DVB-T + BDA + VLC

[KenS]

This looks odd. I take it you have a dual tuner.
VLC appears to be finding that both tuners are in use. Make sure no other application has them locked up.

[Freak]

Thanks for the reply, yeah not other applications have them in use...
(but all applications i've tried, work okay... Only VLC that i can't get working)

It is a DigitalNow Hybrid card Dual DVB-t and Dual Analogue, anyway ..

Anyway i can make it only use 1 tuner?

[KenS]

Whats happening is that VLC is setting up a graph on the first tuner. When it tries to run it, it finds that the tuner is in use so it closes the graph and builds a new one against the second tuner. It is finding that the second tuner is also in use so it closes that graph and looks for another DVB-T tuner. When it cannot find one it posts an error.
This is a feature because in my case I use Webscheduler to automatically record shows. But if I want to watch another show live with VLC I don't need to know which tuner Webscheduler is already using. VLC will automatically pick up the first one that is free. If both are in use VLC will not use either one so my recordings will not bomb out.
It looks like one of your other applications has both tuners permanantly locked up so I would suggest first to quit them before trying VLC again.

[Freak]

Obviously not much of a feature to me thus far.....

I can't see how another program would be accessing the Tuner, (is there a way to tell?)i have about a dozen DVB-T applications currently loaded, and all of them have worked with the Twin Tuners without a hiccup, so far....

I did unload and close any services that i thought may be interfering, but honestly i can't see anything that could be.

Basically i need a way to force VLC to use one of the Tuners, because for some reason it believes it cannot use it, but it can.

Anyway thanks for the reply.

[KenS]

The problem is not in focing use of a tuner - that's not how BDA works. VLC is picking up both tuners in turn and successfully building the graph. When it comes to running the graph it is also getting a successful return code when it checks the state of the graph but the state is not saying that the graph is running.

A couple of possibilities come to mind:
Do you have DirectShow 9 installed?
Driver may be returning the wrong state or not behaving as specified in the API

If you are able to compile VLC yourself then a trace in BDAGraph::Start() to check the graph state would be useful.

[Trollslayer]

Frequency is in kHz, bandwidth in MHz

The command above can be entered onto the Customize line on any File Open command

No need to select a channel - you get the lot. If playing live or streaming then select channel on the Navigate menu. If saving to file, try the :programs=<channels> option and the select="program=<id>" option for sout.

The module is called bda in the nightlies but under Preferences it shows as DVB as it is just a w32 replacement for the linux dvb module

Ken, by bandwidth do you mean the data rate?
Thanks.

[Trollslayer]

Here's my results so far:
- Audio is my biggest issue but that may be because it finds a number of audio devices including my bluetooth device and (I'm guessing here) trying to output to too many devices? Can I stipulate one with an "aout" switch?
- Video gets lots of "PTS out of range (xxxxx) dropping buffer" messahes as well as quite a few "Late picture skipped (xxxxx)" messages, and a few "Computed PTS out of range(xxxxxx), clearing out"
- To change channels, I have to hit the "Stop" button before closing VLC otherwise I get the same channel again even when I re-run VLC with a different frequency.
- In Brisbane (Australia), Channels 7 and 9 are OK, Channel 2 is a bit stuttery, and channel 10 almost unwatchable with very little smooth action. I don't know if this is a product of the audio/video combos that the stations are screening at present or smething else. Using/playing another DirectX program at the same time didn't change things for me.

I been using the command line:
vlc dvb-t:// :dvb-frequency=219500 :dvb-bandwidth=7 sout=#duplicate{dst=display} :sout-display-delay=1024 --verbose=2 --deinterlace-mode=bob --vout-filter deinterlace
as suggested (using verbose=2 for better messages).

I'll keep playing.

Any suggestions to improve viewing are welcome.

There is a Windows XP fix, KB896626, that fixes a bug introduced in SP2 which can cause stuttering.

[KenS]

Frequency is in kHz, bandwidth in MHz

The command above can be entered onto the Customize line on any File Open command

No need to select a channel - you get the lot. If playing live or streaming then select channel on the Navigate menu. If saving to file, try the :programs=<channels> option and the select="program=<id>" option for sout.

