Digibit R1 vs. TBS6909 with TVHEADEND

olympia · February 19, 2022 at 8:59 AM

I have been long using my original wetek plays as tvheadend server with two DVB-S connections, but unfortunately all of them has got broken.

I am looking into alternatives now and wondering what would be the better (and better supported) option between using SAT>IP (Digibit R1) or throw in a TBS6909 card to my unRAID server and get it used by a tvheadend vm (I also want to go up from 2 LNBs to 4 LNBs)?

Based on my reading I tend to think that SAT>IP would be a more streamlined solution? So I should get a Digibit and just run a tvheadend pointing to this in unraid?

However, there is one thing I cannot figure out about SAT/IP: how descrambling with cwc would work in this case? I.e. in the above setup with Digibit and tvheadend can I still use/add cwc client in tvheadend when it gets the inputs from the Digibit via IP or descrambling should be already done in the SAT>IP server before the inputs get translated to IP? If the latter, does Digibit R1 has a CWC client?

elonesna · February 19, 2022 at 2:35 PM

The tuners, including Digibit R1, do not descrambling anything, this job is done by the tvheadend server and it is configured from the CAs section of this server.

I'm not sure but I think it's the only server that does this now besides the enigma2 systems.

olympia · February 19, 2022 at 3:47 PM

Thanks for the feedback!

Yes, I know tvheadend is doing the descrambling via the cwc configured in the CA section. That's how I've been using it for long with dvb-s2 tuners directly attached to the same device.

Where I am confused is the SAT>IP part. So what you are saying is that tvheadend would see the inputs from Digibit R1 via IP on the same way as it were inputs from a directly attached tuner (e.g. the mentioned TBS6909) and it can add the descrambling to it?

So connecting 4 LNBs from my quad head to Digibit R1, then adding the Digibit R1 as source to tvheadend and having tvheadend to do the descrambling would work perfectly?

elonesna · February 19, 2022 at 9:49 PM

For tvheadend to automatically recognize a SAT>IP tuner, it only needs to be turned on and on the same subnet or home network. You can also force the discovery of a SAT>IP tuner with the parameter "--satip_xml http://<satip-tuner-ip>:8080/desc.xml" for Digibit R1 or "--satip_xml http://< satip-tuner-ip>:38400/description.xml" for Digibit Twin, in the command line for tvheadend server startup.

olympia · February 19, 2022 at 10:48 PM

OK, many thanks!

...and following that I can also add the cwc client in CAs configuration on the same way as it was a hw attached tuner, is this correct?

One more question (back to one of the original one): is there any cons compared to having a dedicated tuner card like the TBS6909?

PANiCnz · February 20, 2022 at 2:55 AM

The Digibit avoids the need to muck around with drivers in Linux / LibreELEC which is the achilles heel of DVB tuners. My Digibit R1 sits on a shelf in my rack and never misses a beat, hands down the best DVD-S2 tuner I've ever had and I've had a few.

CA configuration is not different using the Digibit than with a USB/PCI tuner.

olympia · February 20, 2022 at 9:50 AM

Great, thank you! Just pulled the trigger on a Digibit R1; hopefully arrives next week.

noggin · February 20, 2022 at 10:44 AM

Quote from olympia

One more question (back to one of the original one): is there any cons compared to having a dedicated tuner card like the TBS6909?

One big pro is that you can run your TV Headend server on a NAS or a small, low-cost ARM SBC like a Raspberry Pi, you don't need to have an x86 PC with a PCI-E slot that will draw a lot more power when on 24/7.

The only con is that occasionally my DigiBit R1 has needed to be power cycled - but only occasionally.

You can also run third party firmware on the R1 (Sat Axe) booted from an external USB device, that allows you to have additional configuration options, and to tune some of the DVB-S2 Multistream services that are used to distribute DVB-T/T2 in France and Italy for instance. (That allows you to receive the main French FTA DVB-T terrestrial services like TF1, FR2 etc. without needing to worry about decryption)

GDPR-7 · February 20, 2022 at 12:24 PM

Quote from noggin

The only con is that occasionally my DigiBit R1 has needed to be power cycled - but only occasionally.

and I thought I would be alone with an issue (cause I own a refurbished DigiBit for ~80 €)

the issue is occasional connection problem with TvH 4.3, right ?

I get this on DigiBit starts once in ~20 starts (DigiBit is switched off when unused, AVM Dect plug)

**CvH** · February 20, 2022 at 4:15 PM

Make sure you have the latest firmware update (forgot version, something from 2016) the versions before had major bugs.

Make also sure that you NOT enable idle scan at all 4 tuners, that triggers some firmware problem that crash the R1 after a while and you need to remove power for ~3-4hours (yes ... that long) or the box won't work anymore properly, if you have this disabled it works rock solid !

An alternative is a Enigma box and install Minisatip on it, works too (never personally tired it). If you have a Box with an FBC tuner you have basically unlimited tuners

And ofc, don't do PCI/USB cards at linux, the driver situation is a mess and bugs come and there is no stable base over the years.

GDPR-7 · February 20, 2022 at 5:05 PM

Quote from CvH

Make sure you have the latest firmware update (forgot version, something from 2016) the versions before had major bugs.

from here:

DIGIBIT R1 - TELESTAR-DIGITAL GmbH | digital TV, multimedia & more

Sat-to-IP Router zur Versorgung von bis zu 4 Teilnehmern mit freien HDTV- und Radioprogrammen einer Satellitenposition über Netzwerk und/oder WLAN in…

telestar.de

DigiBit reports Firmware Version: V1.25.0.157 (30-03-2016)

FW packages seems to be double zipped (a zip in an zip...)