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cyberreality

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hello,

 

is it possible to use VU+ zero 4k as a dvb_s receiver and receive channels to DVBViewer media server? and then use DMS as a backend for kodi?

does anyone have an experience with that?

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vor 2 Stunden schrieb cyberreality:

is it possible to use VU+ zero 4k as a dvb_s receiver and receive channels to DVBViewer media server?

 

Yes. There are several posts about this topic, but almost all of them are German. Search with Google for site:dvbviewer.tv VU+ for finding them. I have no VU+, but as far as I know the basic steps are

  1. Export an M3U channel list from your VU+. It contains HTTP URLs for the channels.
  2. Import the M3U file into the DVBViewer Channel Editor (see TV/Radio menu) by drag & drop on the server PC.
  3. Select a channel by double-clicking it in the Channel Editor. DVBViewer will play it. Additionally the DVBViewer Channel Auto-Update will complete the channel data by auto-detecting the parts that are not contained in the M3U file (as you can see on the right side of the Channel Editor).
  4. Recent Media Server versions (on the same PC) adopt a changed DVBViewer channel list as soon as it gets saved in DVBViewer or DVBViewer is closed. After that, the channels should show up in the web interface.

First try to get this done. Then we'll see what else may be necessary.

 

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10 hours ago, Griga said:

first try to get this done. Then we'll see what else may be necessary.

 

well, i must buy one first :) maybe you remember me as a guy with TBS multi CAM issue :) so i bought DD Octopus, it died for unknown reason, no rma ... so i was able to buy old DVBsky 960 usb, just one and i had to buy second usb box TBS one, still the same CAM issue :) so looking for another solution ... from out-of-PC world an di like vu+ tuners ...

definitively worth to try, thanks!

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Hi,

 

I'm running DVBViewer/Media Server in combination with a Vu+ Box (Uno 4K SE) since over 2 years now. I can confirm that this is working quite good.

As far as I can remember, the instructions given above by Griga are accurate. Maybe one step is missing here, in my setup it was required also to setup a "TS Stream Device" in order to be able to fetch the EPG data from the VU+ Box. Dont know if this is still needed.

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1 hour ago, buster19 said:

I'm running DVBViewer/Media Server in combination with a Vu+ Box (Uno 4K SE) since over 2 years now.

 

thanks! since there're no good dvb-s2 tuners for PC i'm looking for something else and i really like VU+. so if works then i'll buy one for test and then second :) as i have two CAMs in my setup ...

question 1: does CI+ works good?

if i understand this correctly VU+ will open transponder, decode channel via CI/CAM and send unencrypted to the client on network? in this case DMS. i have one only on HTPC, maybe sometime me over vpn while on business trip ...

 

question 2: once VU+ is configured, can it be disconnected from LCD and do all the configuration over the network?

 

thank you

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vor 41 Minuten schrieb cyberreality:

question 1: does CI+ works good?

Works great, but from time to time (maybe once every 2 weeks) it stops working and then I need to reinitialize the modul. Thats it.

 

vor 43 Minuten schrieb cyberreality:

if i understand this correctly VU+ will open transponder, decode channel via CI/CAM and send unencrypted to the client on network

Correct

 

vor 44 Minuten schrieb cyberreality:

question 2: once VU+ is configured, can it be disconnected from LCD and do all the configuration over the network?

You can do alot via the builtin Web-Interface, but not everything is possible via network - e.g. scanning for new channels or resetting the CI+ modul

Maybe some of the missing stuff can be achieved via a SSH session .... not really sure about this.

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Please note: In contrast to a DVB device or a Sat>IP server as data source, there are certain drawbacks when using VU+ HTTP URLs:

  • DVBViewer and the Media Server can't figure out which (URL-referenced) channels are located on the same transponder (frequency), or with other words, they can't determine which channels can be received simultaneously without using an additional tuner. Furthermore, since DVBViewer and the Media Server don't know how many tuners are available in the VU+, they can't mark overlapping timer recordings as "not executable" if there are not enough tuners for them.
  • DVBViewer and the Media Server can't request DVB data selectively. They have no influence on what is sent by the server. Data that is not included by the server (e.g. HbbTV) is not available. As another consequence, the DMS background EPG update function can't request EPG data only. It always gets the whole stuff, video, audio etc, which causes an unnecessary network load.

Some disadvantages can be mitigated by configuring DVBViewer and the Media Server appropriately. This is particularly required for the DMS background EPG update, that will not work "out of the box", because you must know what you do when using it for the "Stream" reception type . We'll come back to it later...

 

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got it and configured it. BUT on web mgmt in about section shows this

 

image.thumb.png.a901e88bc1bdfa98b2d795c267906e6a.png

 

that means that channel is tuned on tuner so i cannot switch channels via m3u plalist, all i can tune is this particular channel ...

so is there any way how to stop playing sat channels on VU device and just use m3u playlist?

btw once i stop watching channel will it release on VU device? so it will wait for another command? nothing tuned meanwhile?

