Setting up Sky on TVHeadend

[dinth]

Hi. I need some help with setting up Sky UK on my TVHeadend PC.

At the moment i dont have a card reader (yet!) so wont be able to decrypt the scrambled channels, but at least i want to put them on my channel list, so i know its working and will be ready once i get the card reader for my PC.

I have set up Astra28.2E on my DVB-S2 receivers and set up network discovery to "new + changed muxes".

Its showing me 113 available muxes with around 53 scanning all right and scan failed on the remaining ones.

In services it shows 446 services, but some are missing, ive got Discovery Turbo+1 but no Discovery Turbo and from all Sky* channels i only have one - SkySp Racing.

It shows me 440 bouquets, mainly BSkyB ones which dont seem to contain any non-free channels and Freesat ones.

When going to Status i can see that my tuners have SNR of 14.5dB and Signal Strength -43.5dB - not sure if thats good or bad, but i dont see any glitches while watching FTA channels.

What am i missing? Im pretty sure that i shouldnt need to have working decryption card to be able to see the encrypted channels

 

[Channel Hopper]

You won't need it for the FTA channels.

The signal levels you are receiving sound fine on paper, do you have a standalone satellite receiver, or Freesat television to confirm they can resolve the bouquets ?

 

[Adam792]

So with the "New + Changes Muxes" you've enabled network scanning, this is fine. What frequency did you use for the scan?

I think the easiest way to scan Astra 2 on TVH with up to date transponder details is to clear everything you have currently (delete all muxes).

Then, with network discovery set up still as new & changes muxes, add the following two transponders in muxes manually -

Mode DVB-S
Freq 11778000
Sym Rate 27500000
Pol V
Modulation QPSK
FEC 2/3

Mode DVB-S
Freq 11425000
Sym Rate
27500000
Pol H
Modulation QPSK
FEC 2/3

And force a scan. These two transponders between them should include all up to date network information with all the transponders on 28.2E (they're the home transponders for Sky and Freesat respectively), so all the other muxes will auto-populate and tune.

If you get ones that fail, there could be an issue with your signal from the dish.

As an aside, I didn't think Sky cards worked any more outside of official receivers!

 

[ozumo]

You may be wasting your time - you will not be able to decrypt the Sky channels on your computer, only a Sky receiver can do that.

As for missing channels, can you manually add transponders?

edit: beaten to it by Adam792's much more helpful post

 

[dinth]

The signal levels you are receiving sound fine on paper, do you have a standalone satellite receiver, or Freesat television to confirm they can resolve the bouquets ?

Yep, reception on my TV seems to be all right.

The thing is that i want to buy a PCIE CI card reader and use this set up with Sky card to watch paid channels, but dont want to spend £££s on an expensive CI reader if i cant even see paid channels in TVH.

@ozumo @Adam792 hmmm, they dont even offer CI modules to use with their cards?

Just one more thing i should add, im using a multiswitch like this one https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61pSWAgLYkL._AC_SL1200_.jpg, this may be responsible for muxes not scanning and many channels being not visible, but im not sure how should i set it up in TVHeadend. Are there any triplex splitters (https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/t4UAAOSw-KFXekzX/s-l500.jpg) available to be installed inline on the cables (instead of euro modules)

 

[mikeisyou]

You can only watch Sky on a Sky Receiver, third party equipment will not work

 

[ozumo]

Did you try adding the transponders manually? Can you try the TVHeadend PC with the outlet the television is connected to?

 

[Adam792]

Did you try adding the transponders manually? Can you try the TVHeadend PC with the outlet the television is connected to?

I’ve just quickly checked on my TVHeadend set-up and I get 71 transponders on Astra 2 (from a network scan with the settings above).

I’m wondering if the OP’s accidentally selected pre-defined transponders for Astra 1 instead as they’re saying they have a list of 113 transponders. I have 114 transponders in my Astra 1 list. Most of the frequencies are similar on Astra 1 to Astra 2, but the pre-defined symbol rates are different for a fair few of them, which could explain why only 50 or so show a signal (just the matching ones).

 

[dinth]

I’ve just quickly checked on my TVHeadend set-up and I get 71 transponders on Astra 2 (from a network scan with the settings above).

I’m wondering if the OP’s accidentally selected pre-defined transponders for Astra 1 instead as they’re saying they have a list of 113 transponders. I have 114 transponders in my Astra 1 list. Most of the frequencies are similar on Astra 1 to Astra 2, but the pre-defined symbol rates are different for a fair few of them, which could explain why only 50 or so show a signal (just the matching ones).

I have indeed used pre-defined transponders but definitely chosen Astra28.2E as below:


@ozumo: i have checked the transponder list and both muxes mentioned earlier by Adam are already on the list. Now i am trying to delete all the muxes except of those two and rescan

 

[dinth]

Thank you both, i have tried removing all the muxes, re-adding the network *without* "Use predefined muxes" and just adding the two transponders @Adam792 listed.
Now ive got 70 available muxes and 570 services (some of them are twice though), so definitely getting somewhere - but still no Sky* channels, including FTA ones like Sky News. Also, still have 15 muxes which failed to scan.

