Digital USB 2.0 DVB-T HDTV TV Tuner Recorder & Receiver

Johnboy1951 · 05-07-2011 12:17am

bk109 wrote: »

Good luck with that - I did manage to run it on 'buntu (both in MythTV and Kaffeine),but there are some rather annoying issues - ie loss of sound when watching RTE2(HD). That and it really taxes your hardware compared to WMC. In my case to get decent enough playback in 'buntu I have to leave the CPU on on-demand (and it doesn't drop much below 100% @2.2Gigs ) whereas I can watch HD and record a second channel in WMC with the cpu locked to 1100MHz which is still more than sufficient.

An interesting observation.
Is that a multicore CPU?

My 3.2Ghz P4 is not able for the HD content of RTE 2.
Kaffeine will drop the sound completely, while VLC will drop video frames.

I *guess* the difference you observe could be due to the (in)efficiency of the decoder ....

regards.

bk109 · 05-07-2011 1:00am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

An interesting observation.
Is that a multicore CPU?

My 3.2Ghz P4 is not able for the HD content of RTE 2.
Kaffeine will drop the sound completely, while VLC will drop video frames.

I *guess* the difference you observe could be due to the (in)efficiency of the decoder ....

regards.

A 2.2GHz RM-74 dual-core,yeah. Plus the thing is not really supposed to use that much CPU power in the first place on account of UVD offloading it to the GPU,but I'm fairly certain that isn't happening in 'buntu. (That + the regression of the battery efficiency with the latest kernel's the reason why I've reverted to using 7 almost-full time on my laptop)

musiknonstop · 05-07-2011 1:33am

I used these instructions to get dvb-t working on Ubuntu 11.04 on a netbook.

http://www.mpeg4ireland.com/saorview-dtt-linux

It all works fine apart from RTE2 HD which is too processor intensive for the netbook.

Also, Ubuntu detected the dbt-t stick and setup the drivers. I got the original tuner posted by the OP (ie not buyincoins one)

bk109 · 05-07-2011 2:04am

musiknonstop wrote: »

I used these instructions to get dvb-t working on Ubuntu 11.04 on a netbook.

http://www.mpeg4ireland.com/saorview-dtt-linux

It all works fine apart from RTE2 HD which is too processor intensive for the netbook.

Also, Ubuntu detected the dbt-t stick and setup the drivers. I got the original tuner posted by the OP (ie not buyincoins one)

Ooh,this would've been really useful back when I was installing 10.10

But in all seriousness,the Revo is essentially a netbook itself and RTE2 is probably one of the most watched channels(even with Freesat/Cable),so lindtee might be better off if he tried W7 on the HTPC(provided he has enough space.. if he has the 8gig SSD.. ouchie). Best choice'd be a multi-boot so if it does work noticeably better he can migrate painlessly on the Windozer... If there's no improvement,he just loses 30-40 gigs of HD-space for a couple of days

For the record,he still should try to see if the 9400M he has in the Revo offloads video decoding off the CPU before trying out w7

Do-more · 05-07-2011 6:30am

bk109 wrote: »

Ooh,this would've been really useful back when I was installing 10.10 But in all seriousness,the Revo is essentially a netbook itself and RTE2 is probably one of the most watched channels(even with Freesat/Cable),so lindtee might be better off if he tried W7 on the HTPC(provided he has enough space.. if he has the 8gig SSD.. ouchie). Best choice'd be a multi-boot so if it does work noticeably better he can migrate painlessly on the Windozer... If there's no improvement,he just loses 30-40 gigs of HD-space for a couple of days

For the record,he still should try to see if the 9400M he has in the Revo offloads video decoding off the CPU before trying out w7

lindtee · 05-07-2011 8:28am

Its Ubuntu 10.04, the revo has very low specs so it probably won't work properly anyway:( But thanks for the help and pointers. Think I'll just connect my laptop to the TV when I feel need to watch Soarview as this is much too complicated for me:o The Revo doesn't recognise the tuner at all so the instructions from mpeg4ireland were no good to me.

(Thanks Do-more for pointing out those errors btw;))

Johnboy1951 · 05-07-2011 9:21am

lindtee wrote: »

Its Ubuntu 10.04, the revo has very low specs so it probably won't work properly anyway:( But thanks for the help and pointers. Think I'll just connect my laptop to the TV when I feel need to watch Soarview as this is much too complicated for me:o The Revo doesn't recognise the tuner at all so the instructions from mpeg4ireland were no good to me.

