The VideoLAN Forums

Short version - see subject above

Long version ...
I'm currently running VLC 3.04 on Ubuntu 18.04 plus various other linux & MS Windows versions, all running off a Winfast "Gold" USB tuner stick. It works fine & I have a useful working DVB-T system. BUT I'd really like to select and play a specific TV channel from the command line. Can this be done ?

I'm based in Melbourne, Australia and to play ABC TV (our national broadcaster, commonly known as Channel 2) I can do
> vlc dvb-t:// frequency=226500000:bandwidth=7
and vlc displays the ABC "News" channel. Now "frequency" above correctly sets the ABC transponder frequency but based on that there are several other ABC TV "channels", or programs. Each of these has its own program number in the range 560 - 565. Some info on the net suggests I should able to specify a particular program on the command line, for example

>vlc dvb-t:// frequency=226500000:bandwidth=7:program=563

Bad luck ! - as before I just get the first channel in the transponder set. So ...

1. Is that supposed to work ?
2. Have I made some silly syntax error in there ?
3. Is there some other command line method of doing this ?

I can get to the channel I want through the VLC GUI - (Right click in TV screen -> Playback -> Program -> choose from list) but that's not what I want to do.
On the net I've found some convoluted methods involving playlists but at the moment I can't make them work and in any case they don't really do what I want either.
One good article on all that is at https://davidzou.com/articles/streaming ... t-with-vlc

So, as I said, does anyone have a command line recipe for this task ?

- JohnC,

Thanks, solved as per Rémi's post above.

Yes, silly syntax error as per 2 in my list. Correct syntax is

> vlc dvb-t:// frequency=226500000:bandwidth=7 :program=563

i.e :program= must be preceded by a space. OTOH, :bandwidth=7 must NOT

(How is a mere amateur supposed to know that ! ? )

Now I can make desktop short cuts to launch specific TV channels - and similar things.

- J

Be careful of spaces !

vlc dvb-t://frequency=226500000:bandwidth=7 :program=563

NO space in //frequency=