239 replies to this topic

[MCelliotG]

I finally bought the Mutant HD51.

The rotor problem is present with me as well, I have the DVB-S2X tuner. The manufacturer needs to provide a better driver for both this issue and the tuner signal values. I don't know how the calculation is done, and if it's the same on a TBS5522 with a similar Silabs tuner but something seems to be wrong. I will research further to be more precise and report again.

[betacentauri]

The driver creates the ddddddd processes. It’s no virus or similar.

[Robinson]

I finally bought the Mutant HD51.

The rotor problem is present with me as well, I have the DVB-S2X tuner. The manufacturer needs to provide a better driver for both this issue and the tuner signal values. I don't know how the calculation is done, and if it's the same on a TBS5522 with a similar Silabs tuner but something seems to be wrong. I will research further to be more precise and report again.

 

As regards signal values, I have noticed the percentage values and dB values are lower than those shown on my ET9000 but at the same time the reception also starts with lower signal level, so I guess the sensitivity may be comparable but there indeed may be something strange with the signal levels indicated.

 

And as for the motor issue, does anyone here have a good contact at the manufacturer? Perhaps developers here or at OpenATV can talk to them and ask for improvement?

[MCelliotG]

You cannot really expect different tuners to show the same values, I would directly compare devices with the same tuner. I'm not familiar with how the TBS5522 measures the signal, given it also has a Silabs tuner and if it behaves the same, but there's something odd with how it's calculated currently.

See this example...

 signal1.jpg   93.8KB   15 downloads

Now, this looks strange, shouldn't the % stop at 100%? The BCM73xx tuner that can also show boundless db values (I have several tps above 20db) stops at 100% when it reaches 16db. Not to be directly compared, but I find it odd.

Edited by MCelliotG, 27 January 2018 - 00:34.

[Robinson]

I have not observed such high dB or % values in my case (yet).

Although it looks like these values do not change in small steps here.

Let me give you an example. While watching Eurosport today I observed signal values and they jumped from 14.7 to 15.2 dB - there was nothing in-between. In my previous box the behaviour was different. There I would probably see something like: 14.9-15.0-14.9-15.0.

[Robinson]

Fails to obtain tuner lock after moving the dish. Needs a zap to sort it out. Or wait for some timeout to elapse.

Bug appeared May 2017. Reported July 2017.

 

Guys, is it possible to check using drivers from before May 2017?

Does anyone have them available? Perhaps they would reveal some other bugs though.

[Huevos]

I think driver update was Dec 2016. May 2017 was when it was first reported. OpenViX images before this driver change don't have the bug. Manufacturer was notified in July 2017.

 

If you want to complain do so here: http://mutant-digital.net/?page_id=74

 

The more people that complain the greater the chance of a fix.

[Robinson]

I will certainly complain but I have AX HD51, so it must be the fault of the supplier of drivers for all those different HD51 versions, not just Mutant themselves.

[Robinson]

I think driver update was Dec 2016. May 2017 was when it was first reported. OpenViX images before this driver change don't have the bug.

Did you or anyone else try putting OLD drivers into new images?

Will that work? I assume such a replacement may introduce other old bugs but at least it will eliminate this one and we will all be sure which driver update caused it.

[Captain Jack]

I suspect old drivers will not have support for this tuner. At best, some features will be missing, at worst, it won't work at all. I will try an old image when I get a moment and see what breaks.

Alternatively, I am in half a mind of getting an original tuner and running an old image (or going back to Solo2 altogether). This bug is highly frustrating and it shouldnt take this long for anyone to fix it. The tuner itself is very sensitive - one of the best I've used on sensitivity front.

Signal reporting is also annoying...

Shame on Mutant.

[humaxboy]

Just to inform you guys that the same bug exists on Octagon SF4008, which uses similar tuner. But for me is not so critical because it is happening only rarely...

[Robinson]

Do you mean the lock issue when using a rotor? So on SF4008 you sometimes get a lock immediately and sometimes have to wait up to 1 minute after dish arriving at the target satellite?

Or do you mean you do not move very your dish much between distant satellites so there is not a lot of opportunity to experience the bug?

Edited by Robinson, 29 January 2018 - 09:10.

