5(6) tuners

[Blot]

I successfully recorded 5 shows at the same time on different networks last week, but one network could not be watched live (although it recorded ok).

Today I tried recording 6 shows on five networks (and the tuners were on auto) and I got this screen when I came home and had to hard reboot from the back switch.

[MrQuade]

I have only ever heard of 5 tuners being successfully employed.

I believe someone has tested 5 recordings and one live stream before, but there were some odd problems encountered.

I think you are best off either physically removing one tuner if you can, or else, just disabling one of them in software so that you don't accidentally engage the sixth one.

[Blot]

How do I disable the sixth one. Can I ftp in and edit a file or something?

[MrQuade]

How do I disable the sixth one. Can I ftp in and edit a file or something?

Nothing so fancy. Just go into the setup menu, find the tuner configuration section and select one of the tuners to disable.

[IanL-S]

I have never had more than 5 tuners recognised; but I was using two Sony Play TV dual tuners, which may explain why the 6th tuner was not recognised.

With my V2I have successfully recorded on all 5 tuners without any issues; however as the number of concurrent recordings increases there are signs of instability - this was (I think) with 12+ recordings (and timeshift disabled). If you keep to 8 concurrent recordings you should be OK (need to allow for pre- and post-padding).

Ian

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Today I tried recording 6 shows on five networks (and the tuners were on auto) and I got this screen when I came home and had to hard reboot from the back switch.

"no free demux found"
Appears to be a USB tuner limitation - see viewtopic.php?f=56&t=14497&p=191291#p191291

[Blot]

In theory eight or so recordings should be possible, but from my first observation one of the demuxers can only record one show from one network. So if you are unlucky recording 6 or so channels and it tries to hit up the fifth demuxer twice it crashes.

Either that or it accidentally tries the sixth.

Try recording on five different networks and then change channels to each network. One network will probably refuse to display, like I found. Doing this does not crash anything, you can still switch back to another network ok.

It would be interesting to get a bluey and have five tuners only and see if it all works.

[prl]

In theory eight or so recordings should be possible, but from my first observation one of the demuxers can only record one show from one network. So if you are unlucky recording 6 or so channels and it tries to hit up the fifth demuxer twice it crashes.

I'm not quite sure how to interpret that, but in general the demuxes are able to extract multiple streams simultaneously, for either recording or live TV. Unless you meant that one of the demuxes was able to only extract a single stream while the others could extract multiple streams.

[Blot]

one of the demuxes was able to only extract a single stream while the others could extract multiple streams

So it is a six demuxer problem or maybe even a five demuxer problem. I am tempted to get a bluey and try just five demuxers to see if it works better.

I am not sure where to get a bluey though.

[MrQuade]

Try recording on five different networks and then change channels to each network. One network will probably refuse to display, like I found. Doing this does not crash anything, you can still switch back to another network ok.

Did you try this test with one of the tuners disabled, or with all 6 still enabled?
Or if tested with only 5 tuners, did you re-try the test with a different tuner disabled (try tuner E instead of F)?

[Grumpy_Geoff]

..., but in general the demuxes are able to extract multiple streams simultaneously, for either recording or live TV.

And for recording playback, as far as I know.

[Blot]

You can not disable tuner f b/c it doesn’t show in the interface. I will try disabling e but I imagine it will only record on four networks if I do that.

What ebay single tuner is good? Any dvb-t2 ones?

Many seem to be no name. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/19503141708 ... &media=SMS

[Blot]

The single tuner I posted above was for kernel 5.4

We probably need a…https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/ ... nTV-soloHD

…for a t2 single tuner, but that future proofing costs $90. I think I will stick with my PlayTV roulette as I probably won’t exceed 5 recordings very often.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

…for a t2 single tuner, but that future proofing costs $90.

You want a tuner with the RTL2832U (demodulator) & R820T2 (tuner) chipsets.
I've written about it plenty of times on here.
No R828D tuner.
No FC0012 tuner.

