Recommend Hardware

Adam Sutton · 2012-08-21T15:10:14+00:00

I've created a wiki page [[DVBCards]] to make a note about known working cards, and peoples general thoughts etc... So far it only include [[TBS6981]] as th...

HoRhE HoRhE

Its ok i dont care about the chipset either but as long as it works under linux (i will be running ubuntu 16.04 lts) i will go out and buy it...does it ?
I will buy one first and see how many channels will record simultaneously then buy more to get all 7 channels because digea isnt revealing the info...i contacted

them...

Could you also recoment a single tuner cheap dvbs2 usb tuner ? Working in linux...TBS again makes a twin tuner expensive one l...i dont need the second tuner...

Anders Gustafsson

But that is the general problem. It does not matter what it says on the outside of the case. The only thing that matters here is the chipset. The drivers in Linux are written for chipsets, not for adapters.

I strongly suspect digea will have four TV channels per frequency, but you will certainly see that once you get an adapter up and running. I guess you simply talked to the wrong person as most cable and OTA providers will have lists of frequencies and programmes. You will at least have to know the frequency to tune in to...

Sorry, never played with satellite. Perhaps someone else can chime in?

mpmc

HoRhE HoRhE wrote:
> Its ok i dont care about the chipset either but as long as it works under linux (i will be running ubuntu 16.04 lts) i will go out and buy it...does it ?
> I will buy one first and see how many channels will record simultaneously then buy more to get all 7 channels because digea isnt revealing the info...i contacted
> them...
>

>Could you also recoment a single tuner cheap dvbs2 usb tuner ? Working in linux...TBS again makes a twin tuner expensive one l...i dont need the second tuner...

Cheap DVB-S usb tuners are getting rare-ish. The cheapest I've found is this "one" However, even though it's cheap, support for Linux is there it'll just require you to build the drivers yourself, pretty much like what you'd have to do with TBS' tuners. For a bit more there's this "one" from what I understand, it already has drivers built in to recent kernels, so no need to build your own.

HoRhE HoRhE

Ok...i feel were getting somewhere as to what hardware i should buy...so the cheap tuner that im required to build the drivers myself does it have a site where i find what i need to do it ? Or should i go for the more expensive one thats ready to go ?
Also about the dvbt stick i overlooked the second link and dealt only with the first that is of unknown chipset...so will this work with ubuntu ?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DVB-T-DAB-FM-Radio-Realtek-RTL2832U-R820T-software-defined-SDR-HDTVwbGT15-/321652321738?hash=item4ae3f8edca:g:yEMAAOSwWKtUxoHg

Anders Gustafsson

Let me elaborate a bit. It might be long-winded, but bear with me...

Hardware support in Linux is generally very good, but not from vendors, especially from those selling cheap TV-sticks :) Instead suport if provided by all those enthusiasts that write drivers and reverse-engineer hardware as a hobby.

Support for most TV sticks consist of two things: 1. The driver that is in the Linux kernel or loaded from a file. 2. The actual tuner firmware code. Most of the time, that firmware is not loaded permanently into the stick, but rather loaded by the (windows) software that accompanies the stick.

That FW is copyrighted and thus cannot be shipped with linux.

So, if we take that PCTV tripleStick (292e) that I have. That stick is based on a Silicon Labs Si2168 chip. The linux driver is si2168.c (http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/si2168.c). No need to compile, shipped with Linux. That driver downloads a firmware image when loaded. That firmware image is something you need to download, say from Antti's blog, ie dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw. You put that file in /lib/firmware.

To make things more complicated, there are several versions of that file, ie:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2728 Oct 28 20:27 /lib/firmware/dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28656 Apr 13 22:50 /lib/firmware/dvb-demod-si2168-a20-01.fw -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17576 Apr 13 22:50 /lib/firmware/dvb-demod-si2168-a30-01.fw -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6919 Apr 10 08:31 /lib/firmware/dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw

For various revisions of the chipset. The actual driver will pick and download the right one:


tvburk:~ # dmesg|grep 2168
[    8.550497] si2168 13-0064: Silicon Labs Si2168 successfully attached
[    8.559942] usb 3-4: DVB: registering adapter 2 frontend 0 (Silicon Labs Si2168)...
[   16.739810] si2168 13-0064: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2168-B40'
[   16.748646] si2168 13-0064: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw'
[   16.950927] si2168 13-0064: firmware version: 4.0.11

https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-T_PCI_Cards

So, basically. You need to know the chipset. If it is suported, then it is usually just a case of putting the firmware file in /lib/firmware.

