C/P


GUIDE: Info, Set-Up & Maintaining Your DVB-S Card & MyTheatre

Thanks go to loopy for this fine guide.

This is my attempt to make a guide to set-up and maintain you Twinhan DVB Card. This is not to show anybody up, but rather to link what you need to do in one post. This should work for most DVB cards, but since I only have a Twinhan 102G, this will focus on those, but should work pretty much the same for others. Clicking the Blue will link you to the post or files your need. If you have any questions or comments, I ask that you go Here or start a New thread and help will be given. I would like to keep this thread Clean for easier viewing and to allow me to add stuff as needed without having to scroll through pages of comments and questions. Thank-you


HARDWARE

The minimum PC Requirements you will need to use your DVB Card:

Software and Hardware requirements.
By reason ProgDVB was written for x86 systems - this software will work only under these Operating Systems:

* MS Windows 98 (SE is better).
* MS Windows 2000 with SP2 installed.
* MS Windows XP.

Software witch you will need installed before using ProgDVB:

* DirectX v.8.0 or higher.
* It is more better to use the new drivers from Techno Trend© v2.09 or 2.10.
* For work with Recording's option you will need to install some software codecs from different manufactures.

For work with ProgDVB your PC must have enough hardware resources. Mininum requirements for hardware are:

* Intel© Pentium-III Processor 500 Mhz.
* 128 MB memory on board.
* 5 MB of disc space (without size of disc space for Video & Audio Recording).
* AGP SVGA GraficVideo-Adapter with 32 MB memory on board.
* SoundBlaster compatible sound card.
* Network adapter 10/100 MB/Sec. (High speed Net-card is strongly recommended for Broadcasting).

Please note that there are 2 different types of cards....

* Hardware Mode - They process the signal on the card itself, and they have a TV card built-in to them. The Nexus is a example of this.
* Software Mode - The processing of the signal is made on your PC. The Twinhan is a example of this

Nexus users would probably be fine using the minimum requirements. Twinhan users might experience some freezing or have problems in the future, as it is rumored that Dish will be speeding up the stream, using the minimum requirements. Those Twinhan users who want to watch TV on their TV set, would require a Video Card with VGA-to-TV to send the signal out to a regular TV set. I would reccomend a ATI 9250 (or better), but there are many others that will work. Each system is different depending on what the computer will be used for. Take a look at the Working Set-ups to see what others have/are using to give you a good idea of what I am talking about. With the VGA-to-TV Video Card, you will be able to watch TV on your TV set and use your PC at the same time. Again, how effective this will be will depend on your set-up.


PICTURE QUALITY

Satellite tuner cards receive MPEG-2 signals and by my understanding at the present time, there are a FEW HD Channels on DishNetwork. You should expect to receive digital quality as DishNetwork signals are digitally sent.


MULTIPLE SATELITES

You will be able to set-up multiple satelite locations ...61.5,110,119, etc. This will depend on how many dishes you have. I would reccomend using DishPro equipment. Legacy equipment will work as well, but DishPro is newer, broadcasts at a higer frequency, and works better as it allows for longer runs. You can always add a inline satelite booster for signal if you are having problems with signal strength.
To use multiple satelites, you will need a DiSEqC Switch. If you are only planning on pointing only to two satelites and are using a DishNetwork Dual or Quad LNB, the switch is built in. The switches built in on a DishPro LNB are newer and work better than a Legacy one. The 2 most commonly used DiSEqC levels are version 1.0 and version 1.2.

* Version 1.0 allows you to connect a DiSEqC switch with maximum 4 different inputs, in this way you can connect 4 different Single Head LNBF’s (4 dishes aimed at 4 different satellites for example) to your receiver. The receiver can automaticly connect to the correct LNBF depending on the channel that you have selected on your satellite receiver.
* Version 1.2 allows you to connect for example a DiSEqC Motor to your receiver, by using a DiSEqC-compatible motor you can receive the signals from various satellites. Your sat card and software will control the movement of your motorized antenna. The motor will usually work with a second wire that can be tied to the coaxial cable (tie-wrap the coax and power wire together). In other cases, the signal feed doubles as the power source for the motor as well.