The module is called bda in the nightlies but under Preferences it shows as DVB as it is just a w32 replacement for the linux dvb module

Ken, by bandwidth do you mean the data rate?
Thanks.

If by data rate you mean symbol rate then no. Bandwidth is the bandwidth of the RF channel and is either 6MHz, 7MHz or 8MHz for DVB-T.

[KenS]

Here's my results so far:
- Audio is my biggest issue but that may be because it finds a number of audio devices including my bluetooth device and (I'm guessing here) trying to output to too many devices? Can I stipulate one with an "aout" switch?
- Video gets lots of "PTS out of range (xxxxx) dropping buffer" messahes as well as quite a few "Late picture skipped (xxxxx)" messages, and a few "Computed PTS out of range(xxxxxx), clearing out"
- To change channels, I have to hit the "Stop" button before closing VLC otherwise I get the same channel again even when I re-run VLC with a different frequency.
- In Brisbane (Australia), Channels 7 and 9 are OK, Channel 2 is a bit stuttery, and channel 10 almost unwatchable with very little smooth action. I don't know if this is a product of the audio/video combos that the stations are screening at present or smething else. Using/playing another DirectX program at the same time didn't change things for me.

I been using the command line:
vlc dvb-t:// :dvb-frequency=219500 :dvb-bandwidth=7 sout=#duplicate{dst=display} :sout-display-delay=1024 --verbose=2 --deinterlace-mode=bob --vout-filter deinterlace
as suggested (using verbose=2 for better messages).

I'll keep playing.

Any suggestions to improve viewing are welcome.

There is a Windows XP fix, KB896626, that fixes a bug introduced in SP2 which can cause stuttering.

Try the dvb-caching option. For my rather slow machine I need to use dvb-caching=1000 (1 second)

[bramt]

Hi guys! You are doing great work, but I just can't get it to work for me and I don't understand why. I have a DVICO Fusion DVB-T card with BDA drivers (it works fine in TS reader, ProgDVB etc), but no matter what parameters I set, it doesn't work, it only crashes.
I have tried a few different nightlies, most recently 28-6-7-0001. In the box in the open dialog I put
"vlc dvb-t:// :dvb-frequency=711500 :dvb-bandwidth=8" for the particular message/debug output below.

Code: Select all

main error: Reloading playlist not implemented. main debug: adding item `vlc' ( vlc ) main debug: rebuilding array of current - root Playlist main debug: rebuild done - 1 items, index -1 main debug: starting new item main debug: processing request item vlc node null skip 0 main debug: resyncing on vlc main debug: vlc is at 0 main debug: creating new input thread main debug: waiting for thread completion main debug: `vlc' gives access `' demux `' path `vlc' main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='vlc' main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate dvdnav warning: cannot open dvdnav main debug: creating access '' path='vlc' main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates vcd debug: trying .cue file: vlc.cue vcd debug: could not find .cue file access_directory debug: opening directory `vlc' access_directory error: vlc: No such file or directory access_file debug: opening file `vlc' access_file error: cannot open file vlc (No such file or directory) main debug: thread 4248 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:332) main debug: requesting art for vlc main debug: adding item `dvb-t://' ( dvb-t:// ) cdda debug: trying .cue file: vlc.cue cdda debug: could not find .cue file cdda warning: could not open vlc main error: open of `vlc' failed: could not create access: no suitable access2 module main debug: finished input main debug: dying input main debug: art not found for vlc main debug: dying input main debug: dying input main debug: dying input main debug: dead input main debug: thread times: real 0m0.109375s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s main debug: thread 4248 joined (input/input.c:469) main debug: starting new item main debug: changing item without a request (current 0/1) main debug: rebuilding array of current - root Playlist main debug: rebuild done - 2 items, index 0 main debug: using item 1 main debug: creating new input thread main debug: waiting for thread completion main debug: `dvb-t://' gives access `' demux `' path `dvb-t://' main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='dvb-t://' main debug: thread 4392 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:332) main debug: requesting art for dvb-t:// main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate dvdnav warning: cannot open dvdnav main debug: creating access '' path='dvb-t://' main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates vcd debug: trying .cue file: dvb-t://.cue vcd debug: could not find .cue file access_directory debug: opening directory `dvb-t://' access_directory error: dvb-t://: No such file or directory access_file debug: opening file `dvb-t://' access_file error: cannot open file dvb-t:// (Invalid argument) cdda debug: trying .cue file: dvb-t://.cue cdda debug: could not find .cue file cdda warning: could not open dvb-t:// main debug: retrying with access `' demux `' path `dvb-t://' main debug: creating access '' path='dvb-t://' main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates vcd debug: trying .cue file: dvb-t://.cue vcd debug: could not find .cue file access_directory debug: opening directory `dvb-t://' access_directory error: dvb-t://: No such file or directory access_file debug: opening file `dvb-t://' access_file error: cannot open file dvb-t:// (Invalid argument) cdda debug: trying .cue file: dvb-t://.cue cdda debug: could not find .cue file cdda warning: could not open dvb-t:// main error: open of `dvb-t://' failed: could not create access: no suitable access2 module main debug: art not found for dvb-t:// main debug: finished input main debug: dying input main debug: dead input main debug: thread times: real 0m0.109375s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s main debug: thread 4392 joined (input/input.c:469) main debug: starting new item main debug: changing item without a request (current 1/2) main debug: nothing to play

