Raspbmc Live TV

azzeretti · 17-10-2013 7:44pm #1

Does anyone know if the MPEG2 license is needed to stream Live TV that is in mpeg2 format? I seem to have trouble streaming Live TV in this format but I have purchased the license. Just wondering if anyone has come across this?

Agueroooo · 22-10-2013 10:48am

azzeretti wrote: »

Does anyone know if the MPEG2 license is needed to stream Live TV that is in mpeg2 format? I seem to have trouble streaming Live TV in this format but I have purchased the license. Just wondering if anyone has come across this?

I dont use Raspbmc but what PVR add-on are you using?

Also what backend are you using? stb or htpc?

Johnboy1951 · 22-10-2013 2:33pm

azzeretti wrote: »

Does anyone know if the MPEG2 license is needed to stream Live TV that is in mpeg2 format? I seem to have trouble streaming Live TV in this format but I have purchased the license. Just wondering if anyone has come across this?

Just checked my Pi with Openelec ..... audio and no video from Sat SD channels ..... no extra codec installed.

(EDIT: Apologies for earlier post .... I got confused with other devices.)

Update:
I added the MPEG-2 coded to the R-Pi Openelec and the Sat SD channels now play audio AND video.

Copyerselveson · 23-10-2013 12:24am

I am using OpenElec with the paid for MPG2 codec added on.

I have a DVBViewer Recording Service server, the Raspberry Pi running OpenElec can connect to it via UPnP and I can get all FTA satellite channels available to me. To edit the OpenElec config.txt you will need to SSH to the Raspberry, I use a putty client and then edit the /flash/config.txt file to enable the MPG2 codec.

Detailed instructions are available at http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php?title=Raspberry_Pi_Codec_Licences.

I have experimented with enabling the DVBViewer Recording Service addon but my R-Pi can't see the Recording Service when it is running.

Incidentally is it at all possible to get smooth video playback on XBMC? I have configured mine for 1920X1080p with 25 frames per second but I still get the "film look" on video.

Supercell · 23-10-2013 7:33am

Copyerselveson - You should set the video to the same refresh as your monitor/tv, maybe will help?

Tvheadend is built into Openelec and Raspbmc (I think) , have you tried using that? How are you streaming from the DVBS ? I would think that you definitely need the MPEG2 license installed and working (in ssh issue vcgencmd codec_enabled MPG2 and see if it says its enabled) if you are streaming in mpeg2.

Johnboy1951 · 23-10-2013 8:13am

For a 'reasonable' picture from the Sat SD channels the most important setting I found is 'De-interlacing'.

Without this 'on' the picture is barely watchable.
I believe it is off by default.

Copyerselveson · 23-10-2013 8:17am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

For a 'reasonable' picture from the Sat SD channels the most important setting I found is 'De-interlacing'.

Without this 'on' the picture is barely watchable.
I believe it is off by default.

Thanks for this info. Where do you find the deinterlacing setting?

Redriddick · 23-10-2013 8:31am

When you are watching the programme,hit the context menu and go to video(bottom right spool of film)and its top of the menu there!!

Johnboy1951 · 23-10-2013 8:46am

Copyerselveson wrote: »

Thanks for this info. Where do you find the deinterlacing setting?

I use Openelec with TVHeadend client and backend.

I play a SD TV channel, and then bring to screen the icons along the bottom ....... click the video icon and that presents option, the first of which is deinterlacing.

Supercell · 23-10-2013 8:54am

JohnBoy1951, are you using both client and backend on the Pii ? what DVBS source are you using?

I was thinking of setting up the backend on my server which does all the couchpotato,sabnzb and sickbeard stuff as well as being a cifs share for the Pii
The server is a HP Proliant NL36 microserver with Windows 7 on it, not sure if its up to the task of DVBS+DVBT (for Rte etc) though.

Johnboy1951 · 23-10-2013 9:28am

Supercell wrote: »

JohnBoy1951, are you using both client and backend on the Pii ? what DVBS source are you using?

No ...... I have a HTPC with the backend and the Pi uses that.
I *think* I tried some backends on the Pi when I first got it, but it was not capable of doing both (or I could not get it working properly at the time

).

I was thinking of setting up the backend on my server which does all the couchpotato,sabnzb and sickbeard stuff as well as being a cifs share for the Pii
The server is a HP Proliant NL36 microserver with Windows 7 on it, not sure if its up to the task of DVBS+DVBT (for Rte etc) though.

