Configuring Delock 61959 V2 for DVB-C

[Ruuddb]

I have a Delock 61959 which is capable of receiving DVB-T and DVB-C.
I managed to get it working using MediaPortal, but somehow that crashed on my PC and I'm not
able to re-install it properly (at least not without a clean windows install).

There is a peculiar thing with this tuner: ALL software sees it as a DVB-T tuner, except the ARCSOFT Totalmedia software
that is upplied with it (but that software is not capable of finding the DVB-C channels!!!!)

Using MediaPortal, I had to manually search for the DVB-C channels (using the option "Enable Channel Movement Detection").

Is it possible to instruct NextPVR (using config files???) to scan only ONE channel for
DVB-C channels? e.g. at 304 Mhz, there are three TV channels present (QAM64, 6875 )
and save the found results.

Regards,

Ruud

[sub]

I have a Delock 61959 which is capable of receiving DVB-T and DVB-C.
I managed to get it working using MediaPortal, but somehow that crashed on my PC and I'm not
able to re-install it properly (at least not without a clean windows install).

There is a peculiar thing with this tuner: ALL software sees it as a DVB-T tuner, except the ARCSOFT Totalmedia software
that is upplied with it (but that software is not capable of finding the DVB-C channels!!!!)

This usually means the manufacturer doesn't have drivers that correctly advertise DVB-C support, and just support it as a hack tacked on the side of their DVB-T support. The ArcSoft software is probably listing it as DVB-C, because they've encountered the hardware before, and put in a hardcoded rule to assume it also supports DVB-C.

If you can visit the Settings->Devices screen, then post the npvr.log, I can try to give you a patch with a similar hardcoded rule for NextPVR (like we've done with a couple of other no-name DVB-T/DVB-C devices in the past).

Is it possible to instruct NextPVR (using config files???) to scan only ONE channel for
DVB-C channels? e.g. at 304 Mhz, there are three TV channels present (QAM64, 6875 )
and save the found results.

The only way to scan a specific frequency currently would be by creating or editing a tuning file in C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Tuning

[Ruuddb]

ok, here's the log file.

regards,

[sub]

Give this one a go. Backup the original file first though - this one is built on a different machine, and might not be compatible with the rest of 3.2.9.

[Ruuddb]

Hi,

I got a DVB-C menu and can setup the scanning frequencies (by adapting a a tuning file in C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Tuning), but no channels
are being found. The DVB-T channels are found properly, playing them did not work.

[sub]

Hi,

I got a DVB-C menu and can setup the scanning frequencies (by adapting a a tuning file in C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Tuning), but no channels
are being found.

This may be down to the quirky not-real-DVB-C driver implementation. If you want to do a scan and post your npvr.log, I can check for any other obvious cause. I may or may not be able to do anything about this.

The DVB-T channels are found properly, playing them did not work.

If it can detect the channels, then it sounds like it's getting the stream just fine, so you should be able to watch the channels (assuming your signal is good enough). If you're not getting them, then it's almost certainly down to the decoders you're using. Again, you could attempt watching one, then post your npvr.log, I can check for reasons.

[Ruuddb]

Here's the log file (scanned on Win7 64 bit).
There seems to be a problem with the tuning.

[sub]

2014-07-08 19:12:27.367 [DEBUG][1] About to tune BDA graph:
<tuning>
<type>DVB-C</type>
<locator>
<frequency>304000</frequency>
<bandwidth>8</bandwidth>
<symbol_rate>6875</symbol_rate>
<modulation>QAM64</modulation>
</locator>
</tuning>

2014-07-08 19:12:27.371 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune()
2014-07-08 19:12:27.382 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune() About to get Network Provider
2014-07-08 19:12:27.382 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune()@2
2014-07-08 19:12:27.382 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune()@3
2014-07-08 19:12:27.382 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune()@4
2014-07-08 19:12:27.382 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune()@5
2014-07-08 19:12:27.383 [DEBUG][1] Unexpected error on DVB-C put_TunerRequest: 0x80070057
2014-07-08 19:12:27.383 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune()@6
2014-07-08 19:12:27.383 [DEBUG][1] DigitalRecorderDVBC::Tune() About to get TS Mon
2014-07-08 19:12:27.385 [DEBUG][1] Calling LockChannel()
2014-07-08 19:12:27.386 [DEBUG][1] locked=0, present=0, strength=0, quality=0 (took 0ms to check)

Sorry, I think you're probably out of luck on this device. It looks like it's drivers don't have proper DVB-C support. I'm guessing it only does DVB-C via some form of hacked DVB-T tuning.

[Ruuddb]

The strange thing is that every good commercial PVR program finds all channels without problems
e.g. DVB-Dream finds it using manual tuning within a few minutes.

Is there a way to test the driver separately from the rest of the software
(using driver source code)?

I'd be willing to test and debug it.

Regards,

Ruud

[sub]

There is stacks of DVB-C devices people are using successfully with NextPVR. Unfortunately this oddball device isn't entirely compatible with the Microsoft DVB-C BDA spec, and isn't working.

If you can convince the manufacturer to send me a sample device, I'm happy to add support for it, otherwise it'll probably have to stay broken.