Emu problem solved

[Taran]

Just wanted to share what I found. I have bought 7 different emulators from some of the best companies on the net and only one worked with VERY little problems. Everyone knows the emulators get IVAC very easy on the DirecTivo units the problem seems to be a power problem. Anyway after spending a bit of money and time this is what I found.

www.loadhu.net = WORKED! (Best one tested!) :)

1 chip 1489 (3 different companies) = No
CCC Stealth Emu Boards = No
Scorpion Emulator = No
lightning-unlooper.8k.com = No


I hope this helps everyone that is sick of coming home to watch his or her favorite show and find it not recorded because of a IVAC!

[bear.23]

This is not really the forum for this..

1)I find your post very subjective since the board that guy is selling are made by the same folks making most of the other boards..

2)I don't happen to have an IVAC problem and I have 3 different boards.. None of them have been modifed... except to remove the c5 from the old red one...

3) I thought we were not supposed to be posting links to sellers in this forum (there is a for sale forum for this stuff) This ain't ADH...

[Glock115]

I have the ivac problem, occurs whenever I channel surf to quickly. It's very annoying

[Taran]

I figured I would get TSK TSK on this but for the months I have been on this board people have had IVAC problems with EMU's. They are not all created equal at all and this is one of the only one's I have found that worked after spending a couple hundred dollars on finding a good one. I just didn't think everyone had the time or money to waiste trying to figure this out and I wanted to help.

[SP7128]

why can,t the emu board be modified to power up via external power supply other than thru the card slot .............this can,t be too hard as there are many places to attach the power supply to and just cut the track on the board the feeds the power from the slot ..................a ratshack 5 volt ot 6volt power suppy should do the trick and it could even be a bigger milliamp to keep the power flow at constant level...................then to reboot all you would need to do is power down the emu board external power supply and reboot pc and turn back on emu power supply ...no more sliding stuff .................if im wrong on my thinking here please let me know ...........thanks

[Badness]

Originally posted by SP7128
why can,t the emu board be modified to power up via external power supply other than thru the card slot .............this can,t be too hard as there are many places to attach the power supply to and just cut the track on the board the feeds the power from the slot ..................a ratshack 5 volt ot 6volt power suppy should do the trick and it could even be a bigger milliamp to keep the power flow at constant level...................then to reboot all you would need to do is power down the emu board external power supply and reboot pc and turn back on emu power supply ...no more sliding stuff .................if im wrong on my thinking here please let me know ...........thanks

There are a lot of Emu's on the net that have power drawn from the PS2 slot. I have 2 of them myself that work perfectly. I bought them about a year ago, but will try to track down where I bought them from.

[AlphaWolf]

I am not an expert on this subject, but here are my 2 cents:

I think the IVAC problems you are having are in the emulator software. Changing the channel WILL at times cause the emulators 3M code to hang, be it pitou or SLE. If you do it very frequently, you increase your odds. Granted there is the possibility of the wedge causing it, but I have noticed a different thing happening.

I currently have 2 systems powering 4 IRDs. Both of them are running pitou. One system runs 3 IRDs on a celeron 733 with 128mb of ram. The other one powers 1 IRD on a p2 266 64mb. The 266mhz system is the one I keep in my room, the wedge I am using I built myself. It IVACs extremely rarely, maybe once every 4 days. My other system IVACs twice as often. All 3 wedges it uses are factory built, and all different brands.

Now, the thing I notice on the multi IRD emulator, is that when one IRD IVACs, they all do. I believe if this had anything to do with the wedge, only one of them would, and it would be fixable by just typing in 'pk#' (being the IRD #) on the host system. I have tested the possibility of my homemade wedge being more stable once, everything seems just the same. The only thing my homemade wedge does better is not slide out as frequently as most of the factory built wedges do, (it tends to fit more snug in the IRD) and I dont believe that has much to do with anything, unless you frequently move stuff around by your TV.

I don't mean to conspire here, but it looks suspicious to me that a dealor knows the H stream is likely going down soon, and therefore is trying to get rid of the rest of their stock before its worthless, rather than take the gamble of waiting for an HU emulator....am I wrong? These data loggers are quite simple devices, there can't be that much to go wrong with them, other than some faulty chips.

EDIT: BTW, I have that exact same data logger thats for sale on loadhu.com powering one of my IRDs. Its nothing special from what I have seen, but I could be wrong

[Taran]

I am not sure how to take that last post. First off I hear people say rare to IVAC and then make that equal to 4 days. 4 days is way to often for me. I have been at 4 days with almost every emulator I have used. I am going for the month type thing. The old 1489 I built would last on my 4th gen for months!!! 4 days (when waiting for you favorite show to record) is crap!!! Together we need to figure this out.

I hope I wasn't getting called a dealer in that last post as well. I was just giving my findings. loadhu.net has problems so don't think it is the best dealer in the world. You can't find an email on there site when you do get an email (after I ordered) they don't reply worth sh*t. When the live talk is there it is cool but 80% of the time no one is there. So all in all I am not backing them or saying they are the only people out there that has something that works I was just giving what I found to help everyone. This would suck if I only had one DirecTivo and had to hope I got what I wanted after a long day of work.

[AlphaWolf]

Well hell I dunno, that was just my 2 cents. Your post just looked a little conspicuous.

I remember the days when emulators used to never ivac unexpectedly (save the few times when you were changing the channel). Perhapse another reduction in resistance is necessary? For an mc1489, this is impossible of course, so the only route is to increase the voltage. I might try that one of these days....

EDIT:

SP7128: Actualy you would still need to slide the wedge in/out. The reason why is because the ISO 7816 contacts are triggered by being moved up by the card. You can even stick a credit card in there that has no contacts and it will still give IVAC

[digitalAir]

Uh, guys... There are too many factors involved in determining the cause of an IVAC.

