[linux-dvb] Re: diseqc switch recommendation

[Vladimir Shved <vshved@logistic-systems.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-dvb-bounce@linuxtv.org [mailto:linux-dvb-bounce@linuxtv.org]
> On Behalf Of Josef Wolf
...
> 
>    http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-dvb@linuxtv.org/msg16130.html
> 
> which suggests that setting hw_sections=0 would fix that on 2.4 kernels.
> Have not tried this yet, can someone confirm this?

I'm using 2.4 kernel and few weeks old drivers on one of two machines, I did
not have to mess around with hw_sections value, it worked right away. Diseqc
switching working flawlessly on VDR system except for if I get both systems
up at the same time.

> > Either dishnetwork legacy switches or europian diseqc multi-switch.
>          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Ough, what's this?

DishNetwork is US satellite provider which built its own switches, their
older switches are not compatible with diseqc commands and often referred to
as legacy switches.

European diseqc multi-switch is my term, that I came up with, I could not
come up with anything else for something like the 9x8 diseqc switch. I
misspelled European in my first message, sorry about that. I don't know
anyone in North America making those kinds of switches, so those are
European only switches. I'm not familiar with European multi-switches, so
wondering if there was a diseqc multi-switch which could drive 4
satellites,(4 dual LNBs) with at least four receivers/DVB-S cards, etc.
 
> Please try hw_sections=0 on 2.4 kernel.  When this don't help, try
> switching to 2.6.x kernel (where hw_sections=0 is the default).  Please
> drop a note whether this helped.

Thanks for the hint but I did try that option in 2.4 and 2.6 kernels, I've
got different issue than yours. The hw_sections value only seems to solve
reliability problems when transferring the stream to applications and does
not seem to help with sending diseqc commands. Disabling hw_sections sets
driver to handle certain task in software rather than in hardware/firmware
mode. Although, I'm not expert, and cant comment much about this.

I think your problem mostly lies not in driver but in software or hardware
setup. Drivers seem to handle diseqc commands very well from the start, I
tried many different drivers(old and new) and all of them were able to
handle diseqc switching without problems. Maybe you have bad switch, or
signal does not reach the switch, or software sends wrong diseqc commands,
or there is lots of noise in cabling which causing to corrupt diseqc
commands. I'm using two Nexus-S cards, also tried SkyStar2 cards, all
working great, except SkyStar2 2.6c does not work with 2.4 kernel/drivers.
The Nexus-S card is very similar to TT 1.5 card and I don't think you should
have any issues with it, unless it's broken.

	--Vlad