DVB-S
From ArchWiki
| Article summary |
|---|
| Covers the setup and use of DVB-S (sat t.v.) cards on Arch Linux. |
| Important |
| This was only tested with the Pinnacle PCTV Sat, and may not work or won't help you with different cards. |
| Available in languages |
| Deutsch |
| English |
| Related articles |
| MythTV Walkthrough |
Contents |
[edit] Load required Modules
You have to lookup the chipset of your specific card;
Tools like lshwd may help you.
[edit] Pinnacle PCTV Sat
This card uses bt878 and cx24110 as chipset. Load them (under root) with:
modprobe dvb-bt8xx modprobe cx24110
If you want Arch to boot them on startup, add both modules to MODULES in /etc/rc.conf
[edit] Setup Permissions
To use your DVB-S card as user add him to the video-group:
gpasswd -a [username] video
[edit] Scanning channels
NOTE: You can skip this part if you use Kaffeine.
Most applications like szap or xine are needing a channel list created by "scan", which is part of dvb-utils.
You'll find the dvb-utils package under the name linuxtv-dvb-apps in the Community-Repo.
[edit] Using scan
scan needs an channel to initialize scanning.
In /usr/share/dvb-utils/scan/dvb-s/ are some files which contain these channels; you will need that one that fits the satellite you are watching from.
The following command will scan all channels and save them to channels.conf:
scan -x0 -t1 -s1 /usr/share/dvb-utils/scan/dvb-s/[your satellite] | tee channels.conf
NOTE: The channel file don't have to be called "channels.conf" but it's more convenient as you will see later.
NOTE: Depending on your satellite dish setup you may have to try other arguments.
[edit] Switching channels
By using zap, which comes with dvb-utils,
you can switch channels, so you don't have to rely on the abilities of your player.
szap needs the channel file we created earlier; it will try ~/.szap/channels.conf by default. You can move the channels.conf there or you can use the "-c" command-line option.
Switching channels works like this:
szap -r [channel]
NOTE: szap needs to keep running.
You can list all available channels with:
szap -q
Now you can watch the stream for example with xine:
xine -g stdin://mpeg2 < /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0
or with mplayer:
mplayer /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0
[edit] Software
[edit] Kaffeine
Kaffeine is a really nice player; it supports EPG, time-shifting, and recording. Additionally Kaffeine has built-in channel-searching. Install it with:
pacman -Sy kaffeine
[edit] Klear
Klear is also a really nice player; it supports EPG, time-shifting, and recording, videotext. Channel-searching is still missing.
Install it from AUR
[edit] Xine
Copy your channel file to .xine/channels.conf.
Watch a specific channel with following command:
xine dvb://[channel]
or use the playlist editor in Xine
[edit] Additional Resources
[edit] TV Cards in general
- Ubunutusers.de-Wiki (german)
[edit] Pinnacle Cards
- PinnacleFanBoard (german, but you can ask in english as well)