Switch setup

[wod]

This is just in the thought stage at the moment but just wondering if it's possible to do.

I'm thinking of getting a twin tuner Linux box and get rid of my $ky hd receiver and run both my $ky card and motorised dish on 1 receiver, keeping my $ky italia on its own feed and receiver.

I have 2 feeds from 28e and 2 from my motorised dish with 1 used for the italia receiver.

So I would need to work out how to configure the 2 28e feeds and 1 from the motor dish which uses diseqc 1.2 via a vbox to move the 1224 motor.

Do I need a multi switch or uncommitted switch and are Spaun the best make to buy ?

will the $ky card update in the Linux receiver each month ?

Is there anything else I need to consider with this arrangement.

 

[A nonymous]

The biggest problem you will have is that Enigma 2 boxes don't like using one DISEqC port for one postion and the other for multiple positions.

I used to have my old TM600 set up so port AA on the DISEqC switch would be 28e and port AB would be all the others. (The others were feb from the second port of the motorised dish controlled by the Vu+ downstairs)

Worked perfectly. I had 28e being fed from the houses IRS system with a feed from the twin output lnb on the motorised dish for all the others. The DISEqC switch was located in the loft next to the IRS multiswitch, which allowed me to run both feeds down one cable.

This worked brilliantly until i swapped the TM600 for a DM800HD. I cannot get the damn thing to work the same as the TM600 did.

I ended up moving the DM800HD downstairs and putting my Vu+ upstairs. As its got twin tuners i can get it to work by putting tuner 1 on 28.2e and setting tuner 2 up as if it was using a vbox. It works in a rough manner, but it does what i want it to do.

You can also set it up the way i used to have my Vu+ Duo.

Set tuner one as USALS and tuner 2 for 28.2e. It works fine. Just make sure that when you tune 28e that you set it as tuner B. If you record of 28e using tuner B if you switch over to another channel on 28e it will just send the motorised dish there to allow you to view it.

Your Sky Card will update every month in a Linux box providing its setup correctly, dependent on what emu you use to read the card, The same can be said for your Sky Italia card

Nano

 

[wod]

With this setup I was hoping I could have use of the 2 28e feeds from the dish and at any other time I'm not recording or watching 28e use m motorised to view other channels.

my worry with using $ky card in Linux is the card getting destroyed do they really run 3.3volts to avoid the card getting burnt out ?

The vu+ ultimo is said to be 3 tuners so maybe that be best without the need for a switch so each feed has a tuner to assign to and I can run diseqc 1.2 via the vbox to move the motor dish.

 

[A nonymous]

My white card hasn't been in the Sky dodgybox for nearly six months, it runs fine in my Vu+ Duo, no reason why it shouldn't be the same in the Ultimo. as long as the frequecy is not set to high it should work fine.

The only receiver i've heard there are issues with the whitecard are the DM800HD & DM500HD. The card gets a bit hot in the internal readers on them, but it works fine in an external Smargo or Omnikey Cardman

 

[Huevos]

The biggest problem you will have is that Enigma 2 boxes don't like using one DISEqC port for one postion and the other for multiple positions.

Works fine for me.

I used to have my old TM600 set up so port AA on the DISEqC switch would be 28e and port AB would be all the others. (The others were feb from the second port of the motorised dish controlled by the Vu+ downstairs)

Worked perfectly. I had 28e being fed from the houses IRS system with a feed from the twin output lnb on the motorised dish for all the others. The DISEqC switch was located in the loft next to the IRS multiswitch, which allowed me to run both feeds down one cable.

This worked brilliantly until i swapped the TM600 for a DM800HD. I cannot get the damn thing to work the same as the TM600 did.

Same thing happened to me with the DM 500HD. I changed to a quality switch and it worked perfectly afterwards.

I ended up moving the DM800HD downstairs and putting my Vu+ upstairs. As its got twin tuners i can get it to work by putting tuner 1 on 28.2e and setting tuner 2 up as if it was using a vbox. It works in a rough manner, but it does what i want it to do.

You can also set it up the way i used to have my Vu+ Duo.

Set tuner one as USALS and tuner 2 for 28.2e. It works fine. Just make sure that when you tune 28e that you set it as tuner B. If you record of 28e using tuner B if you switch over to another channel on 28e it will just send the motorised dish there to allow you to view it.

Your Sky Card will update every month in a Linux box providing its setup correctly, dependent on what emu you use to read the card, The same can be said for your Sky Italia card

Nano

On my tuner 'A' I've got 21 LNBs, 2 uncommitted and 7 committed switches, and a V-box (DiSEqC 1.2) to move the big dish. On tuner 'B' I've got one fixed dish and one motorised using a DiSEqC 1.0 and USALS. All works flawlessly. Anyway my point is there's nothing about E2 that stops switching working properly as long as they are decent switches.

Wod, I'd put a fixed LNB on Hotbird for your Sky Italia. Two feeds from you Sky dish one for each tuner of the Linux receiver. This will speed up zapping. Tie your motorised dish in to one tuner with a committed switch... and if you feel inclined add another motorised dish so you are fully independant on the second tuner.

 

[Huevos]

With this setup I was hoping I could have use of the 2 28e feeds from the dish and at any other time I'm not recording or watching 28e use m motorised to view other channels.

