Does your HDHR support satellite signals? Then you should be good to go. Other than that, if you want any Freesat channels that you can't get with an arial, you'll have to get another device
No it doesn't unfortunately. That was my question really - is there a more cost effective way of passing Sat/IP to Channels.
There was the option of a Digibit Twin, made by Telstar. At one point these were on Amazon but I couldnât find them just now. They also make an R1 which is a 4 tuner unit, but eBay is probably the only source. Megasat also make some models however only eBay for these as theyâre discontinued as far as I can tell.
I did look into using a Linux based set top box as these are ubiquitous and more main stream and run minisatip or something similar on it but didnât go that route in the end.
Unfortunately itâs not a plug and play system, however is it really good. But thatâs probably why it hasnât succeeded in the way the Freeview HDHomerun boxes have.
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I have a digibit, its rubbish.
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I did spot a few posts on the Vbox XTi-4134 Android TV Gateway. The satellite variant looks like it can output an m3u file and EPG which I wonder would work with Channels. Definitely more cost effective but I can't find any user cases for it actually working with Channels.
@alex_m was that the Linux based box you were looking at?
Yes that was the other box I looked at - I would wager the m3u would be fine, part of your channels subscription would provide much better EPG data and you can map the channels.
Regarding the Linux based satellite receiver, I think it was a Vu box. There may be others, take a look at support by minisatip and SATPI applications as they support a lot of architectures.
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Digibit R1 with Tvheadend ( in docker) work with no issues for years for me
I've recently tried one and ended up sending it back. It has some potential but the firmware needs work especially as their frequency list for Astra 28.2 contains a lot of errors which meant manually entering a lot of it. It crashed quite a few times while I was trying to set it up. Their support was poor and didn't seem to understand the issue. I had a real fight to get a my money back too, because although they use a .co.uk website, they actually seem to be based in Israel and Czechia. Check out their returns page if you want a masterclass in trying to override consumer law!
Having said all that, I did get it to work with channels using its M3U output, but it was an uphill struggle.
So quick update from me.
I bought a ZGemma H7S and have it working via TVHeadend. I did manage to get it working directly with the box using the exported M3U8 playlist from Openwebif but found some channels would just stop working. Used the guide on this forum to get the Freesat channels running in TVHeadend and then passed the M3U and EPG over to Channels from there.
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Nice. I use the channels guide data and find it to be visually rich with photos etc, however for the UK, it's got americanized terms which one can't change so that's a shame.
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Can you install TVH on the ZGemma, or is it running on a server elsehwere?
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Sorry should have mentioned that. It's running on my Synology in Docker. I used SatPi on the ZGemma which exposes it to TVHeadend.
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Octopus NET SL M4 with Channels DVR (Astra 28.2 UK FTA) â anyone running this long-term?
Hi all,
I'm in Ireland building a Sky Q replacement. Current setup: HDHomeRun Flex 4K for Saorview (terrestrial), feeding Channels DVR Server on a Windows 11 box (Beelink SER9, Ryzen 7).
I'm about to add a Digital Devices Octopus NET SL M4 (4-tuner DVB-S2 SAT>IP server) to pull in UK FTA channels (BBC One/Two HD, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, regional NI variants) from Astra 28.2°E, via a hybrid LNB with spare universal outputs. Plan is to feed it into Channels DVR as a Custom Channels/M3U source, running alongside the HDHomeRun rather than replacing it.
Before I buy, a few questions for anyone with real-world experience:
Is anyone running an Octopus NET (any model) with Channels DVR long-term? How's reliability, any crashes, resets needed, or does it just sit there and work?
Does the Octopus NET's own web interface generate a clean M3U/EPG directly usable by Channels, or do you still need TVHeadend/DVBViewer as a middle step to get a usable playlist?
Any gotchas with keeping the Astra 28.2 channel list current as frequencies/lineups shift over time?
Roughly what channel-change latency are you seeing through Channels with this box (older Digibit R1 threads mention ~9-10 seconds over HTTP, curious if Octopus NET is faster)?
Trying to build something reliable enough that my wife doesn't notice the difference from Sky, so any first-hand experience, good or bad, genuinely appreciated before I spend the money.
Thanks!