Advice needed on adding a DVB-S2 tuner

Mehdi

I'm planning to add a DVB-S2 tuner to my TVheadend setup.
I need something future proof that supports HEVC, 4k and blind scan.
My TVheadend machine doesn't have pcie so I'm limited to usb tuners.
Almost all USB ones I've seen are single-tuner, or have other limitations like not supporting hevc or blind scan.

Another option is to get a Linux based satellite receiver (Enigma2) and use the built-in sat>ip function to use it with TVheadend.

Which one should i go for with a budget around $200?

Sam

I tried a Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-HD USB tuner that supposedly works with Linux; there are instructions on making it work with Ubuntu on the Hauppauge web site. It didn't work, apparently because of some internal revision. You can find confirmation of this in Amazon reviews (see below eg). If it was possible to buy an older version you might succeed

The BBH9* version is different and not supported by the Linux kernel despite Hauppauge stating otherwise.
This one has VID😛ID 2013:0462 and not 2013:0461 like the one supported by Linux.
It is seen as a USB device but then the “drivers” are not loaded to make it work because in fact they do not exist...

*this, AFAIK, is the latest and is what I got, and returned to Amazon.

The Sundtek Dual USB DVB-S/S2/S2X is one recommended alternative but I haven't tried it. There's also a single tuner version

https://shop.sundtek.com/en/DVB-S-S2-S2X/Sundtek-SkyTV-Ultimate-8-DVB-S-S2-S2X.html

I tried a Telestar Digibit Twin next. This worked perfectly for a few days then the tuning stopped working, and shortly afterwards the device didn't respond any more to pings. I returned this one too, to a Swedish vendor, and decided against an identical replacement as it seemed from Amazon reviews that failure was not uncommon. It's plug and play, but no blind scan or anything else.

3rd attempt was to buy a 2nd ZGemma H2.S (€40) which I had read works as a SatIP server with minisatip installed on OpenATV. I installed OpenATV (7.5) and found I could use the iptvremote plugin but... it was not as straightforward as I'd have liked (see https://tvheadend.org/d/8916-using-tvheadend-w-openatv-ipremote-plugin).

I considered a TBS tuner but having read some mixed reviews of their working with Linux,and likewise for Geniatec devices, I bought an Octagon SF8008 (€118 for 4K combo box with one DVB-T2 and one DVB-S2 tuner) and updated OpenTV (from 6.4 to 7.4**). Slightly tricky changing the language but otherwise no issues. It supports HEVC and blind scan. I haven't yet tried to install minisatip, which is not available as a standard plugin. My initial reason for wanting to use mminisatip was to put it on a box in the attic and to then record using Kodi + TVHeadend in my study or stream to a tablet or whatever.

**Some useful setup advice here: https://www.linuxsat-support.com/thread/154144-openatv-7-setup-guide-by-kiddac/

I found that OpenATV and plugins get updates sufficiently frequently that it seemed a better idea to put it in a room with a screen, otherwise doing updates or anything else one does with the remote would be less convenient.

One of my reasons for selecting the SF8008 was that it supposedly supported running Kodi. It's an easily installable plugin. I imagined that both TVHeadend and the HTSP client would be installable from the Kodi repo. That turned out not to be the case. The front end is available; TVHeadend, however, is not a point and shoot install and, I now know, may turn out to have complications

https://www.linuxsat-support.com/cms/article/106-installation-tvheadend-server-on-an-enigma2-box/

At this stage I decided to give up on TVHeadend for now. I retired my old silent PC with a PCI DVB-S2 tuner, running LibreElec and TVHeadend, in the living room and replaced it with a ZGemma H7.S from the bedroom, and replaced the latter with the SF8008. I've given up for now on looking to record locally on a PC in my study from a SatIP server and am just using the Kodi Enigma2 client and I'm recording to network storage (I don't always leave this running when I'm away so like to have local recording option).

Overall, I'm happy with the SF8008. A universal remote for Enigma2 boxes would make it even better. I'm using the Android app dreamEPG Premium to manage recordings on the ZGemma. Unlike your TVHplayer this doesn't support choosing which box's EPG to use, so by default works with just one. This is a feature I'd be happy to pay for (better than visiting openwebif interfaces).

If you look for information on domestic SatIP on YouTube and elsewhere it seems it was the future about 10 years ago and that it has yet to really catch on.

Ron L

Things like video codec and resolution are not a function of the DVB-S2 tuner but rather either software for decoding or the capabilities of the GPU decoding in your computer hardware. DVB-S2 tuners only care about demodulating the signal. So the best that you can do is get a unit that supports the largest amount of different S2/S2X modulations at this time.

For blindscan the only thing I'm aware of that is working with currently available tuners is neumoDVB with his patched drivers. See...

deeptho/linux_media
deeptho/neumodvb

TBS devices are fully supported for Linux. The pain with them is the drivers are not included in the mainline kernel so you must compile and install from their media tree. I have a TBS USB DVB-S2 tuner and have had no issue with it.

I don't know of any other USB DVB-S2 tuner that has Linux support.

DaveH

Ron L TBS devices are fully supported for Linux. The pain with them is the drivers are not included in the mainline kernel so you must compile and install from their media tree. I have a TBS USB DVB-S2 tuner and have had no issue with it.

I have a TBS DVB-T2 tuner, and as with Ron L have had no problems with it. But having to rebuild its driver every time there is a kernel update does get wearying.

Ron L

Yes. For this reason I rarely take kernel updates in my media computer. It's probably possible to configure DKMS but TBS drivers also pull in all the mainstream media device drivers and the ones from these that fail to compile and create problems seem to change with every new kernel.

Here in North America TBS devices are about the only ones that are easily obtainable.

Keep in mind that not all DVB-S2X devices support the full gamut of available FEC configurations. TBS publishes all the specs for their devices. Looking at Sundtek I can't really tell what it supports. I also looked at how Sundtek install their driver and they appear to alter the system and the TVHeadend install to the point that I'm not sure if other non Sundtek devices you may have will continue to function.

SATIP devices basically only support universal Ku and as such are almost completely useless here in North America.

As I mentioned before, TBS has been fine. They even accepted a patch to fix my old Prof 7301. I've been patching that driver ever since I got the card years and years ago because mainline refused to. It got added to the stv0900 driver when it should have been assigned to stv090x. They flat out refused to changed it despite the card not working correctly with stv0900.