Of course anything newer than a 1.2 should work better and is always reccomended. 2.0 is a example of this.


RECORDING

With a DVB set-up, you will be able to record programs to your hard drive as long as you have the necessary space required for your recordings. This will work like a Tivo or PVR with NO Fee's. The recordings will mainly be in PVA and MPEG-2 formats. You can then convert your recordings to DVD format and then burn them to CD/DVD, if you so desire. Recording will be done through the software installed or through a third party plugin that is added to that software.
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SETTING UP MY EPG or DVBEPG

I personally like: DVBEPG myself, but alot of others like MYEPG . This is actually pretty simple to do.

1. Get the EPG (electronic programming guide) that you want to use.
2. Extract the DVBEPG or MYEPG .zip file to: C:/ProgramFiles/MyTheatre/Plugins. I would use one or the other and not both at the same time.

* With DVBEPG, you will have more files that extract to the Plugin Folder. MYEPG only has 1 .dll and a readme.
1. Put the .dll's that extacted from DVBEPG into the MT root or into the system 32 folder. You may want to check first to see if you already have them there before doing that.
2. Go into the Plugins folder that extracted and Cut & Paste them into the MT Plugin Folder. You can now delete the Plugin folder inside of the MT Plugin Folder.
* Fire up MT and use the shortcut key to start up your EPG program. Read the readmes included with each package to set-it up properly and to know what your shortcut key is. In DVBEPG it's ctrl-alt-G and in MYEPG it's the G key.
* To get your remote to pull up the third party EPG Plugin, please refer up to the Remote Section of this to do so.

In order for the guide to update you need to be on a EPG channel. You can go to lyngsat.com to look for the EPG channels if they ever change.

* Sat 119-TP19 - Channels 176, 199, 200, 202, 303, 320, 820, 821, 955, 977, 978, 979. I find that 303 works the best for me.
* Sat 110-TP21 - Channels 119, 163, 195, 309, 321, 329, 330
* Sat 110-TP29 - Channels 100, 503, 506, 510, 516, 521, 523 - *EEPG
* Sat 121-TP21 - Channels 733, 734, 737, 738, 761, 766
* Sat 61.5-TP29 - Channels 578, 579, 607, 609, 615, 620, 645

Here is more info taken from another post:
MyEPG Frequently Asked Questions


Problem:MyEPG Freezes on Doing List Queries, and MyEPG.LOG file reveals the following error: "OpenDatabaseConnections Exception message: Multiple-step OLE DB operation generated errors. Check each OLE DB status value, if available. No work was done."
Solution:In a number of cases, users have been using Windows
Compatibility Mode on either the MTStart.EXE or the
MyTheatre.EXE files. To access compatibility options,
right click on an exe file in Windows Explorer and go
to Properties. Turning off compatibility options
resolves this issue.

Q: Why can't I see any EPG information in MyEPG?

1. Is your Windows System date and time set correctly?
2. Open up MTs built-in EPG browser. Does it display any more info than MyEPG?

A:

* If not, then MT is not downloading EPG info. Check EPG tab in "General Settings" and turn on internal parser, etc... Then tune to appropriate channel to receive EPG info data and wait.
* If so, go into MyEPG settings and turn Off "Display 2 hrs of data only". If this was not checked, you likely have some issue with the way MyEPG is set up. Maybe you have two MyEPG DLLs in your plugins folder. It always seems to be a configuration issue. I have never received a real bug report on this.

Q: Why do I get blank channel lines in MyEPG?
A: When selected, this description appears: "EPG data was found for this channel but the channel does not exist."

* Even after re-scanning transponders the channel is not found. This is because the provider is distributing EPG
data for channels that are not available from this
source. It is just the way they like to do things.

** Note that this only applies for EPG based filters such as Genre or Fav Shows. On the other hand, Fav Chan or Provider filters would not have this issue because their
channel list is derived from the Channel database.

