Cheap DVB-T2 tuner?

cab guy

Hi all,

Has anyone ever managed to get a cheap Freeview HD tuner working with TVheadend? There's a sub £20 one here on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/331048050066?limghlpsr=true&lpid=102&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=102&ff19=0

If not, does anyone know of any other cheap DVB-T2 tuners which will work, preferably USB?

I checked the compatible hardware wiki but it appears to not be up to date.

ProfYaffle

It's more a case of "what works on Linux" than "what works with tvheadend", so the problem with any of these cheap tuners is finding out what chipset is in them. I've heard tales of multiple seemingly-identical devices having completely different innards, so a bit of sleuthing is required and, perhaps, a direct question to the vendor.

The LinuxTV wiki doesn't seem to list too many supported items, though, I must admit. I have the PCTV290e which works well but probably doesn't fall into your category of "cheap" given that it's sixty-plus quid.

There will be devices with "out of tree" support (e.g. TBS) which can still be very good, but they're more of a faff to get working and keep that way because there's no in-built support in the kernel and so you need to compile your own drivers on every kernel or driver upgrade.

Zoltan Arvai

Check Antti's blog about that:

http://blog.palosaari.fi/2013/10/naked-hardware-14-dvb-t2-usb-tv-stick.html

It seems T support will be in kernel 3.13, but T2 and C support are need time.

cab guy

Thanks for the link! crikey I will keep an eye on that guy's blog with baited breath, I imagine that little Chinese guy selling those on eBay will be a little shocked when he checks his orders the morning after Antti announces DVBT2 support for that baby!

dhead 666

Geniatech/Mygica T220 has support in the media tree but not yet in the kernel (probably will enter kernel 3.14) so you need to compile DVB-v4L yourself.

I've got this device (and also the Astrometa DVB-T2) but didn't tried it yet as we have here a few months before the local FTA service will make DVB-T2 available.

When I tested the Astrometa DVB-T2 in Windows it looked like VLC couln't open the DVB-T2 tuner (no issue with DVB-T) probably something is plainly wrong with the Windows driver, keep that in mind if you plan to use it temporarly on Windows with another backend like NextPVR or NextPVR (the vendor app should work).

Edit: I've tried to tune to DVB-T2 on Windows with VLC also with the Mygica T220 and I received the same errors so I'm guessing something is wrong with VLC and not with the tuners.

mpmc

dhead 666 wrote:
> Geniatech/Mygica T220 has support in the media tree but not yet in the kernel (probably will enter kernel 3.14) so you need to compile DVB-v4L yourself.
>
> I've got this device (and also the Astrometa DVB-T2) but didn't tried it yet as we have here a few months before the local FTA service will make DVB-T2 available.
>
>When I tested the Astrometa DVB-T2 in Windows it looked like VLC couln't open the DVB-T2 tuner (no issue with DVB-T) probably something is plainly wrong with the Windows driver, keep that in mind if you plan to use it temporarly on Windows with another backend like NextPVR or NextPVR (the vendor app should work).
>

> Edit: I've tried to tune to DVB-T2 on Windows with VLC also with the Mygica T220 and I received the same errors so I'm guessing something is wrong with VLC and not with the tuners.

That tuner willnot work with anything but the vendors own app and SichboPVR on Windows (I had to e-mail the developer to add support), I don't think it works with Windows Media Centre at all either (it didn't when I tried it).

Jukka Pirinen

Astrometa works just fine in Windows with BDA driver from astrometa website. Tested with windows 8.1 MCE and VLC.

Note that with BDA driver you need to select DVB-T also for T2 streams in VLC, not DVB-T2.

And same is for august BDA driver.

cab guy

Any ideas if these ones mentioned work on Linux?

Jukka Pirinen

Astrometa DVB-T works with 3.13 kernel. DVB-T2 is not working, It does not have driver for Panasonic MN88472 demodulator which is used for DVB-T2.

August DVB-T210 is recognized as Geniatech T220 in linux (same usb ids). DVB-T works with latest v4l driver, or 3.14 kernel. The the tuner locks in DVB-T2, but stream is garbage.

See the other thread https://tvheadend.org/d/1695-august-dvb-t210

cab guy

Jukka Pirinen wrote:
> Astrometa DVB-T works with 3.13 kernel. DVB-T2 is not working, It does not have driver for Panasonic MN88472 demodulator which is used for DVB-T2.
>
> August DVB-T210 is recognized as Geniatech T220 in linux (same usb ids). DVB-T works with latest v4l driver, or 3.14 kernel. The the tuner locks in DVB-T2, but stream is garbage.

> See the other thread https://tvheadend.org/d/1695-august-dvb-t210

I'm glad you posted that, because Linuxtv.org make it out like DVB-T2 is supported nicely in all of the above. I can't even find an Astrometa to buy in google (I'm in the UK) and LinuxTV recommends it is very popular!

Looks like still just the Hauppage 290e @ £60+ then.....
<<

dhead 666

cab guy wrote:
>
> I'm glad you posted that, because Linuxtv.org make it out like DVB-T2 is supported nicely in all of the above.

I've edited the wiki accordingly.