Posts by JerzyBulovski

I'm sure this has been asked before (apologies) but I'm looking for options on how to configure a PVR setup.

As mentioned elsewhere, I am running Libreelec with tvheadend on an HP SFF 8200 PC (i3) coupled to an XBOX TV tuner. I like this as it provides me with HD channels which I cannot get on my full HD TV (which has no freeview HD tuner) or standard def Topfield PVR which cannot get some of the non HD channels from HD MUXes. The problem with the HP PC is the power consumption (240W).

I originally thought that I had an option to run tvheadend on a Rasp Pi 3 which consumes less than 5W (probably) and which may have enough grunt to record programmes and run Kodi at the same time. However, I've been looking at some of the Android boxes which are S905 based which may offer a better/cheaper solution since they are a dedicated TV solution anyway (and you get a PSU/cables/remote etc).

What I don't know is the following:

a. Do these Android boxes (that don't have DVB-T tuners built in) support adding Xbox tuners via USB?

b. If they do support, can I plonk tvheadend onto one of these Android boxes ("as is") and then gain PVR capability by just adding an external HDD via USB?

c. If they don't support, do I have to get an S905 / S905X box that permits me to put Libreelec on it and then use the Xbox tuner/external HDD to gain PVR capability?

d. Is it possible to boot from SD card (with LibreElec) with these S905 boxes?

e. If c. is viable, which boxes support dual boot / which one do people recommend / are they reliable?

f. What is the view on things like the Matricom boxes which have Libreelec and which can be obtained for about £35?

Any help advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Perfect!

Thanks

Hi,

Is there a spangly, "Mrs-compliant" tvheadend server interface available for Android ?

The standard tvheadend web interface is somewhat technical for just getting to an EPG to look at (unless I've missed something) and, while it's easy to control things via Yatse/Kodi, I was thinking that something that works similar or better than Yatse/Kodi without having to fire up Kodi would be ideal.

i.e.

Mobile/Tablet <--------------> tvheadend server

Not

Mobile/Tablet (Yatse) <------------------> Kodi <-----------------> tvheadend server.

An ideal solution would be to have something as good as "EPGNavigator" (on a Topfield) as an Android application which connects seamlessly with the server.

Thanks,

Jerzy

You're right - only those two channels carry the HD logo.

I'll keep and eye on this and see if I can prove it one way or the other.

Thanks again.

I've been told that BBC HD channels are supposed to have a HD logo in the corner of the screen which I'm not getting so something is messed up somewhere and what tvheadend thinks is mapped as HD channels are not.

Can anyone confirm or deny this logo being present?

I've created this entry for the scan table for file:

\dtv-scan-tables-tvheadend\dvb-t\uk-SuttonColdfield

New entry:

[C35 COM8 HD]

DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBT2

FREQUENCY = 586000000

BANDWIDTH_HZ = 8000000

CODE_RATE_HP = 2/3

CODE_RATE_LP = NONE

MODULATION = QAM/256

TRANSMISSION_MODE = 32K

GUARD_INTERVAL = 1/128

HIERARCHY = NONE

STREAM_ID = 0

INVERSION = AUTO

Can someone check this/add it into the file in Github ? I've not got an account.

^ Sounds like an interesting set up and the sort of thing I might end up building myself if I can get around some niggles - picture quality and power consumption.

As above, one point about this tuner is I'm sceptical about the HD quality of it (and in general) now I've watched/recorded more with it.

If I watch a HD channel (e.g. BBC1 HD), I'm not entirely convinced there is a noticeable quality improvement over the BBC1 SD. If I look at the stream info for the channel (via Kodi), for the SD channel the resolution will be 576 and, for the HD channel, it reports 1080 but I don't think the picture is as sharp as HD programmes I have downloaded using get_iplayer nor can I see a significant difference between SD and HD.

I think there are two "DVB-T2" Muxes listed in TVheadend (one for the COM group and the other for the BBC MUX) so I guess it should be HD but...

For some SD channels, the picture is also a little blurred and the colour vibrancy isn't as good as for my TV or Topfield tuners.

Is this just some setting somewhere, a limitation of the Xbox tuner or...my imagination?! O, is there a way of checking for an HD stream for sure?

Understood. Thanks for the explanation.

I guess the next question is, what is the limiting factor on how many tuners you can have? Is it the hardware the tvheadend server is running on/how quickly you can record to a HDD?

Currently, I'm running this get up on an i3 desktop stuffed behind the telly but it uses 240W. I'm thinking to use a Pi3 as the hardware for the tvheadend server and to just plug a usb HDD into it along with a couple of these tuners.

I do have the option of putting this on a pi zero w but I'm imagining that there's not enough grunt, even if it's just a headless Linux distro with tvheadend server installed (not libreelec) (?)

Just to get that one straight, GaryB....

I can plug multiple tuners into tvheadend server running on some hardware and a remote (or local) Kodi, running the tvheadend client, works perfectly with, say, recording multiple MUX at once.