You can prevent this superfluous data from displaying by configuring MyTheatre to only download EPG data for
favorites. See General Settings -> EPG. Yes, this means
that you must put your desired channels in a channel
favorite list.

Q: How to get MyEPG to open with out MT's EPG?
A:

1. General Settings>Presets tab
2. Choose MyEPG from the first drop down menu.
3. General Settings>Shortcuts>(under live mode section)
4. Remove settings for Show EPG Windows and OSD EPG.
5. Go to section just above and click on Favorite Plugin #1
and enter your twinhan epg button.
6. Bring up MyEPG, go to options and change remote settings if necessary.

Q: Is there away to get the EPG to show the order by channel # and not the SID for my locals in the 8000's?
A:

* Set channels up in favorites
* Open myEPG Options and go to Display tab
* Uncheck "Use SID as Channel Number" if checked
* Go to Filter tab
* Set Default Filter to "FavChans" & Default Filter Sub Selection 1 to "ALL FAVORITES"

Q: My time is off after daylight saving time, what can I do to fix it?
A: You have to open your windows clock and click the time zone tab and UNCHECK Automatically adjust daylight savings time. It's a bug in the software that they are aware of but seem to not be too worried about it.

If you are getting high CPU usage while using DVBEPG & MT, here are some things that I do.

I prefer [thread=30238]DVBEPG[/list], but I was having problems with high CPU usage. I have done the following to help that out and this is now working AWESOME! Please note I have updated this to show the NEW DVBEPG and many problems were fixed and this may not be necessary to do.

Here are a few things which I did that has this FAST EPG working GREAT!

1. Open up MT and right click the video area. Go to Settings>General Setting. Click the EPG Tab.
1. Uncheck Everything, you don't need any of it.
2. Only have Internal Manger & Compact on Exit Selected.
3. Restart MT.
2. When MT starts again, open up the EPG, either via remote or the shortcut key Ctrl>Alt>G and open up the settings.
1. Under EPG Grid, Uncheck 24 hour (not necessary).
2. Under Channels, Select Show Known Channels Only.
3. Under Internal Parser.
1. Check EIT Parser Active.
2. Pid to Parse = 0x0012 for 2 day guide or 0x0300 for 9 day guide.
3. No Check by DVDCore internal Parser Active.
3. Now Press ok and go to the correct EPG channel for your selection. I use 303 for 2 day and 100 for 9 day.
4. Once the guide has updated for the time frame you selected, open up DVBEPG and go to settings.
* Go back to the Internal Parser Tab and uncheck whatever Pid to Parse you used and select ok.
* Go to Shortcuts Tab and set the remote up to browse through the EPG menu.
* You can also customize the look and feel of DVDEPG at this time if you so desire.
* Once you are done, close out DVBEPG

* You can now open up Task Manager and see that you should Not have a high CPU usage.
* Your guide will not update until you open up settings again in DVBEPG and Select the Pid to Parse Again. You will need to do this everytime you start MT because DVBEPG does NOT save the guide list.


This should take care of any high CPU usage you were experiencing before. The EPG updates fast so this should not be a issue if you don't keep MT up 24/7. If you use a 7 day guide, doing this every 4-7 days should not be a factor either. If you prefer another EPG, that is fine, but I will say that none compare to the speed, look, and functions this one has. I would like to see it be able to do Favorites like MYEPG, but since you can fly through the guide, this is not really a issue for me. Please, if you have anything to add, let me know.

* I guess I should mention that after I extracted the .zip to the Plugins Folder in MT, I deleted all the skins except for the Default one. I did not feel the need to have all that stuff in there and I like the color of the default one. You can look through them ahead of time if you prefer another color or just use em all.
* Prior to using all those .dll's, I did a search in my PC to see which were already in my System 32 Folder. In my case, I only needed to add the CGI one to the System 32 folder and then I deleted the rest. I could not be any happier.
* If the newest beta does not work for you, then try the release prior to it......1025. That did work real good for me too, I just figured newer is better and if there were any bugs, I could send that info to Momotte without being told to use the newer version.

