43 replies to this topic

[Baltus72]

Hi,

 

I've been using OpenPLi 2.1 on my VU+ Ultimo for several years now. Been very happy with it so I haven't updated for a long time.

However, early this week I got a new decoder and card (Canal Digital Nordic/Norway), and it wouldn't work in my Ultimo so I upgraded

to OpenPLi 4. CCcam was no go so I eventually tried Oscam and got it to work after some configuration. I could now watch all channels

without any problem and thought it was all fine until I discovered that there's a major problem that I've been unable to solve...

It turned out that I can't record a channel and watch/zap to another channel on a different transponder simultaneously. Likewise, I can't

record a channel from a different transponder than the one I'm currently watching. I can record 3 channels without issues while watching

a different channel, but again these must all belong to the same transponder. Basically, once I switch to a different transponder than the

one I'm currently watching, the picture just freezes (and the result is a corrupt recording when I try to record from a different transponder).

I've searched for info and tried all I can think of, but I'm completely stuck. I've tried most of the latest builds in the download section for

VU+ Ultimo but I get the same issue with all of them. I've also tried several versions of the Oscam binary, but it makes no difference at all.

I'd be extremely greatful if anyone has some suggestions that might help. For all I know I might be missing something obvious as I'm no

expert. Also, is there an archive with slightly older builds that I can try? I can only find the latest builds and it could at least be worth a
try to test a slightly older image unless I can get this solved with the current version.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have... :-)

[WanWizard]

So the basic question is: how many tuners have you connected, and how are they configured?

[Baltus72]

I have 3 tuners (cable), and they are connected like this:
Signal goes to tuner 1, tuner one out is connected to tuner 2 in, tuner 2 out is connected to tuner 3 in, and tuner 3 out goes to the televison.

I've had this config since I got the Ultimo and it's been working flawlessly until I got a new card and updated from OpenPLi 2.1 to OpenPLi 4. 

 

Just to avoid potential misunderstandings: all tuners are in one single box, very straight forward. :-)

Edited by Baltus72, 6 September 2014 - 22:15.

[Baltus72]

I can't believe I forgot to write that I have a triple tuner setup in the first post. Sorry about that... :-)

[WanWizard]

Ok, so three tuners, one cable? And we're talking sattelite? So a single LNB?

 

edit: Ultimo, got that.

[Baltus72]

Yeah, 3 tuners connected in serial inside the Ultimo. :-)

[WanWizard]

Ok, so you need to configure the first tuner completely, and set the rest to "Loop through" (3->2, and 2->1).

 

You have probably set them to "Equal to", which you need when you have the same config, for example a quad-LNB, and seperate cables to each tuner.

[Baltus72]

Actually, I don't think I ever needed to set them up at all unless my memory is way off right now. I believe they just worked right out of the box.

Could you pleas tell me where I can check if they're set up as "Equal to"? Sorry, I probably should know..but I'm a little lost right now...

[WanWizard]

Menu, Setup, Service searching, Tuner configuration. It should list your three tuners, and their configuration.

[Baltus72]

Yes, that's correct. However, the configuration only gives me two options: "Enabled" or "Nothing Connected". All 3 are set to Enabled.

[Rob van der Does]

For DVB-C (and T as well) a setting like 'loopthrough' wouldn't add anything, so it's quite logical it doesn't exist.

[WanWizard]

That is why I asked if we're talking about satellite. And I didn't get an answer to that question, so I assumed I was right...

[Rob van der Does]

Says in post #3 that it's about 3 cable tuners.

[Baltus72]

Yeah, I wrote cable in my second post, but I probably should've written DVB-C to avoid any misunderstandings. :-)

 

Anyhow...I think I know what's wrong, and this must have been broken for a long time it seems. I've tested every image I can find backwards to 2014-03-26 (information page) and none of them work properly.
All links I've found to earlier images have been broken so far, so I'd be very greatful if anyone could point me to a version prior to "OpenPLi-4.0-beta-vuultimo-20140329_usb.zip" so that I can do more tests.

 

Unless I'm missing something vital, it seems clear that the "Preferred tuner" option under "Setup, System, Custimization" is broken. The "Auto" option is actually locking my Ultimo to one single transponder
instead of switching tuners when needed. "Preferred tuner for recording" is somewhat confusing as it doesn't seem to make any difference whether I set it to Auto or Disabled. So, if I set Preferred tuner to

Tuner C, then I can start recording on one transponder and zap to a channel on another transponder. However, this is definitely no good as I just hit the wall again on a third transponder.