But, if I have two tvheadend servers each on their own hardware (and each with one tuner each) then a Kodi client doesn't like the arrangement ?

Thanks, Garyb - I've now added the missing MUX via your information which was perfect! I've only tuned to Sutton Coldfield (binned the Wrekin) and everything looks good, inc having Freesports. Channels are showing in Kodi TV menu and can set recordings up etc.

I suppose my next question is whether I can add another Xbox tuner to get multiple channel recording? i.e. WIll they get enumerated automatically? I was thinking of buying a Vu+ or Dreambox with 2x terrestial tuners to replace an ageing SD Topfield and I don't think that I'll be able to fully replicate those PVRs with Kodi but I'd like at least to see how close I can get especially for how much these tuners cost.

Thanks for help, everyone.

I've got that installed then. I'll check that filename is in the filesystem later but that htsp client is definitely installed.

If it's the one with 3 or 4 menus, then when I set it with the required password, it says it fails to connect or similar. IP is 127.0.0.1 from memory and I can connect to the server from my laptop with the same credentials. Is something likely to block a local loopback?

Quote from GaryB

I use the Sutton Coldfield transmitter, and I found that the mux list is wrong. Full list here: Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) Full Freeview transmitter | UK Free TV 📺

I did a bit of digging and found that the muxes are hard-coded, so the simplest thing is to correct it manually. I'm getting 140 channels.

Freesports is on Com8: DVB-T2, 586000000, 8MHz, QAM/256, 32K, 1/128, NONE, 2/3, NONE, 0.

You might find this useful to see if you're using the best transmitter: Full service Freeview transmitters | UK Free TV 📺
Sutton and The Wrekin appear to have a massive overlap, but Sutton is a much more powerful transmitter (200kW vs 20kW).

With the old channel list, try: Settings->PVR & Live TV settings->General->Clear data

It should re-import after you do that.

Mine is the same model and lot numbers. The tuner was released in 2014 and cost a fair bit more than it does now. Maybe the low price is because they weren't selling and there's a lot of old stock to get rid of? Doesn't matter if it does the job.

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Hi,

Thanks for the info.

For the PVR.hts file, is this expected to be in the add on repository somewhere as I can't find it under any add on section menus. Or, do I have to get it from github or similar?

With respect to the transmitter mux, how do I modify this in tvheadend to get all of the services from Sutton Coldfield? (Or The Wrekin)

Thanks in advance,

Jerzy

Hi,

Sorry - I missed the PVR.hts mentioned in the previous post.

Thanks for the info - much appreciated.

Jerzy

Hi all,

Thanks for the info again.

An update....

Tuner arrived today so unpackaged and plugged into the PC with LibreElec 8.1.1 running.

Installed VDR first (server and client) . Set for DVB-T , UK etc and scan started. Only found 11 services and VDR kept losing connection to the server at particular frequencies...as though something was crashing. Not good.

Went to TV menu and 11 services listed. Selected each one in turn and no TV...except one. Which gave me some hope.

Tried a few re-scans using VDR but same thing happened repeatedly.

So, switched to TVheadend. Installed server and client. Wondered why it didn't have a config utility like VDR then read the documentation (!) and found the web interface.

Disabled VDR at this point.

Followed the wizard...all good. Set up an admin and user account. Set network mask to x.x.x.0/24 etc. Set source to The Wrekin (which I thought was my TX) and few services found, none working. Switched to Sutton Coldfield TX and lots of services found although one or two I hoped to see (Freesports, for example) not present.

So, all good! Sort of!

From the web interface, on my laptop, I could select and watch programmes which is great. However, in Kodi (LibreElec) - in the TV menu - I only see the 11 or so channels that appear to have been "left behind" by VDR.

Uninstalled VDR at this point in the hope that it would sort out the TV menu channel listing but still the same.

Any advice on how to get the channels "from tvheadend" visible in the Kodi menu?

Thanks in advance,

Jerzy

PS is there one revision of this tuner? Mine is a model 1611 with a lot no/date 1415. Sounds old if 14 or 15 is the year?

Hi,

Thanks for the response. When you say it should "just work", does that mean that I don't need to install any addons to get TV? I'll just be able to go to the TV menu in Estutary and there will be some mechanism of tuning it/watching channels?

Otherwise, if I do need to installl add ons (particularly PVR for recording from it), what are the best/most compatible options, please?

Thanks,

Jerzy

Hi all,

Sorry - posted this elsewhere on the forum but this section is probably more appropriate.

New poster here. I've been using Libreelec for some time now after migrating from OpenElec. It's a great tool and much appreciated in this household!

I've just ordered one of these XBOX One tuners to play around with after seeing that the 8.1.1 beta release of Libreelec "supports" it.

I'm running Libreelec on an old HP 8200 Elite SFF PC which doesn't have USB3.0 but I'm presuming the tuner dongle works with USB2.0 since I've seen people saying it works with the Pi2.

Is there anything specific that I need to do to get this to work with Libreelec? Or should it be recognised automatically?

Thanks in advance,

Jerzy