[ET8500] Blindscan with ET8500 AVL6211 tuners and OpenVIX 6.7

[Mopatops]

What type of support thread are you creating?

Support question

What OpenViX Image build number are you using?

OpenViX 6.7.020 (2025-10-09-Release)

Have you tried re-flashing WITHOUT settings restore?

YES

Have you tried re-flashing WITH a settings restore?

NO

Hi all. I have an issue with my Xtrend ET8500 and Blind Scan. I haven't used the receiver for a while, but thought I would get it up to date with the latest available release for my receiver which is 6.7.
I have installed the Blindscan plug-in, but when I try to run it, it says Blindscan executable not found '/usr/bin/avl_xtrend_blindscan'!
I have uninstalled and re-installed Blindscan using OPKG as well to see if the file appears, but it doesn't.
I have found a copy of this file on my old ET9000 and copied it across, but although it appears to run, it quickly flicks through the 4 steps and says no transponders found. Blindscan works fine on my ET9000, but this is using an OpenPLi image. There is no ViX image for this receiver. I can't find anyone else with this issue, although I doubt many use a ET8500 anymore.
The ET8500 receiver uses AVL6211 tuners, which apparently are updated versions of the AVL2108 ones used in the older ET9000.
Everything else on the receiver is working fine.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thank you

 

[twol]

well users do build the ET-8500 (one of my favourite boxes -Xtrend were super) from OpenViX git but that apart the blindscan for DVB-S2 is the same across all Xtrend boxes (DVB-C is different).
Attached is the zip.

Could be although its provided that it doesn,t work for the ET8500 - not the only box where the supplied blindscan doesn't work

 

[Mopatops]

Thank you for the file. Unfortunately it does the same as the file I copied from the ET9000 box. It looks like it's going through the motions, but far too quickly, and finishes with no transponders found.
I'm pretty sure I used to do blind scan using this box with OpenViX, but could be wrong.
It is a great box, and still works very well for everything else.
Thanks again for replying so quickly. I'll keep working at it, and will update if I eventually succeed.

 

[el bandido]

Did you set execute permissions? It will not work without them.
In telnet or terminal:
chmod +x /usr/bin/avl_xtrend_blindscan

 

[Mopatops]

Thank you. Yes I did set exec permissions. The routine runs saying Current Status 1/4 etc, and "this will take a long time", but switches through 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 with a delay of about 5 seconds between each. The whole process is over in about 20 seconds with a message saying "no transponders were found for these search parameters"

 

[el bandido]

When that happens, all 4 blindscan steps in a few seconds, usually the blindscan binary in /usr/bin is not being read. Some common causes:
blindscan binary in /usr/bin has incorrect permissions
incorrect binary in /usr/bin
incorrect scan command being used for blindscan binary in /usr/bin
No signal at the satellite dish or satellite antenna

Surely there are other reasons besides these but what is listed seems to be common reasons for satellite blindscan failure. Make sertain the tuner you are trying to blindscan is correct and has a signal.

A decent test would be to start enima2 debug in terminal (init 4 then enigma2), let it run through the 4 blindscan commands. Capture the 4 blindscan commands that are being used from the enigma2 log, then manually run the two commands for the current polarity against the blindscan binary in /usr/bin.

It is a good idea to be tuned to a channel or have a signal shown in Satfinder as the blindscan binary cannot tune the tuner or set it to produce a signal. The manual blindscan test of the blindscan binary will fail if the incorrect command is used, the wrong polarity is used, or if there is no satellite signal.

Manually running the blindscan commands against the binary in /usr/bin eliminates the blindscan plugin, and at the same time proves the blindscan binary in /usr/bin works. It also bypasses the blindscan plugin completely and points to where the real problem is.

 

[el bandido]

If my information is correct, These would be the 4 blindscan commands:
Horizontal Low---> avl_xtrend_blindscan 950 1950 1 60 0 0 0 0
Vertical Low---> avl_xtrend_blindscan 950 1950 1 60 1 0 0 0
Horizontal High---> avl_xtrend_blindscan 1100 2150 1 60 0 1 0 0
Vertical High---> avl_xtrend_blindscan 1100 2150 1 60 1 1 0 0

Get a signal on the receiver, then run the command in /usr/bin and watch the terminal output:
To manually scan horizontal low in terminal:
cd /usr/bin
then enter:
avl_xtrend_blindscan 950 1950 1 60 0 0 0 0
In the example, the receiver will need to be tuned to a signal on the horizontal low band.

