Current status of DVB Support in Sage

[AndersNolberger]

2005-04-23
Before looking at the information in this thread have a look at http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...7690#post97690. That thread is about a new version of the network encoder that is based on the Microsoft BDA architecture. It does not completely replace the dvbcore version but is more suitable for most.
/Anders

The current version of DVB support for is available at http://www.nolberger.se/Sage.

SDVBCoreRecorder is based on DVBCore and supports many DVB cards, but only DVB-T and DVB-C. For information about DVBCore and supported cards please look at http://www.dvbcore.com. Unfortunately DVBCore is not supported for third party use any more so we can’t use the latest version. The latest supported version is included in MyTheatre v3.12 available at the same address. So all cards supported by that version of the DVBCore should work with SDVBCoreRecorder.
At the moment only DVB-T and DVB-C (Terrestrial and cable) is supported in the main version of the program. It should be easy to add support for DVB-S but none of the programmers have access to satellite. If there is any Delphi programmers with access to DVB-S please download the source to the program and add satellite tuning.

How to install the SDVBCoreRecorder:

• First install Sage and make sure it works.
• Then download the latest SDVBCoreRecorder from http://www.nolberger.se/Sage and unzip it to your hard drive.
• Open SDVBCoreRecorder.ini (or rename the .oz.ini to .ini if you live in Australia and open it instead). This is where you make all settings for the program, there is no setup utility in the program.

In the systems section you can change which IP port the program is listening to and what card to use. If you have more than one DVB card they are enumerated starting with 0. So the use the first card Device should be 0 and the next card 1 and so on. If you only have 1 card leave this as it is.

In the Satellites section you tell the program which satellite to use. But since the current version don’t support satellite it should read terrestrial or cable.

The transponders section is the frequencies to use. It should always start with 0 since we only support one “satellite”. Then the frequency and bandwidth or QAM for terrestrial and cable respectively. The bandwidth should be 8 for most of the world and 7 for Australia. Look in the program that came with your card for the frequencies to use.

And the last section is Programmes. Here you should put the names of the actual programmes that is transmitted in you area. The first number of this row is the channel number that Sage will use, the second number is the transponder (frequency) to use and the name must exactly match the name that is transmitted in the air.
• Open the readme.txt file and go to the bottom of that file. Copy all of the mmc/… rows and paste them to the sage.properties file. If you installed SDVBCoreRecorder to another computer than Sage change the mmc/encoders/12345/encoding_host= property to the correct computer and make sure that the Video directories is set to a path that both Sage and SDVBCoreRecorder has access to.
• If you start first SDVBCoreRecorder and then Sage you should be able to setup your DVB card in Sage now!

If you have a working SDVBCoreRecorder.ini for your area please post it here to help others get going. Included in the zip file are two examples, one for Linköping Sweden and one for Canberra Australia.

We are working on improvements to the DVBRecorder but it is done on our spare time so we can’t promise any release times. First in line is a final(?) version of the DVBCore based recorder. After that there is talk about a BDA version. BDA is the drivers used by Microsoft MCE and more and more DVB cards have support for this now.

There also exists a version for DVB-S (satellite) but it is not as supported and is harder to setup. There should be some instructions in the downloads. If you try the DVB-S version set the property "seeker/fast_mux_switch=false" in the sage.properties file.

For the whole history of DVB development for Sage look at this thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...&highlight=dvb

If you want to contact me please do so here at this forum.

/Anders Nolberger

[foolio]

Hi Anders - any luck on a working BDA recorder?

[perf]

Anders,

can you recommend cards for use in Sweden? (Boxer/Com Hem)

/Per

[AndersNolberger]

I use a Technotrend DVB-T 1.3 but I don't think thay are for sale any more. I don't know anything of any other cards. Make sure the card you choose have BDA drivers if you want to use it in future software and MCE.

Com Hem is not sending all of their channels digital so I don't consider them as an option.

[heffe2001]

Could you not use the Universial Network Encoder to build a graph from your DVB card, and control MyThreatre via girder? The details about the encoder are here: http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ead.php?t=9767

I mean, if this works, then you can use whatever version of MyTheatre you want, and pretty much whatever capture card you want too. I plan on at least trying it after I get my DVB tuner set up (hopefully the next couple days).

[insomniac]

whoa...just got back from a business trip and saw these posts! awesome stuff. The quote below was exactly my thought. we should be able to use the universal encoder with our software mpeg cards riiiight?

