Descrambling HD channels with Tvheadend on an Amlogic S905X box

jant90 · April 13, 2017 at 11:07 AM

I'm wondering if descrambling encrypted channels on a Amlogic S905X box would work (performance-wise) for one or more channels simultaneously? I'm interested in buying an HDHomeRun network tuner for my DVB-C subscription (network tuner with 4 built in tuners).

I've seen a YouTube video of a user running Tvheadend with an HDHomeRun on a S905X already so I assume the HDHomeRun drivers are good, but he showed FTA (free to air) channels only, and as I hardly have any FTA channels I would like to do descrambling as well. Also, I installed Tvheadend and OSCam (through which I should be able to descramble the channels) on the box from the LibreELEC repository and I can reach their webinterfaces just fine, only I can't test anything yet without the tuner.

puked · April 18, 2017 at 9:56 AM

This wont work if you need a card to descramble, I guess.
If you don`t, there is no need for oscam. Oscam is only needed, if you have a CS Server running (oscam/cccam or something like that) and want to descramble on your box.

I find tvheadend a pita to use - it should work though...

Maybe there are better options to chose from. I tried several solutions and what works best for me is a small server running windows 10 with DVBViewer Recording Service.
Descrambling on the server. Not expensive either. I bought a used fujitsu esprimo e900 (core I3) for under 100 € from ebay, a dual tuner card with CI (DVB S2 - but there are solutions for cable, too) - all together under 200 € for the hardware - and I use this thing for all my media now. Recorded TV Shows, music, movies, series, photos, etc.

I tried severeal linux distros with tvheadend, pvr, myth tv and whatnot... nothing worked good enough for me and/or was a serious pita to set up and use.

jant90 · April 23, 2017 at 1:25 AM

Quote from puked

This wont work if you need a card to descramble, I guess.
If you don`t, there is no need for oscam. Oscam is only needed, if you have a CS Server running (oscam/cccam or something like that) and want to descramble on your box.

I find tvheadend a pita to use - it should work though...

Maybe there are better options to chose from. I tried several solutions and what works best for me is a small server running windows 10 with DVBViewer Recording Service.
Descrambling on the server. Not expensive either. I bought a used fujitsu esprimo e900 (core I3) for under 100 € from ebay, a dual tuner card with CI (DVB S2 - but there are solutions for cable, too) - all together under 200 € for the hardware - and I use this thing for all my media now. Recorded TV Shows, music, movies, series, photos, etc.

I tried severeal linux distros with tvheadend, pvr, myth tv and whatnot... nothing worked good enough for me and/or was a serious pita to set up and use.

Thanks for you reply, and I agree, old hardware is cheap to get by, especially those old office desktops. They perform quite well and the quality of the hardware is very decent so it will last long. However old hardware is also relatively power hungry, so what you save now you will pay back in power costs big time. Also modern techniques that would greatly improve media center capabilities aren't included (4k / HEVC decoding and such) and it's not quiet (there are moving parts and fans). Also I can only find them in 150-200€ price range btw.

So I think I'm gonna go with the new ASRock J4205-ITX motherboard with onboard Apollo Lake CPU that is cooled passively. I'm gonna put it in a mini ITX case with external 12V adapter so it's 100% fanless, perfect for in the living room, and excluding storage it will cost me about 200€. Idle it should do around 7-8 Watts so I don't have to worry about my power bill either.

I will run Ubuntu so I hope I'll manage setting up Tvheadend and will also add some other server software. I hope that the system is powerful enough to run all I want simultaneously (while smoothly playing back all my content in Kodi) but I can only find out through trial and error I guess.

pajtaz · May 3, 2017 at 2:01 PM

Quote from jant90

I'm wondering if descrambling encrypted channels on a Amlogic S905X box would work (performance-wise) for one or more channels simultaneously? I'm interested in buying an HDHomeRun network tuner for my DVB-C subscription (network tuner with 4 built in tuners).

I've seen a YouTube video of a user running Tvheadend with an HDHomeRun on a S905X already so I assume the HDHomeRun drivers are good, but he showed FTA (free to air) channels only, and as I hardly have any FTA channels I would like to do descrambling as well. Also, I installed Tvheadend and OSCam (through which I should be able to descramble the channels) on the box from the LibreELEC repository and I can reach their webinterfaces just fine, only I can't test anything yet without the tuner.

I don't know how this will work performance-wise on S905X. I have the same tuner and DVB-C that has almost all encrypted channels (Ziggo cable TV in Netherlands). I use Tvheadend with Oscam and Smartcard reader attached to USB port with smartcard from Ziggo inserted.

