Tvheadend

Yes. There are tons of stuff that is country-specific, such as encoding and also how EPG is transmitted, but you need to start with the reception. I have two of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DVB-T-DAB-FM-Radio-Realtek-RTL2832U-R820T-software-defined-SDR-HDTVwbGT15-/321652321738

Mine are black with a blue silkscreen. There are several available, all look more or less the same and all are less than 10€ incl shipping. The important thing is the chip, RTL2832.

When I embarked on this two years ago. I actuallý did a Proof Of Concept, using an old PC and OpenSUSE. Was loads of fun (NOT) compiling different versions of tvheadend and looking for drivers for various tuner cards. I tried a bunch of PCI cards that I salvaged from old PCs first, with disappointing results, then decided on USB tuners. I now run vtheadens 4.07 and have no plans to upgrade as it works I also do NOT update the Linux kernel...

When I was satisfied that it worked, I bought a cheap clone with a motherboard that supported RAID and added three disks. I now have 2Gb useable for recording. I transferred all old movies (about 1Tb) that we had on the old Topfield PVR.

Biggest issues were actually the decoding of encrypted stuff. OTA here is not, but some channels on cable is. I use OSCAM and an USB card reader for that.

I'm having a lot of problems with my DVBSky S952 (the original one, NOT the V3 version)

I have 2 of these cards, all cables have been connected, but only 1 input actually does anything. And on that one, diseqc doesn't seem to work. You can switch to any position, only position 1 works.
Another problem: the mac addresses of the tuners are the same for both cards, so the order seems to jump around everytime you reboot.

This card is a bitch to get help on on-line because everyone seems to think you're talking about the newer, V3 version, which is a totally different card.

I have given up on this one, and am looking to buy a new one. The wiki page with suggested hardware is still as empty as the day it was created, though.

I have looked at TBS cards now, does someone know if TBS6904 or TBS6905 actually work out of the box, and which card is better?

Recommending DigitalDevices tuners
easy to be installed and no tons of bugs in drivers as on TBS

Do you have any specific DigitalDevices card in mind?

I find the Max S8 card interesting, but someone created an issue here saying it has some serious hardware issues:

https://tvheadend.org/issues/3940

Jelle De Loecker wrote:

Do you have any specific DigitalDevices card in mind?

I find the Max S8 card interesting, but someone created an issue here saying it has some serious hardware issues:

https://tvheadend.org/issues/3940

MAX S8 work perfect

The TBS 6985 works nicely as long as you use the latest open source drivers here but there are easier options (Prior warning you need Kernel 4.6 or higher):
https://github.com/ljalves/linux_media/wiki/Installating

There are some people who had issues with continuity errors, with the latest drivers I have not seen many of these and don't know if it is due to weak signal at times. At least with Freesat channels it seems to work well for me.

Rob Dunkley wrote:

The TBS 6985 works nicely as long as you use the latest open source drivers here but there are easier options (Prior warning you need Kernel 4.6 or higher):
https://github.com/ljalves/linux_media/wiki/Installating

There are some people who had issues with continuity errors, with the latest drivers I have not seen many of these and don't know if it is due to weak signal at times. At least with Freesat channels it seems to work well for me.

Until put some other brand tuner and...
TBS cant make a simple installer with create module for own devices.
Why do I have to make modules for webcam, sound card etc. it take LOT of space
DKMS is far away feature

saen acro wrote:

Until put some other brand tuner and...
TBS cant make a simple installer with create module for own devices.
Why do I have to make modules for webcam, sound card etc. it take LOT of space
DKMS is far away feature

If you use the OSS driver, you build the entire Linux multimedia tree (with patches). AFAIK this tree is the multimedia-next tree. You can select only the drivers you want by running "make menuconfig".

Martin Bednar wrote:

saen acro wrote:

Until put some other brand tuner and...
TBS cant make a simple installer with create module for own devices.
Why do I have to make modules for webcam, sound card etc. it take LOT of space
DKMS is far away feature

If you use the OSS driver, you build the entire Linux multimedia tree (with patches). AFAIK this tree is the multimedia-next tree. You can select only the drivers you want by running "make menuconfig".