This is just an example, to describe how it works. A good resource is the LinuxTV Wiki

The sticks i have, have si2168, mn88473 and RTL2832.

w_scan is a good tool to see the details:

w_scan -fc -cFI w_scan version 20141122 (compiled for DVB API 5.10) using settings for FINLAND DVB cable DVB-C FI scan type CABLE, channellist 8 output format vdr-2.0 WARNING: could not guess your codepage. Falling back to 'UTF-8' output charset 'UTF-8', use -C <charset> to override Info: using DVB adapter auto detection. /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 -> "Realtek RTL2832 (DVB-T)" doesnt support CABLE -> SEARCH NEXT ONE. /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend1 -> CABLE "Panasonic MN88473": very good :-))

Hope this helps.

HoRhE HoRhE

ok all these things i would learn along the way as i start to play with the stick or ask you then
all im seeking now is an ebay link to a stick that works well with linux and is affordable (10 euros sounded more than ok) so i can buy it and start playing
which one you recommend ? which one is the one that has worked best for you ?

all the other stuff well discuss it after i get it in my hands (along with the odroid xu4 board thats on the way) and start playing...

thanks

Anders Gustafsson

Yes. There are tons of stuff that is country-specific, such as encoding and also how EPG is transmitted, but you need to start with the reception. I have two of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DVB-T-DAB-FM-Radio-Realtek-RTL2832U-R820T-software-defined-SDR-HDTVwbGT15-/321652321738

Mine are black with a blue silkscreen. There are several available, all look more or less the same and all are less than 10€ incl shipping. The important thing is the chip, RTL2832.

When I embarked on this two years ago. I actuallý did a Proof Of Concept, using an old PC and OpenSUSE. Was loads of fun (NOT) compiling different versions of tvheadend and looking for drivers for various tuner cards. I tried a bunch of PCI cards that I salvaged from old PCs first, with disappointing results, then decided on USB tuners. I now run vtheadens 4.07 and have no plans to upgrade as it works :) I also do NOT update the Linux kernel...

When I was satisfied that it worked, I bought a cheap clone with a motherboard that supported RAID and added three disks. I now have 2Gb useable for recording. I transferred all old movies (about 1Tb) that we had on the old Topfield PVR.

Biggest issues were actually the decoding of encrypted stuff. OTA here is not, but some channels on cable is. I use OSCAM and an USB card reader for that.

Jelle De Loecker

I'm having a lot of problems with my DVBSky S952 (the original one, NOT the V3 version)

I have 2 of these cards, all cables have been connected, but only 1 input actually does anything. And on that one, diseqc doesn't seem to work. You can switch to any position, only position 1 works.

Another problem: the mac addresses of the tuners are the same for both cards, so the order seems to jump around everytime you reboot.

This card is a bitch to get help on on-line because everyone seems to think you're talking about the newer, V3 version, which is a totally different card.

I have given up on this one, and am looking to buy a new one. The wiki page with suggested hardware is still as empty as the day it was created, though.

I have looked at TBS cards now, does someone know if TBS6904 or TBS6905 actually work out of the box, and which card is better?

Saen Acro

Recommending DigitalDevices tuners
easy to be installed and no tons of bugs in drivers as on TBS

Jelle De Loecker

Do you have any specific DigitalDevices card in mind?

I find the Max S8 card interesting, but someone created an issue here saying it has some serious hardware issues:

https://tvheadend.org/issues/3940

Saen Acro

Jelle De Loecker wrote:
> Do you have any specific DigitalDevices card in mind?
>
> I find the Max S8 card interesting, but someone created an issue here saying it has some serious hardware issues:
>

> https://tvheadend.org/issues/3940

MAX S8 work perfect

Rob D

The TBS 6985 works nicely as long as you use the latest open source drivers here but there are easier options (Prior warning you need Kernel 4.6 or higher):

https://github.com/ljalves/linux_media/wiki/Installating

There are some people who had issues with continuity errors, with the latest drivers I have not seen many of these and don't know if it is due to weak signal at times. At least with Freesat channels it seems to work well for me.