However, my setup is as follows: LibreELEC on my Cubox-i4x4 but everything else (Tvheadend, Oscam, Smartcard reader) on Odroid XU4 running Debian Jessie headless server (no desktop, only command line). This works perfectly performance-wise. I am able to watch/record 4 channels at the same time, encrypted or free, using HDHomeRun network tuner.

I have tested running Tvheadend and Oscam plus Smartcard reader and USB tuner on my Cubox before. This was not feasible. Cubox could not tune to channels, decrypt, and have smooth TV all at the same time. I didn't even attempt timeshifting or recording because Cubox could definitely not handle it.

It is entirely possible that if you have a powerful enough of a machine that you could run everything on one machine. I chose to continue using Cubox for my LibreELEC but Odroid for PVR. I don't think the descrambling using Oscam and Smartcard reader itself uses a lot of performance. The main limitation there would be USB port speed. I think the limitation is Tvheadend tuning of channels PLUS your machine displaying live TV, all on one machine.

jant90 · May 4, 2017 at 11:16 PM

Quote from pajtaz

I don't know how this will work performance-wise on S905X. I have the same tuner and DVB-C that has almost all encrypted channels (Ziggo cable TV in Netherlands). I use Tvheadend with Oscam and Smartcard reader attached to USB port with smartcard from Ziggo inserted.

However, my setup is as follows: LibreELEC on my Cubox-i4x4 but everything else (Tvheadend, Oscam, Smartcard reader) on Odroid XU4 running Debian Jessie headless server (no desktop, only command line). This works perfectly performance-wise. I am able to watch/record 4 channels at the same time, encrypted or free, using HDHomeRun network tuner.

I have tested running Tvheadend and Oscam plus Smartcard reader and USB tuner on my Cubox before. This was not feasible. Cubox could not tune to channels, decrypt, and have smooth TV all at the same time. I didn't even attempt timeshifting or recording because Cubox could definitely not handle it.

It is entirely possible that if you have a powerful enough of a machine that you could run everything on one machine. I chose to continue using Cubox for my LibreELEC but Odroid for PVR. I don't think the descrambling using Oscam and Smartcard reader itself uses a lot of performance. The main limitation there would be USB port speed. I think the limitation is Tvheadend tuning of channels PLUS your machine displaying live TV, all on one machine.

Thank you, if a low power device such as the Odroid XU4 is capable of doing 4 (HD) channels (including descrambling) simultaneously then I'm hopeful my new HTPC should be capable of that as well. Oh and I'm on Ziggo as well btw :).

I'm wondering something though: how does Tvheadend communicate with Oscam? Assuming I got my reader properly set up in Oscam, then what do I need to configure in Oscam for Tvheadend to reach and talk to Oscam? And after that, how do I configure Tvheadend so it can find my Oscam server, I have to add Oscam as my CI right but what protocol and settings do I use for that? I don't have the TV hardware yet so I can't try stuff myself yet.

Btw, USB port speed shouldn't be an issue with the HDHomeRun right? That's only the case when you use USB tuners.

pajtaz · May 5, 2017 at 8:12 AM

Quote from jant90

Thank you, if a low power device such as the Odroid XU4 is capable of doing 4 (HD) channels (including descrambling) simultaneously then I'm hopeful my new HTPC should be capable of that as well. Oh and I'm on Ziggo as well btw :).

I'm wondering something though: how does Tvheadend communicate with Oscam? Assuming I got my reader properly set up in Oscam, then what do I need to configure in Oscam for Tvheadend to reach and talk to Oscam? And after that, how do I configure Tvheadend so it can find my Oscam server, I have to add Oscam as my CI right but what protocol and settings do I use for that? I don't have the TV hardware yet so I can't try stuff myself yet.

Btw, USB port speed shouldn't be an issue with the HDHomeRun right? That's only the case when you use USB tuners.

Performance-wise, the problem starts when you want to watch TV using the same device that does the tuning, descrambling, recording, and timeshifting. Odroid XU4 has 8 cores and that is why it is able to easily do 4 HD channels recording, descrambling and tuning. However I use a separate computer (Cubox) to watch TV.

For setting up Tvheadend and Oscam, here is the guide I followed: Hardware.Info Nederland

I don't speak Dutch but I was able to follow the guide. If you're Dutch, then this would be easier for you. In short, you create 4 users in Oscam and 4 users in Tvheadend, one for each of the tuners. Just read the guide and you will see which protocol and how. Let me know if you don't understand something and I will help you. My only problem now is getting Oscam to automatically update card entitlements. Currently once per month on 1st day of the month I have to update the entitlements so I can continue watching encrypted channels.

USB port speed is only a concern if you have a USB tuner.