Freeview tuners and DVRs

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AlickW

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#275829 11-Sep-2020 15:57

kiwiyorkie:

Hi team

We have moved into a new house and have UFB and a sky Sat on the roof.

We stream everything, 10 laptops/pc's and 10 phones/pads etc, plus 4 smart Tv's.

Disney, Netflix, emby and amazon prime but no sky tv and freeview.

I would like to install a multi channel decoder in the network cabinet so the whole house can access freeview as I do not want to get three decoders for the TV's for example...

Any suggestions on how to set up our house so everyone can do their own thing much appreciated...

TIA

rb99

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#2562428 11-Sep-2020 16:05

Add a TV tuner to the device that has Emby ? Add Freeview iptv channels to Emby ?

rb99

AlickW

11 posts

Geek

#2562433 11-Sep-2020 16:17

AlickW:

kiwiyorkie:

Hi team

We have moved into a new house and have UFB and a sky Sat on the roof.

We stream everything, 10 laptops/pc's and 10 phones/pads etc, plus 4 smart Tv's.

Disney, Netflix, emby and amazon prime but no sky tv and freeview.

I would like to install a multi channel decoder in the network cabinet so the whole house can access freeview as I do not want to get three decoders for the TV's for example...

Any suggestions on how to set up our house so everyone can do their own thing much appreciated...

TIA

One option is an HDHomeRun DVB-T (terrestrial) TV tuner. Can live stream to VLC and Kodi. Streaming to VLC is particularly simple - no configuration is required. Can also stream to DVR devices. I have an HDHomeRun Connect Quatro. Works well.

Another option is a VBox Android TV Gateway. DVB-T (terrestrial) and DVB-S (satellite) models available. Can stream to VLC and Kodi. Can also function as a DVR, recording to external USB drive or NAS. Specs look good and the few reviews I found are positive.

@ AlickW

We have found a UHF aerial inside the roof! not on the roof but inside the attic... strangely...

Anyway will it make any difference to a sat dish?

Also are you recommending "HDHomeRun Connect Quatro" used in conjunction with Kodi software or a box?

Thanks Heaps

UHF will give you major channels in HD. Satellite will give you only SD on all channels.

The HDHomeRun Connect Duo and Quatro tuners can be used with VLC for live TV only, or with DVR software such as TVheadend or Emby on a PC or NAS for backend and Kodi or Emby as frontends.

AlickW

11 posts

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#2562436 11-Sep-2020 16:25

rb99:

Add a TV tuner to the device that has Emby ? Add Freeview iptv channels to Emby ?

@rb99 I support your suggestions.

Freeview IPTV channels (m38U) are a good alternative to a Freeview tuner. I tried this before a bought a HDHomeRun tuner, using using Matt Huisman's m3u8. However, the quality I got was only 720p. I wanted full HD (1080i).

sbiddle

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#2562446 11-Sep-2020 16:44

Even if you get an IP tuner it's not going to quite work like you want if you want true multichannel support, particularly if multiple people want to access the same stream.

Your have two real options that fit the requirements you've given -

1) current IP streams (which is by far the easiest considering you're not going to be able to tell the difference between the HD streams and the Freeview HD feed unless you have a big TV

2) multiple HD Homerun devices (remembering there are 4 x Freeview MUXs so you will need 2 x 2 channel devices) fed into a Windows box running Cast4ME which will take the individual streams from the MUX and rebroadcast on the network either as unicast, multicast, or to HLS on a local webserver

AlickW

11 posts

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#2562450 11-Sep-2020 16:51

For clarification, there are two current model consumer HDHomeRun DVB-T tuners: HDHomeRun Connect Duo (2 tuner) and HDHomeRun Connect Quatro (4 tuner).

rb99

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#2562452 11-Sep-2020 16:58

So you have a Homerun ? Have you tried that with Emby ?

(I live in dvb-s land so don't about particular models)

rb99

AlickW

11 posts

Geek

#2562453 11-Sep-2020 17:16

I have an HDHomeRun Quatro. I run Tvheadend backend on a Synology NAS, with Kodi as frontend on TV, Macbook, phone and tablet.

