TBS 6220, 6280, 6284 DVB-T2 Tuners - Owner's Thread

my hd channels arent always smooth, its not the weather. sometimes they are ok somtimes they judder.

i3-2120 with 6950 gpu..any thoughts?

my hd channels arent always smooth, its not the weather. sometimes they are ok somtimes they judder.

Two things to try:

(1) Make sure that your screen refresh rate is the same as the mains frequency at your location. A 50Hz/60Hz mismatch is not noticeable on all programmes, but it can be noticeable on some programmes.

(2) Try different versions of the drivers for the graphics card. I had a problem that affected only high-definition channels (standard definition was OK). This problem was cured by using different drivers (Nvidia in my case). Note that more-recent does not always mean better, so you might need to experiment with older drivers, as well as newer drivers.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

Have you tried the integrated graphics on the i3-2120? If nothing else, it will give you a point of comparison. If you're seeing the same judder on both cards, it's probably a tuner/signal issue. If you watch the same recording but you're only seeing the judder on the Radeon, then it's probably a problem with the graphics card.

Best tuner I've ever used. My 6280 is rock solid on all channels, relatively quick to change (inc HD ones) and pic quality is generally excellent

My setup: Windows 8 Pro + Media Cente, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, TBS6280 + V1.0.1.0 driver, based in Finland.

Problem: Just installed TBS6280 last night. When I try to change channels in Windows Media Center while recording, WMC throws up this error message,

All tuners are currently in use. To change the channel, select the program or recording that you want to stop.

During setup, WMC could see that there were 2 tuners, Tuner A and Tuner B. When I edit sources for a channel I also see A and B, but WMC won't let view a channel other than the one I am recording.

Possibly related, after scanning for channels, none of them work. WMC says "No TV signal". Reading on some other forums, I went to edit channel sources. If I select only Tuner A as a source for a channel I can then watch that channel. If I select only Tuner B as source I cannot watch the channel and get the "No TV signal" error, though I haven't had time to test this with more than a couple of channels since it was getting late.

Any ideas how I can fix these issues?

Make sure that you have the latest drivers from the TBS web site. The ones shipped with the product can often be one or more versions out of date. TBS web site:

http://www.tbsdtv.com/

I have a TBS 6284 card, and so have not paid attention to driver updates for the TBS 6280, but for the 6284 card I vaguely recollect that there was a recent update to address some weirdness with reception in Scandinavia.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

Thanks, I have the latest drivers for the card. This is a brand new PC and pretty close to a clean install of Win8 + updates. It's going to be an HTPC so there is very little else installed.

I did some more experiments last night using TBSViewer and WMC.

If I scan for channel using only Tuner A it finds channels. If I scan using only Tuner B, no channels are found.

Using TBSViewer, if I set Tuner A "normal" and Tuner B "preferred", no channels are found.

Strangely, if I set Tuner A "preferred" and Tuner B "normal" then channels are found, and it appears that I can record one channel and watch another in TBSViewer, however WMC still throws up either "No TV signal" or "All Tuners currently in use".

If I scan for channel using only Tuner A it finds channels. If I scan using only Tuner B, no channels are found.

I have no experience of using Windows 8, so it might be a Win8 problem. But the results of scanning for channels suggests that there could be a hardware problem with tuner B (in which case a replacement under warranty might be appropriate).

Strangely, if I set Tuner A "preferred" and Tuner B "normal" then channels are found, and it appears that I can record one channel and watch another in TBSViewer, however WMC still throws up either "No TV signal" or "All Tuners currently in use".

I have used TBSViewer only briefly, so I am not entirely sure what "normal" means, but "preferred" seems clear -- it will use that one first. It is possible that TBSViewer can perform the trick of receiving multiple channels from a single MUX using only one tuner (my Humax PVR9200t can do this). When you record one channel and watch another, are those channels from the same MUX? What happens if you try to record a channel from one MUX, and watch a channel from a different MUX? Note that Windows Media Center cannot receive multiple channels from the same MUX using a single tuner -- MC needs a separate tuner for each channel.

If no one else can offer a solution, I would suggest explaining the problem in the relevant forum on the TBS web site, and seeing if they have any ideas. But be warned: they are not native English speakers, and so their replies can sometimes be difficult to understand!

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

TBS6984 working fine under Win 8 here

Thanks CyberSimian, those are some useful tips to try. I think you might be on to something with the MUX thing as I think there were still some channels that were not coming through while I was recording.

I posted this thread on the TBS forums as well but have yet to get a reply. I also emailed their support and they have suggested some more troubleshooting using DVB Dream.

I'll post an update tonight in case this helps anyone else experiencing similar issues.

Ive ordered a 6285 direct from them for £131 which is cheaper than the old 6284. Ships from hong kong . Just seen the typhoon warning there so fingers crossed it arrives. Paid for express delivery. This will replace an old nova td500 that since going to windows 7 64 bit has developed a 10 second delay in changing chanels.

Long overdue update to my earlier problem - the issue was a hardware fault. TBS replaced the card and the new one is working well.

So it arrived today. off the dvbforfun ebay shop. paid express delivery and it took 5 days from order being placed.

paid £131 plus £12 express shipping.

Opened the box to find the card:


and the other bits that I didn't need or use.


changed over to the low profile bracket and opened up the PC.
removed the old Hauppauge pci nova td500. the new 6285 is almost the exact same size. notice there is no additional power connectors like the 6284 needed.


cont...

cont...




1 x pciE x1 slot required:


fired it up, run the driver install program from the tbs download page with their latest 6285 t/t2 drivers. it finished ok and appears in device manager all hsappy.


cont ...

cont...




open media centre , setup tv signal and fins all 4 tuners straight away.


runs the scan, find more channels than the old nova did inc all 4 HD ones.



cont...

cont..

so all tuners will record at once...


all good.

takes about 2 seconds to change channel, about 3 for a HD channel.

overall, ver impressed. quick delivery. easy install and all works well with no messing about.

My machine for reference is as follows:

HP 8200 ELITE SFF
2ND GEN I5 3.1GHZ
4GB RAM
750GB HYBRID SSD
ONBOARD HD2000 GRAPHICS WITH DISPLAY PORT TO HDMI LEAD INTO THE TV
WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE 64BIT SP1
TBS 6285 QUAD DVB T/T2 TUNER

All good. Takes about 2 seconds to change channel, about 3 for a HD channel. Overall, very impressed. quick delivery. easy install and all works well with no messing about.

Excellent! Thanks for posting your experiences. But now the 64K-dollar question:

Does it still work on wake from sleep?

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

Will try and report back

[holidayboy]

Fingers crossed!

ok. good news.

the computer does wake from sleep, and performs recording without problems, all 4 tuners are present too.

I tried a few things, one thing I dd find was that if it was recording, and then press the sleep button, the PC goes to 'away' mode where it kills sound and video output but remains working and recording.

I've also managed to get my audio output working through the display-port-to-hdmi cable from the on board graphics.

I have found now though that yes it wakes from sleep, but it was still running this morning. the event log says the recoding event woke it, but not sure now what would prevent it from going back to sleep??