Network configuration

Changing the IP address of the DVB Net source

The final step is to set the address of the network interface to the DVB source to the standard value used by the TelliCast software. Please note that the device names may be slightly different. For example, the SkyStar2 DVB PCI card has a name TechniSat DVB-PC TV Star PCI, whereas the Dexatek USB box has a driver name: DVB Net ETAdapter.

For Windows Vista and Windows-7, using the Control Panel, navigate to the Manage Network Connections (in Windows-7, Change Adapter Settings) page:

Now look for Change adapter settings (Windows-7) or Manage Network connections (Vista).

XP - for Windows XP, use Control Panel, Networks, to list the network connections:

Double-click on the DVB Net ETAdapter, and press the Properties button. The Windows Vista / Windows-7 and Windows XP dialogs are quite similar.

Select the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) line, and click Properties. With Windows XP, select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) line. On Windows Vista and Windows-7, I suggest unchecking the TCP/IPv6 box.

Select "Use the following IP address", and enter 192.168.238.238 for the IP address. Click on the Subnet mask field, and it will automatically be filled in as 255.255.255.0.

Click OK, and then click Close on the status dialog.

Windows-7 note

On two Windows-7 boxes I have found that the IP address you enter may not "stick" from one reboot to the next, and you get an address starting 169.x.x.x instead. One workaround I found to this problem was to use the Advanced option in the dialog box above, and add a second IP address of 192.168.238.239 - just one higher - and then edit the TelliCast recv.ini to use that new address. Not quite sure exactly why this happens, except that it seems Windows is assigning an automatic address when it should not using APIPA. The cures suggested for Windows Vista do not appear to work in Windows-7. Any tips from the networking experts?

http://www.tomstricks.com/how-to-disable-automatic-private-ip-addressing-apipa-in-windows-vista/
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7network/thread/1c9044d2-85a5-4cb2-ba90-ff6866a4adb1

Using a LAN at the same time as the DVB/TelliCast software

On Windows Vista and Windows-7, but not Windows XP, some people have reported problems with using a LAN and the DVB/TelliCast software at the same time. It appears that communication between the TelliCast software and the DVB software which should be internal to the PC is actually being sent over the LAN connection. As the DVB network interface is actually software inside the PC, and not hardware at the end of the LAN cable, TelliCast fails to work, being either stuck in the yellow T-icon state or, if the network cable is connected after the system was working, the icon alternates between the "pink" and "red" states.

To work round this problem, you need to tell Windows that the addresses handled by the DVB software must always be reached through the address which you set up in the step above. In the Start menu, All Programs, Accessories menu, you will find an item named Command Prompt. Right-click on this item, and select Run as administrator (as you want to make system changes). Enter the following command:

    route -p -4 ADD 224.0.0.0 mask 240.0.0.0 192.168.238.238

Interpreted into plain English (?), the command line means: add a permanent route with IPV4 to force access to the multi-cast address 224.0.0.0 to go via the interface with IP address 192.168.238.238. The address 192.168.238.238 is the address given to the virtual network card created by the networking component of the DVB software (you set this earlier on this page). The address 224.0.0.0 is where the EUMETCast data appears to be coming from (and this is hard-coded in the Eurobird-9 transmissions). So we are telling the system that to receive EUMETCast data, you need to look for it on the DVB virtual network card, and not on the general Internet. Type Route alone for more information on the route command. Here is a somewhat edited session where I add the route, and then use the Route PRINT command to check that the route was added.

C:\Windows\system32>route -p -4 ADD 224.0.0.0 mask 240.0.0.0 192.168.238.238
 OK!

C:\Windows\system32>route PRINT
===========================================================================
Interface List
 12 ...00 18 bd 5a 11 ba ...... DVB Net ETAdapter
  9 ...00 11 d8 5c 44 ed ...... Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
.
===========================================================================

IPv4 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
.
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link   192.168.238.238     21
.
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  Network Address          Netmask  Gateway Address  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0     192.168.0.10  Default
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0  192.168.238.238       1
===========================================================================
.

C:\Windows\system32>

[On a recent 64-bit Windows-7 install, I did not have this problem. I had removed the IPv6 protocol from both the network card and the DVB's network configuration, and that's perhaps why. Comments?]

Possible problems

Driver issue with 64-bit Windows-7?

The TechniSat drivers V4.5.1 work correctly with Windows-7.

One user reported being unable to change the IP address on 64-bit Windows-7 with version 3.0 of the DVB World driver, but this was cured by installing a 2008 version. Alberto writes:

David,

DVBWorld driver V3.0 (091130) doesn't work with Windows-7 64-bit, but works fine with Windows-7 32-bit. I tried Win 7 32 bit for a month before I installed Win-7 64-bit. However, the driver dated 2008-04-15 which is on GEO's DVBWorld CD version 1 May 2008 does work with Windows 7 64 bit.

My PC configuration is:
ASUS P5QL-E, Intel Q9400, DDR2 4GB, ATI HD 4670, DVBWorld from GEO, Windows-7 Home Premium full (Italian).

Anyway, without the info on your web page it was impossible for me to do any sort of ECast service configuration.

Ciao
Alberto

There is a discussion of various driver versions here.

Card loses address after a reboot

A couple of users have reported that the card loses its address following a reboot, going to an automatically-assigned address rather than the user-defined address (192.168.238.238). Ian Deans has reported that the second of the two solutions given here works for him. As it involves editing the registry, please take care, and consider creating a System Restore point before proceeding.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Right click this entry and select New DWORD Value.
Rename the new entry ArpRetryCount, and leave it set to 0 by default.
Reboot.

Windows-7 and IP V6 addresses

One other problem I have seen is that Windows-7 will assign an IPv6 address to both the PC and the network device (the Dexatek/DVBWorld software). Under these circumstances, there is both an IPv4 and an IPv6 path between the devices. If this causes a problem, you may want to disable the IPv6 protocol on the Dexatek/DVBWorld device.

Computers with two network cards

There is another Vista/Winodws-7 (and Windows Server 2008) issue which may affect computers with two network cards - and it's possible that any EUMETCast computer falls into this category. See:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947041

entitled: "The network connectivity status incorrectly appears as "Local only" on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer that has more than one network adapter".