Saen Acro

Rob Dunkley wrote:
> The TBS 6985 works nicely as long as you use the latest open source drivers here but there are easier options (Prior warning you need Kernel 4.6 or higher):
> https://github.com/ljalves/linux_media/wiki/Installating >

> There are some people who had issues with continuity errors, with the latest drivers I have not seen many of these and don't know if it is due to weak signal at times. At least with Freesat channels it seems to work well for me.

Until put some other brand tuner and...
TBS cant make a simple installer with create module for own devices.
Why do I have to make modules for webcam, sound card etc. it take LOT of space
DKMS is far away feature

Martin Bednar

saen acro wrote:
> Until put some other brand tuner and...
> TBS cant make a simple installer with create module for own devices.
> Why do I have to make modules for webcam, sound card etc. it take LOT of space

> DKMS is far away feature

If you use the OSS driver, you build the entire Linux multimedia tree (with patches). AFAIK this tree is the multimedia-next tree. You can select only the drivers you want by running "make menuconfig".

Saen Acro

Martin Bednar wrote:
> saen acro wrote:
> > Until put some other brand tuner and...
> > TBS cant make a simple installer with create module for own devices.
> > Why do I have to make modules for webcam, sound card etc. it take LOT of space
> > DKMS is far away feature
>

> If you use the OSS driver, you build the entire Linux multimedia tree (with patches). AFAIK this tree is the multimedia-next tree. You can select only the drivers you want by running "make menuconfig".

TBS6909 where is not OSS driver?
Only media build is available.
And why do I have to download multimedia tree and next to play with menuconfig,
when some developer can cut tree to used modules as on DDDVB (just compare size of both repos)

KenyBDG K.

I spent to much time for installing DVB-S2 Mystique SaTiX-S2 Sky Xpress DUAL(clone of DVBSky S952) card on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, unfortunately without success, so I decided replace card for newest one, but I don't really now which card I should buy ?. Obviously I don't want spent too much money :)
What card do you recommend, maybe TBS 6902 ? or sth from Technotrend ?

iw is

Raspberry Pi 3 + three Media-Tech MT4171 DVB-T tuners, Tvheadend 4.0.8

Works fine. More info: https://myserver.opentechnologies.pl/en/technical-documentation/

https://myserver.opentechnologies.pl/wp-content/gallery/my-server-internals/thumbs/thumbs_myserver_big_inside.jpg

Saen Acro

iw is wrote:
> Raspberry Pi 3 + three Media-Tech MT4171 DVB-T tuners, Tvheadend 4.0.8

> Works fine. More info: https://myserver.opentechnologies.pl/en/technical-documentation/

See some productive alternative
"Jaguar One" or "UP Core"

real x86, no software cross compilation needed.

Jack Bamford

I have the DVBSky S952 V3 which is based on the Montage M88RS6000 Chip which works by putting the following firmware dvb-demod-m88rs6000.fw in /lib/firmware. I have tested from 14.04 up to 18.04 LTS versions. Everything works from scanning channels and channel playback, only problem i have ran into is the Guide Listings but can be solved by adding Freesat Transponder i.e Mux. Firmware can be obtained for both DVBSky S952 v1 and v3 from the Official LinuxTV Wiki. https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVBSKY_S952_v3

Note there is two different versions of this card the first revision has the Montage M88DS3103 chip and the v3 has Montage M88RS6000

Gurabli Gurabli

I'm looking for a reliable DVB-C USB tuner that works without any problems even for the high bitrate DVB-C stream (HD channels). Preferably with kernel support. If it works on Rpi2/3 that would be the best.
I have now the Geniatech (Mygica) T230 (the original one) which works fine for DVB-T but has problems on DVB-C. Trying to narrow done the issue, but it looks it is the tuner.
Any recommendations?

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