Losing picture when switching tuners (Euro-Sat image)

Hi, I started using Euro-sat image for Alien2 and it is the first E2 I actually used more than just trying it out. Up to now I didn't find E2 that would run fast enough and always returned to the Spark side of Alien box. I think I ran into a bug on Eurosat image and the only support forum seems to be only Italian one @

http://www.euro-sat-image.com/forum/index.php

(didn't make acct there to find out if they have English support section there).

Anyway, the bug is that sometimes when I have been watching tv on DVB-T tuner channels and then I want to switch to a channel on DVB-S tuner, I get blank picture (black screen and no sound) on all channels on the S tuner. I tried switching various things in enigma menus but the only way to get the picture on that tuner back is to fully restart enigma (restart GUI is not enough).

Same thing can happen when I've been watching channels on DVB-S tuner and decide to switch to a channel on DVB-T (in that case none of the T tuner channels show picture). I think the bug is more generally to do with switching tuners, not because it is T or S tuner. It didn't happen to me when switching between the two S tuners because currently I don't use T1 (B) tuner on my Alien2 tripple tuner box (it is connected to motorized dish and I have problem with motor defaulting to extreme W position turnout... but that's different problem, I have to check my connectors I think).

BTW few days ago new Eurosat image version 2.0 came out (previous was v1.5 since last summer I think) and I flashed this new version clean (not update v1.5) but in one evening testing I already lost the picture this way once.

I found this here where joeuser posts on the problem. http://www.hdmedia-universe.co…ive/index.php/t-8296.html

From what I read up on it so far there, it seems to be related to when you record and the recording finishes... also in my case it happens with dvb-t and dvb-s tuners, on that thread they seem to think its only between the two S tuners. I still have to read to see if some solution is found, didn't find any related posts by joeuser on this forum (so far), thanks for the pointer anyway. I'd say it is enigma2 since I used spark since I got this box several years ago and it never ever had this problem. Perhaps time to chuck this box onto some relatives who would be fine with Spark (or who do not record) and get something new.

BTW I am fairly 'simple' user, I don't run any oscam and whatever of that kind, no card, all sat FTA channels only, really just image with manually tuned setting, also import setting via DCC program, plug in usb ext3 key or hdd for recording and that's just about it. Only used webif few times now with this eurosat E2 image.

I can't recall seeing any message, when I switch to a channel on the other tuner, I get black screen, no message pops up that I would notice. I can replicate the problem now that I understand it from that thread I read - I read just one page of it so far and still am not clear what this 'pti module' is, whether we talk here about some file that people copy out from other enigma image and use it to replace the existing one in their enigma... or what. I can replicate the problem at will simply by letting recording finish on one tuner (T or S) and then trying to switch to any program on the other tuner, exactly as the problem is described on that thread I posted the link to. And streaming to PC via Webif/VLC triggers the same fault since the receiver treats the streaming exactly as it would recording (you can see on channel list greyed out channels from other transponders, same as when you are recording...), exactly as was pointed out on that thread, where joeuser took part...

Anyway I have this Alien2 receiver number of years now and always used the Spark side of it, when I did try out enigma, I always ended up back in Spark before this problem came up (before I got to configure recording). Thing is I used and still use for support another forum based in Czech Rep. and I now recall people there posted about this problem years ago (empty recordings in enigma2) and I have realized only now that they must have been suffering from the same glitch, which means this is quite longstanding issue affecting all or most enigmas. At the time I thought it was some isolated problem that few people had, as always happens with anything, some folks may have issues.

I'd appreciate if somebody could post some practical advice, not just 'google it'. It is quite a reading and fairly technically involved and while I can (for example) ftp or telnet into my box and have some knowledge about replacing files in linux etc, I am by no means expert or geek (like I can execute command from CLI but need to be told what to write out on line...) just to make clear the extent of my abilities.

Thanks for reply and hi there, sorry if I posted about you as if you didn't post on this thread...

Right now I did another test, I have bouquet with channels from both DVB-T and DVB-S tuners (the S tuner is pointed to Astra19.2). The T channels are at the top, bottom half has channels from the Astra satelite, so I can just press left right arrow on DO to toggle switch btw terrestrial Sport and satelite Eurosport channels.

