Tuner in use - even though it isn't!

[rikesh]

Hello,

I've been having a strange problem with the Vu+ Duo for the past few months, only just getting round to posting now.

I have a standard fixed dish 28.2E setup, quad LNB with two feeds into a Vu+ Duo. Both feeds isolated are working fine - proven by plugging into the box separately. Both tuners on the box are working fine - proven by plugging the feed into each tuner separately. These tests also prove that the cabling / connectors / etc. are fine. My SNR isn't great (around 60%) but I don't think this is relevant, as you'll discover below...

I will find that despite nothing recording, PIP disabled, no CrossEPG scan taking place and no other known reason for a tuner to be engaged, the box will display the 'other' tuner as being occupied. E.g. I am watching a channel perfectly fine, but in the mini EPG (press OK when watching any channel), it shows the other tuner in red (indicating it is in use). I can also see the red icon on the Duo's LCD display. This means I can't make use of the other tuner, i.e. for recording or streaming from a PC. Conversely, if a programme starts recording, I won't be able to watch another channel as it says 'no free tuner'. Behaving like a single tuner box...

The issue is sporadic but happens more often than not. If I restart the box completely, usually it will behave as it should (only one tuner in use, with the other tuner free to do whatever I want). And during this time, I have tried streaming a different channel from the PC and it works perfect, indicating there is nothing physically wrong with the hardware. But after some time / channel switching / etc., the problem re-occurs. This makes it seem like something in the software is occupying a tuner for no good reason.

I've had this box for almost 3 years and no trouble until the past few months. I've only recently upgraded to Apollo, but the issue resided before upgrading too.

Any ideas?

Much appreciated.

[mcquaim]

Have you got your Duo open to the internet, as in ports opened on your router?

Try unplugging the network cable at the back and see if it frees up the 2nd tuner.. It's a known issue with people hacking in and viewing your channels over the net..

[Larry-G]

as mcquaim states if you have opened any ports on the router for streaming etc, you may have been hacked, this has become more and more of a problem as more and more users blindly open ports without fully knowing the ramifications, there are whole forums out there that post details of vulnerable receivers.

Try removing your internet connection and see if it still happens.

[Larry-G]

The next time this happens fire up a telnet session and issue the following command then post the output here.


netstat

[rikesh]

Thanks for the response. The box is password protected but yes the streaming port was being forwarded so I've removed that now.

I'll keep an eye on it and post back...

[Larry-G]

Thanks for the response. The box is password protected but yes the streaming port was being forwarded so I've removed that now.

I'll keep an eye on it and post back...

passwords are pretty much useless when some one is scanning for open ports.

[rikesh]

Yep, looks like that solved it. Just to test the theory, I reopened the port, waited for the tuner to become engaged and ran netstat. Picked up the arsehole's IP address.

Thanks for your help guys - always appreciated.

[Larry-G]

Glad you got to the bottom of it in the end, now you can secure your network to keep this plonker and his mates out.

[sublimecantona]

this was happening to me too and im glad i found this thread - blocked the port and the fooker -