TBS6909 where is not OSS driver?
Only media build is available.
And why do I have to download multimedia tree and next to play with menuconfig,
when some developer can cut tree to used modules as on DDDVB (just compare size of both repos)

I spent to much time for installing DVB-S2 Mystique SaTiX-S2 Sky Xpress DUAL card on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, unfortunately without success, so I decided replace card for newest one, but I don't really now which card I should buy ?. Obviously I don't want spent too much money :)
What card do you recommend, maybe TBS 6902 ? or sth from Technotrend ?

Raspberry Pi 3 + three Media-Tech MT4171 DVB-T tuners, Tvheadend 4.0.8
Works fine. More info: https://myserver.opentechnologies.pl/en/technical-documentation/

iw is wrote:

Raspberry Pi 3 + three Media-Tech MT4171 DVB-T tuners, Tvheadend 4.0.8
Works fine. More info: https://myserver.opentechnologies.pl/en/technical-documentation/

See some productive alternative
Jaguar One or UP Core
real x86, no software cross compilation needed.

I have the DVBSky S952 V3 which is based on the Montage M88RS6000 Chip which works by putting the following firmware dvb-demod-m88rs6000.fw in /lib/firmware. I have tested from 14.04 up to 18.04 LTS versions. Everything works from scanning channels and channel playback, only problem i have ran into is the Guide Listings but can be solved by adding Freesat Transponder i.e Mux. Firmware can be obtained for both DVBSky S952 v1 and v3 from the Official LinuxTV Wiki. https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVBSKY_S952_v3

Note there is two different versions of this card the first revision has the Montage M88DS3103 chip and the v3 has Montage M88RS6000

I'm looking for a reliable DVB-C USB tuner that works without any problems even for the high bitrate DVB-C stream (HD channels). Preferably with kernel support. If it works on Rpi2/3 that would be the best.
I have now the Geniatech (Mygica) T230 (the original one) which works fine for DVB-T but has problems on DVB-C. Trying to narrow done the issue, but it looks it is the tuner.
Any recommendations?

I have a simple one that I bought on eBay. I can post a picture later.

I use a Hauppauge WinVT Nova-T stick (DVB-T only) and a PCTV 292e (DVB-T and DVB-T2) on a Raspberry Pi 3B+. Everything works perfectly. As with an setup where one decoder can only record a subset of the channels (ie no DVB-T2 on the Hauppauge) I have set that card as the default card (higher priority) so if there are two overlapping recordings, the Hauppauge is always used as first priority, leaving the PCTV (T2 as well) free in case the second recording to start is from a T2 multiplex - it would be a shame to use the T2 decoder for the earlier recording when its extra capabilities weren't needed, and then find there was no compatible decoder for the second T2 recording - especially as TVH doesn't seem to be clever enough to "rehearse" the recordings at the time of setting, to determine that there would be a clash: waiting until the time of the actual recording is a bit late to flag a clash :-(

The PCTV needed a firmware file dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw to be placed in the /lib/firmware directory. I can't find the web page that said that this was necessary and where to obtain it from.

Take a look at this for your PCTV 292e links for the firmware downloads can be found at https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/PCTV_Systems_tripleStick_T2_(292e)

What are people's experiences with Hauppauge PCTV DVB-S2 Stick 461e (as offered for sale on Amazon UK)? I see comments on Amazon that people with Ras Pi have it working perfectly (drivers built into UNix kernel) but also some people saying that newer versions of the adaptor need different drivers which are not in the kernel. If this is the case, are the new drivers available for download somewhere as a firmware download?

I'm looking at satellite alternatives to my existing terrestrial adaptors, in case the terrestrial reception at the new house we're buying isn't good enough: reception-prediction sites predict no coverage from any transmitter, but all the houses round about have aerials pointing over a nearby hill at Belmont and our house has various TVs which are fed by terrestrial aerial cable. So it seems as if "the impossible" is possible - but I want a fall-back plan just in case...

