Server spec

patfenton · 2025-08-11T16:26:19+00:00

I have Tvheadend working as the server running on a RPi 3B+ with 1GB RAM. I have a DTT TV Hat and a Sat IP tuner on the network (Telestar Digibit Twin). I'm...

roisiano2

I use a TvBox (S905X3, same power order than yours) with CoreELEC as a tvheadend server, with:

Telestar Digibit R1 (4 tuners, SAT>IP)
2 Xbox tuners (terrestrial), USB connected to TvBox using a self-powered USB hub
Installed VPNs (Wireguard, Zerotier) to use the tvheadend server far from where the server is

Sometimes I try to use 6 streams (4 SAT>IP , using all the tuners + 2 terrestrial) at the same time, and I have no problem at all (using Wireguard VPN, only for test), so I don't think the problem is with your hardware, unless 1 GB RAM is the limiting factor (my TvBox has 4 GB RAM).
In my case, all the connections are wired connections (Xbox tuners connected using USB ports of the TvBox).

It seems that connection between your server (Pi) and your clients is not the problem.
Perhaps the problem is in the connection between your SAT>IP and your Pi?

patfenton

That's incredible, I am wondering if the TvBox is made specially for handling video (real time streams).
Is the TvBox not an Android device? Did you wipe it to put CoreELEC on it?

I have been favouring the RPi as I have some experience with them and also have a DTT HAT that works really well with the pi.

roisiano2

patfenton

The TvBox comes with Android (9.0 in my case, I think so), but you can install CoreELEC using a microSD card (in my case, in the eMMC, internal).
These boxes are optimized for handling video, yes, but I don't think this is a difference vs Pi to use as tvheadend server.

Working example, some minutes ago:

These TvBoxes normaly are cheap using Aliexpress (now the best are with S905X4 or S05X5 chips; about 35-45 € with a good offer, 4 RAM / 64 eMMC).

In any case, I suspect that your problem is not the "power" of your Pis. Perhaps 1 GB memory could be a problem.

patfenton

That's seriously good results, one of those channels is running at 16 Mbit/s!!
Interesting that you are getting good results for SNR and Signal Strength. My system shows incorrect figures here, the SS is 103% and SNR is 60%. The figures never vary, perhaps the Telestar Digibit Twin does not properly transmit these details Tvheadend.

The difference in your setup is that you have 4GB RAM, much better CPU and proper gigabit ethernet. The RPi 3 is connected via the USB 2.0 bus which is probably a bottleneck.

DVBViewer is an app that connects directly to the Sat IP and I can run two high bandwidth HD channels simultaneously without a glitch, both connected to the same 100 Mbit/s wifi extender on fairly old PCs.

Either one of two things is happening, the RPi 3 is just not up to the job or the integration between Tvheadend and Telestar Digibit Twin is not quite right. Probably the former.

The version of Tvheadend I have is HTS Tvheadend 4.2.8-34_g24a2f59e9
and the OS on the RPi is Raspbian Linux 10.

I am just going to break out and buy a new RPi 5 8GB RAM. I'm sticking with the Pi architecture as I have a DTT HAT that works on it.

Thanks for responses. I'll update here when I get it and have it installed.

roisiano2

patfenton

Perhaps you should try a more recent version of tvheadend.
4.2.8 has some years.

I use: HTS Tvheadend 4.3-2180 ~ LibreELEC Tvh-addon v21.2.3

https://tvheadend.org/p/downloads

"
Tvheadend v4.2.x is no longer supported and Tvheadend v4.3.x is our current stable "rolling" release: meaning there are no formal release announcements, the "latest" build number increments each time we commit changes (...)
"

patfenton

result from sudo apt-get upgrade tvheadend

tvheadend is already the newest version (4.2.8-34_g24a2f59e9+rpt1_buster).

Any thoughts?

chewitt

patfenton Any thoughts?

The repo is obsolete and 4.2.8 is no longer supported.

Go visit the downloads page and configure our repo, then install the actual newest/current version.

patfenton

Thanks, great.
Just so that I know, why does the RPi tell me it is the latest version even after doing a full upgrade?

patfenton

I run the curl command to download the repo, see image attached.
I then run
sudo apt upgrade tvheadend
and it tells me I am on the latest version. What am I missing?

davep

patfenton The various Linux distributions only build packages for formal releases of applications. For various reasons, Tvheadend hasn't had a formal release for about 8 years so the project has had to build its own packages. You can get the latest build for your operating system from https://tvheadend.org/p/downloads.

patfenton

I have successfully downloaded the tvheadend repository but how do I install the package?

davep

patfenton What was the output of the curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/tvheadend/tvheadend/setup.deb.sh' | sudo -E bash command?

davep

patfenton Apologies I see you already posted the output of the install script.

Did you try apt update then apt upgrade (without specifying tvheadend)?

patfenton

see post above
davep

patfenton

Tried absolutely everything
apt upgrade
apt update
apt full-upgrade
apt install

It keeps thinking that it is already the newest version

One thing I have not tried is removing tvheadend as I just expect it will install my version again and I'll lose all my configuration for no reason.

Flole

patfenton One thing I have not tried is removing tvheadend as I just expect it will install my version again and I'll lose all my configuration for no reason.

As long as you don't purge a package all configuration files are preserved, thats the default for most (if not all) deb packages btw.

patfenton

May be the version in the repository is not a newer version??

patfenton

sudo apt remove tvheadend # OK

sudo apt install tvheadend # OK

As expected, ended with the same old version again. But thanks for responding.

Are you really sure that the repo has a newer version in it?

DaveH

I note somewhere above it says you are running raspbian buster on your pi. I don't claim to be an expert but I can't find anything except a lot of bookworm and a few bullseye packages for raspbian. So I'm not surprised your upgrade ends with nothing to do. You need to upgrade your pi first, and ideally swap it for a newer one, I suppose.

patfenton

Yes Dave, ancient. about 5 years old. It came bundled with this OS.
Definitely I need to a buy a newer one.

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