TBS 6281 not working in NextPVR

[Graham]

I installed a TBS 6281 DVB-T2 and NextPVR gave me nothing ... found nothing in a channel scan. Recorded nothing (created zero byte file) when I allowed NextPVR -> Settings -> Devices to copy the config from another tuner.

Tried all of the usual fiddling about ... different aerial cable ... different PCI-E slot ... no change. Tried DVBdream that came with the card ... worked perfectly ... found channels in a scan ... and tuned to a channel and displayed the channel.

The card is ... http://www.dabs.com/products/tbs-dual-fr...tml?src=15

Logs are attached ... including the DVBdream logs for the adventurous. Thanks for listening.

Edit: And now I find that the Blackgold DVB-T2 tuner that was working is now also producing zero byte files. While simultaneously, the Hauppauge TVB-T carry on working as normal. Edit Again: Bugger - air gap between the ariel coax and the tuner... but that was not the problem with the TBS card.

[Kiwi]

I'm not sure for UK, but is UK using the older DVB-T2 or the newer DVB-T2 v1.3.1?

Cos there are 2 versions of TBS6281 too, one supporting the older DVB-T2 and a newer one that supports both.

[Graham]

Cos there are 2 versions of TBS6281 .

Thanks but it's not a DVB-T2 thing ... it all works well with DVBdream ... but DVBdream uses a TBS.ext file to get a result (perhaps because the TBS drivers are not quite right). I know nothing of DVBdream so I dunno what it is doing.

[Graham]

The long story involves software updates, PCIE x8 slots, graphics card drivers and allsorts. The short story is ... it's fixed.

[Kiwi]

The long story involves software updates, PCIE x8 slots, graphics card drivers and allsorts. The short story is ... it's fixed.

Could you write about the long story too? I'm interested.

[Graham]

Could you write about the long story too? I'm interested.

Pay attention ... there will be a quiz at the end.

I began, a long, long time ago, with an AMD chipset motherboard and processor. But, the on-board Radeon graphics would not re-initialise the HDMI connection to the TV when the 'puter resumed from sleep. The Internet said that lots of folk had the problem but none of the suggested fixes worked for me. So I bought an Nvidia 210 PCIE card and it was all good.

A little bit later, I bought a sound bar speaker that connected to the on-board audio of the motherboard. It was an improvement on the PC speakers that I had been using but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped.

And then, a few months ago, I bought a car. I hadn’t bought a car for nearly twenty years and I was thrilled by all of the new stuff that cars do now … this one plays MP3 files from a USB memory stick. A day or several had to be spent ripping CD tracks to MP3 files at several different bitrates and struggling to decide if I could hear a difference between one file and another in the car and on the ‘puter.

And then, the end of the tax year was looming and I had to choose between paying more income tax or spending money on computer stuff. I decided that the schools and hospitals could manage with the tax that I had already paid and that I would buy a Xonar sound card and a TBS tuner.

But the heatsink on the Nvidia card ( do you remember the Nvidia card? ) obstructed one of the PCIE x1 slots. But not to worry … I had done my research and the Internet had told me that PCIE x1 cards would work in x8 slots. I had even moved my Blackgold tuner from an x1 slot to the x8 slot as a test and the tuner continued to work … so I ordered the sound card and tuner with confidence.

But then I found that the ‘puter wouldn’t resume from sleep properly and it was because of the x1 Blackgold tuner in the x8 slot. Moved the tuner back to its x1 slot and it was all good.

Cont ...

[Graham]

... Cont ... Part 2.

The new tuner and sound card arrived … still my beating heart … and I leapt into action. The sound card in the x8 slot did nothing … Windows didn’t see the card. Moved the sound card to an x1 slot and it was all good.

The TBS tuner in the x8 slot was seen by Windows and the drivers installed quite nicely. NextPVR showed the card in Settings  Devices and it looked as if the TBS card would work in the x8 slot just as the Blackgold card had done. But wait … zero byte files … how can it be!

The TBS card came with … not one TV program … not two TV programs … but three TV programs. I installed DVBdream and it was all good. The tuner card scanned and tuned to channels. I installed TBSviewer (an OEM version of DVBviewer) and it was not good. The software couldn’t find the card. Ah ha! … there must be a problem with the tuner card if it doesn’t work with the software that came with the card.

Cue an exchange of emails with TBS support who suggested I download and install an upgrade of TBSviewer … and it was all good … TBSviwer scanned and played channels. Okay … not a problem with the card. I tried again with NextPVR and it was all good. NextPVR scanned and played channels. I still have no clue why NextPVR didn’t work initially nor what caused NextPVR to start working.

Cont ...

[Graham]

... Cont ... Part 3.

But what is to be done about the lack of x1 slots caused by the overhanging heatsink on the Nvidia card. Well, I’m thinking that it has been a few years and maybe AMD have fixed the problem with resume from sleep and HDMI. Download the latest AMD drivers and, lo and behold, the problem is 75% fixed. Using an HDMI – HDMI cable, resume works if the TV is awake when the computer wakes up but resume fails if the TV is asleep when the computer awakes. But, used a DVI – HDMI cable and it was all good … so no need for the Nvidia card.

But the picture quality with the AMD is not so much and I found a Nvidia 210 card that looks like it won’t overhang so that’s now on order.

But what about the sound card? … I hear you cry. I think that I can hear a slight improvement in TV recordings with the Xonar card but it’s not much. However, I am sure that that I can hear an improvement when playing ripped music using Foobar2000 through ASIO on the Xonar card. And yes, I know that the Internet says ASIO and FLAC and high bitrate MP3 make no difference … but it’s my time and money and I think that there is a difference ... so bugger the Internet.

It appears to me that … putting an x1 tuner in an x8 slot shags resume from sleep … AMD have kinda fixed the other problem of resume from sleep with HDMi into a TV … TBS supply their tuner with a version of software that doesn’t work … Xonar sound cards don’t work in an x8 slot … and I have the patience of a saint.

Ends.

[Kiwi]

I see....

Thanks for the write-up.

Indeed there seems to be some problem putting the x1 tuner card into a x8 slot, which all motherboards have that nowadays.

[liteswap]

Yes, I've experienced this: I bought not one but two (poor fool me) TBS 6982 DVB-S2 twin tuner cards not because I wanted four tuners but because I believed the first one was faulty. When I plugged it into x4 or x8 slots it refused to work at all, no detection by BIOS, nothing. That was the same in not one but FOUR different motherboards, two of them made by Intel which, presumably, knows what it's doing when it comes to designing PCIe bus technology.

I'm currently having a heated debate with TBS's support team who seem to be terribly sorry that I'm experiencing all this trouble, and who knows what may come out of it.