Any ideas what's going wrong?

[kmf31]

I am using dvb-t with vlc in Linux (where it works for some time already) and I suppose you need similar options.

I see two points which should adress:
1) I believe you need at least one option of type "--programs XXX"
or "--program XXX" where XXX is the number for your program (or in the other notation: ":program XXX" etc.)

2) For the frequency I would think you have to add three zeros, i.e.:

Code: Select all

:dvb-frequency=711500000

I think the units are in Hz and not Khz, at least if I compare with the options I use in Linux.


I am for example using something like:

Code: Select all

vlc --program 1537 --color --ttl 12 --ts-es-id-pid dvb:// --dvb-frequency=730167000 --dvb-bandwidth=8

but I do not know exactly in how far the options for dvb in VLC with Linux are different or identical with the new experimental dvb support of VLC for Windows.
(by the way I believe also the Linux-dvb support is still considered experimental even if it works very well for some time and in my case, already with vlc-0.8.5 since last year).

[bramt]

Nope, still crashes.

Also from what I've read in this thread, frequency is in kHz anyway.

[KenS]

Hi guys! You are doing great work, but I just can't get it to work for me and I don't understand why. I have a DVICO Fusion DVB-T card with BDA drivers (it works fine in TS reader, ProgDVB etc), but no matter what parameters I set, it doesn't work, it only crashes.
I have tried a few different nightlies, most recently 28-6-7-0001. In the box in the open dialog I put
"vlc dvb-t:// :dvb-frequency=711500 :dvb-bandwidth=8" for the particular message/debug output below.

Any ideas what's going wrong?

Try leaving out the "vlc" at the start
The frequency should be in kHz

[stevedee3]

Hi Ken,

I think something must have changed elsewhere in the VLC source tree that has broken Win32 BDA support. A binary search of the nightly builds shows that the 20070606-0810 and earlier releases work OK but 20070607-0000 and later releases no longer work. As far as I can tell, the BDA access module did not change between these two releases - I'm not sure what did though!

I used to be able to run (for example):

Code: Select all

vlc.exe dvb-t:// :dvb-frequency=219500 :dvb-bandwidth=7 :access-filter=timeshift

Hope this helps!

EDIT: add some log extracts

This is what happens for working builds:

Code: Select all

main debug: starting new item main debug: processing request item dvb-t:// node Playlist skip 0 main debug: resyncing on dvb-t:// main debug: dvb-t:// is at 0 main debug: creating new input thread main debug: waiting for thread completion main debug: thread 5828 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:331) main debug: requesting art for dvb-t:// main debug: art not found for dvb-t:// main debug: `dvb-t://' gives access `dvb-t' demux `' path `' main debug: creating demux: access='dvb-t' demux='' path='' main debug: looking for access_demux module: 0 candidates main warning: no access_demux module matched "dvb-t" main debug: creating access 'dvb-t' path='' main debug: looking for access2 module: 1 candidate bda debug: FindFilter: Connected THDTV DVB-t BDA Tuner Filter bda debug: FindFilter: Connected THDTV DVB-t BDA Capture Filter bda debug: FindFilter: Connected BDA MPEG2 Transport Information Filter bda debug: Register: registered Graph: VLC BDA Graph 0563e008 Pid 00000224 etc.