Originally Posted by heffe2001

Could you not use the Universial Network Encoder to build a graph from your DVB card, and control MyThreatre via girder? The details about the encoder are here: http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ead.php?t=9767

I mean, if this works, then you can use whatever version of MyTheatre you want, and pretty much whatever capture card you want too. I plan on at least trying it after I get my DVB tuner set up (hopefully the next couple days).

[heffe2001]

Soon as I get all my hardware mounted (we moved a couple months ago, and the Sat dish was way down the list of stuff to put back up ). Gonna try to get it back up and running tomorrow and see if this will work. I don't see why it wouldn't work, as long as you can graph it, you should be able to capture it . The real trick would be passing off the channel changing from this plug to girder, then back out to MyTheatre...

[perf]

Originally Posted by AndersNolberger

I use a Technotrend DVB-T 1.3 but I don't think thay are for sale any more. I don't know anything of any other cards. Make sure the card you choose have BDA drivers if you want to use it in future software and MCE.

Com Hem is not sending all of their channels digital so I don't consider them as an option.

Are you able to tune the pay channels using that card, or do you only get the SVT ones?

/Per

[AndersNolberger]

My card cna only recieve FTA channels (SVT1, SVT2 Barnkanalen/kunskapskanalen, SVT24 and TV4).

The only affordable card that has CAM support for DVB-T is the twinham Ter-CI but I don't have any experiance of that. Look at http://www.prisjakt.nu/forum/ for info about that card.

[willemse]

Dear Anders,

First of all thank you for your DVB efforts. It is great you spending efforts on this topic. Although a newby on this subject has it become clear to me that soon or latter we all have to get into this subject.
Let me give some background before I fire my questions.
I live in the Netherlands and DVB just starts to hit the road over here. I use Sage with MCSage STV from Mlbdude, integrated XMTL program guide for local TV stations currently received with Hauppauge 250/350.
The local Dutch telephone company (KPN) has just launched DVB-T. I am considering using this in my home and wanting this also to fully integrate this with Sage TV, assuming this is possible. Alternative would be Satellite TV (Astra) but given your module doesn’t function yet with DVB-S I prefer to go the DVB-T route.

The KPN offers DVB-T for which you have to purchase a setup box per viewing location.
This is oke for my TV but for Sage I like to integrate DVB-T directly into the PC with the use of a Technotrend card and most likely needed CMI. And not to go through the KPN setup box -> Svideo out (which the KPN (=Samsung box) does not provide to start with! So I have to go through analoqe HF signal out -> into Hauppauge etc; thus loosing quality from the originally received digital TV!!
Attached are several pictures of the KPN components, specifically: KPN system setup, Samsung (this is the KPN’s used setup box) tuner front, Samsung tuner backside, and KPN smart card used.

My questions:
1. Can SDVBCoreRecorder used with Sage TV or is it just for Sage recorder?
2. Can SDVBCoreRecorder be used with KPN DVB-T system from your viewpoint?
3. Which Technotrend card would you recommend; the simpel PC card or professional card wit HW encoder? and CMI?
4. Can I use the program guide to select directly a channel on KPN DVB-T system? Or?
5. I assume I have to get CMI module from Technotrend in order to work with the KPN smart card??
6. How would the installation go with setup to KPN and activation??

Sorry for all these questions but I sincerely hope you could give me advice how to proceed.

Also it is appreciated if there are other users from the Netherlands and reading this post share their experience with me on this topic either by reply to this post or PM me directly

Thanks again for all your help

Jos Willemse

[AndersNolberger]

Hi,

It looks like you need the smart card to be able to see any channels. Unfortunately SDVBCoreRecorder only supports free channels. It is based on an old version of DVBCore that supports CAM/CI but I don't think I have it activated (I have not tried it so it might work but I don't think so).

If you want this to work with Sage my advise would be to wait and see what happens. I might release a new version without DVBCore or Frey maybe will release DVB support, who knows?

If you want to by a card today and want it to work in Sage later on I would go with a card with BDA drivers. That is the type of drivers that Microsoft's MCE is using, so it is most likely to bee supported in the future. BDA is not very mature right now but most likely it will bee in time.

I don't think Technotrends expensive cards with hw decoding have BDA drivers but I might be wrong on that. The less expensive DVB-T cards don't have support for smartcards.

The only affordable DVB card I know of that has support for CI/CAM is TwinhanDTV Ter-CI but I don't have any personal experiance with this card. And I don't know if it will work with KPN. You must purchase a CAM module that is compatible with your smartcard and I don't know what scrambling standard that is used.

I would recomend you to ask either KPN or on a local forum what CAM you should buy. And as I said before, wait to see what Sage will support in the future.