Digital USB 2.0 DVB-T HDTV TV Tuner Recorder & Receiver

irishjay · 23-01-2011 01:23PM

cheers

Paul007 · 23-01-2011 04:54PM

Just use vlc if you are experiencing lag on RTE2HD.

In vlc select media -> open capture device

For capture mode select dvb directshow

select dvb-t

Set Transponder/multiplex frequency - three rock is 738000khz
Other frequencies here
http://www.mpeg4ireland.com/dtt-muxes

Set Bandwidth - undefined

click play

To change a channel select playback -> programme

You can save your channels as a playlist so you won't have to go through the procedure again

Thanks to whoever posted this info earlier in the thread

Johnboy1951 · 23-01-2011 09:40PM

For those using Linux and who had an unsupported tuner as I previously posted I had, the good news is that the latest kernel has the drivers.
So if you had this situation previously

af9015: tuner id:179 not supported, please report!
usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_af9015

using the new kernel gets everything working.
Both Kaffeine and VLC do it justice. (I have not tried the remote control as yet

)

BTW .... has anyone come up with a nice means of cooling the unit?
I took it apart today and the tuner chip is getting extremely hot ..... am considering some form of cooling ....... might even put the unit inside my PC - open - and near a fan.

Would like to hear of any other means of cooling it that might have been devised.

regards.

Capt'n Midnight · 23-01-2011 10:55PM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

For those using Linux and who had an unsupported tuner as I previously posted I had, the good news is that the latest kernel has the drivers.

...

Would like to hear of any other means of cooling it that might have been devised.

in 10.10 or do you have to have the the pre-release of 11.4 ?

cat /etc/issue Ubuntu 10.10
uname -r 2.6.32-26 (am downloading 2.6.32-28)

superglue some copper foil to the chip - don't let it touch any of the circuitry
acetone / nail varnish remover will remove the super glue

Johnboy1951 · 24-01-2011 02:45AM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

in 10.10 or do you have to have the the pre-release of 11.4 ?

cat /etc/issue Ubuntu 10.10
uname -r 2.6.32-26 (am downloading 2.6.32-28)

superglue some copper foil to the chip - don't let it touch any of the circuitry
acetone / nail varnish remover will remove the super glue

Sorry the 2.6.37 kernel is the one with the tuner drivers I needed.
I don't use Ububtu so I have no idea what kernels they make available to users.
Maybe they issue a patch for their older kernels?

I am a bit hesitant to use foil TBH ...... but maybe I will be able to cut a small piece of an old heatsink and use that ..... cutting a hole in the case.
I tried putting the PCB in the air flow of an intake fan, but it seems to need physical contact to dissipate the heat.
I will have a look tomorrow at what small heatsinks I might have in a drawer and see if I could do something with one of them.

regards.

m4r10 · 27-01-2011 01:32AM

Ghost Train wrote: »

some software might do better job at hd playback

Not sure if its possible, but can you record rte 2 and playback with vlc? might get better results

The result is the same, not even VLC can handle the HD.

Anybody knows of a method to make RTE 2 HD playable as the RTE 2 Temporary will close soon?

gingernut79 · 27-01-2011 01:38PM

Got my stick from eunion4u today, great little gizmo, scanned stations and picked up sound but no audio (windows 7 media center), downloaded ffdshow and switched usb ports and its perfect! Thanks to all who posted recommendations here!

Just re: Blaze software, something I did wiped the installation cd, I went to the blaze website and downloaded the program but the serial number on my cd sleeve doesnt seem to work on the registration page. What might I be doing wrong? I dont think I need it but its just annoying me.

foggers · 27-01-2011 04:58PM

Will the mini aerial be good enough with this? I am hoping to pick the saorview signal from around the Laois / Carlow border. Is there a chance I'll need to erect a TV aerial. I believe it's a UHF one I need but if I do which of the follwoing tv aerials would suit me best?

Does anyone have experience of the usb tuner in this region that can give me any user feedback on this?

Johnboy1951 · 29-01-2011 12:45AM

m4r10 wrote: »

The result is the same, not even VLC can handle the HD.

Anybody knows of a method to make RTE 2 HD playable as the RTE 2 Temporary will close soon?

Its not the software that has the problem from what I have seen ..... it is the hardware not being man enough for the job.

I have the same problem here with a desktop ..... just not good enough to handle the HD stream 'on the fly'.

m4r10 · 29-01-2011 02:00AM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Its not the software that has the problem from what I have seen ..... it is the hardware not being man enough for the job.

