identification

$ dmesg | grep -i dvb
[   13.063770] usb 1-4: dvb_usb_v2: found a 'DVBSky S960/S860' in warm state
[   13.063808] usb 1-4: dvb_usb_v2: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer
[   13.063818] DVB: registering new adapter (DVBSky S960/S860)
[   13.063847] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_dvbsky
[   13.065088] dvbsky_usb MAC address=00:17:42:54:96:0c
[   13.065092] usb 1-4: dvb_usb_v2: MAC address: 00:17:42:54:96:0c
[   13.276822] m88ds3103_load_firmware: Waiting for firmware upload (dvb-fe-ds3103.fw)...
[   14.375542] usb 1-4: DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Montage DS3103/TS2022)...
[   14.405386] Registered IR keymap rc-dvbsky
[   14.405459] input: DVBSky S960/S860 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.2/usb1/1-4/rc/rc0/input15
[   14.405515] rc0: DVBSky S960/S860 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.2/usb1/1-4/rc/rc0
[   14.405518] usb 1-4: dvb_usb_v2: schedule remote query interval to 300 msecs
[   14.405520] usb 1-4: dvb_usb_v2: 'DVBSky S960/S860' successfully initialized and connected

$ lsusb | grep -i Conexant
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0572:6831 Conexant Systems (Rockwell), Inc.

Troubleshooting

Initialization failing with dmesg showing something like the following:

[  104.930775] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (DVBSky S960/S860)
...
[  104.934128] m88ds3103 11-0068: Unknown device. Chip_id=00

This indicates that the device is not receiving external power. Disconnect USB, make sure the correct (12V) power adapter is properly connected, then reattach USB.
Note: The LED labeled "POWER" does not come on after power is connected, but only after USB initialization commenced. It does however not necessarily indicate that the device is operational, see below. Always make sure external power is connected before connecting USB.

[ 1722.213791] usb 1-2: dvb_usb_v2: 'DVBSky S960/S860' successfully initialized and connected
...
[ 1787.277207] m88ds3103 5-0068: found a 'Montage Technology M88DS3103' in cold state
[ 1787.277229] m88ds3103 5-0068: Direct firmware load for dvb-demod-m88ds3103.fw failed with error -2
[ 1787.277231] m88ds3103 5-0068: firmware file 'dvb-demod-m88ds3103.fw' not found

In case the firmware file is missing initialization may still complete successfully. The error about the missing firmware first appears as an application tries to open the device.

Picture

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  Box view

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  Internal view

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  v1.0c PCB Top

• 

  v1.0c PCB Bottom

• 

  S960CI, slot side

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  S960CI, antenna side

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  S960CI, PCB top side

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  S960CI, PCB bot side