What may work for one person, may not work for another...

1st off, there is basically only 1 circuit in use by everyone for building an emulator board. (well, 2, if you count that 1489 hack...) So, in theory, all of them should work the same, but obviously, they do not.

Some factors include:
1. which max232 compatible chip
2. capacitance within the ird
3. whether or not there is a TDA8001 smart card interface chip in the ird
4. the length of the serial run (from ird to pc)
5. the speed of the cpu
6. the load on the cpu
7. if you're using the pitou-mux, then the load on that cpu & the load on your network
8. the amount of data in the stream
9. whether you're using an internal emu or a wedge
10. type of serial cable you're using
...
and the list goes on...


As an example, I have an ird with an internal emu, using an MAX201 chip with extern 5v and external 13V power. the run is over 100ft using cat 5 twisted pair. I have run this with sle and pitou. I have used pitou-mux on the same machine and networked using 2 machines across a 100mbs switch.

I have tested each scenario on various occasions. All of them behave the same. Some time I can go months without IVAC. Other times, I can get 3 or 4 within a 24 hour period...



P.S. I'll let you guys in on a little secret:

if you stand on your head in the corner of you living room and stick your tongue our toward the satelite... you get no IVAC's... I'm not kidding... I did this for 10 whole seconds...

I'm pretty sure the transponder signal strength increased too... ;)

[h2p]

Compared to other systems, the DSR6000 is pretty IVAC happy. I have old and new recievers running and have not had a problem with either the 1489 or max232 type emulators until now. My limited experience so far has shown that the max232 type emu works better with the DSR6000. More testing in the works...

[digitalAir]

yes, but the point of my post was that there are too many factors involved for anyone to post a "here's the solution" thread...

[BubbleLamp]

Totally agree with you digital. I have my system and EMU on a UPS and it can vary from one IVAC every week to three in one hour. Most of the "fixes" people talk about are not without merit, but I've not seen a magic bullet yet either.

[Taran]

I disagree (in that mood I guess). :) Anyway There is not a lot of factors, we know all DSR6000's are all the same internals, I am bringing up exact emulator brand names. Length of cable I would hope people troubleshooting only have a couple foot cable and aren't testing from 100' away (thats no way to trouble shoot, is it). My Job day to day is troubleshooting systems and the thing is you just need to rule out things. I am 99% sure I have rules out everything down to the emulator. I have ran these set ups on a 1ghz system with 512 ram (I know there is no problem there). I have ran with both Pitou and SLE44 (every setup I try). I have used H unloopers, HU loaders, and programmers. I am very sure the emulator is what we need to figure out. I know there is electronic experts that could figure this out in a day to bad none have put the time in to it. :(

[digitalAir]

yes, but the one thing you have absolutely zero control over is the stream. There will always be factors out of your control. There is only one way to duplicate the exact same setup for 2 tests: 2 sets of the same hardware setup simultaneously. each setup running a different emu board. -- this means 2 pc's running pitou or sle with the same hardware config, 2 serial cables, 2 irds, etc.

then, if one setup ivac's, but the other doesn't... Then, and only then, can you point your finger at the emulator board... otherwise, the posibility exists that the data stream was heavier during one test then it was during another...

[Taran]

Except for the fact that everyone that uses just an IRD 4th or 5th RCA last for months with no problem. This rules out the stream. If the stream was causing the IVAC then no one would be up for months. It is just the DSR6000 (and maybe other DirecTivo's) having the constent IVAC problems. :(

[AlphaWolf]

I see these problems with every receiver I have come across, mixed brands and generations. Bear in mind that the datastream has been known to effect the use of a data logger in an IRD before in the past. Remember having to remove the no. 5 resistor?

[digitalAir]

Originally posted by Taran
Except for the fact that everyone that uses just an IRD 4th or 5th RCA last for months with no problem. This rules out the stream. If the stream was causing the IVAC then no one would be up for months. It is just the DSR6000 (and maybe other DirecTivo's) having the constent IVAC problems. :(

I have a 3rd gen ird with an internal emu. I use a max201 chip. The difference here is that the 201 requires a +10 to +13v input. (It doesn't have a voltage doubler, just the inverter). This is actually a better emu than anything using a 232 chip -- and definitely better than a 1489 chip, because it has a pure 13v rs232 signal pulled straight off of the power supply...

I still get ivacs. as I said before. sometimes 2 or 3 times a day... sometimes I can go a month or 2...

I doubt you will find anyone with a different history...

[digitalAir]

Taran,

Just to clarify... I'm only continuing this debate with you because there is a good probability that someone will read this thread, decide to go out and buy the emu that you suggested, and then have the same problems that they had with their original emu.

Next thing you know, you'll see your nick plastered all over the place as being a scammer or ***** that doesn't know anything about this hobby, or who knows what else...

If 1 emu works better for you than another, great. I am happy for you. But, in the big picture, there is no hard, solid answer here.

Hell, I've got an emu board that I can't make work for nothing... The chips are good - I tested them in another circuit. The circuit is good - I've done countless continuity tests. It just won't work... D'Tivo, RCA 3rd gen, it doesn't matter... It just don't wanna work... But that doesn't mean another one I make won't work... It also doesn't mean that Joe Blow is a better EE than me... It just means that this one don't work...

[Taran]

Well I hate to give up but I think your right. My friend just bought the emu and is not having the same luck I am. I have been up for 10 days now and no IVAC. He was up for three and went down again. =( I also don't think I know what I am talking about I just wanted to toss out what I found and thought was working well... I really wish a electronic pro would reply with the answers we need. Oh well. I wish everyone best of luck. Sorry if the idea doesn't work for everyone, maybe there is some wiered thing I have missed. =( damn......