I have the same problem here with a desktop ..... just not good enough to handle the HD stream 'on the fly'.

I know that the laptop is not up to scratch for HD, I was hoping for a method to downsize the HD content of RTE2 to make it watchable.

Ghost Train · 29-01-2011 02:23AM

RTE2 is also broadcast in SD as far as I know on test channel

From 3 Rock anyway, my sony tv picks it up as 576i SD

from saorview website,

Test (was RTE NL HD format Test loop now temp RTE2 till 18th April)

m4r10 · 29-01-2011 02:46AM

Yes, at the moment RTE2 can be viewed in standard definition on the test channel, but from April the test channel will close and let me without RTE2. I'm trying to see what my options are until that date (forking out for a new laptop is not on the cards unfortunately).

Johnboy1951 · 29-01-2011 11:53AM

m4r10 wrote: »

I know that the laptop is not up to scratch for HD, I was hoping for a method to downsize the HD content of RTE2 to make it watchable.

....... which would require processing power ....... which apparently is lacking.

My PC is quite capable of displaying HD content ....... but not capable of dealing with the HD signal 'on the fly'. The PC is just not good enough to do it and it seems you have the same problem.

Without some new hardware I do not see any way out of this.

regards.

m4r10 · 29-01-2011 03:32PM

That's what I was afraid of. It seems I'll have to learn to live without RTE2 for a while.

pissed · 30-01-2011 11:05AM

For anyone that has a Dreambox 800. I managed to get this working through one of the usb ports. Picks up all the Irish channels perfectly. Using the Dream Elite image. Bought my one from Ellieshang a few weeks ago.

bk109 · 31-01-2011 11:11AM

m4r10 wrote: »

RTE2 is transmitted in HD, your laptop (and the same is mine) is not up to par to play HD content.

Sorry to jump in,but it might be an issue with the codecs you're using? My Compaq is working good with RTE2(HD) with this cheap DVB-T stick and an integrated Radeon HD3200 Video with the CPU staying most of the time at 550Mhz(Cool'n'quiet enabled) while watching and recording in Windows 7's Media Center.
Edit: The problem might be that your GPU isn't offloading the HD processing ? May I ask what are your basic specs - Video/Ram/Processor?

Johnboy1951 · 31-01-2011 11:25AM

It would be nice to hear if anyone is able to use one of these dongles to view HD content while using a P4 CPU or older, regardless of ram or GPU.

fivestar · 31-01-2011 02:23PM

If there's an iditot's guide to this someone might put it up...

bk109 · 31-01-2011 06:32PM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

It would be nice to hear if anyone is able to use one of these dongles to view HD content while using a P4 CPU or older, regardless of ram or GPU.

Well,I am using a Turion RM74 dual-core,but for most tasks I'm running it with the max cpu limit at 50%,so it should be equivalent(at least in this mode) to a P4. Still,what's your GPU and RAM,because if you can offload at least some of the decoding from the CPU you should be able to watch HD on-the-fly without a problem
EDIT: I borrowed a Intel Atom-powered MSI Wind Netbook from a friend and again - RTE2 is running smoothly with the basic Win7 driver+ Media Center ..

vibe666 · 01-02-2011 01:12AM

well, finally managed to pick mine up from the post office today, but i'm not getting even a sniff of any signal at all in Navan.

tried a regular & advanced scan, but no joy.

steps to install were, assemble antenna, plug in usb, install drivers from CD (win7 x64), install BlazeTV from CD (which also re-installs the driver) and then did a channel scan choosing Ireland as my location, but its not finding anything.

maybe i'm just too far from the nearest antenna to get anything with the portable yoke. no fixed antenna on the roof tho, so not sure what to do about that.

ah well.

bk109 · 01-02-2011 02:26AM

Well,if your antenna is similar to this one ^ you might be able to screw on one of those telescopic antennas from an old radio or tv?
It should look somewhat like this -

vibe666 · 01-02-2011 09:58PM

bk109 wrote: »

Well,if your antenna is similar to this one ^ you might be able to screw on one of those telescopic antennas from an old radio or tv?
It should look somewhat like this -

yep, identical.

tried it at work today in cabinteely on an xp laptop and didn't have any luck there either, so maybe i'm doing something wrong, so i might have to go back through the thread and see if i missed something.

bk109 · 01-02-2011 10:33PM

vibe666 wrote: »

yep, identical.

tried it at work today in cabinteely on an xp laptop and didn't have any luck there either, so maybe i'm doing something wrong, so i might have to go back through the thread and see if i missed something.

