DVB-S/T/C Support

[peterjb]

I went down this path over the holidays when I started to write a network encoder for my Nova-T card.

Unfortunately for me, DVBCore offers limited DVB-T bandwidth support. I live in Australia, where the bandwidth is 7mhz, and in all the versions of DVBCore I've tested to date I can't get it to tune. If you live in a country that uses 8mhz for DVB-T bandwidth you'll be OK.

I wrote to Saar in an effort to hopefully get him to enable this support. His reply was that he hasn't written DVBCore and MyTheatre to specifically support DVB-T. The fact that it works for some DVB-T cards is a happy coincidence mainly due to common SDK's between the DVB-T, DVB-C and DVB-S products from specific vendors. He plans to add 'official' support for DVB-T sometime this year, as he doesn't have any DVB-T hardware.

If you'd like to add your request for extra DVB-T support to mine, perhaps I might get the DVB-T bandwidth support I need!

Cheers

Peter

[AndersNolberger]

I noticed the lack of bandwidth settings for the DVBCore but I just thought that it was handled automatically.

I will continue with DVBCore for now so that I get something that works as soon as possible. DVBCore supports more cards also so it is possible to use it for satellite and cable with a lot of cards.

In which countrys is 7MHz used? In Sweden we have 8MHz.

Have you solved the problem with incorrect TS from the TSFilter? I have heared that it is poosible to use TSRecordRead instead and get a complete TS that way but my experiments was not successful.

[AndersNolberger]

Hello

I have now my first beta for a DVB Server. I use DVBCore for this and it is not intended for DVB-T and does not support a bandwidth of 7MHz. Therefore it probably wont work in some places. It works fine for me in with the FTA channels in Sweden.

Note that tis is a very early beta and you might get problems if you install it on your computer.

The files can be found at

SDVBCoreRecorder.zip

Please report back if you try this.

Anders Nolberger

[AndersNolberger]

Now it supports Sage 2.0 beta. The new version used a command that 1.4 did not use.

The link above is updated.

[leejsmith]

what hardware will this support ?

[fredpery]

Hi,

Been lurking here for quite a while but freeview was basically a necessity for me so was holding off taking the plunge until this was a feature of sage. Anyway, i got tired of waiting and this thread inspired me (big thanks to Anders btw).

I can report that this program works pretty well for me (so far, touch wood) and attatched is the .ini file i have created for receiving freeview from the Emley Moore transmitter (you need to change the frequencies of the muxes if receiving from a different transmitter).

Managed to get it integrated with XMLTV from tv_grab_uk_rt (which has all freeview channels) so just getting ready to start enjoying the great features i've been reading about

(Using the 2.0.13 beta by the way)

Fred

[AndersNolberger]

A new version is now available at SDVBCoreRecorder.zip . No big changes but a fix in threading that should make it a little more stable.

As for what card that is supported look at http://www.dvbcore.com/. But remember that I do not tune Satellite cards so cable cards and the Nova-T (possibly others) in countrys with 8MHz bandwidth should work.

[taylormadearmy]

Hey fredpery

I've also have been holding off on trying, mainly because I haven't had the time..

Now, as it looks as if you, and of course AndersNolberger have done the hard work (THANKS!), I think I shall dive in head first!

So.. My question for you is - where do I find the frequencies of the muxes for my transmitter? Oh, and is there an easy way to find out which transmitter I'm using..?

Thanks again!

[fredpery]

Hey Taylormadearmy,

If you don't know which transmitter you're using, probably the easiest way to find out the frequencies of the muxes is through the channel scan window in the original Hauppauge/TechnoTrend software. (Assuming you have it all set up and working correctly of course).

Just go into the set up and note the frequency being used for the folowing channels (you may need to click the extended information (>>) button to see frequency information):

BBC One (Mux 1)
ITV 1 (Mux 2)
Five (Mux A)
BBC Four (Mux B)
Sky Travel (Mux C)
The Hits (Mux D)

Now just enter these in order into the transponder section of the .ini i posted nad hopefully away you'll go.

Hope this helps,

Fred

[peterjb]

Just a note to say that the new version of dvbcore ( included with MyTheatre 3.12 ) works for DVB-T on bandwidth frequencies other than 8 mhz..

It doesn't appear to work with UHF Channels though. I can't pick up SBS here in Oz.


Cheers

Peter

[taylormadearmy]

ok - I'm giving this a go..

Bare in mind I'm a complete newbie with sage, so please forgive any silly questions..

So - I have installed v1.4 on a machine that has only a DVB-T card.

I have fredpery's ini file.

I have added the lines mmc/ecoder/12345
and mmc/encoder/12345/encoding_host=localhost:6969 to the sage.properties file.

I then have started SDVBrecorder and sage - and I get the setup wizard.

It asks for Video capture device - I choose my "hauppauge WINTV PVR PCI on localhost:6969"

I then click on - I dont have an access code.

