[linux-dvb] How do I use FE_DISEQC_SEND_MASTER_CMD and FE_SET_FRONTEND correctly?

[Oliver Endriss]

Reinhard Nissl wrote:
> when VDR switches to a different transponder the device driver is sent 
> the above two ioctl()s with appropriate data.
> 
> Just in case the multiswitch get's a damaged DiSEqC message, it won't 
> choose for example a different polarisation and VDR won't ever get the 
> expected signal without tuning again.
> 
> I've patched VDR to repeat the DiSEqC message every 500 ms after 
> FE_SET_FRONTEND until the device's tuner reports LOCKED. An oszilloscope 
> shows me that the message get's sent on the cable about every 568 ms so 
> the code seems to be correct.

Hm - it should be enough to send the message 2 or 3 times using
diseqc.conf. If this does not work there is a severe problem.

> But for any reason, the tuning doesn't succeed. I've further added a 
> timeout of 3000 ms after which FE_SET_FRONTEND is issued again, which 
> typically tunes successfully then.
> 
> So, it seems that I'm wrong with my assumption that the device keeps on 
> tuning for at least 2000 ms (BTW: I've never seen the flag TIMEOUT while 
> tuning) and that repeating the DiSEqC messages should lead to successful 
> tuning.
> 
> Is it therefore necessary to repeat FE_SET_FRONTEND too at an interval 
> of 500 ms?
> 
> Would it be ok to shorten the time further (e. g. 300 ms) without 
> messing up FE_SET_FRONTEND's design (i. e. the current tuning operation 
> is aborted and a new one is triggered)?
> 
> Is it likely that retuning that fast turns out to be bad on DVB-T or 
> DVB-C systems?

If the first tuning attempt failes the frontend thread starts zip-zag
scan. It will take some time until the center frequency is tried again.
For details see dvb_frontend.c.

> BTW: I'm using DVB-S (NOVA-S), dvb-kernel CVS snapshot of March 2005.

Hm - which Nova exactly? Sub-system type from 'lspci -vn' output?

The bit-banging diseqc implementation in budget.c cannot work in a
reliable way. Interrupts or preemption will distort the diseqc message.

Disabling interrupts would probably fix this but imho it is not
acceptable to disable interrupts for 54ms!

Recently I noticed that problem with an old 13c2:1003 Nova.
For my card I have a perfect solution but I'm not sure whether it will
work for all Novas with BSRU6 tuner.

Oliver

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