(Thanks Do-more for pointing out those errors btw;))

Immediately after plugging in the tuner stick, in a console do

dmesg

and the last lot of lines (maybe 10+) should show details of the device.

Those details can be used to set it up.

lindtee · 05-07-2011 9:23am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Immediately after plugging in the tuner stick, in a console do

dmesg

and the last lot of lines (maybe 10+) should show details of the device.

Those details can be used to set it up.

Do I type that in the terminal? Thanks. (as I said I'm a bit clueless:o)

AntiRip · 05-07-2011 9:53am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

That would appear to be the output from testing the second mux if I understand what I read about the content.

You need to use the first mux to get the present full channel listing.

.... or so it seems to me ..... but as Maghera has not fired up any content on mux 2 I cannot confirm.

Any idea how I do this in BlazeTV or WMC? I just see an option for scan channels?

thanks

Johnboy1951 · 05-07-2011 9:54am

yes in a terminal .... this is what I get on the last lines .... bear in mind this is a working device so the tuner is recognised etc .... but you should get some info that will be useful to set up your device.

dvb-usb: found a 'Afatech AF9015 DVB-T USB2.0 stick' in cold state, will try to load a firmware
dvb-usb: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-usb-af9015.fw'
dvb-usb: found a 'Afatech AF9015 DVB-T USB2.0 stick' in warm state.
dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer.
DVB: registering new adapter (Afatech AF9015 DVB-T USB2.0 stick)
af9013: firmware version:4.95.0.0
DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Afatech AF9013 DVB-T)...
tda18218: NXP TDA18218HN successfully identified.
Registered IR keymap rc-empty
input: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-2/1-2.3/rc/rc1/input9
rc1: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-2/1-2.3/rc/rc1
dvb-usb: schedule remote query interval to 500 msecs.
dvb-usb: Afatech AF9015 DVB-T USB2.0 stick successfully initialized and connected.
Afatech DVB-T 2: Fixing fullspeed to highspeed interval: 10 -> 7
input: Afatech DVB-T 2 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-2/1-2.3/1-2.3:1.1/input/input10
generic-usb 0003:15A4:9016.0006: input,hidraw3: USB HID v1.01 Keyboard [Afatech DVB-T 2] on usb-0000:00:1d.7-2.3/input1

bk109 · 05-07-2011 3:55pm

Thanks,do-more for ^!It would appear that my English and 2AM don't really mix

(That,or I should really stop spending so much time in IRC).
@Anti-Rip
From what I know,WMC checks all DVB-T frequencies so it should get both multiplexes when it is scanning for new channels with the added 'surprise' that every couple of days it does additional scanning on its own.(Took me awhile to realize it's doing that,but seeing it blink at 4AM on its own is at least a bit ... odd/creepy)

@lindtee
Still,you might get lucky with the box(provided you manage to get the card running) if the NVIDIA driver(the proprietary driver,not nouveau) is installed and PureVideoHD is working as it's supposed to.

Del007 · 13-09-2011 8:36pm

can anyone recommend the best one of these to get

cheers

lensman · 14-09-2011 12:42am

Del007 wrote: »

can anyone recommend the best one of these to get

cheers

Cost wise I found these to be the cheapest at around €7,... they have the Afatech AF9015 chipset,..depending on your location the supplied mini antenna may not pull in the channels so to use a bigger antenna you'll need a coax cable adaptor as the connection on these are micro type,....I have one working fine on my linux based dreambox800 tuned into the saorview channels,....as for known brands like hauppage your looking at €40 upwards.

Johnboy1951 · 14-09-2011 12:56am

lensman wrote: »

Cost wise I found these to be the cheapest at around €7,... they have the Afatech AF9015 chipset,..depending on your location the supplied mini antenna may not pull in the channels so to use a bigger antenna you'll need a coax cable adaptor as the connection on these are micro type,....I have one working fine on my linux based dreambox800 tuned into the saorview channels,....as for known brands like hauppage your looking at €40 upwards.

As I posted above AF9015 is working here too ...

Broads.ie · 16-09-2011 11:45pm

pissed wrote: »

Ordered on the 1st and still no sign of it, emailed the seller and no reply either. Zero items listed for sale ....... looks like he done a runner.

