Tvheadend

Matej Munih wrote:

Hello, hope you are all doing well

- I'm completely new to the Linux world
- I want to setup a tv backend in Slovenia in order to watch the slovenian tv in Italy through Kodi
- I bought a Raspberry Pi2 and a Hauppauge WinTv Solo HD because I read on the Hauppauge site that the driver is built in kernel 3.18
- I installed the TightVncServer in order to admin the Raspberry from a Macbook

Now, I updated Raspbian, updated the kernel, installed the Tvheadend 3.4 Wheezy and I connected the TV stick to USB port.
I can successfully login into tvheadend browser.
I navigate to configuration and Adapter List. NOW, when I click on the "adapter list menu" this menu opens for one milisecond and then close down.

What I have to in order to see the tv stick in the list?

You're running a really old version of Tvheadend (if you want a newer version you'll have to build it yourself as there are no official packages available for the rpi2) but if your stick is not appearing in the drop down list check dmesg for any errors.

HTH

Thank you for your advise! Initially I planed to install the 4.x version of tvheadend, but then I saw on the website that there is no 4.x software available on Raspi2 because of the ARM Cpu. Where I can find a tutorial about installing tvheadend 4 on Raspi2?

As you can see from the attached image, using the dmesg command it seems that Raspbian sees the tv stick and I don't see any "error-sounding" message. Does it means that the tv stick has the correct driver? So why Tvheadend is not "seeing" the stick?

PS: I forgot to mention that I have also bought the MPEG2 and VC1 codecs and "paste the serials" into the config.txt file on "Boot" drive

There is no driver attached to the device, looks like the RPi kernel doesn't support your device or you need to build the driver. Do you know if your device is supported on Linux? Did you check the support before you purchased it?

Looks like the kernel running on your Pi is out of date, try running rpi-update (if not found run sudo apt-get install rpi-update), reboot and try again.

WinTV-SoloHD is basically a rebranded PCTV 292e.. using the Silicon Labs Si2168-40 chipset.

My dmesg for example:

[    8.167525] dvb-usb: found a 'Mygica T230 DVB-T/T2/C' in warm state.
[    8.574652] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer.
[    8.760484] dvb-usb: Mygica T230 DVB-T/T2/C successfully initialized and connected.
[    8.760540] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_cxusb*

Also you don't need the licenses as the rpi is just going to be streaming them to your macbook right? Your computer will be doing the decoding.

Hi,

- I checked and I have the latest kernel already (as you can see from the attached image)
- If you check the Hauppauge website, you will see that this stick have the driver built in the kernel 3.16.
- I copied into the file dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw into /lib/firmware folder and reboot the system.
- I typed the sudo dmesg command and something changed. Look at the attached image pls

Result: same problem. the drop down adapter list chashes

What can I do?

All this mess with Linux makes me very angry. Should I throw the Raspberry in the trash can? .......!!!!!

Matej Munih wrote:

Hi,

- I checked and I have the latest kernel already (as you can see from the attached image)
- If you check the Hauppauge website, you will see that this stick have the driver built in the kernel 3.16.
- I copied into the file dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw into /lib/firmware folder and reboot the system.
- I typed the sudo dmesg command and something changed. Look at the attached image pls

Result: same problem. the drop down adapter list chashes

What can I do?

All this mess with Linux makes me very angry. Should I throw the Raspberry in the trash can? .......!!!!!

Don't be silly! It's just a learning curve that's all, you need to type:

sudo rpi-update

This should update your kernel to the latest available on github (remember to reboot), https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware.

As you can see from this link the latest Raspberry Pi kernel should see your stick (notice the si2168.ko file).

Thanks and sorry if I was nervous, but it was a hard day yesterday.

Do I have to type the deb https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware link into the sources.list with the following command sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list replacing the deb link of raspbian ? (look at the attached image, please) and the type sudo rpi-update ?

Matej Munih wrote:

Thanks and sorry if I was nervous, but it was a hard day yesterday.

Do I have to type the deb https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware link into the sources.list with the following command sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list replacing the deb link of raspbian ? (look at the attached image, please) and the type sudo rpi-update ?

No, that isn't a Debian repository, it's where the Raspberry Pi foundation stores pre-built firmware files that the script rpi-update uses.

You simply need to run the command in a terminal.

sudo rpi-update

Wait for it to complete and run..

sudo reboot

Hello,

OK. I've done sudo rpi-update this morning and I've got the message that the system is completelly up to date.

What can I do?

Matej Munih wrote:

Hello,

OK. I've done sudo rpi-update this morning and I've got the message that the system is completelly up to date.

What can I do?

OK if your system is now up to date your stick should be seen in dmesg, if you're not sure run.

dmesg | curl -F 'sprunge=<-' http://sprunge.us

And paste the link you get back here and I'll have a look for you.

If you get a message saying you're missing curl run:

sudo apt-get install curl

And try again.