I have installed and tried both Emby and Plex on my NAS with Emby and Plex apps respectively as frontends. I linked to recordings from Tvheadend; I did not configure the HDhomeRun as a TV device as this requires a paid subscription.

As a frontend for a TV recorder, I much prefer Kodi over Emby and Plex so I uninstalled Emby and Plex. I am happy to expand about this preference.

sbiddle

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#2562454 11-Sep-2020 17:18

Since you're now talking about very different requirements (adding the ability to record) have you looked at NextPVR? It's vastly superior in many ways to the options you've given, even if you want to use Kodi as the frontend.

AlickW

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#2562455 11-Sep-2020 17:23

I did indeed consider NextPVR. I am very aware that it gets positive reviews. However, I have a one-bay Synology DS118 NAS (based on RTD1296) which does not officially support Docker.

rb99

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#2562475 11-Sep-2020 18:06

At the moment I actually use NextPVR to feed TV to Emby. Am also having a quick experiment with MrMC as a front end to Emby as a cut down alternative to Kodi. Much as I like options, even I think Kodi overdoes it a bit.

rb99

fe31nz

597 posts

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#2562715 11-Sep-2020 23:05

sbiddle:

Even if you get an IP tuner it's not going to quite work like you want if you want true multichannel support, particularly if multiple people want to access the same stream.

Your have two real options that fit the requirements you've given -

1) current IP streams (which is by far the easiest considering you're not going to be able to tell the difference between the HD streams and the Freeview HD feed unless you have a big TV

2) multiple HD Homerun devices (remembering there are 4 x Freeview MUXs so you will need 2 x 2 channel devices) fed into a Windows box running Cast4ME which will take the individual streams from the MUX and rebroadcast on the network either as unicast, multicast, or to HLS on a local webserver

Correction: There are 5 FreeviewHD DVB-T muxes: TVNZ, MediaWorks, Kordia 1, Kordia 2, Maori. Generally, 4 DVB-T tuners is sufficient for normal use as it is very rare to get something that is wanted on all 5 muxes at once. For those of us who are not Maori speakers, the Maori channel often has good movies and documentaries, so do not dismiss it as unnecessary.

TVHeadEnd on a Linux box is a good option for both broadcasting the tuners around the house and for recording. With TVHeadEnd there is no need for (more expensive) network tuners as it does all the network protocols required, including SAT>IP. You do not need a powerful PC for this as long as you only want to play the data as recorded (no re-encoding). So if you have an old Windows box that is too small for Windows 10 languishing in a corner somewhere, as long as it has 4 Gibytes of RAM it will work just fine for this job. There is no need for a monitor, mouse and keyboard except for initial installation - it can be set up as a remote controlled server box. If you want to do lots of recording, then factor in one hard drive per 2-3 simultaneous recordings. The hard drives must be CMR, not shingled (SMR).

https://tvheadend.org

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2562744 12-Sep-2020 08:50

fe31nz:

Correction: There are 5 FreeviewHD DVB-T muxes: TVNZ, MediaWorks, Kordia 1, Kordia 2, Maori. Generally, 4 DVB-T tuners is sufficient for normal use as it is very rare to get something that is wanted on all 5 muxes at once. For those of us who are not Maori speakers, the Maori channel often has good movies and documentaries, so do not dismiss it as unnecessary.

You could run into issues with fast channel switching if you have only four tuners and five muxes. I have two HDHomeRun devices, one dual and one quad. Channels are mapped to tuners in Tvheadend by frequency (mux), ensuring a tuner is always available. I do this because other software I tried over the years wasn't so smart and would use multiple tuners for a single mux unnecessarily.

webwat

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#2573128 23-Sep-2020 23:37

So you can't put up a UHF aerial for freeview I presume. I ended up forgetting about UHF and just using internet for everything over a chromecast-ultra (the hard wired one), and have a phone that just has all the apps on it and functions as my TV remote.

Time to find a new industry!

openmedia

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#2573131 24-Sep-2020 00:05

One problem with domestic FTA IPTV is Three's video quality is still ridiculously low.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC a Technology Evangelist and Product Manager. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.