diy 'Home Media' system ...

[T i m]

This won't be for the Twatter readers ...

It all started out from a thought that 1) the Topfield PVR's weren't going to last forever and if they did they still wouldn't be that much use as they have threatened to turn off DBV-T and just go T2 / HD (in the future ... if / when ever that might actually be).

We currently run two Toppys, one on the 'main' TV (all our TV is viewed though it) and one on her PC and she watches her TV (live / recorded) though a video capture card (and that works fine for her as she can then play games (WWF) during the ads on live TV etc).

So, I have been having a play, have learned a bit and concluded it's all still a big compromise.

Primary goals. To replace the Topfields with something more future proof, as fast / easy to use but with the ability to share recordings across the LAN plus play media provided from elsewhere on the main TV (in particular).

So, encouraged to look at Plex by JR of this parish I did ... and from that many of the other XBMC respins, like Kodi and LibreELEC and other JeOS's (Just Enough Operating Systems), both on various Raspberry Pi's, PC's another other appliances (phones and media boxes).

With nearly every combination there seems to be some stumbling block, like it won't work on my phone or won't see one of my TV tuners or would end up being too power hungry etc.

One thing that came out all this is finding one bit of software that did seem to do the basic TV tuning thing, OOTB.

SichboPVR:

I had a rebranded 'Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T-500-Stick' dual / diversity USB DVB-T tuner that TVHeadend on a RPi could see but couldn't get any channels from. I wasn't even sure if it still worked but I installed SichboPVR on a Windows PC with said dongle connected, answered a couple of location questions and I was startled when the PC suddenly became a TV. ;-)

Not only that, you can make use of a PC that has an internal tuner, another PC running TV TVHeadend with a tuner plus shared media on the LAN. He's working on a new version (complete re-write in all the video streaming / pipelines) that I understand should also run on Linux so that might be more flexible.

So, I'm still waiting for some components to carry on the testing with but I think it's going to end up with some form of box (possibly a PC) with some level of storage / shares and with (local) sufficient tuners to cover all our TV viewing / recording needs, with the possibility of it accessing other videos from elsewhere (NAS etc).

One think I'm waiting for is a suitable remote controller. I have used the mobile phone as a remote and it works very well, as does controlling the Kodi client 'remotely', via a PC browser, but neither are as convenient as just picking up a good remote.

The current test rig is a RPi3B upstairs (near the TV distribution amp) running the TV HAT DVB-T2 tuner and just TVHeadend on Raspbian streaming TV to a RPi3B downstairs running Kodi on LibreELEC plugged into the main TV. So far it's been rock solid ... that said, with all the DIY 'OB' work that is on TV atm, it's not a good time to be looking for things like lip-sync. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[NY]

You might be interested in my setup, in terms of what DVB devices are supported on Raspberry Pi 3B+.

I run TVHeadend, recording to a 500 GB spinning (ie not solid state) USB drive that it powered from a USB hub (ie not directly from the RPi).

The Pi is running Raspbian Stretch. It also runs Cumulus weather station software, connected by USB to a Davis weather station.

I don't have keyboard, mouse or monitor connected to the Pi; I access it by VNC client from Windows or Android if I need to do any configuration. VNC server is built into Raspbian but is disabled by default. Start | Preferences | Raspberry Pi Configuration, Interfaces tab to enable VNC and SSH.

I have three DVB devices connected: the first is via a USB hub which also drives the HDD, the second and third are plugged into the Pi's USB ports.

- Hauppauge WinTV Nova (DVB-T but not T2)

- PCTV 292e (DVB-T2)

- PCTV 491e (DVB-S2)

Note that there are two hardware revisions of the PCTV 491e, and only the older one is supported. Rev B6H9 *is* supported. Rev B8H9 is *not* supported.

Firmware files are needed in /lib/firmware:

dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw for 292e dvb-demod-m88ds3103.fw for 491e

The Hauppauge already has the drivers and firmware files in Raspbian.