Apparently the R820T2 is replaced by the R860 and is identical (except for name) -
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/the-r860-will-r ... rent-name/

Here's some eBay examples -
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304475448518
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/225019256680
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/225019278593

These may be gambles as the R820T2 tuner is only mentioned in the listing, not the description -
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/394127424864
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/403744393342
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/155059657346

You're going to also need a IEC/PAL female / micro-MCX male pigtail cable.
Example - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/193612982724

[Blot]

I took a risk and got a NESDR Nano 3 OTG, USB-C Edition off amazon. I probably should have asked you if it works. I suppose I could become a radio astronomer. I am going to use it as the main tuner so I wanted a good one to play with.

I got this because I think the aerial acts as part of the heat sink so I am going to leave the sma socket on.

Commercial Series: F / SMA Series Connector
Connector: F Female ( Female Pin ) to SMA Male ( Male Pin ) As Pic
Nickel-Plated Machined Brass Construction
Gold-Plated Contacts - Teflon Insulator

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/19453064307 ... &media=SMS

[Blot]

The NESDR Nano 3 works, but needs a slightly weaker signal or there is static on 7HD melb for me (or maybe it was the placement or switching from pass through to dedicated antenna cable).

It also does not pick up weak signals (Channel 31).

The good news is five tuners is stable and I tested recording 7 shows at once and probably could have kept going. The NESDR Nano 3 has a heart attack recording two or more shows though (lots of static).

I will keep it for a while as tuner E and set display tuner to C and see how it goes with the occasional recording.

The PlayTV tuner is much better, pity it can’t be single. Are you sure the Hauppauge WinTV-soloHD does not work? It looks like a modern t2 tuner with early enough linux support.

[MrQuade]

Are you sure the Hauppauge WinTV-soloHD does not work? It looks like a modern t2 tuner with early enough linux support.

The ones in the first lot of EBay links that Grumpy Geoff provided are single tuner and known to work with Wiz PVRs.

[Blot]

They are the same as the NESDR Nano 3… almost. The nano 3 is in a heat sink and has just has an 0.5PPM, ultra-low phase-noise TCXO… whatever that is.

I probably just have to shield it from all the wires at the back of the tv cabinet. I have to play with it more. I will put it in a metal box tomorrow. Still it can’t pick up low signals and the PlayTV and Panasonic and v2 tuners can. Maybe the plastic one does.

Sony PlayTV works much better as I said. So it is a choice between a good tuner that pushes the bw over it’s limit or a dodgy tuner that almost just makes the grade.

[Blot]

Today C31 on the nano 3 is working and so is 7HD. So maybe it was the position or how tight the SMA antenna connection was. I think it does better on slightly weaker antennas though for strong channels.

I will just leave it on Tuner E as display and keep monitoring.

[Blot]

Yeah it was probably this…
https://intofpv.com/t-sma-connection-get-loose

Now I need a torque wrench lol

[Blot]

…No it’s not that. So I probably needed the slightly weaker signal/higher quality signal cable to get 7hd not to pixelate.

Sometimes (rarely) I get C31 on the Nano 3. It says 84% signal strength when it works and 0 when it doesn’t (no channels found when I do a manual scan on tuner E. The other channels are 92-94% and work.

For c31 PlayTV C says 14% signal strength when I switch preferred tuner and v2 tuner says 41%, but they work.

Now I will leave it on tuner C,D (PlayTV) and check if C31 signal strength is changing over the next few days/weeks.

[Blot]

nvm I just removed C31 from Favourites and my custom bouquet “Guide”. Problem solved ahaha

Actually I was just thinking about it and maybe 5 tuners causes problems with a sixth network. Probably not likely, but possible. Anyway I suppose I will test 5 tuners on 5 networks for a while.

Maybe 1 station in a mux causes a problem in the driver for that particular tuner, but it is not even detecting the mux.