 

As an example: I often have two simultaneous timer recordings, and this will fail in several scenarios. Either one of the recordings are corrupted, or I can't zap to a third transponder, depending on the channel

the tuner stays on when the recording starts. The only difference is that I can now use two transponders (tuner A and B if I'm extremely careful with recording, while Tuner C can't do anything at all AFAICS.
I can't use the option to give recordings priority either (to avoid corrupt recordings). It doesn't activate with this setup, probably because it sees that there should be enough free tuners....

As mentioned, I might be missing somethng, but I can't see what it should be. The card is new and I use Oscam instead of CCcam, but that's all the difference there is from my previous OpenPLi 2.1 setup.

I can only speculate, but maybe something went wrong for my kind of setup after these changes?: http://openpli.org/f...ecording/page-3

I really need to get hold of a v4 image prior to these changes to see if that's the origin of this issue, unless someone have a suggestion on how to revert to the old behaviour.
 

Edited by Baltus72, 7 September 2014 - 15:41.

[WanWizard]

Was that the edit 2 min after posting? I'm sure that wasn't there when started my reply.

 

Anyway, no experience with cable tuners here (or the Ultimo), so I'm out.

[Baltus72]

The edit was the last sentence I believe, but it really doesn't matter. I should've been clear about DVB-C in my first post. :-)

The vital part here is the issue as it's ruining my recordings, at least with all releases I've tested from 2014-03-29 and out.

 

[Baltus72]

New test with todays build - OpenPLi-4.0-beta-vuultimo-20140908_usb.zip. Flashed my VU+ Ultimo (three DVB-C tuners connected in serial). 

Downloaded Oscam 9077 and I got picture on all channels right away with the default configuration.

 

But, the same issue with the Preferred Tuner (for recording) persists. Setting Preferred Tuner to Auto limits me to a single transponder no

matter what I do in Preferred Tuner for recording. The best I can get is 2 functional tuners when I set Preferred Tuner to Tuner C, combined

with Preferred Tuner for recording set to Auto (Disabled prevents access to one transponder, giving me "Tune Failed" errors). Even with the

"best" config I can only record from two transponders if I watch a channel on one of these transponders. Starting two recordings when I'm on

a third transponder causes one corrupted recording, and it's basically impossible to keep track of this all the time to prevent failures....

Auto should mean exactly that - Auto selection of tuners as needed, and I never had any issues at all with this when using OpenPLi 2.1.

Can somebody please give a hint on how "Preferred Tuner" and "Preferred Tuner for recording" is supposed to work with my setup?
 

Edited by Baltus72, 8 September 2014 - 21:33.

[Baltus72]

Ok, now I'm confident that there's a major problem that goes a long way back...at least since late march.

I finally found an older image (OpenPLi-2.1-beta-vuultimo-20120521_usb.zip) that I could use to compare with newer images.

Now I have ruled out the card and the softcam as potential culprits and then we're left with the images as the only difference.

 

I flashed OpenPLi 2.1 and tested without any softcam running, and recorded 3 channels on different transponders just fine.

I then flashed v4 from yesterday and boom - one recording and no zapping to a different transponder with tuner set to Auto.

Likewise, standing on one transponder and recording from a different transponders corrupts the recording. Gone forever..

It seems clear that either "Preferred Tuner" or "Preferred Tuner for recording" (or both) is completely broken for Ultimo with

3 DVB-C tuners in the box. It's virtually impossible to prevent disasters with broken recordings no matter what settings I use.

The "Preferred Tuner" option is present also in 2.1, while "Preferred Tuner for recordings" was implemented later. I have

no idea when, but something must've went terribly wrong either with that implementation - or perhaps this change later on:
http://openpli.org/f...-for-recording/

There might be other images out there that doesn't have this issue for all I know, but I'm just interested in getting this fixed in
OpenPLi. I really don't want to change as I love everything about the OpenPLi images - except for this fatal issue.

I'd *really* like to get some feedback on this, even if it's just a confirmation that it's been noted and hopefully taken seriously.

Going back to 2.1 is not a good idea as the newer images seems much more solid in general, and the 2.1 feed is history...

[Dimitrij]

Baltus72

Maybe the problem drivers.
Install VTI with the latest drivers and check.

[Huevos]

Nothing wrong with preferred tuner for recordings. It works exactly as it should for satellite recordings, and there is nothing in the code to differentiate between DVB-S and DVB-C so I don't see why it should be any different for DVB-C.