Pros and cons of standalone FTA receivers vs. backend system with DVB-S2 tuners

[T134]

I tried to install a packet sniffer on android. Everytime i did so, the big2small and amiko apps wouldn't work. UGH! If someone finds a combination that works, post it.

I just ran the packet capture in my first post and the Amiko App from our Appstore on A3 together. No idea if the Amiko App actually does live tv on the A3 (I don't have a Mini SE hooked up to test) but both Apps ran. A3 runs 4.2.2 Jellybean.

Just to double check I pushed both Apps from Google Play to my One Plus One running Cyanogen 4.4.4 KitKat. Both also run at the same time no problem.

Sorry I don't have much time to really get involved in the project right now or I'd dissect exactly what ALi is doing myself and get it working with VLC and MXPlayer.

 

[N6BY]

I tried to install a packet sniffer on android. Everytime i did so, the big2small and amiko apps wouldn't work. UGH! If someone finds a combination that works, post it.

It sounds like its time for me to get out my ethernet tap (a hardware device made by DualComm).

Will let you know what I find.

 

[N6BY]

I've got the ethernet tap setup and am now watching packets fly by in WireShark while the Mini HD is running the YouTube App.

However, I haven't been able to get big2small to work on my android phone.

I am guessing that big2small can't locate the Mini HD on my local network. Will try some more after I catch some very needed sleep.....

 

[N6BY]

I finally got Big2Small running on my wife's android phone and am capturing the sessions with WireShark. I'm looking at the protocol now.

 

[FTA4PA]

I finally got Big2Small running on my wife's android phone and am capturing the sessions with WireShark. I'm looking at the protocol now.

If you find a way to get this working on a PC you'll be revered far and wide!

 

[N6BY]

Here is a WireShark capture of Big2Small requesting to start a stream.

Here is the interesting part I extracted from a couple of packets:

rtsp://192.168.2.101:554/?alisatid=16&freq=3780&pol=v&msys=dvbs2&mtype=8psk&ro=0.35&plts=on&sr=29999&fec=0&camode=0&vpid=520&apid=781,782,783,784&ttxpid=8191&subtpid=8191&pmt=267&prognumber=12&pids=520,781,782,783,784,8191,8191,520,267

rtsp://192.168.2.101:554/stream=1

In the first 'rtsp' Big2Small is using port 554 and 'GET' style request parameters to specify what I requested to watch. In this case it was NBC West on C-Band.

The second one is the PLAY stream command.

 

[waylew]

Just me or has this thread gotten a wee bit ,oh and I vote for STB.

 

[updatelee]

Here is some screenshots of why I love PC tuners. I have 16 tuners in my PC btw.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7PjDRC3SaJxbnZxR2Y4VTlEWXM&authuser=0
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7PjDRC3SaJxYVZDdERKLUNMV0U&authuser=0

This is in Linux using my software, updateDVB, its 100% opensource. You can see in the background a spectrum scan, this helps you find tp much faster than blindscan (which updateDVB supports as well). Once tuned it analyzes the signal and parses everything so you can see it. It even looks for PIDS that arent assigned to anything, like in the second picture. Its a SD feed that isnt in the PMT/PAT or anywhere else. A STB will miss this every single time. every STB will.

UDL

 

[N6BY]

Here is some screenshots of why I love PC tuners. I have 16 tuners in my PC btw.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7PjDRC3SaJxbnZxR2Y4VTlEWXM&authuser=0
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7PjDRC3SaJxYVZDdERKLUNMV0U&authuser=0

This is in Linux using my software, updateDVB, its 100% opensource. You can see in the background a spectrum scan, this helps you find tp much faster than blindscan (which updateDVB supports as well). Once tuned it analyzes the signal and parses everything so you can see it. It even looks for PIDS that arent assigned to anything, like in the second picture. Its a SD feed that isnt in the PMT/PAT or anywhere else. A STB will miss this every single time. every STB will.

UDL

Very cool, I wish I had seen this earlier. Too bad that the standalone FTA receivers are not open source too. Then we could spend our time improving/modifying it instead of analyzing video streams.

updatelee, where did you order your TBS5925 and do you think your software will work on the newer TBS6983?

Also, how would you feel if someone wanted to port your software to the Mac platform? I ask this because many potential users are intimidated by Linux.