[humaxboy]

Yes, I mean a lock...in same rare cases when using the motor SF4008 sometimes get a lock immediately and sometimes i have to switch back and forward to get a lock. I have no patience to wait 1 minute after dish has move to desire sat.

But it happens very rarely...

[MCelliotG]

I quickly monitored the behaviour when moving a dish with HD51.

- When the satellites are adjacent (less than 3 degrees) the rotor works fine, no problem. This goes both ways.

- When the satellites are further apart this is what happens. When you first select the channel the dish does move, but after a second it stops moving. Like the power gets cut off. When you have a normal behaviour the rotor is first sent a signal with a certain voltage to move, then a second one with higher voltage to move faster. It looks like the driver will not send the second signal, this means the dish will move up to three degrees and then needs a new command (this happens when you change channel, sometimes twice) to resume the motion and reach its final position.

This is where the bug lies, the receiver does not send the correct voltages sequences to keep the rotor moving until it reaches its desired destination.

- For slow lock, I did not really notice it yet. Once the dish arrives in the satellite it locks right away.

 

- For signal status. Yes, it's quite annoying. The signal is measured in very large increments. There is no logic to have 15.2db and the next step to be 15.7db, especially if you try to finetune a position or even use your STB to adjust your arc.Compared to what the BCM73xx tuner that OSmini has, that is so precise and in such small increments it's ages behind. For this issue though, I cannot tell how Silabs behaves in general. Perhaps all Silabs tuners measure the signal this way.

 

- The worst problem with the driver though (I don't think it's from the firmware) is that the tuner does not report real-time status. When you set your STB to read the stats from the tuner you only get 10600 and 9750. This is where initially all the tuners report but quickly change to real time values. This also reflects on the infobars, the only way to see the frequency is to read from the lamedb.

 

The supplier whoever it is needs to step their game in this department.

[humaxboy]

MCelliotG - absolutely superb description what is going on in this tuners !!

 

The supplier whoever it is needs to step their game in this department.

 

I think that this is a hopeless wish

[Robinson]

I quickly monitored the behaviour when moving a dish with HD51.

- When the satellites are adjacent (less than 3 degrees) the rotor works fine, no problem. This goes both ways.

- When the satellites are further apart this is what happens. When you first select the channel the dish does move, but after a second it stops moving. Like the power gets cut off. When you have a normal behaviour the rotor is first sent a signal with a certain voltage to move, then a second one with higher voltage to move faster. It looks like the driver will not send the second signal, this means the dish will move up to three degrees and then needs a new command (this happens when you change channel, sometimes twice) to resume the motion and reach its final position.

This is where the bug lies, the receiver does not send the correct voltages sequences to keep the rotor moving until it reaches its desired destination.

- For slow lock, I did not really notice it yet. Once the dish arrives in the satellite it locks right away.

 

For signal strength and tuner status reporting - I can confirm this 100%, unfortunately.

However, as regards satellite lock, the behaviour here is different although adjacent satellites do indeed work correctly. Here (Moteck SG-2100), the dish does not stop after a second or so. It keeps moving as fas as the target satellite but once it arrives it still shows 0% signal strength for half a minute or even more. I have not measured the time and I'm not sure if it is always the same.

[MCelliotG]

Indeed the behaviour is different in your case, I will try again without a channel change.

Now, guys I believe it's all in the drivers. I saw a DM920 with a silabs tuner. The tuner is like on a different league. Blindscan, blindlock work as they should, no motor issues reported, the only thing I forgot to see is the tuner values and the real time status. All is fixable, the question is when for any other than Dreambox...

[Rob van der Does]

...... but once it arrives it still shows 0% signal strength for half a minute or even more.

Does this also happen when the box has just booted up?
I ask because I have a box that sometimes shows a similar behaviour; when I reboot the box the problem has gone (for some time).

Edited by Rob van der Does, 29 January 2018 - 12:45.

[MCelliotG]

I'll check these also, for the moment when I see the following video and what the potential of the tuner is I wanna punch my screen...

[athoik]

Well done for Dreambox, providing such professional blindscan. No external binaries, constellation, just great.

I guess others should follow their way.