ITE Technologies, Inc. DVB-T TV Stick [success report]

[Juergen Lock]

On Mon, Oct 07, 2013 at 09:25:35AM +0200, Milan Obuch wrote:
> On Sun, 6 Oct 2013 20:33:52 +0200
> Juergen Lock <nox at jelal.kn-bremen.de> wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, Oct 06, 2013 at 05:42:41PM +0200, Milan Obuch wrote:
> > > On Mon, 9 Sep 2013 22:06:42 +0200
> > > Juergen Lock <nox at jelal.kn-bremen.de> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > On Mon, Sep 09, 2013 at 09:30:44AM +0200, Milan Obuch wrote:
> > > > > On Sun, 8 Sep 2013 22:11:37 +0200 (CEST)
> > > > > Juergen Lock <nox at jelal.kn-bremen.de> wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > 
> > > [ snip ]
> > > 
> > > > > >  Btw is this a dual tuner i.e. do you get /dev/dvb/adapter0
> > > > > > and 1? If yes you might want to test if it can really use
> > > > > > both tuners or if that causes stream corruptions like with my
> > > > > > af9035 tuner.  To test this play two channels from different
> > > > > > muxes, for example using vdr-plugin-streamdev in parallel
> > > > > > with watching one channel via vdr-sxfe, or play two channels
> > > > > > from different muxes both via streamdev.
> > > > > >
> > > > > 
> > > > > Yes it is dual tuner, which was one reason I got this one
> > > > > insted of some cheaper single tuner. I have not yet cable
> > > > > comfortably available so I can not do much tests, but I will
> > > > > try some time later. How will such corruption manifest itself?
> > > > > I saw on some DVB-T STB some artifacts, square areas affected
> > > > > when signal was weaker or disturbed, but could this be somehow
> > > > > distinguished?
> > > > > 
> > > > Yes that's what it looks like, you can watch the uncorrected error
> > > > count via vdr-plugin-femon (UNC) provided the tuner driver reads
> > > > out that info, if it does and it's non-zero artefacts are caused
> > > > by a too weak/corrupted signal.  There also is the BER value that
> > > > some more drivers read out, that can be nonzero and yet the errors
> > > > may be correctable, but if it's constantly zero you can assume
> > > > video corruptions aren't caused by the antenna signal.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > I am trying to test dual channel receiving, I did not find good
> > > description how I should configure second receiver...
> > 
> > vdr should pick up the second tuner automagically so there's no
> > need to configure it explicitly.
> >
> 
> OK, I supposed it, just good to have it confirmed. But, what I need to
> find, is how it will be started to use... I hope I will figure that out.
> 
> > > when I changed IP
> > > in vdr_flags from 127.0.0.1 to real one, it works locally but
> > > trying to run vdr-sxfe on another box does not work, I got just
> > > kernel crash and reboot.
> > 
> >  Whoops!  I suppose you need to collect a backtrace of that panic...
> >
> 
> It is a bit harder, it looks like this is on a bit screwed box. So I
> need to test it on another, fully working box, which takes some time to
> prepare.
> 
> > >  I was under impression vdr-sxfe run with argument
> > > xvdr://IP.of.the.server should just work, which is not the case.
> > 
> >  You may need to allow you subnet in:
> > 
> > 	/usr/local/etc/vdr/plugins/xineliboutput/allowed_hosts.conf
> >
> 
> This I did already, otherwise it was reported as not allowed or
> somesuch.
> 
> > >  How should I test streamdev plugin?
> > 
> >  Make sure streamdev is enabled in vdr_flags, then just point some
> > player like vlc at one of the streamdev channels, like:
> > 
> > 	vlc http://127.1:3000/1
> > 
> >  (the last 1 there is the channel number.)
> > 
> >  You can also point a browser at:
> > 
> > 	http://127.1:3000/
> > 
> > to get a channel list.
> >
> 
> This interface is working, and I am able to watch one channel via
> vdr-sxfe, the second one via vlc. Yupeeee! So this device definitely
> works in dual channel mode...

That's definitely good news.