 

[N6BY]

updatelee, in my previous post I was asking about the possibility of porting updateDVB to Mac. But Macs since don't have PCI slots that won't work, oops. We would be stuck with Windows, unless updateDVB supports USB based tuners.

 

[dotbatman]

So I know this thread is derailed and all, but I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring. I'm using Windows Media Center and DVBLogic TVSource and it works great for regularly scheduled stuff. There isn't any blindscan, but once I get signal parameters from another source, I'm all set and can add it in and have it up in a few minutes. This way I have both OTA and FTA on the same setup. I'm using Xbox 360s for extenders. Xboxes don't work for 4:2:2, but I'm able to get 4:2:2 working on the PC itself.

 

[N6BY]

Just me or has this thread gotten a wee bit ,oh and I vote for STB.

So I know this thread is derailed and all, but I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring. I'm using Windows Media Center and DVBLogic TVSource and it works great for regularly scheduled stuff. There isn't any blindscan, but once I get signal parameters from another source, I'm all set and can add it in and have it up in a few minutes. This way I have both OTA and FTA on the same setup. I'm using Xbox 360s for extenders. Xboxes don't work for 4:2:2, but I'm able to get 4:2:2 working on the PC itself.

I'm sorry for my off topic posts here. We moved that discussion to another thread on 12/18.

... For what its worth, my preference would be for an open-source standalone FTA receiver, if it existed. So for now I've got my sights set on a TBS6983 card which appears to have lots of source code available for customization.

 

[beavs2112]

i prefer pcie/usb tuners. as the OP said in post 1 once you get them working to your satisfaction (not necessarily easy) they will tune & demodulate & display most programs. most stbs wont directly display 4:2:2 chroma signals while pcie/usb tuners will. no hobbyist fta stb that I know of will tune/demodulate/display a high datarate MPEG4 DVBS2 8PSK H.265 signal but some pc/pcie tuner combos will. Also most pcie/usb tuners will (99.9% of stbs don't) produce some sort of RF signal spectrum display which IMHO is a very nice feature.

 

[waylew]

I'm sorry for my off topic posts here. We moved that discussion to another thread on 12/18.

... For what its worth, my preference would be for an open-source standalone FTA receiver, if it existed. So for now I've got my sights set on a TBS6983 card which appears to have lots of source code available for customization.

Not a problem,it was just the streaming topic had gotten bigger than the original topic.Plus others who may be interested in that may not have seen it in this thread.
And I've been known to ,,er,,stray from the original path on occasion .

 

[N6BY]

Not a problem,it was just the streaming topic had gotten bigger than the original topic.Plus others who may be interested in that may not have seen it in this thread.
And I've been known to ,,er,,stray from the original path on occasion .

I was not offended because what you said was quite true.

This thread has convinced me to get a PCI tuner card. I'm wondering if anyone else here plans to dump their standalone(s) for a tuner card.

 

[KE4EST]

Never gonna dump my stand alone, but I do want to get a tuner card. Messed with one a few years ago, but nothing recent. I too want to get one again and experiment with it.

 

[Cham]

I would like something like the TBS 6925... Close to the price of a new Amiko, but one has to consider the supporting equipment required like motherboard, processor, video card, sound card, etc.... A G-note can disappear really quickly for some decent stuff there...!

 

[FTA4PA]

I won't get rid of my STB for regular viewing but I'm definitely wanting to look at a card for my computer.

 

[fred555]

My interest in tuner cards was peeked a while back. This post reignited my interest. On Rick's site there is a section about using tuner cards to receive IP streams from satellites, "IPTV streams" section I believe its called. The problem is there is no explanation for newbies on his site that I can find.

Does anyone know where I can find a good write up about receiving satellite IP streams for dummies?

Is there a single card to receive both IP and DVB?

 

[Cham]

I think as long as the card is capable of receiving that particular modulation (qpsk, 8psk, 16psk, etc) the rest is in the software, IP or the various flavours of DVB.
With 4K H265 coming, not sure how long it will be before STBs have this capability. The only thing I am worried about is spending $300 on a card and they decide to add another modulation format that is not compatable with current cards/STBs. Then again, this hobby is ever changing and by the time we see something like that it will be time for another upgrade anyway.