If your motorised dish is on tuner 'A' start watching a channel that is not on 28E and start the recording from the EPG. That way you won't tie up the motorised tuner doing recordings from 28E.

my worry with using $ky card in Linux is the card getting destroyed do they really run 3.3volts to avoid the card getting burnt out ?

Vu+ Duo is the coolest running box ever (completely stone cold). After one year there is no sign of the card going brown. And if you are still worried you can set the clock speed for the card in CCcam.

The vu+ ultimo is said to be 3 tuners so maybe that be best without the need for a switch so each feed has a tuner to assign to and I can run diseqc 1.2 via the vbox to move the motor dish.

No official spec has been released for that receiver yet.

 

[wod]

Hmm it is starting to sound complicated.

I was hoping it would be easy to do as the sky hd box is starting to annoy me, they are so cheaply made.

I posted a picture somewhere the card in my official receiver has gone
a burnt colour so something is up with that.

 

[A nonymous]

Mine went brown in my Amstrad DRX280 Sky+ Box, still works fine though

Same thing happened to me with the DM 500HD. I changed to a quality switch and it worked perfectly afterwards.

Huevos, I've tried a few switches as thats what i thought the problem was. I've tried a Fracarro one, Global Invacom, Spaun , EMP & and a cheapo SMS International one, same problem every time.

I was only using port AA & Port AB on the DISEqC switch. 28.2e was on port AA and the others were on AB. What satellite was on AB was determined by where the dish was pointing at. If you know how to set up a DM800 to work like this i would appreciate if you could let me know as i never managed to get it to work right.

The TM600 i had and even the Cristor Atlas seems to mange it ok so i was a bit perplexed when the DM800 wouldn't

 

[wod]

huevos, nanochicken, where would the committed switch need to be then as dont i connect all the inputs from the dishes to the switch and then 2 cables from the switch to the receiver inputs ?

where would the vbox be connected ?

think this maybe more complicated than i first thought

 

[Huevos]

where would the vbox be connected ?

think this maybe more complicated than i first thought

It's not complicated at all. Come out of your receiver (whichever tuner you fancy, I use tuner 'A') and straight into the V-box. Come out of the V-box, out of the house, and into a 4:1 DiSEqC 1.0 switch. From the switch take 1 feed to your 28E fixed LNB, 1 feed to your motorised LNB, and if you followed my advice above and have a fixed LNB on 13E for Sky Italia you could make that LNB a quad (shared between the Linux and Sky Italia receiver) for faster zapping.

By the way, the reason it seems complicated is because the aerial system is not duplicated. Simplest config to get a twin tuner receiver working fully is going to be either a fixed dual port LNB on every satellite or twin motorised dishes. That way both tuners have independent control over the aerial system.

 

[Huevos]

I was only using port AA & Port AB on the DISEqC switch. 28.2e was on port AA and the others were on AB. What satellite was on AB was determined by where the dish was pointing at. If you know how to set up a DM800 to work like this i would appreciate if you could let me know as i never managed to get it to work right.

I think maybe the Dreambox power supply is not man enough. What I mean is if you want to go to one of your motorised positions the switch goes to port 2 and then the USALS command gets sent. When the motor starts to move voltage at the switch falls and the switch reverts to port 1 (which is the default port).

Anyway my tuner 'B' is set up opposite to yours with the motorised LNB on port 1 and the fixed LNB on port 2.

USALS dish



Fixed dish on 28E

 

[wod]

It's not complicated at all. Come out of your receiver (whichever tuner you fancy, I use tuner 'A') and straight into the V-box. Come out of the V-box, out of the house, and into a 4:1 DiSEqC 1.0 switch. From the switch take 1 feed to your 28E fixed LNB, 1 feed to your motorised LNB, and if you followed my advice above and have a fixed LNB on 13E for Sky Italia you could make that LNB a quad (shared between the Linux and Sky Italia receiver) for faster zapping

I have 3 feeds 2 from my quad lnb on the 28e dish and 1 from the motorised one.

I'm wondering if it's best to just keep 28e separate and get a qbox mini twin tuner or something to replace the current one.

I'm in no rush to set this up.

 

[Huevos]

I'm wondering if it's best to just keep 28e separate and get a qbox mini twin tuner or something to replace the current one.

Well I've gone the other way. I want everything in one receiver including terrestrial (which I use a USB Nova-T for). Then put all the channels in logical order and it is user friendly for the whole family. The kids have a kids bouquet so to get any of their channels from 28E, terrestrial or any other position they just press up or down on the remote and it all works at full speed in a seamless way. And if they want to watch a recorded film that too is on the same remote because it is recorded to the hard disc on the Linux box. Having multiple receivers is not user friendly even if you are a tech-head.

 

[wod]

Having multiple receivers is not user friendly even if you are a tech-head.

Yes I understand where your coming from.

I have 3 receivers at the moment and having just one would be nice.

Ideally I want one with 3 tuners to avoid using switches etc.

I'm sure the vu+ ultimo has been said to have 3 tuners from the pics taken at the Anglia cable show.

 

[Huevos]

Ideally I want one with 3 tuners to avoid using switches etc.

I'm sure the vu+ ultimo has been said to have 3 tuners from the pics taken at the Anglia cable show.

3 tuners maybe... and a 600€ price tag maybe...

Anyway in my opinion using switches is better as it allows you to duplicate channels on more than one tuner... and if you can't duplicate you can't record and view 2 different things that are on the same satellite.