I have installed SAMBA and shared the USB hard drive that is used for recordings. I use VideoRedo on Windows 7 to edit the recordings, via the shared folder, and save them to a disk on the Win 7 PC. I don't play anything directly on the RPi (eg via VLC) because it is too slow; HD H264 recordings will play OK on the Pi but the CPU usage is very high; SD MPEG recordings are very stuttery because the Pi doesn't include a decoder, though I could pay for a licence for a decoder. The Pi will quite happily serve an SD or HD recorded file over SAMBA for it to play in real time or up to about 2x speed in VLC on Win 7. I get a network transfer speed over Ethernet of about 130 Mbps - limited I understand by the fact that the Pi's Ethernet port uses USB to access the CPU.

The Pi has been used for recording several channels simultaneously and can cope. I think the greatest load I placed on it was HD on satellite (491e), HD on T2 decoder (291e) and two SD channels on the T1 (Hauppauge). I didn't see any dropped frames with that load, over and above the normal very occasional transport errors (about 20 per hour) that I get with even just one channel on one decoder - I attribute those to input signal quality rather than load on the Pi's CPU and USB ports.

The background CPU load is < 5%, and when recording simultaneously from all three DVB devices it rises to about 15%. To put that into context, running Firefox V52 on the Pi places a background load of about 30% on the CPU, rising to about 70% while a web page (eg BBC News home page - no video playing) is loading.

[T i m]

<snip>

That depends which way I may go in the end (Win / Lin).

I have similar on my RPi2B OMV NAS, except I *power* the drive directly from a double outlet wall wart (made my own split 'Y' lead).

Amazing what they can do for something so small / cheap / silent eh. ;-)

Is that a GUI session? I just use SSH if it has to desktop installed.

Check. Or they can be toggled via raspi-config.

Ok.

Was TVHeadend able to get it to scan / find the channels on that? I can get something (on the same box) using w_scan but not using the wizard on TVHeadend? Same hardware worked first time with SichboPVR so I know it's fine.

I've have a couple of cheap (~£5) SD USB tuners on the way, just to play multiple sticks. A couple of short (100mm) USB2 extension leads turned up today, along with some MXC to UHF converters (one for the Nova stick, the other two for the new sticks when they turn up. (I think I'll hot-melt-glue them on (on the outside) to save then falling out or damaging the PCB's).

These are supposed to have an RTL2832U interface IC & R820T2 tuner?

As I found out ... as I learned what to look for. ;-(

That was my plan as well, then make it the 'Tv Shows' folder on my client software.

I've got that on this old XP box and think it's brilliant. (That SchiboPVR will have an editor built).

Maybe I should have the option of two folders, the rough recordings (if we want to watch stuff 'now' and another for the 'trimmed stuff.

I think the RPi4 was noticeably better that way.

Ok.

Not on the RPi I don't think. Discrete Gb Ethernet port. ;-)

I think the 3B+ has 300Mb/s Ethernet, throttled because it's sharing a USB bandwidth.

Yeah. I recorded 2 HD and 1 SD on mine and they all played back fine!

It's amazing that's the case isn't it.

Pretty good.

Yeah, I can believe it.

I was looking at a 3D printed 19" rack mount system that allows you to plug in RPi4's (in that case). I was wondering if I could design carriers for the 2 and 3 as well as in many cases, uncased, sitting vertically and with small heatsinks attached to the hot bits is enough to keep them cool.

I've now got SchiboPVR (client bit) running on a half decent PC (reasonable / passive cooled graphics) and it's pretty slick. It allows you to list the channels from each tuner separately (or in combo with other things, or just 'My main channels' etc) or in 'All channels'. I'm only using that one as a client to the RPi / TVHeadend / TV HAT and will additionally try it to another PC running a single channel SD DTB card and the dual USB dongle on that PC itself.

It can also emulate a TVHeadend server to other clients.

It really is quite slick, for free (you can subscribe for £12/year (or £50 for life) and get some extra features, the latest versions and trial stuff). ;-)

And it's only a tiny download for XP to W10. ;-)

Cheers, T i m