SETTING UP THE REMOTE

If you are using a Nexus card, I don't believe that MT 3.26 has a automatic setting for the remote. I am pretty sure it is fully supported in MT 3.30 and above. I will still detail how you can set-up the remote manually for those and others.

1. -Right Click the window in MT
2. -Go to "Settings"
3. -Go to "General Setting"
4. -Select the "Shortcuts Tab"
5. -Here you will see a window. One side is to for keyboard shortcuts and the other is for the remote. With the Twinhan, you can select that from the dropdown box and then close it out and restart MT. If your remote is not covered there or you want to change some shortcut keys, just go to the field that you want and double click. You can then press the key you want if you are changing the keyboard. If you are changing the remote, just press the corresponding button.

NOTE: Twinhan Starbox users, there is currently no support for your remote in MT 3.31 or lower. This is addressed in MT 3.32 and higher.


RECORDING

For the moment, I am going to tell you to open up the guide in the MT root and read how to use it. It is complete and easy to understand. I will update this if I see this is a demand and people are having problems with recording.

QUESTIONS

Q: How can I edit/back up my DVB Recordings?
A: For now, I know some of us have DVD players that can play the 544x480 fromat by simply autoring a dvd, but there are others who can not play these, so here is a quick solution. I will be expanding towards CCE users in the next few days. This guide is mostly geared to EDIT Commericals. If you have a problem with the 544x480, this is one of many tools you can use to encode to a DVD size.

Tools Used:
DVD Lab Pro 1.5 (this is what I am using now)
Womble MPEG Video Wizard (Free 30 day trial from website)

Let's Start

1. -Install the necessary programs.
2. -Open up Womble MVW (MPEG Video Wizard)
3. -In the "Project Box" (left window) , Hit the "Open Folder" Tab and Select the MPEG you want to edit. You will see that it brings this into view under "Files."

To Edit Out Commercials, Goto Step 4. If you just want to edit the size of your MPEG, Goto Step 13.

4. -You can play the MPEG (Why? I dunno, but you can.) or Slide the Bar (looks like a pause symbol) til you get to the first commercial.
5. -Select the "Mark Out" Button (looks like a down arrow).
6. -Hold the "Ctrl" Button and hit "E". This will export that section (clip) of the MPEG into the Project Side under the "Clips" tab.
7. -Press Play or Move the Slider to the Start of the MPEG (end of commercials).
8. -Select the "Mark In" Button (looks like a up arrow).
9. -Press Play or Move the Slider til you reach another commercial.
10. -Select the "Mark Out" Button
11. -Hold the "Ctrl" Button and hit "E". This will export that section (clip) of the MPEG into the Project Side under the "Clips" tab.
12. -Repeat this til you have made all your edits. I used commercials as the example, but you can edit any part you want to "SAVE".

Now, that we have edited all the commercials out of the MPEG, we need to join them back together.

13. -Go to the Project Window and select the "Clips" tab. Here you will see all the Clips that you saved.
14. -You Need to Select them all by either "Holding Ctrl" and clicking each clip "IN ORDER". You can also create a "Box" and grab them all by going to the bottom right of the Project Window and "Hold Ctrl" and go to the top left of the Project Window. You should see them all selected. Last way of doing this is to do them one by one.

***NOTE***
If you were coming from "STEP 3", you will go to the Project Window and select the "Files" tab. There you will Highlight your MPEG.

15. -Drag & Drop the Selected Clips (full Mpeg if you did not do any editing) to the "TimeLine" Window located under the Input / Output Windows. In that "TimeLine window, you will see 4 Icons (Film Reel, Text, Music, Microphone). We want to "Drop" our Selection(s) in to the Film Tab. You will see the timeline fill up with your MPEG/Clips and see the pretty colors :P
16. -On the far Right in the "TimeLine" Window you will see buttons. Hit the "Record" button (the one with the red dot). A new window will appear.
17. -We will be saving our file here

A-Give the File a Name and Select a Save Location
B-We want to save as:
1. If you do not need to convert from 544x480, you want to use the "Automatic." This will do a Direct Stream Copy of the MPEG w/ no encoding being done.
2. If you need to convert from 544x480 to 540x480, do the following or just choose the NTSC DVD.