Did... not done.

bk109 · 17-09-2011 5:12am

Errr,cost-wise, these are slightly better,not that 1 Euro is really much of a difference

. Either way,I can confirm that the model lensman (btw - AF9015)linked works surprisingly well for its price in the sense that the TV quality is great and they won't crap out on you in 2 months (at least based on my experiences with the 2 units I have on my computer).
Ah,just a quick tip - If you're planning to use the tuner with Windows, don't bother with the bundled software and drivers and just use the ones auto-detected by the OS and Windows Media Center (provided you're running Win Vista Home Premium/Ultimate or 7 Home Premium/Professional/Enterprise/Ultimate) for tuning and DVR purposes.

take everything · 21-09-2011 1:29am

I'm having problems registering this on my laptop.
I used to use it no problem on a netbook all the time but i no longer have that machine.
I'm repeatedly getting the registration dialog box (saying the code may be counterfeit- i gather this is because it was registered on another machine before).
Anyone ever have this problem and know how to fix it.

I've contacted blazevideo but no response yet.
euonline seller is no longer an ebay member so can't contact them.
Any ideas?

bk109 · 21-09-2011 2:38am

Well,if you have one of the aforementioned Win7/Vista versions on your laptop, just fire up WMC and just follow the prompts... And btw,I did get the 'code may be counterfeit' error when I tried to use my BlazeVideo code for the first (and only attempt to install it)
Edit: I checked through my stuff and found the 2 Blazevideo discs I have,so I'll PM you,take everything, both serials as I don't have any intention on using them

lensman · 21-09-2011 9:54am

take everything wrote: »

I'm having problems registering this on my laptop.
I used to use it no problem on a netbook all the time but i no longer have that machine.
I'm repeatedly getting the registration dialog box (saying the code may be counterfeit- i gather this is because it was registered on another machine before).
Anyone ever have this problem and know how to fix it.

I've contacted blazevideo but no response yet.
euonline seller is no longer an ebay member so can't contact them.
Any ideas?

yeah, most of these dvb-t sticks from china come with either Blazevideo or Arcsoft software,..you dont need them to use the stick,..let windows install it's own driver & as bk109 says use windows media centre as your application software.

take everything · 21-09-2011 4:00pm

Thanks lads (especially bk109 for those).
So i tried it with WMC on Windows7 (after installing the blaze drivers (but not the software) because it wouldn't seem to work otherwise).
Thought i was home and dried when it scanned the channels in and everything (getting the blue light etc).
Now it's telling me i've no signal.
The thing is i've usually gotten a signal here when it worked for me before (especially when i attach it to metal eg a radiator). Dunno why it's acting the prick now.
Any ideas.

bk109 · 21-09-2011 7:35pm

Well,aside from rebooting (which fixed that issue several times for me),the only other thing could be a broken cable/connector,but its somewhat unlikely for that to happen just as you switched to WMC.

lensman · 21-09-2011 8:46pm

I had the same problem using the supplied mini aerial,..1 minuite it had a signal the next nothing,..a 4ft aerial on the roof did the trick.

freeze4real · 25-09-2011 7:11pm

Guys what software do you use with this stick.
I was thinking of getting the other, does the number of stations depend on what software you use ?

bk109 · 25-09-2011 7:16pm

freeze4real wrote: »

Guys what software do you use with this stick.
I was thinking of getting the other, does the number of stations depend on what software you use ?

I'm using WMC and no,the number of channels doesn't depend on the software, but on the signal you're getting... though with Saorview atm you should be getting the same channels regardless of where you are in Ireland (provided that area is receiving a clear DVB signal)

freeze4real · 25-09-2011 7:20pm

thanks how many stations are you getting ?

bk109 · 25-09-2011 7:27pm

freeze4real wrote: »

thanks how many stations are you getting ?

36,however
2 are essentially the same channel - RTE jr/RTE+1 (the difference is which EPG either is showing)
6 'normal' TV channels - RTE1,RTE2(HD),3,TG4,e3,RTE News Now
10 radio channels (All part of RTE)
and the rest are 'Future Service' test channels that don't broadcast anything atm,so I've disabled them

freeze4real · 25-09-2011 7:33pm

bk109 wrote: »

36,however
2 are essentially the same channel - RTE jr/RTE+1 (the difference is which EPG either is showing)
6 'normal' TV channels - RTE1,RTE2(HD),3,TG4,e3,RTE News Now
10 radio channels (All part of RTE)
and the rest are 'Future Service' test channels that don't broadcast anything atm,so I've disabled them

Does using thin stuff add to ones internet usage ?

bk109 · 25-09-2011 7:34pm

freeze4real wrote: »

Does using thin stuff add to ones internet usage ?