That,or you've got a defective unit... I hope I'm wrong,but it's not exactly unheard-off when buying from chinese e-shops

(

Johnboy1951 · 01-02-2011 10:34PM

bk109 wrote: »

Well,I am using a Turion RM74 dual-core,but for most tasks I'm running it with the max cpu limit at 50%,so it should be equivalent(at least in this mode) to a P4. Still,what's your GPU and RAM,because if you can offload at least some of the decoding from the CPU you should be able to watch HD on-the-fly without a problem
EDIT: I borrowed a Intel Atom-powered MSI Wind Netbook from a friend and again - RTE2 is running smoothly with the basic Win7 driver+ Media Center ..

‎G71 [GeForce 7900 GT/GTO]
4GB RAM

The problem seems to be the old CPU to me, which is what I had in mind when I wondered if anyone had succeeded in getting the HD running with the P4.

Thanks for the ideas.

Johnboy1951 · 01-02-2011 10:35PM

vibe666 wrote: »

yep, identical.

tried it at work today in cabinteely on an xp laptop and didn't have any luck there either, so maybe i'm doing something wrong, so i might have to go back through the thread and see if i missed something.

Try it somewhere that you have access to an external (rooftop) aerial for the connection .... it may be just the signal when testing.

bk109 · 01-02-2011 10:55PM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

‎G71 [GeForce 7900 GT/GTO]
4GB RAM

The problem seems to be the old CPU to me, which is what I had in mind when I wondered if anyone had succeeded in getting the HD running with the P4.

Thanks for the ideas.

After a quick check - you should be able to offload HD processing to the GF,because you've got PureVideo, which is supported natively by Win7's WMC/WMP ,but it's also available in a way in VLC. Check if in the preferences the option to 'use gpu acceleration (experimental)' is enabled.

vibe666 · 01-02-2011 10:56PM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Try it somewhere that you have access to an external (rooftop) aerial for the connection .... it may be just the signal when testing.

yeah, i'll have to give it a shot at the in-laws at the weekend as i know they have a signal (and a roof antenna) that works so i'll know for sure then one way or another.

tried WM7, BlazeTV & MediaPortal with the regular included antenna at various angles (and out of the window) but no joy.

I've actually bought two of them and it was the other one I tried in Cabinteely, so I'll see again tomorrow with MediaPortal etc. at work as I'll be on a different site around Blanch anyways.

fingers crossed.

Johnboy1951 · 02-02-2011 12:11AM

bk109 wrote: »

After a quick check - you should be able to offload HD processing to the GF,because you've got PureVideo, which is supported natively by Win7's WMC/WMP ,but it's also available in a way in VLC. Check if in the preferences the option to 'use gpu acceleration (experimental)' is enabled.

I use VLC in Linux.

Yes I have tried with and without the GPU acceleration .... and also tried a 'overlay' option.
Same result regardless of options unfortunately

I will give another hunt through the options .... a huge number of them ..... to see if I find anything else, but honestly doubt I will find something I haven't yet tried.

Thanks again.

regards.

bk109 · 02-02-2011 12:30AM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I use VLC in Linux.

Yes I have tried with and without the GPU acceleration .... and also tried a 'overlay' option.
Same result regardless of options unfortunately

I will give another hunt through the options .... a huge number of them ..... to see if I find anything else, but honestly doubt I will find something I haven't yet tried.

Thanks again.

regards.

You might want check this thread out - http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=53928
I have to admit,I had forgotten that you were talking about VLC in Linux,so it was a bit more 'involved' than Windows (Though it's not as it used to be only 4-5 years ago).

Btw,I'd recommend trying out MythTV as a better alternative to VLC,because I've heard that it's a bit more efficient in processing HDTV live streams on the fly than VLC (maybe it's a better VDPAU implementation)

vibe666 · 02-02-2011 11:48AM

still no signal, even in Blanch.

one more test at teh in-laws before i give them up as faulty.

If anyone is curious about whether or not they can get a DTT signal in their location, you can check out the reception reports on the http://www.mpeg4ireland.com/map by clicking on your nearest antenna(s) then 'show reports' and clicking on the little blue pin nearest to your location and hit the little + icon at the top to show the full report.

it looks like you can get a signal in navan from a roof antenna with a booster, but that it appears to be a very good signal once you've done that. http://www.mpeg4ireland.com/map.php?report=1079

the time has come to get rid of sky altogether so it's time to get a roof antenna methinks, even if it means getting a different USB stick.

any recommendations?

Digital USB 2.0 DVB-T HDTV TV Tuner Recorder & Receiver

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