ATSC Tuning on Windows OS

[huygens1962]

I have been picking through the forums, looking for a way to configure VLC to access my tuner card for viewing. It is a DVICO FusionHDTV Express 5.

I have seen bits & pieces scattered in many threads, some referring to a channels.conf file and others referring to command line methods. I am having little success with either method and am unsure how to proceed.

Media ---> Open Capture Device shows me a tab where I can select DVB DirectShow as a capture mode, ATSC as the type and an advanced options button. The mouseover hints on the fields in this tab all seem to be in a Linux context, referring to device file names in /dev/dvb ... which of course don’t exist on Windows.

I have also seen references to the ATSC module not being enabled in certain builds. I think my first step is to find out if this module is indeed enabled in the Windows download.

I am running 1.1.11, compiled on Jul 14 2011 14:03:02 (the installer package, not the ZIP or 7Zip).

TIA

[VLC_help]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1357120
might work.

[huygens1962]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1357120
might work.

It does! I added those parameters to the desktop shortcut and voila! Thanks!

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vlc atsc:// :dvb-modulation=8VSB --program=3 --dvb-physical-channel=14

Seems sort of clunky though to have to use a different command line for each channel / subchannel.

[VLC_help]

You should be able to add all channels to one playlist.

[huygens1962]

I am a bit confused as to how to do that.

I tried setting up a channels.conf file by hand, but I can’t get any of the channels to play.

When I use the command line format, there is the single hard-coded channel in my playlist with the location atsc:// and tons of detail on the codec tab.
When I try to set up a channels.conf file, all the channels have the location dvb:// and there is no codec info.

My hand-crafted channels.conf:

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WHDF:470000000:8VSB:14:15:3 WHNT1:500000000:8VSB:19:19:1 AntennaTV:500000000:8VSB:19:19:2 WHIQ:530000000:8VSB:24:25:3 APT-IQ:530000000:8VSB:24:25:4 Create:530000000:8VSB:24:25:5 WAAY:578000000:8VSB:32:31:1 WZDX:632000000:8VSB:41:54:3 WAMY:632000000:8VSB:41:54:4 WAFF:680000000:8VSB:49:48:1 THIS:680000000:8VSB:49:48:2

[VLC_help]

I mean, add entries to xspf playlist. So when you have the one channel opened, save the current playlist, then edit it.

[huygens1962]

I mean, add entries to xspf playlist. So when you have the one channel opened, save the current playlist, then edit it.

OK, I started VLC with this command line:

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F:\VideoLAN\vlc.exe atsc:// :dvb-modulation=8VSB --program=3 --dvb-physical-channel=14

Which streams a channel from the tuner card.

I went to Media ---> Save Playlist to File... and saved the playlist.

Here it is:

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <playlist version="1" xmlns="http://xspf.org/ns/0/" xmlns:vlc="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/playlist/ns/0/"> <title>Playlist</title> <trackList> <track> <location>atsc://</location> <extension application="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/playlist/0"> <vlc:id>0</vlc:id> <vlc:option>dvb-modulation=8VSB</vlc:option> </extension> </track> </trackList> <extension application="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/playlist/0"> <vlc:item tid="0" /> </extension> </playlist>

I don’t see anything in there that has any specifics on the channel. And no matter which channel I start up from the command line, I get this identical xspf.

[VLC_help]

Does it work better if you use :program=3 :dvb-physical-channel=14 ?

[huygens1962]

Does it work better if you use :program=3 :dvb-physical-channel=14 ?

That’s the only way it works - one ATSC stream at a time via command line.

[VLC_help]

I mean does it save those parameters to playlist if you use it like that?

[huygens1962]

I mean does it save those parameters to playlist if you use it like that?

OK I get it now - you used colons instead of dashes in the command line. My bad.

Here’s the playlist.xspf that I get when I use colons instead of dashes, i.e.

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F:\VideoLAN\vlc.exe atsc:// :dvb-modulation=8VSB :program=3 :dvb-physical-channel=14

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <playlist version="1" xmlns="http://xspf.org/ns/0/" xmlns:vlc="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/playlist/ns/0/"> <title>Playlist</title> <trackList> <track> <location>atsc://</location> <extension application="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/playlist/0"> <vlc:id>0</vlc:id> <vlc:option>dvb-modulation=8VSB</vlc:option> <vlc:option>program=3</vlc:option> <vlc:option>dvb-physical-channel=14</vlc:option> </extension> </track> </trackList> <extension application="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/playlist/0"> <vlc:item tid="0" /> </extension> </playlist>

BUT

When I start VLC with no command line options and open this playlist, the stream will not play.
When I right-click on the line in my Playlist and select Information, and then look at the Codec Details tab, it is empty.

So it seems something in the command-line is necessary.

I also tried starting with the command-line above and then opening a playlist.xspf that specified a different channel.
In this case, there were two entries displayed in the Playlist window. The channel specified on the command-line played; the channel specified in the xspf did not play.

[VLC_help]

Then there might a bug in playlist options (maybe one of those options isn't marked as safe one).