 

[Mopatops]

Hi. Thank you for the information. I have done as you said and the command being sent to the blindscan routine is
avl_xtrend_blindscan 1100 2150 10 12 0 1 0 2
This pauses a few seconds and then goes back to the prompt with nothing returned.

Edit: Just seen you have posted above. Will try some of those commands.

 

[Mopatops]

All your examples do the same thing, i.e. pause for a second or two, then nothing.
I've tried tuning to a channel on a low band horizontal transponder, and running the command you have in bold, but exactly the same.
I guess the command is using the first tuner? I was told that the blind scan will only function on tuner A in the ET8500. I'm not sure why.
Thanks for your suggestions. I'm learning a bit more about Enigma, if nothing else.

 

[el bandido]

What is the output of this terminal command?
cat /proc/bus/nim_sockets

 

[Mopatops]

NIM Socket 0:

Type: DVB-S2​

Name: AVL6211​

Frontend_Device: 0​

Has_Ouput: yes​

I2C_Device: 0​

NIM Socket 1:

Type: DVB-S2​

Name: AVL6211​

Frontend_Device: 1​

Has_Ouput: yes​

I2C_Device: 1​

NIM Socket 2:

Type: DVB-S2​

Name: AVL6211​

Frontend_Device: 2​

Has_Ouput: yes​

I2C_Device: 2​

NIM Socket 3:

Type: DVB-T2​

Mode 1: DVB-T2​

Mode 0: DVB-C​

Mode 2: DVB-T​

Name: Si216x​

Frontend_Device: 3​

Has_Ouput: yes​

I2C_Device: 3

Edit: Make is look nicer​

 

[el bandido]

If my disassembly of the blindscan binary is correct, only these are used: avl_xtrend_blindscan START STOP MIN_SR MAX_SR POL BAND

Which means for your receiver, only tuner A will blindscan. So you may try using tuner A with the blindscan plugin. And I would suggest to use default search variables and do not try to set the symbol rate for the blindscan. Or manually play with the blindscan commands using tuner A.

At the end of the day, we might could get this thing to blindscan something Or Not. But I doubt even if it works that it returns much in the way of found transponders.

 

[Mopatops]

That makes sense. I have a lot better understanding of how it functions, so thank you for that. I'll continue to play around with it, and will update this post if I find anything. I'm seeing the blind scan command line function working OK on my ET9000, so at least I have something to reference. I was hoping to use just the one receiver, as my ET9000 is starting to fail, but it's not the end of the world.
Thanks again for you help.

 

[Huevos]

You are testing on tuner A, right?

 

[Mopatops]

You are testing on tuner A, right?

Yes. It's the only tuner I have connected to my motorised dish. The others are on a fixed dish.

 

[Mopatops]

It's a bit odd that the avl_xtrend_blindscan file isn't included in the ET8500 build of the ViX image I flashed. Maybe it was removed because it is known it doesn't work with the ET8500 ???

Edit: Actually, I guess it's the plugin that would add the file.

 

[el bandido]

According to this, satellite blindscan is not supported:
MACHINE_FEATURES += "ubimb chkrootmb emmc colorlcd720 dvb-c ci fanctrl videoenhancement blindscan-dvbc skins1080 feature2 blindscan-tbs RCA HDMI"

oe-alliance-core/meta-brands/meta-xtrend/conf/machine/et8500.conf at e708bde94ae7862614ce0fb8098230ce061c2928 · oe-alliance/oe-alliance-core

The openembedded alliance core. Contribute to oe-alliance/oe-alliance-core development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Mopatops]

According to this, satellite blindscan is not supported:
MACHINE_FEATURES += "ubimb chkrootmb emmc colorlcd720 dvb-c ci fanctrl videoenhancement blindscan-dvbc skins1080 feature2 blindscan-tbs RCA HDMI"

oe-alliance-core/meta-brands/meta-xtrend/conf/machine/et8500.conf at e708bde94ae7862614ce0fb8098230ce061c2928 · oe-alliance/oe-alliance-core

The openembedded alliance core. Contribute to oe-alliance/oe-alliance-core development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Well done finding that. Not really the answer I was hoping, but at least I know that it's not available on the ET8500. There must be a reason why it's not, as the tuner modules say they have hardware blind scan. I guess it's the receiver itself that's not capable.