Hello,

I received this link: http://sprunge.us/DYAF

Look at the attached picture

Matej Munih wrote:

Hello,

I received this link: http://sprunge.us/DYAF

Look at the attached picture

OK, you're running the latest kernel but it would appear that the module needed isn't enabled in the kernel config, your options are to build the kernel yourself with required options set or use the media_build script both of which take time and might not be easy for you, but it is possible.

I'm on IRC if you want to chat (mpmc on freenode, https://kiwiirc.com/client select freenode & enter a username for yourself then type /msg mpmc Hello)

Hello,

I have an update. I tried to get it work on Windows. As soon as I plug the tv stick into theusb port, Windows starts scanning for new hardware but it cant find the right driver. Also Mac os X 10.11 doen not recognize it. How is it possibile?? Moreover, there is no driver installer on the hauppauge website....the stick is a new product, not an old one.
I think I will change the tv stick. Which one usb DVB-T2 stick is certified to be working well?

PS. This saturday I will pass the raspi and the tv stick to my cousing who is a software/website developer

I will let you know

Matej Munih wrote:

Hello,

I have an update. I tried to get it work on Windows. As soon as I plug the tv stick into theusb port, Windows starts scanning for new hardware but it cant find the right driver.

You need to use the WinTVv8 app available here look at the bottom of the page it mentions that it now supports WinTV SoloHD.

Also Mac os X 10.11 doen not recognize it. How is it possibile?? Moreover, there is no driver installer on the hauppauge website....the stick is a new product, not an old one.
I think I will change the tv stick. Which one usb DVB-T2 stick is certified to be working well?

Not many DVB sticks work on Mac so not surprised this one doesn't. The SoloHD is just a re-branded PCTV 292e which uses the Silicon Labs Si2168 chipset, you'll find it very hard not to find a DVB-T2 device using this chipset. For what it is the SoloHD is far too overpriced you can find many sticks using the exact chipsets for far less.

As for recommendations the only other DVB-T2 device that I know works on the Raspberry Pi is the PCTV 290e but those have mainly been replaced by the 292E.

When you find a device you like the look of google it attaching linux to the end, e.g. "PCTV 290e linux".

Your problem is that the Raspberry Pi Kernel hasn't got the module enabled in the config which requires a rebuild, it's simple enough to do if you know how. Don't bother with the Astrometa DVB-T2 as support for that is still flaky.

PS. This saturday I will pass the raspi and the tv stick to my cousing who is a software/website developer

I will let you know

No problem, if he knows what he's doing he should be able to rebuild the kernel and the required drivers for you, here's a guide on how to do that pretty easily on Linux, https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/linux/kernel/building.md.

Hello,

OK, I will forward him our conversation and I will let you know! I need to know which is the missing module we need to enable in the configuration of the kernel before start the recompiling process.

By the way, at the beginnig you wrote that the 3.4 version of Tvheadend is too old and that I need to get the newer 4.x. Since there is not a supprorted 4.x version for Raspbian, how do I have to build this on my ownon Raspberry? Is there a tutorial?

Lastly, I discovered that the Wheezy Raspbian OS is old. Do I have to switch to Jessie Raspbian? Will the drivers of my tv stick work on Jessie Raspbian?

Matej Munih wrote:

Hello,

OK, I will forward him our conversation and I will let you know! I need to know which is the missing module we need to enable in the configuration of the kernel before start the recompiling process.

The require modules are listed here: http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_SI2168.html

By the way, at the beginnig you wrote that the 3.4 version of Tvheadend is too old and that I need to get the newer 4.x. Since there is not a supprorted 4.x version for Raspbian, how do I have to build this on my ownon Raspberry? Is there a tutorial?

Quick & Easy guide to building Tvheadend on a RPi2.

sudo apt-get install git build-essential debhelper pkg-config fakeroot
git clone https://github.com/tvheadend/tvheadend.git build/tvheadend/master
cd build/tvheadend/master
./Autobuild.sh 

• 1 Installs a few dependencies (you'll need to install some more later on).
• 2 Clones the Tvheadend master branch from github & places it in build/tvheadend/master.
• 3 Changes directory to the above path.
• 4 Runs the Autobuild script that will build a debian package so that you can install it in a nice and neat way.

Other info.
The Autobuild.sh script will complain about other missing dependencies you need to install those (using sudo apt-get install) and then run the script again.
Once the build has completed you'll find the built debian package (E.g tvheadend_4.1-368~geeda7d7_armhf.deb) in build/tvheadend.

You can then install it (and the debug package) using.

cd build/tvheadend
sudo dpkg -i tvheadend*.deb

Lastly, I discovered that the Wheezy Raspbian OS is old. Do I have to switch to Jessie Raspbian? Will the drivers of my tv stick work on Jessie Raspbian?

You don't have to switch but I would, I personally use a netinstall script but that has no GUI (only ssh) so might not be what you want.

HTH & let us know how you get on.