 

[Adam792]

Hmm those failed ones are all high band, but not all of the high band transponders are in your failed list, so some of them have presumably tuned OK, which would rule out a problem with the multiswitch output.

It's interesting that they say "IDLE PEND". If you click the Play icon next to one of them, it should open in VLC and if it tunes you should see a channel (it will be blank if encrypted but you'll see the channel name).

If you do that while on the TVHeadend interface going to Status > Stream, you should see the signal strength/quality being reported by your PC tuner (what tuner are you using by the way?)

Also, in the Config > DVB Input tab, how have you got the tuners set up? They should be 'universal LNB'.

The duplicate services will often be the Irish adverts version of the same channel.

 

[dinth]

Hmm those failed ones are all high band, but not all of the high band transponders are in your failed list, so some of them have presumably tuned OK, which would rule out a problem with the multiswitch output.

Indeed, that was my first thought, but then i scrolled up and saw that some of the high band muxes are fine.

It's interesting that they say "IDLE PEND". If you click the Play icon next to one of them, it should open in VLC and if it tunes you should see a channel (it will be blank if encrypted but you'll see the channel name).

I think that's because i have enabled "Scan when idle" to see if it's gonna pick up those 15 transponders again.

If you do that while on the TVHeadend interface going to Status > Stream, you should see the signal strength/quality being reported by your PC tuner (what tuner are you using by the way?)

Im using TBS 6904. Normally its showing SNR = 14.2dB and signal strength -44dBm. But sometimes when it's scanning one of those muxes which fail to scan, im seeing signal strength -39dBm and SNR is unknown.

Also, in the Config > DVB Input tab, how have you got the tuners set up? They should be 'universal LNB'.

Previously i had all four set up to universal LNB, but now i have disabled 3 and left just 1 enabled for troubleshooting.

 

[ozumo]

The vast majority of your failed transponders are from the Europe beams, which may indicate your dish isn't perfectly aligned - they are weaker than the UK beam and so more likely to disappear first.

 

[dinth]

The vast majority of your failed transponders are from the Europe beams, which may indicate your dish isn't perfectly aligned - they are weaker than the UK beam and so more likely to disappear first.

Thank you and @Adam792 for your help.
Just one more thing, if im getting good signal from some transponders while no signal from others, is it going to be more likely a matter of positioning the dish or rotation of the head?

 

[Adam792]

Thank you and @Adam792 for your help.
Just one more thing, if im getting good signal from some transponders while no signal from others, is it going to be more likely a matter of positioning the dish or rotation of the head?

Probably tweaking the positioning of the dish. The signal you're getting from the transponders you are receiving already will most likely get even stronger. Might be worth trying the skew (rotation) of the LNB first though to see if that brings the missing transponders above the threshold.

The UK beam stuff is hugely strong - I get over 15dB SNR on some of the transponders on it carrying channels like BBC One HD and ITV HD, using an offset LNB on a Zone 2 Sky dish aligned on Astra 1 (19.2E), and I think that LNB could still be optimised with some more tweaking (that I'll get round to when the weather warms up! ). Some of the Europe beam stuff can be 5dB or so down on that for me, so if the dish is a little misaligned that could go lower and push them below the SNR threshold while the stronger stuff still comes in.

 

[dinth]

Just wanted to add that i hooked up a TV instead of the computer and TV shows that the signal is 96%/100%, but still no Sky News on the channel 202. It even gets an EPG for that channel, but im getting "No signal" when im trying to set my TV on 202

 

[ozumo]

Is it possible to bypass the switch and connect the television or computer directly the LNB?

I believe EPG data comes from a different transponder, most likely the Freesat home TP on 11425H. I guess this where the 96%/100% figure is coming from as well. It may be possible to view signal readings for individual transponders if you dig around the menus.

 

[davemurgtroyd]

Just wanted to add that i hooked up a TV instead of the computer and TV shows that the signal is 96%/100%, but still no Sky News on the channel 202. It even gets an EPG for that channel, but im getting "No signal" when im trying to set my TV on 202

Which transponder/frequency is it looking at for Sky News? You are aware that there are only two versions (UK and Irish) that are FTA both SD only, all HD versions are encrypted

 

[dinth]

Which transponder/frequency is it looking at for Sky News? You are aware that there are only two versions (UK and Irish) that are FTA both SD only, all HD versions are encrypted

Just the Freesat one (channel 202 on Freesat).

 

[dinth]

@Adam792 @ozumo Thanks again for all the help with this. The problem was indeed in the PremiumX switch ive been using and i was not able to find it earlier probably because i just noticed that one of the f type plugs on a cable i used to bypass the switch was also damaged.