Watching Eurosport on Astra I set recording for two minutes and five minutes later, when the recording was finished I pressed left arrow which switched me to terestrial Sport channel and I got black screen, same on all other terrestrial channels. There is no popup notice whatever, the SNR AGC numbers in infobar seem to take a second or two longer to show (from 0 values) but they do show up and change as if everything was normal, just no picture or sound...

I take it it is the same thing regardless S or T tuners. I would like to stick to Eurosat enigma since I always found enigmas slow in channel switching (which makes me to suffer listening to commercial adds extra second or two before the box switches to another channel) and that was why I always returned to Spark. Now with Eurosat enigma I finally found one which is as fast as Spark. Also from testing various enigmas (I admit rather brief sometimes), I got maybe wrong impression that they are all the same (PKT, HDMU, Hyperion, Neutrino, OpenATV, ViX4E2, Graterlia - the last two are rather different from the others), just differently skinned like, this Eurosat enigma seems to be to my unexpert eyes different, has menus redone in interesting fashion than your typical enigma... Eurosat enigma is the first I got 'sold on' and actually started to use it, configured it and that's actually why I ran into this bug, because I started using it LOL (typically my testing of enigmas would mean several hours playing, looking at its menu structures, trying different skins, usually I was not able to connect HDD as enigmas typically are a bit too geeky for me, also I disliked having to use ext3 format, fortunately I found that ext2fsd was updated to run on latest windows as last time I looked it wasn't for win7 and up... also Eurosat enigma takes FAT format just fine, also you just plug your device in and it mounts... need ext3 to place epg on external though.

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Quote from joeuser

if you replace it with one from GOS or PKT, it seems to fix... BUT, because of dependencies on other modules, sometimes you cannot just replace pti.ko, stmdvb.ko also needs to be replaced, and even replacing both does not always work. I never tried the eurosat image, so I am not sure if it will work...

Take your time, I will have a stab at it, just a question, to extract, copy out the file(s), how does one go about it? Do I actually need to flash the PKT enigma on my box and ftp in (just tried but can't open .img enigma file in UltraISO)? Not sure what GOS is, is that GraterliaOS or what. In case of PKT image, I suppose I should copy out from v5.1, not sure where to look for the files though (I mean inside linux files), sometimes in past I wasn't able to find files in linux, maybe some pointer as to the location? Also recall some talk about hex editor to change the files, I could get some shareware 'notepad' that allows hex views and editing if needed.

BTW if anybody wan't to have a look, new fresh Eurosat v2.0 is here

http://images.euro-sat-image.com/images/index.php?dir=Amiko/amiko%20alien2/

I still don't get it how can enigmas come out and not have these correct files in. Is there no testing or everybody has single tuner boxes or what. But anyway, that's between the sky and the earth, as they say. This is a pretty major bug and years longstanding, I think since Alien2 came out.

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while reading that old thread on hdmedia-universe forum I am confused, user franjo there has the same tuner put offline that he recorded from, in my case it is the other tuner, maybe even tuner's' (but currently I don't use the second S tuner). Likely it is the same bug underneath.

Quote

26.02.2015
#61 franjo

My triplex with all tuners used shows the same behaviour .
After a recording that tuner is unusable. restart fixes the problem .
It is problematic when you want to record 2 programs after each other on dvbc on different channels.

BTW I can't download file fixes from that forum as I am not registered there.

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Further reading up on the problem @hdmedia-universe forum thread, besides finding the info where the pti.ko file resides (/lib/modules/pti.ko)

I also read about PiP there and tried it out and found the following: PiP works (although it has tendency to stutter both main and small picture, box has difficulty to manage both but that may be because I switch around too much to test things out) and in relation to the problem at hand, I found it 'counts' as recording or streaming... that is it also locks (greys out) channels from other transponders on the same satelite/tuner.

Moreover I found that after recording from one tuner, I can watch channel from the other tuner, but when the recording finishes (on auto anyway) and I switch to next channel on the same tuner/satelite, the signal is gone and switching back to previous channel that worked now doesn't work either. Now, if I switch on PiP on the tuner which I originally recorded from, the channel I didn't see the picture of on the other tuner all of a sudden works, that is I can watch it while having PiP of the channel from that tuner I originally recorded from... Since PiP works in principle like recording or streaming, that means when I did record on one tuner and when the recording is finished I lost access to channels on other tuners, if I started to record from the same tuner again, I should again gain view access to that other tuner but only while the recording went on - I have yet to test this.