I have two tuner cards for TV .... both dual tuner ..... Sat and DTT .... and the TVHeadend backend looks after just about everything I need from them including full EPG.

I ran that HTPC with a G630 CPU using the on board graphics .... and it did everything required.
The CPU usage was always low ..... the processing of the TV signals was done on the tuner cards so no CPU load.
Memory use was also low ..... generally it used less than 300MB.

I suppose the CPU load will largely depend on the capabilities of the tuner cards in use.

My set up is simple ..... I am not 'into' fan art, tarting up user interface or any of that visually appealing stuff. All I want are simple lists of files stored and TV channels available.

I remember 'looking at' couchpotato, sabnzb and sickbeard but did not perceive any great benefit for me ..... and they all seemed to have a 'learning curve' which did not attract me at the time

..... I might look again to see if there is something I would use now ....

I use NFS shares on the LAN ...... there are no PCs needing access that run Windows ..... all use Linux.

I hope to change things about somewhat in the coming month or two.
I expect to have a HP Proliant ML310e Gen8 server to test in the coming week or so. If it works out I will make it a permanent addition.

My intention is to move the tuner cards into that and do the backend set up again there.
Hopefully the cards will play nice with it ..... yet to be seen

I haven't yet decided what OS the HP should be running ..... all it is needed for is a general file server as well as the media backend and media storage.
I expect to use some form of Linux, but maybe BSD at a push.

If you have any suggestions, fire away

.

Supercell · 23-10-2013 10:39am

I'd recommend looking into sabnzb etc, it really makes life easier once setup. I can even add stuff to Couchpotato straight from XBMC if i see something that catches my fancy. That said under Linux its probably not so straightforward to set up for sure.
That sounds promising re the cpu overhead, I was hoping there would be cards like that around. What tuner cards do you use, are they pci or usb ?

Johnboy1951 · 23-10-2013 11:02am

Supercell wrote: »

I'd recommend looking into sabnzb etc, it really makes life easier once setup. I can even add stuff to Couchpotato straight from XBMC if i see something that catches my fancy. That said under Linux its probably not so straightforward to set up for sure.
That sounds promising re the cpu overhead, I was hoping there would be cards like that around. What tuner cards do you use, are they pci or usb ?

The cards I use are TBS .... they do the full processing and make all the channels on each TP/Mux tuned available which means that even if the tuners are in use there will be some other channels available to other front ends as well as the one in use.

The cards are dear but well worth the investment, IMO, because of the functions.

I have TBS PCI-e cards, but others are also available ....
http://www.tbsdtv.com/products/

Strangely the DTT cards do not appear on that page although they are available.

EDIT: I might have a look at SABnzbd, maybe I could get some use of it.

.

Supercell · 23-10-2013 12:24pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

The cards I use are TBS .... they do the full processing and make all the channels on each TP/Mux tuned available which means that even if the tuners are in use there will be some other channels available to other front ends as well as the one in use.

The cards are dear but well worth the investment, IMO, because of the functions.

I have TBS PCI-e cards, but others are also available ....
http://www.tbsdtv.com/products/

Strangely the DTT cards do not appear on that page although they are available.

EDIT: I might have a look at SABnzbd, maybe I could get some use of it.

.

Thanks very much , this is EXACTLY what i was looking for -
http://www.buydvb.net/dvbs2s-tv-tuner-usb-c-3/tbs5922-usb-dvbs2-tv-box-p-41.html

http://www.buydvb.net/dvbt2-tv-tuner-usb-c-22/tbs5280-usb-dvbt2t-dual-tuner-tv-box-p-70.html

Awesome!, now to get me a proper aerial and I'm sorted.

Copyerselveson · 23-10-2013 7:30pm

Can I just say thanks to everyone for their useful advice.

My R-pi is serving up the Man U Champions League game on RTE Two HD nicely with smooth video. Also I have tested BBC One HD and Sky News. Sky News is actually a good deinterlacing test because of its scrolling ticker. All perfect.

To sum up, here's what I have:

A windows PC running DVBViewer Recording Service in UPnP mode
A Raspberry Pi running Open Elec as a client
Raspberry Pi has the MPG2 codec
Open Elec has 1920X1080p for video with 50 frames per second
Open Elec uses Video...Files and can read my DVBViewer server in UPnP mode
Videos are set with Deinterlacing on - for all videos

The R-pi is a fantastic little piece of kit!

Raspbmc Live TV

Comments