The what now?

freeze4real · 25-09-2011 7:40pm

bk109 wrote: »

The what now?

sorry i meant does using the usb tuner add to internet usage ?

bk109 · 25-09-2011 7:45pm

freeze4real wrote: »

sorry i meant does using the usb tuner add to internet usage ?

Ahhh... Well,it can be used with an internet connection to download an EPG a couple of times a week,but that's not required + the traffic increase if you download the 2 weeks EPG is negligible.

halfback5 · 11-10-2011 4:39pm

sorry to jump on board chaps but what does the forum think about the DVB-T Receiver usb dongle http://www.ebay.ie/itm/DVB-T-Receiver-USB-Dongle-Digital-TV-Your-Computer-/220655857733?pt=UK_Computing_LaptopAccess_RL&hash=item33601d3045

Just after coming across it on ebay but dont know anything about it. Is it any good or are there better alternatives out there?

bk109 · 11-10-2011 4:49pm

halfback5 wrote: »

sorry to jump on board chaps but what does the forum think about the DVB-T Receiver usb dongle http://www.ebay.ie/itm/DVB-T-Receiver-USB-Dongle-Digital-TV-Your-Computer-/220655857733?pt=UK_Computing_LaptopAccess_RL&hash=item33601d3045

Just after coming across it on ebay but dont know anything about it. Is it any good or are there better alternatives out there?

Well,you might want to check out several alternatives that we've linked through the posts in this thread,because 50€ for a single tuner-stick is somewhat... much

(To put it in perspective,the ones I've been using were <10€ in total and have served me well for 9 months now )

halfback5 · 11-10-2011 4:54pm

bk109 wrote: »

Well,you might want to check out several alternatives that we've linked through the posts in this thread,because 50€ for a single tuner-stick is somewhat... much (To put it in perspective,the ones I've been using were <10€ in total and have served me well for 9 months now )

very good thanks very much for your reply, what one do you use?

bk109 · 11-10-2011 5:00pm

halfback5 wrote: »

very good thanks very much for your reply, what one do you use?

I'm using two of these with Win Media Center (plus 2 DVB-S tuners from a similar site). Hrrm,the price seems to be slightly bigger,or I might've used a discount code or something... I might check later my old paypal receipts to see which

halfback5 · 11-10-2011 5:12pm

bk109 wrote: »

I'm using two of these with Win Media Center (plus 2 DVB-S tuners from a similar site). Hrrm,the price seems to be slightly bigger,or I might've used a discount code or something... I might check later my old paypal receipts to see which

cheers for that mate.

I'm from galway(county) just wondering what the signal is around here

spuddy01 · 29-10-2011 11:45pm

Picked up one of the usb tuners from buyincoins & is working great in wmc, Thanks for all the info & links

Bk109 can you please let me know which site you got the DVB-S tuners from if you dont mind??

bk109 · 30-10-2011 12:13am

spuddy01 wrote: »

Picked up one of the usb tuners from buyincoins & is working great in wmc, Thanks for all the info & links
Bk109 can you please let me know which site you got the DVB-S tuners from if you dont mind??

Sure,no prblemo. I have a mis-matched pair of DVB-S' from dealextreme
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/dvb-s-digital-tv-hdtv-usb-2-0-box-tuner-with-remote-controller-28533

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/dm04-dvb-s-usb-2-0-mcpc-scpc-digital-satellite-tv-tuner-box-with-slim-ir-remote-100-240v-ac-15820

Haven't had real issues with them aside from the fact,that the bloody power-supplies were with the EU-plug,not the British one ... Still,for this amount of money,I can't really complain I guess,especially as this setup allows me to enjoy TV without getting into a full-blown war for the remote for the living room telly

...
Edit: And yes,kids,it works perfectly with WMC

FreudianSlippers · 30-01-2012 4:02pm

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Have you tried installing the driver directly from the folder in the cd as opposed to using the autorun instalation?

When I used the autorun instal it told me it had been correctly installed but it actually had not. When I ran it straight from the cd it did install correctly and works perfectly now.

Got mine today and had troubles with it. Followed this advice and after a restart it all worked perfectly.