One difficulty is I couldn't find out how to cancel the PiP function, only shift it to another channel (after five minutes of fiddling with buttons, I think the red power button when shortly pressed doesn't put the box into standby but cancels the PiP). Also I get sound from both the main picture and PiP but that's all as it may be, main thing is that not only recording and streaming but also PiP cuts off access to use of other tuner(s). In short, any function which limits switching to other transponders (from the same satelite source of course), cuts off access to other tuners (when the original 'recording' function finishes, be it recording or streaming to pc or displayed as PiP).

I think all this might be useful for somebody who might try to work out some definite fix for all enigmas.

Quote from joeuser

The problem in not just "after recording," it occurs after using two tuners simultaneously - that is why I am not sure your problem is the same.
The original problem can be produced by following these steps:
1. Start stb tuned to FTA channel on tuner C (oscam autostart disabled and not running at all during tests....)
2. Start recording of tuned FTA channel on tuner C
3. Tune FTA channel on tuner B
4. Stop recording
5. Try to tune another FTA channel on tuner B
(note: Tuner b or c can be replaced with tuner a)

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I do need to replace B (T1) with A since on B I have motorized dish that went wanky and stubbornly turns out to extreme W position, not sure yet where the problem is (same problem in Spark, it is either cabling or the motor)

In those five steps, when B is A, I don't get any picture in step 5 and don't see anything when I subsequently return to the channel tuned in step 3

Basically after recording on one tuner (after recording is finished), I lose picture on the other (tuner).

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The full path to pti.ko file in the Eurosat image is: /lib/modules/2.6.32.61_stm24_0217//extra/pti/pti.ko

I guess I should change the name to pti.ko.BAK and copy in from your download the '217' version of the file, since that's what I got in the folder name description in lib/modules, right?

Edit: OK I seem to have a success, did just one brief test (1 min recording, then going to the other tuner) and it held, I got the picture. Thank you so much, I do need some prodding as you can see. Will test some more and report tomorrow.

Good thing I went for it before reading your warning. My box survived reboot after I replaced the pti.ko file and since then survived wake up from deep standby already and when I go to settings, tuner setup, the tuners are still there and configured as they were... Today everything is fine, as far as recording goes anyway, will test streaming and PiP (although this latter is not for serious use, if only because you get sound from both channels, more like for playing with it and be amazed how nifty it looks when it sometimes works without stutter)

I will store away this module just in case some problems crop up, thanks a bunch, you saved my enigma since I do record quite a bit.

Tested streaming and PiP, everything works as expected since as was determined, the recording, streaming and PiP are at the bottom of it the same thing regarding this fault. Just for the record, reminder, I am on the new Euro-sat image v2.0 that just came out January 4th.

Today my Alien completely stopped outputting video signal from E2 Eurosat image (from all tuners but this time it was worse as the whole box didn't output any signal to TV), when rebooting I could see the box outputting video signal (I have it connected to TV via HDMI switch which has diode showing when the video signal is active) I could see the booting logo until the counter on the display reached 62, when 65 showed the signal to TV stopped (TV reported input signal missing). The box continued booting and on the Alien display I could see it completed start up, I could switch channels, but there was no video signal out to TV... To make it quite clear, this time I am not talking about losing signal from one or two tuners but flat out no video from the box which even a full reboot didn't correct. Booting into Spark brought the video back, booting back to Enigma again no video after the boot reached the count 65 on vfd.

I started access via webif and also could start streaming tv to vlc no problem. I found I could FTP in and recalled your offer of the stmdvb.ko file, I copied that in and after reboot the box started outputting video again.

I recall now I had some video loss problems earlier in the day when the box was waking from sleep but I thought that was just some glitch and it somehow recovered until at last it didn't recover.

I cross my fingers and hope that replacing that stmdvb.ko file is what the enigma needed. Replacing just tht pti.ko file worked for what, couple days? But apparently it is not long term solution (unless the box stops outputting video again).