A-Hit the Template Button.
B-Hit the "New Template Symbol" - looks like a piece of paper with a plus sign in the left bottom corner.
C-Name the Template "DVD-DVB 540x480" and keep the extension as MPG and select "OK."
D-Hightlight that Template that was Created.

1-Edit the Settings to:
-MPEG File Format = MPEG-2 Program
-Video Parameter Tab
-Format = MPEG-2
-Width = 540 Height = 480
-Frame Rate = 29.97 FPS
-Bitrate = Variable 4000
-Audio Parameter
-Format = Layer 2
-Channels = Stero
-Sample Rate = 48.0 KHz
-Bit Rate = 160 kbps

2-Expert Tab
Only Change Pel Aspect Ratio = 4:3

Now you selct the "OK" Tab

18. -Hit the Details Button. This will show you the properties of the MPEG, but most important what is being Stream Copied and what is being Encoded. Just in case you made a mistake.
19. -Press Save and wait til the process is finished. Stream Copies are fast (2-5 minutes per gb of Mpeg). The encoding takes about longer. A 5 gb file should take 2-3 hours. This all depends on your system and what you are doing while the process takes place.

Authoring For DVD

I will not go into this much detail about this here, but simply give you the basic steps and show you where some tools are so you know. Going to DVD Lab's site show a In-Depth Guide about all the funtions and is REAL easy to follow.

Let's Start

1. Open up DVD Lab
2. Select NTSC and Normal for the Project on the Popup Box
3. Import your assets (use the open folder icon in the assets window)
4. When the box Pops up appears, I Choose to Demultiplex, but it really is not needed, but this is habit for me just in case if there is a problem, DVD Lab will tell you. Also, if you are not happy with the audio format, you will now have a demultiplexed audio to edit to wav or AC3 (which would be my only other choice and will require a Plugin).
5. Drag and drop you .mpv (mpeg with no sound) in the movie box above.
6. Now drag and drop the .mpa (audio to the mpeg) in to the same movie box or you will have no sound for your mpeg.
7. Go to the tools Tab up top. There you will see a bunch of things you can do - add a audio delay, parse mpeg, fix headers, etc. The one thing I would make sure to do is "Write GOP Timecode if you are going to make menus. This will help with any errors if any. You should not need to worry about the audio going out of sync. You will see the difference and can make adjustments if it does. You may want to test first before doing this.
8. Now go ahead and make your menus and add music to them (same way you did it for the movie, you just add it to the menu section instead). If you have a MP3 you want to put on a menu, I would use "ffmpeggui03c." A real quick and easy program.
9. When you are done with all that, GoTo the "Project Tab" and select Compile DVD. It will tell you if you have errors or problems and you can fix from there. If not complie and save a .iso if you want to.
10. You can burn with DVD Lab, or burn with your favorite program using the folders created or the .iso you made if you selected that. I would make sure first to check in Power DVD to see the audio is ok and then burn to a DVD-RW and test in your player if you can. If not, you will just need to try the DVD-R in your player and see if it all works right. Trial and Error if this is your first time, but DVD Lab is a pretty nice program that is simple.


GRAPHS

Graphs are probably one of the Greatest things for your system. I am going to basically say this is a combination of audio and video codecs/decoders. With the right ones, you will have a jerk free clean picture along with great audio and low CPU usage. With the wrong one and configuration you will end up with high cpu usage, freezes in video, and bad audio. You will need to try a variety in order to see what is best for your system. I would say on average, most use the Cyberlink DVB Video codec and the nVidia Audio codec. While for me, I have problems with picking between the Cyberlink/nVidia codec for video, but performance wise on the audio, nVidia Rules! This is not set in stone and will depend on what components your PC is made of. I would also reccomend using hardware acceleration. I use the MT autograph feature once I have decided on the codec that I am using, but that's for my sytem. You will need to play with these for awhile in order to tune these in.
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