Sat>IP support

Channels DVR Server Feature Requests
#1

Hi

I currently have Channels DVR set up and running using a hdhomerun quatro and UK DVB-T2. All works well, but I find the hdhomerun generally slow at channels changes (both in channels, in the hdh app and via tvheadend).

I also have a digibit r1 sat->ip device set up with tvheadend and it works very well and is much quicker at channel changes, it also offers many more channels.

Is there any plans to implement sat->ip with channels DVR? It would open things up quite a bit as hdhomerun, outside of the US, are quite restrictive

2 Likes
SAT>IP Support / M3U file integration into Channels DVR
#2

i would totaly love that too!
Please implement that.
and make it able to take a m3u playlist file.

#3

Personally I would rather Channels stuck to OTA signals. IPTV and m3u is a murky world.

#4

UP ... any news on this? SAT->IP is an open standard that would be an awesome addition as a tuner source outside of the US!

#5

I finally gave up on Plex (not quite sure what the Plex DVR is smoking, but it's awful), switched to Channels - it passes the WAF, wife acceptance factor.

Using a Megasat Sat>IP box, into TVHeadend, then export the m3u from TVheadend into Telly..... then into Channels. Works remarkably well. Channel changing is perhaps a little slow, but acceptable.

Native Sat>IP suppport would be awesome, but this also works pretty well. The only downside, you have to enable all UK EPG sources (Freeview, National, Youview, etc) then manually match to your channels - only 1 or 2 on UK Freesat that don't seem to appear in Freeview/YouView.

1 Like
Could OrbyTV be supported via Sat>IP tuner
#6

Does your Megasat export its own m3u directly? You could feed that into telly directly and skip the tvheadend piece.

#7

Unfortunately not.

The SAT>IP client does not select a program from a server specific list/m3u, but has to specify the DVB reception parameters such as the signal source, frequency, polarisation, modulation system, etc.

So, TVheadend is required for this, until you support Sat>IP. :wink:

Really simple to enable the right ‘bouquet’ for your region in TVH, and it pulls in all the channels/ota epg if used etc.

#8

Can you email us the desc.xml from your megasat?

1 Like
#9

Will do - will need to look into it a bit, i.e what the full path is, it doesn't seem to respond on just port 80/8080 with /desc.xml

EDIT: For anyone else with a Megasat Server 3, it is http://IP:8000/description.xml

2 Likes
#10

there is a full developer documentation for sat->ip at http://www.satip.info/resources?tid=19 and http://www.satip.info/sites/satip/files/resource/satip_specification_version_1_2_2.pdf as it is an open, widely used and relatively easy standard it would be an awesome and amazing addition to the Channels DVR!

2 Likes
#11

I would LOVE to see Channels support the SAT>IP protocol! This would be a HUGE win for Channels customers outside the US:

  • SAT>IP is a widely supported standard and with lots of hardware available
  • TVE is unlikely to ever be available outside the US, so this would give additional choice
  • In the UK specifically it would be great because Freeview (over-the-air) reception can be limited by geography and/or channel choice (not all transmitters offer the full lineup)

I would think development/support would be largely similar to HDHR as it wouldn't require supporting lots of different hardware, just a single open protocol.

4 Likes
#12

Different sat>ip devices implement different parts of the spec. If you have a device please let us know the model and email us the xml description file.

#13

I don't have a sat>ip device yet, but I have a sat dish on the side of my house just itching to be put to good use. I've been looking at the Megasat 0600207 and the Telestar DIGIBIT R 1. Is there a model(s) that are preferred?

#14

I'm really happy with my Megasat 3 Server - which seems to be 'Megasat 0600207'. I've been using this for 3-4 years now, it doesn't give me any hassle, sits in the loft and 'does its thing'.

Whilst I appreciate not everyone is going to want to run TVHeadend, I think that what TVH does it actually does really well - previously I was running TVH, then OSMC/Kodi clients (with actual Sky remotes) but these were a pain in the rear. For a while I'd been looking to replace the OSMC aspect, which is more or less what I've done with Channels....albeit I ended up moving the DVR aspect as well.

I have a small Gigabyte Brix i7, with a USB 3.0 HDD, running TVH to talk to the Sat>IP server, then export the m3u from TVH to Telly... then into Channels (stable version, not beta). Been running this way for about a month, over Christmas period, and it's been pretty rock solid.

2 Likes
#15

I have the digibit R1. Did quite a bit of research before purchasing a couple of years ago and it seemed the most stable. It has 3 variants/names: IDL-400s/Grundig GSS.BOX/Telestar Digibit R1.

One big benefit was the ability to run minisatip via this custom firmware: https://github.com/perexg/satip-axe

#16

I decided on the Megasat 3 since it can expose 8 frontends when used with the right LNB. That will be plenty for our house. I ordered one from Germany (much cheaper than in the UK), and it will be here in the next week or so.

I have tvh/telly set up and configured with one of my HDHR tuners as a test and it's working perfectly, though I might need some help configuring tvh for sat>ip and grabbing the right channels, as I've never really played with that before. We'll see when it comes.

Hopefully Channels will have built-in sat>ip support in the future, as I'm sure the devs will make it much easier to set up than tvh. :slight_smile:

#17

Other than IP, and updating the firmware, pretty sure the only setting I set on the box was the LNB type - Quad (allowing 8 channels to be recorded concurrently) left over from multiple Sky+ boxes.

The Megasat is usually discovered automatically, need to make sure to enable each tuner (8) and assign to a network:

And the Astra network setup, I chose to disable the provider channel numbers, as I like to change these around from the default Freesat (putting the various channels and +1 variants next to each other, etc)

If you then enable the correct Bouquet and rescan the MUX/bouquet, it will pull in the right channels/variants for your region (Freesat start England SD/HD, as opposed to BSkyB for Sky)

But feel free to ping me if you need to.

1 Like
#18

Thanks for the screenshots! How easy is it to add other FTA channels that aren't in the Freesat bouquet (eg, Channel 4 HD etc)?

#19

Easy:

Config -> DVB Inputs -> Services -> Filter based on 'Service Name' for 'Channel 4 HD' then map it:

You can even filter services based on the 'Encrypted' status, i.e those you can map even if not part of the bouquet, I think there were one or two other +1 channels, not part of the standard Freesat set but are unencrypted so can be added.

But I disabled lots of channels - kids, QVC, radio, etc. I think I have about 80 ish channels in total, which I manually linked to the EPG in Channels (can send a list privately if you wish, as some of the EPG short-code names are a little obscure).

#20

Thank you, it took a while to figure it out but for users using the elgato netstream 4sat sat>ip server, the description.xml is located under http://IPaddress:81/description.xml

Just mailed it to the support email address, I hope that helps!

Thank you very much!