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found it :) i had to switch to old web design and turn off channel plaing, now works flawlessly :)

btw how EPG update works? yes its clear it will tune channel for a while so there will be some traffic, i dont care. but if i'll watch something from VU, will it break it or will it wait till nothing is tuner from this device?

 

thanks!

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On 4/6/2022 at 2:28 PM, Griga said:

DMS background EPG update.

 

so how to correctly setup epg update from VU? do i need to have epgupdate plugin installed on VU to have epg update every day at 4am and then DMS will fetch it or it is not needed and DMS can handle it itself? to do it same was as updates EPG for channels on sat, to open chanel for 30 seconds and grab epg?

 

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Hi,

 

in my setup I'm using the VTI image on my VU+ Box - dont know if this is making any difference but I don't think so. In order to make sure that grabbing the EPG data is working, I have installed a plugin called "EPGRefresh" on the box. This plugin will grab (prefetch) the EPG data for the desired channels and makes it persistent on your box.

 

On the Media Server side I have installed a "TS Stream Device", no further configuration of this (virtual) device was required. There is a daily job running within the DMS in order to refresh the EPG data - This job is also grabbing the EPG data from my VU+ Box. EPG data for the DVBViewer clients is comming from my DMS.

 

 

Edited by buster19
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First some basic facts: What you are doing is a kind of IPTV. For DVBViewer and the DMS there is no difference between servers in the internet and servers in your home network. This reception type is called "TS Stream". It is handled by virtual TS Stream Devices that establish a network connection. By default these devices are created by DVBViewer and the DMS dynamically on demand. They won't show up in Options -> Hardware -> Devices. Their number is unlimited, which means, in theory you can receive as many IPTV channels simultaneously as you want. Of course, in practice there are limitations: A limited network bandwidth, a limited number of tuners, limited CPU power...

 

An important guideline: If the Media Server is involved, it should be the only one that accesses DVB hardware (your VU+) directly. DVBViewer should work as Media Server client, so that all data passes through the DMS, giving it the opportunity to collect EPG data and to protect recordings from being interrupted. A local DVBViewer on the DMS PC will automatically request IPTV channels via a localhost network connection from the DMS, if (and only if) it is configured as DMS client - see Options -> DVBViewer Media Server in DVBViewer. The DMS gets the data from your VU+ and passes it on to DVBViewer. This avoids double bandwidth occupancy, e.g. if you are watching a channel that is recorded at the same time in the DMS.

 

That's why using the VU+ in a reasonable way should be configured in the DMS. There are two important settings:

  1. In the Media Server Options (svcoptions.exe) go to the Hardware section and, by clicking the Add button, manually add as many TS Stream devices to the device list as appropriate. The number should correspond to the number of available tuners in your VU+. Finish with OK. The EPG Background Update requires at least one "static" TS Stream Device in the list for being able to work, as already mentioned by buster19.
  2. Stop the DMS (by using its tray icon menu), then launch DMSTweaker.bat from the DVBViewer program directory. Search the "Automatically create TS Stream devices on demand" setting and uncheck it. Finish with OK. Then restart the DMS.

Now the number of TS Stream Devices (= network connections to the VU+) that can be used simultaneously is under your (manual) control.

 

A general remark concerning the EPG: Assigning EPG data to a channel requires completed channel data. So you will only get EPG for VU+ channels that have been tuned at least once (see here). Remember that the DMS will not adopt such changes unless the channel list has been saved in DVBViewer! Tuning a channel lets the DMS and DVBViewer receive EPG data for it and also for other channels on the same frequency (provided the server includes the EPG data in the delivered stream). The EPG for a channel gets updated each time the channel is tuned.

 

The Background EPG Update in the DMS automatically tunes channels from your channel list for a short time (by default 30 seconds), in order to collect EPG data. This task has the lowest priority, so it will never interrupt or prevent a recording or playback. If all devices (tuners) are occupied, the EPG Updater will wait until a device is available. You can create a task that performs the EPG update daily at a certain time when tuners are unused (see Web Interface -> Timers Page -> Select "Internal Task Timer" -> click "New Timer").

 

However, by default the EPG Updater doesn't work with TS Stream channels. Internet TV usually doesn't provide EPG data. And if the channels are HTTP URLs from a server in the home network, the Updater works very inefficiently and slowly. That's why channels that shall be included in the update process must be manually prepared in a special way in the DVBViewer Channel Editor: Select a channel, click the EPG button at the right, uncheck all EPG types except "DVB EPG", so it looks like this

 

image.png

 

and click Apply (and don't forget that the changes have to be saved before they take effect in the DMS). The EPG Updater will only include channels that are set up in this way! The Channel Editor also allows to do it for a whole category, but in your case it is better to configure it "per channel" for letting the EPG Updater work efficiently: Only do it for channels for which you want EPG data, and only do it for a single channel from a frequency, not for other channels from the same frequency! In this way you can avoid that the EPG Updater spends a lot of time uselessly with receiving EPG data that it already has or that is not needed. Unfortunately this is a consequence of the missing "same transponder" information in the HTTP URLs.