>  I will try to watch it via vlc remotely -
> on other box, via network... but it requires a bit of time to prepare
> (see above :) ).
> 
> >  If you want to test the second tuner make sure the channel is on
> > another mux than the one you're watching in vdr-sxfe or both will be
> > received by only one tuner...
> >
> 
> Yes, that's clear to me. I understand the concept of muxed streams.
> 
> >  Oh and there can only be one channel and osd shown by vdr-sxfe, even
> > if you connect more than one vdr-sxfe instances over the network,
> > that's why I suggested streamdev for testing the second tuner.
> > 
> > > I would expect it should be configured this plugin in vdr_flags...
> > 
> >  Yep.
> > 
> > > Also, what about femon plugin? How should it be used?
> > > 
> >  It shuold put an entry in the vdr osd main menu, just select that.
> > BER and UNC (if available) readings for the currently playing channel
> > will be shown in the top display.
> >
> 
> Do you mean pressing Tab? Here I see Devices column at the right side.
> Is that displaying it?
> 
 Pressing tab and then selecting "Signal Information" via cursor down
and then pressing OK. (return)

 Or if there is a digit before a main menu entry you can also press that.

> > > On https://wiki.freebsd.org/VDR, there is some menu mentioned. When
> > > I use vdr-sxfe, there is no menu. Where is menu mentioned on wiki
> > > located and how could it be accessed?
> > 
> >  If you use the default /usr/local/etc/vdr/remote.conf installed
> > by the vdr-plugin-xineliboutput port (you can look at that file!)
> > then the menu is on the tab and insert keys in the vdr-sxfe (or
> > softhddevice) osd.
> >
> 
> Ahh, finally figured that out! It happened I did not test pressing Tab
> key until now in vdr-sxfe... Anyway, thanks for pointing to the config
> file, I understand it now much better. It was just some blind testing
> before...
> 
> > >  This is not clear at all from what's written there...
> > > 
> >  Hmm...
> >
> 
> Or I was just blind looking here, but surely putting on this page
> something like short paragraph 'Accessing OSD menu - You should press
> Tab key' would make it clear. In my eyes this is a key information and
> should be properly highlighted here. Even if it seems now a bit
> overkill, it would saved me a bit of headache :)
> 
 Hm actually I see I already have this, that's not enough?  Quote:

`I have put the menu button on the tab and insert keys and OK on the return key, see

    /usr/local/etc/vdr/remote.conf

for the full keybindings list.'

 (Under: `Controlling the OSD: Keyboard (not for XBMC-PVR)'.)

> > > Otherwise, it looks this device works well for usual watching, I
> > > need to find how to do some recording (not only pressing R key in
> > > vdr-sxfe) and how to play recorded program back.
> > > 
> >  You can either check the epg via the osd (on screen display, Menu
> > -> Schedule, or Menu -> Program guide if you enabled the extrecmenu
> > plugin) in vdr-sxfe and hit Red (F4) to record the selected show,
> > or you can use the live web plugin if you enabled that, by pointing
> > a browser at:
> > 
> > 	http://127.1:8008/
> > 
> >  (Default login/pw is admin/live as mentioned on the wiki.)
> > 
> 
> I figured it out from wiki, this web plugin is just great. I feel it
> could be a primary interface for all my needs.
> 
> There is just one big issue remaining - character encoding in all
> output, be it info text displayed when 'I' is pressed in OSD, short
> text displayed when channels are switched with 'up' or 'down' cursor
> key, or anything in web live interface. In slovak language (or czech,
> as czech TV is watched here quite often as well) we use a lot of
> various accented characters. All of them are displayed as ?a in OSD
> display (while it could be a with umlaut or accent grave - two various
> sounds actually), in web live they are displayed as Âa instead of á as
> it should be. I did not have any experience with writing accented
> characters short of copy-and-paste method, so solving this may be
> obvious, too, I just have no idea, how.
> 
 This might just be a missing LANG setting, see the wiki under
`Troubleshooting': `If the osd shows non-ASCII chars as '?' ...'

> So, basically, I am quite impressed with VDR and its web live plugin,
> my DVB-T stick seems to be just working really well. Thanks for your
> support.
> 
> Regards,
> Milan
> 
 You are welcome! :)
	Juergen