It then asks me to "select the input below that you have this source connected to on your PC's capture card" - unfortunately I have nothing to click on here...

Any ideas whats going wrong?
Thanks!!

[AndersNolberger]

Anyone have any info on this?

I have tried on a Sage 1.4 that already have a PVR250. And also on a Sage 2.0 that dont have any other cards. In both cases i got the inputs from a PVR to choose from (at least as I remembered it).

Do you have two encoders set up in you properties file? The original that does not exists physically and the network encoder? In the Sage 2 setup I only changed the encoding_host setting on the existing encoder before starting Sage for the first time.

Did you get any debug info in SDVBCoreRecorder during setup?

--------

The new DVBCore is not available separately right now so i dont now if I am alowed to use it. I have written to Saar (DVBCore) and asked but I have not gotten any answer yet.

[taylormadearmy]

Hi

I don't get any debug from the SDVBCoreRecorder during setup.

I had no encoder settings to copy from (as u said to in the instructions) so I only added the 2 lines mentioned in your readme.

The mmc/ lines I have after running it are below.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

mmc/audio_bitrate=384
mmc/audio_sampling=48000
mmc/country_code=0
mmc/encoders/12345=
mmc/encoders/12345/audio_capture_device_name=0
mmc/encoders/12345/audio_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/12345/capture_config=0
mmc/encoders/12345/encoder_merit=0
mmc/encoders/12345/encoding_host=localhost\:6969
mmc/encoders/12345/encoding_host_login_md5=
mmc/encoders/12345/last_cross_index=0
mmc/encoders/12345/last_cross_type=1
mmc/encoders/12345/video_capture_device_name=Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture
mmc/encoders/12345/video_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/12345/video_compressor=0
mmc/encoders/12345/video_encoding_params=Great
mmc/feature_mask_disable=0
mmc/ignore_encoders=Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000,
mmc/ir_xmt_port=1
mmc/last_encoder_name=Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture on localhost\:6969
mmc/overscan=0.1
mmc/pentium_4_fix=false
mmc/scan_dshow_filters=true
mmc/sfir_dev_name=
mmc/sync_with_offset=true
mmc/use_overlay=false
mmc/video_format_code=1

[AndersNolberger]

Try to replace your 12345 lines with this:

mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/atsc_tuning=false
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/cable_based_rf=true
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/last_channel=8
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/provider_id=11
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/video_crossbar_type=1
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/atsc_tuning=false
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/cable_based_rf=true
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/last_channel=
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/provider_id=0
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/12345/2/0/video_crossbar_type=2
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/atsc_tuning=false
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/cable_based_rf=true
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/device_name=
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/last_channel=
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/provider_id=0
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/video_crossbar_index=1
mmc/encoders/12345/2/1/video_crossbar_type=2
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/atsc_tuning=false
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/cable_based_rf=true
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/last_channel=
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/provider_id=0
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/12345/3/0/video_crossbar_type=3
mmc/encoders/12345/audio_capture_device_name=
mmc/encoders/12345/audio_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/12345/capture_config=2058
mmc/encoders/12345/encoder_merit=5
mmc/encoders/12345/encoding_host=localhost\:6969
mmc/encoders/12345/encoding_host_login_md5=
mmc/encoders/12345/last_cross_index=0
mmc/encoders/12345/last_cross_type=1
mmc/encoders/12345/video_capture_device_name=Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture
mmc/encoders/12345/video_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/12345/video_compressor=
mmc/encoders/12345/video_encoding_params=Best

[taylormadearmy]

Hi

I now get the following choices:

S-video
Compostite
Composite_2
TV Tuner - Antenna
TV - Tuner - Cable
TV - Tuner - Constant Channel

Which should I be using, if any..?

THANKS!!

[AndersNolberger]

I dont think it matters. I use TV - Tuner - Cable.

[taylormadearmy]

When I click on channel set-up should I see more than one channel?

[AndersNolberger]

Did you choose one of the "TV Tuner" alternatives?

Also you should set up XMLTV (if you live outside the USA) .
More information on the xmltv plugin can be found here http://mta.techno.org/epg/.

Search the forum for ways to get the epgdata.xml file at your location.

[taylormadearmy]

ok.. Almost there...

I have setup XMLTV, so I have guide data and now I can also see TV pictures... Yey!

However one problem so far..


Some channels (or more probably some broadcasts) are displayed at the wrong aspect ratio - usually tall and thin...


Thanks again for all the good work!

[Cayars]

Originally posted by Narflex
If anybody wants to write the support for the card, I'll give you all the information you need to do it (from Sage's standpoint).

Essentially if you can make a simple capture application for the card (playback not required, I already handle all that), then you can write Sage support for it.

Well I did this and got the following response back:

Sage has decided to stop giving that protocol away. It's no longer supported.

-----------

When did this change and could somebody from Frey tell us why the policy changed?

Carlo