And this it what happens on the builds that don't work:

Code: Select all

main debug: starting new item main debug: processing request item dvb-t:// node Playlist skip 0 main debug: resyncing on dvb-t:// main debug: dvb-t:// is at 0 main debug: creating new input thread main debug: waiting for thread completion main debug: thread 4324 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:331) main debug: requesting art for dvb-t:// main debug: `dvb-t://' gives access `' demux `' path `dvb-t://' main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='dvb-t://' main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate dvdnav warning: cannot open dvdnav main debug: creating access '' path='dvb-t://' main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates vcd debug: trying .cue file: dvb-t://.cue vcd debug: could not find .cue file access_directory debug: opening directory `dvb-t://' access_directory error: dvb-t://: No such file or directory access_file debug: opening file `dvb-t://' access_file error: cannot open file dvb-t:// (Invalid argument) cdda debug: trying .cue file: dvb-t://.cue cdda debug: could not find .cue file cdda warning: could not open dvb-t:// main error: open of `dvb-t://' failed: could not create access: no suitable access2 module main error: option errors-dialog does not exist main debug: finished input main debug: dying input main error: option errors-dialog does not exist main debug: dead input main debug: thread times: real 0m0.000000s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s main debug: thread 4324 joined (input/input.c:468) main debug: starting new item main debug: changing item without a request (current 0/1) main debug: nothing to play main debug: art not found for dvb-t://

[kmf31]

Try leaving out the "vlc" at the start

I didn't even see that. Of course "vlc" is only to be used when starting it from a command line in a shell or similar.

The frequency should be in kHz

I just tested on Linux and apparantly here vlc accepts both: kHz or Hz. If the number is not reasonable in one unit vlc seems to chose the other unit.

[KenS]

Hi Ken,

I think something must have changed elsewhere in the VLC source tree that has broken Win32 BDA support. A binary search of the nightly builds shows that the 20070606-0810 and earlier releases work OK but 20070607-0000 and later releases no longer work. As far as I can tell, the BDA access module did not change between these two releases - I'm not sure what did though!

I used to be able to run (for example):

Code: Select all

vlc.exe dvb-t:// :dvb-frequency=219500 :dvb-bandwidth=7 :access-filter=timeshift

Hope this helps!

Indeed it does. In r20427 a change was made to restrict access/demux to letters, digits and slash only so the hyphen in "dvb-t", "dvb-c" and "dvb-s" is no longer valid. I have added shortcuts "dvbt", "dvbc" and "dvbs" whcih shoul dbe in the next nightly. Meantime the alternatives are "terrestrial", "cable" and "qpsk" respectively.

[bramt]

Thanks guys, I changed to 20070606 and it works :d

It works perfectly, except sometimes when tuning or changing channels the picture can stop, meaning the device needs to be reset using devcon. Unfortunately I can't follow how to get the device id string from the registry (it was posted on page 2 I think). There was a link to another forum, to get it using device manager, but I can't see it there either.

[stevedee3]

I'm happy to report that the most recent (vlc-0.9.0-svn-20070702-0000-win32.exe) build works using a command like:

Code: Select all

vlc.exe dvbt:// :dvb-frequency=226500 :dvb-bandwidth=7 :access-filter=timeshift

Thanks Ken.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I'm happy to report that the most recent (vlc-0.9.0-svn-20070702-0000-win32.exe) build works using a command like:

Code: Select all

vlc.exe dvbt:// :dvb-frequency=226500 :dvb-bandwidth=7 :access-filter=timeshift

Thanks Ken.

Good news.

Does dvb-t:// work too ?

[dionoea]

Indeed it does. In r20427 a change was made to restrict access/demux to letters, digits and slash only so the hyphen in "dvb-t", "dvb-c" and "dvb-s" is no longer valid. I have added shortcuts "dvbt", "dvbc" and "dvbs" whcih shoul dbe in the next nightly. Meantime the alternatives are "terrestrial", "cable" and "qpsk" respectively.