Johnboy1951 · 30-01-2012 5:05pm

bk109 wrote: »

Sure,no prblemo. I have a mis-matched pair of DVB-S' from dealextreme
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/dvb-s-digital-tv-hdtv-usb-2-0-box-tuner-with-remote-controller-28533

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/dm04-dvb-s-usb-2-0-mcpc-scpc-digital-satellite-tv-tuner-box-with-slim-ir-remote-100-240v-ac-15820

Haven't had real issues with them aside from the fact,that the bloody power-supplies were with the EU-plug,not the British one ... Still,for this amount of money,I can't really complain I guess,especially as this setup allows me to enjoy TV without getting into a full-blown war for the remote for the living room telly ...
Edit: And yes,kids,it works perfectly with WMC

Is there any difference between the performance of those two units?
Just wondering if you had a preference ..... or if one was inclined to get hotter than the other ..... or anything at all noticeable.

I guess each would need an LNB of its own so as not to interfere with other users.
Is the LNB Loop through of any use to you?

Thanks.

Francescoli · 30-01-2012 9:03pm

Got mine today .very happy with it.

doncarlos · 31-01-2012 12:52pm

Anybody have any luck installing on Windows7 64bit?

Anytime I plug in the dongle it fails installing device driver even though I've already installed the driver from the CD. Not sure if there is a problem with the device or do I need a different driver

vibe666 · 01-02-2012 9:45am

doncarlos wrote: »

Anybody have any luck installing on Windows7 64bit?

Anytime I plug in the dongle it fails installing device driver even though I've already installed the driver from the CD. Not sure if there is a problem with the device or do I need a different driver

yup, that's what I have.

i just plugged mine in and it was recognised by windows and it installed the drivers itself, without me needing to do anything. channel scan in MCE picked up all the channels and i'm sorted.

it's possible yours contains slightly different hardware. have you tried searching for the device hardware ID (from the properties in device manager) online to see if you can pick up newer drivers for it?

Daniel S · 01-02-2012 10:01am

vibe666 wrote: »

yup, that's what I have.

i just plugged mine in and it was recognised by windows and it installed the drivers itself, without me needing to do anything. channel scan in MCE picked up all the channels and i'm sorted.

it's possible yours contains slightly different hardware. have you tried searching for the device hardware ID (from the properties in device manager) online to see if you can pick up newer drivers for it?

+1

vibe666 · 01-02-2012 10:14am

i did need to get a decent antenna though, the built in one wouldn't pick up the channels clearly with the supplied mini-antenna.

FreudianSlippers · 01-02-2012 2:08pm

Did you try installing the driver itself, directly from the folder in the CD instead of using the autorun? That worked for me (after a restart)

Vertakill · 01-02-2012 4:43pm

vibe666 wrote: »

i did need to get a decent antenna though, the built in one wouldn't pick up the channels clearly with the supplied mini-antenna.

What kind of antenna did you get and where did you get it?

I'm not picking up any channels, even though I'm sticking my aerial out the window on a laptop..

doncarlos · 01-02-2012 5:52pm

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

Did you try installing the driver itself, directly from the folder in the CD instead of using the autorun? That worked for me (after a restart)

Yes. It is only giving me an option of updating or uninstalling now. When I try either the installer crashes. I will try it on another PC but I think it may be a dud

vibe666 · 02-02-2012 9:27pm

Vertakill wrote: »

What kind of antenna did you get and where did you get it?

I'm not picking up any channels, even though I'm sticking my aerial out the window on a laptop..

picked up a one4all powered digital indoor antenna panel for about 25 quid from currys.

when i got the DVB stick it came with a pigtail adapter to fit a regular TV antenna so it was just a plug and play replacement and i get a clear signal on all channels from my attic office now with it.

Thargor · 16-06-2012 6:46pm

Can someone please post a working serial number for the BlazeTV software? My envelope was blank and theres nothing on the CD itself.

Eph1958 · 17-06-2012 10:17am

Thargor wrote: »

Can someone please post a working serial number for the BlazeTV software? My envelope was blank and theres nothing on the CD itself.

Blaze didn't work very well for me and the number wouldn't work when I tried it again on a different PC at a different IP address. I'll root it out later. It works better on VLC once the settings are correct.
Media-Open Capture Device-DVB-T. The transponder frequency to use for Dublin is 738MHz(738000000Hz). The bandwidth is 8Mhz and hey presto Euro2012 in glorious HD on headphones. Enjoy!!

Digital USB 2.0 DVB-T HDTV TV Tuner Recorder & Receiver

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