I have a PCTV DVB-S2 Stick 461e running on a RPI2 without issue for 4+ years. Set the RPI2 up running a older openelec install but have also tested the new librelec on a RPI3 and RPI2 all worked out the box. I have not tried a RPI1.

Bought a Telestar Digibit R1 to replace my DVBSKy S960. So far its the best DVB-S2 tuner I've used. Nothing wrong with the S960 but the R1 was marginally more expensive and provide 4 tuners for the price. TVH is running in a VM, and the R1 eliminated the need to used USB passthrough.

Robert H wrote:

I have a PCTV DVB-S2 Stick 461e running on a RPI2 without issue for 4+ years. Set the RPI2 up running a older openelec install but have also tested the new librelec on a RPI3 and RPI2 all worked out the box. I have not tried a RPI1.

Thanks for that. I've certainly seen good reports about the 461 and the Pi. But if you've had your 461 for 4+ years, I imagine it's the older firmware; it was the new firmware that I was concerned about because I've heard rumours that it doesn't yet have UNIX support. Is there a list of what devices have kernel drivers in Raspbian Stretch.

I'm hoping that I can continue using my terrestrial devices, but I wanted to cover myself in case when we get to the new house I find that reception isn't good.

How many 461s do you have? I'm used to terrestrial where one device can record any number of channels as long as they are on the same mux, but with satellite the "multiplexes" are a lot smaller and there are a lot more of them (in terms of permutations of frequency and polarisation) so the chances of two channels that I want being available on the same "mux" are a lot more slim.

How many 461s do you have?

Have 2 461e's on 1 X86 PC running the new Libreelec and 1 461e on a RPI2 at my parents house running openelec. They also allow multiple recordings provided they are on the same 'MUX' but as you pointed out it all depends on the channels in the MUX about 4 channels on average more in a SD mux. Parents are fine recording with just 1 S2 receiver taking advantage of all the repeats satellite TV offers on the many channels, but i needed 2 to cover the channels i wanted. Worth pointing out you need a satellite dish that can support multiple tuners as unlike terrestrial you cant just split the signal.

Not true. I have 4 Tuners in my QuadHD Card all 4 tuners are getting signal from one aerial it also depends on the Signal in your location Ridge hill mask is 17 miles from me so Signal is great hence why it works so well with my QuadHD.

Robert H wrote:

Worth pointing out you need a satellite dish that can support multiple tuners as unlike terrestrial you cant just split the signal.

Jack Bamford wrote:

Not true. I have 4 Tuners in my QuadHD Card all 4 tuners are getting signal from one aerial it also depends on the Signal in your location Ridge hill mask is 17 miles from me so Signal is great hence why it works so well with my QuadHD.

Jack, if you're replying to Robert's posting, I think you're at cross purposes. Robert was saying that for satellite you need a dish with as many LNBs as you have tuners, because one can't just split the signal. But you are referring to Ridge Hill mast, which is a terrestrial mast. The restrictions for terrestrial are very different from those for satellite: you can split the signal from a terrestrial aerial because one aerial receives all the signals, whereas with satellite the tuning and selection of polarisation is done at the dish before the down cable.

It's a shame that satellite isn't designed the same way that terrestrial is, so that all the signals, irrespective of frequency and polarisation, are fed from the dish down the same cable to be decoded by different tuners after the signal has been split.

Since the house I'll be buying has two satellite cables to two inputs on the vendor's Sky box, I presume there are two LNBs at the dish so I'll be able to feed two 461 decoders as Robert is doing.

Martin Underwood wrote:

It's a shame that satellite isn't designed the same way that terrestrial is, so that all the signals, irrespective of frequency and polarisation, are fed from the dish down the same cable to be decoded by different tuners after the signal has been split.

There some inventions last 5+ years called UNICABLE