You could change it to accept hypens too. (As long as we dont accept ':' ...)

[stevedee3]

Does dvb-t:// work too ?

No. dvbt:// and terrestrial:// work; dvb-t// does not.

[terrypye]

I too have had success with getting DVBT working, on single or multiple programs, however streaming in other than default http is a bit of a problem, since transcode does not seem to work with the stream and crashes out VLC 9. I am using a late Jun 2007 version.

The parameters I use after the VLC command are

dvbt:// :dvb-frequency=177500 :dvb-bandwidth=7 :access-filter=timeshift :programs=1376 :sout=#duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ts,dst=:8080},select=program=1376}

This is Australian channel 7. You can leave out the programs=etc and ,select=program=etc if you want to select which program in the stream you want to use. programs=1376,1377,1380 etc allow you to select from a range of programs, you can only select one to stream and it must be in the list.

Other australian frequecies are

freq CH Program id's
177500 CH7 1376,1377,1378,1379,1380,1382
191625 CH9 1025,1030
219500 CH10 1665,1669,1671,1672,1673
226500 ABC 736,737,738,729,742,743
536500 SBS 800,801,802,803,814,815

In so far as streaming is concerned, all transcode usage causes a crash in VLC so I guesss that aspect is not yet working, any news on this.

For the people who want to stream to a DSM320, I assume you are using Tversity to do this. You need to pick up the stream in a version of VLC 8.6 (I use 8.6c) and pump it out using mmsh. The following commands will do it.
For VLC 9 to stream http

"C:/VLC-0.9.0/VLC.exe" dvbt:// :dvb-frequency=%1 :dvb-bandwidth=7 :access-filter=timeshift :programs=%2 :sout=#duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=ts,dst=:8080},select=program=%2}

Where %1 is the frequency you want to use and %2 is the program stream

For VLC 8.6c to receive and stream in mmsh to Tversity

"c:\program files\videolan\vlc\vlc.exe" -vvv http://terry:8080 sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=2048,scale=0.625,acodec=wma,ab=80,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=mmsh,mux=asfh,dst=Terry:1234}}

or in playlist form

#EXTM3U
#EXTVLCOPT:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=3072,scale=0.625,acodec=wma,ab=80,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=mmsh,mux=asfh,dst=:1234}}
http://terry:8080

Terry is my ip address or computer name on my lan.

You pick this up in Tversity as mmsh://terry:1234

THe scale factor is important, since HD TV has a rather large size and some resizing issues occur on the final stream if you leave it too much higher, scale=1 is ok on some. It also reduces cpu usage. The above (i have a compro dvbt 300 capture pci card) use about 80% of a dual 3400 hz Intel 950D, but results on DSM320 are great. Alternatively you can use a couple of cpu's and mix up the applications between them (VLC9, VLC8 and Tversity).

Hope someone can pour some light on the VLC 9 trancode problems since this would reduce overhead and the need to run 2 copies of VLC any attempts I have tried tend to result in a VLC 9 crash, I would like to use the parameters I have used in the VLC8.6 mmsh stream above.

Regards

[grobinson]

Terry,

This is great stuff! I've been trying for over 2 years to stream my Fusion dvb-t card to the DSM-320.

So, if I understand correctly, you are saying that you need to use the nightlies (VLC 9 which have DVB-T support) to stream to VLC 8.6c to stream (using mmsh) to TVersity to serve the DSM-320.

Like you I couldn't get TVersity (or anything else - graphedit, WMP) to pick up the http stream from VLC. WMP and graphedit will play the ts file recorded by VLC to the hard drive but won't play the same info streamed from VLC!

I'll have a go at replicating what you've achieved. That will at least be a major step forward. I was intrigued at your "HD" comment with channel 7 because channel 7 only uses 720p HD. Does the scale factor have to reduce further for 1080i HD?

Thanks again for your work.

Cheers,
Grant

[terrypye]

CH7 is ok, the 1080i channels need scaling, otherwise in 2nd VLC stream (8.9) aspect ration is less than 1 instead of 1.7 and picture looks thin when viewed on Windows Media Player using mms://ip address:port

[terrypye]

Sorry for VLC (8.9) read VLC (8.6) in previous post