 

Well, quite a lot to try and configure for you now... good luck! :)

 

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WOW, thanks to both of you!

i have VTi and EPGrefresh installed as well to do epg update between 1am-3am but i'll try to disable it and leave it on DMS. i dont care if there's some bigger traffic on the network during epg update, so be it.

i have DMS as a master to control tuners and serve clients like Kodi.

 

thanks again! so far no issues all work flawlessly (that means i'll buy another VU soon to replace DVBsky S960C).

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vor 13 Stunden schrieb cyberreality:

i'll try to disable it and leave it on DMS

DMS needs to have the EPG data already available on your VU+ box  in order to grab it from there. To makes sure this data is avilable on your box, you have 2 options, switch trough channels manually every couple of days or let EPGRefresh do the job 😉 This is at least how it works in my setup.

 

 

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vor 38 Minuten schrieb buster19:

DMS needs to have the EPG data already available on your VU+ box  in order to grab it from there.

 

I don't think so. DMS doesn't "grab" EPG data from the box, which would mean, actively requesting it. As already stated above, there is no way to request something special from the VU+.

 

DVB EPG data is part of the originally broadcasted transport stream (on PID 18). The DMS receives it in the same way as (and together with) video and audio. AFAIK all this data as a whole is simply passed on "as broadcasted" via the HTTP connection.

 

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okay, i've disabled epgrefresh on VU and started manual epg refresh in DMS

 

 

epg1.thumb.PNG.45a656fdda741ee10d0544fc96aac250.PNG

 

 

so as you can see it does something, 8 of 49 is done

 

 

epg2.thumb.PNG.da59e3bc26a2e0cc185c48db27766518.PNG

 

 

 

and this is what i can see on VU's web mgmt plus i can see network traffic on mikrotik. so DMS fetches whole channel data, it was about 12mbps for this particular channel.

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epg update cycle on VU's port on mikrotik. different bitrates for different channels. btw about 30s per channel while 120s is set?

 

 

epg3.PNG

Edited by cyberreality
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On 4/9/2022 at 10:11 AM, Griga said:

The Background EPG Update in the DMS

 

well, is it possible to force EPG update to stay at channel for certain amount of time? now i have set 240s per transponder but while doing epg update from VU it stay about 10s on one channel. soon i need to reboot VU because CAM is frozen and no channel works, even i connect VU to monitor and check "locally" on it, nothing works unless restart.

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vor 2 Minuten schrieb cyberreality:

is it possible to force EPG update to stay at channel for certain amount of time?

 

No. The EPG Updater continues with the next channel as soon as all EPG data broadcasted on a frequency has been received. Please note that the setting in the Web Interface -> Configuration -> EPG Update Settings and the DMS Options -> EPG -> Automatic EPG Update is called "Maximum time per transponder (s)".

 

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Additionally there is a setting in Media Server Tweaker for "Fast EPG Updater Method" (hopefully properly translated to english) which is enabled by default. Disabling this setting seems to cause longer staying on every transponder. Perhaps this is related?

 

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Am 10.4.2022 um 21:29 schrieb HaraldL:

Additionally there is a setting in Media Server Tweaker for "Fast EPG Updater Method" (hopefully properly translated to english) which is enabled by default.

 

Sorry, I've completely forgotten about this one. "Use the faster EPG Updater Method" has been implemented before I took DMS development over. As far as I can see in the code, the option should force the EPG Updater to stay at a channel for the specified amount of time if switched off (-> stop DMS and launch DMSTweaker.bat in the DVBViewer program directory).

 

The reason for it is that with this option switched off the Updater additionally tries to read EPG data for other transponders (frequencies), if contained in the data stream, not only for the transponder of the current channel. In this case it can't determine if all data has already been received or if there is more to come.

 

@HaraldL: You can find the translation in TweaksDMS.ini. The file contains the English and German captions and descriptions.

 

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On 4/12/2022 at 10:14 AM, Griga said:

"Use the faster EPG Updater Method"

 

works!! i set 240s to stay on one transponder and turned off this option, now lasts longer (i dont care) but no more CAM freezes on VU.

btw ... would be possible to implement parallel epg scan? so i can do epg scan all on tuners at once ...

Edited by cyberreality
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On 4/9/2022 at 10:11 AM, Griga said:

Only do it for channels for which you want EPG data, and only do it for a single channel from a frequency, not for other channels from the same frequency! In this way you can avoid that the EPG Updater spends a lot of time uselessly with receiving EPG data that it already has or that is not needed.

 

well, does not work this way ... i set epg options to meet this recommendation just to have only one channel from transponder to receive epg data and rest of channel from the same frequency are left without epg data, so i had to enable DVB EPG on all no matter frequency/transponder ...

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