Re: Afatech Drivers For Mac
Lorean Hoefert
I'm trying to setup TVheadend under Ubuntu and am having a problem using my DVB-T dongle. It's an Afatech DVB-T HDTV Dongle and I have it working on FreeBSD. I'm only trying to setup TVheadend on Ubuntu to compare performance with FreeBSD which might not be working as it should. I've followed various guides showing how to install the drivers...
I did manage to use this dongle on a Raspberry Pi using LibrELEC, but I have been unable to install TVHeadend on the RPi because every place I try I get 'Unable to locate package' when running 'sudo apt-get install tvheadend.
A combination DVB-T demodulator and USB bridge chip from Afatech. This is the company's second generation COFDM demodulator, and is the successor to the AF900x family of chips. Given the chip's dual nature, the AF9015 is fairly complex. It is also very flexible, supporting a wide variety of device configurations (single USB, dual USB, Platform mode, PCI/PCIe based devices, and even SPI is supported by it with some tuners (such as for a Consumer Electronics product that runs Windows CE)). Documentation for the AF901x family can be obtained from AFA (under NDA), but it is apparently confusing, as well as incomplete -- as there are a lot of areas that are undocumented.
At present there are three different Linux drivers available for the AF901x. That may strike one as being strange or showing signs of a state of dis-coordination, but in actuality, each driver has its own reason for coming into existence. In addition, taken collectively, the development of three different drivers highlights the relative complexity of the chip, as well as the flexibility in device design that its employment permits.
Instead, AFA has embarked upon the development of yet another OSS driver, which will be generic in that it will be capable of supporting the entire AF901x family as well as all possible device configurations permitted. In addition to the expectation that it will be this driver that is eventually adopted into the kernel, AFA have also signaled that they intend provide continuous support (i.e. they will stay on as the driver's maintainer).
Currently, this newest driver has reached a second round of testing in AFA labs, but that has only been in conjunction (with some peripheral manufacturers) with a few devices, and, as it stands, the code is still not particularly generic (due to both the complexities of the chip itself as well as those involved in getting the various device configurations to work). So, as of yet, there currently isn't anything for the end user to test. However, as soon things progress past this stage, there will be something released for users to test. There is no specific release timeframe set for this, but hopefully it will be soon, as the chip manufacturer (as well as everybody else involved) is under pressure, due to the large adoption of the chip by different peripheral manufacturers (Avermedia, Terratec, Azurewave, DigitalNow, Pinnacle, as well as some number of unbranded Chinese manufacturers too). In short, a lot more devices based on this chipset are expected to materialize.
While this is not as common as on PCI, sometimes the same USB ID is usedby different products. So, several media drivers allow passing a card=parameter, in order to setup a card number that would match the correctsettings for an specific product type.
some of the drivers have sub-drivers, not shown at this table.In particular, gspca driver has lots of sub-drivers,for cameras not supported by the USB Video Class (UVC) driver,as shown at gspca card list.
As the title suggests, I would like to try to use an AVerMedia A835B USB dongle to receive radio signals (not just TV). Why? Because I happen to have one and would like to try to get it to work for this purpose if possible.
At the end of the day I would like to be able to use it as a general purpose receiver (as per the article I linked above ). I get that dvb relates to TV, but if I black list the driver (dvb_usb_af9035) obviously I don't get the dvb devices created (the method proposed in the gqtr article above), but I also cannot seem to find the link that enables me to get a piece of software working with this device.
FWIW, I've tried googling various phrases involving af9035, A385B, sdr with raspberry pi, raspbian and other terms, but either I always get "there aren't many good matches" or video server examples - which is not what I am after.
It's been a while since I used one of these SDR dongles on my RPi, and I've never used the model that you've asked about specifically. Assuming it's a legitimate SDR receiver, the procedure you referenced looks competent, and should work. To verify, I've just plugged my Nooelec SDR dongle into my RPi 3B+ (bullseye)...
The RTL28xx ICs produced by Realtek Corp. were designed to demodulate DVB-T (digital TV) signals, and output the TV signal over the USB bus. However, Realtek's chips have an additional mode supporting reception of consumer FM radio. This feature was discovered by a kernel hacker, and drivers were developed that put this additional mode to use. This gave us the ability to re-purpose these devices as Software Defined Radio (SDR) receivers - more than just a TV receiver! For more on the story...
However not all DVB-T receivers have this additional mode. If you filter your dmesg as I've shown above, and you don't see any mention of Realtek or of RTL28xx, there's a fair chance you're only going to be watching television instead of learning about SDR.
As I see nothing in your dmesg listing, I'm afraid you're only going to watch TV with that AverMedia USB stick. Sorry about that. But the good news is RTL-SDR dongles are still readily available and super-cheap given their capabilities.
Use a tuner specifically designed for mobile DVB-T reception. Manufacturers test receiving performance at speeds approaching 150 kilometres per hour. The AF9010 DVB-T Demodulator is one such integrated circuit. The Genius TVGo (third revision) is one of the multitude of USB tuners which contains this chipset. Here up the creek, that $60 Genius consistently outperforms all the set top boxes (which cost considerably more) on both rooftop and indoor yagi antennas. Equivalent tuners that utilize the same Microsoft BDA drivers and AF9015 Demodulator are available from $20 from Hong Kong. An example.
Whilst any indoor antenna system may yield undesirable results in this country (because of the relatively low transmitter powers assigned), it is progressively-minded to consider those USB cards offering dual diversity antennas. Manufacturers claim these provide significantly better reception of weak signals. One manufacturer, Elgato claims:
The result of this Antenna Diversity (AD) and multi-tuner technology is superb reception deep indoors, in weak DVB-T coverage areas, and at high speeds. In tests, the technology provided good reception in 95% of locations within the home (compared with 67% for conventional receivers), and a 50% improvement in the quality of the television signal.
Once the USB DVB-T tuner is installed, command-line software will permit Viterbi decoding of weak signals. This step provides confirmation of DVB-T signal reception where signals are terribly weak! Such signals will not yield any picture nor show any indication of life on any set top box signal meter under ownership.
For Windows (tested under MS-DOS in Windows XP) Scan Channels BDA is recommended. In good faith, both tiny software packages are believed to be based on the GNU Library General Public License (GPL) with the Linux operating system, hence freely downloadable.
Some signals are very weak, to try and find out whether those are actually valid dvb-t signals I use dvbtune or zap to tune to the frequency (and either try to guess modulation, error correction and guard interval or let the automatic tuning in zap do its work), watching the signal strength and error rates and then use dvbsnoop in another window to try to get valid data from PID 0x10 which can give a hint to what services are active on that channel.
Laptops are often considered preferable for receiving weak or long distance television signals. The interference generated is often less problematic than what spews from desktop systems. Use of battery power is recommended. In a portable computer, mains adapters and battery rechargers are notorious sources of interference.
Filed under Tool time, Tropo receptionTagged with Afatech AF9010, Afatech AF9013, Afatech AF9015, Bald Knob DVB-T translators, Computers can do that? - Homer Simpson, dual diversity antennas, DVB Tune (Linux), DVB-T software for Linux, DVB-T software for Ubuntu 12, DVB-T software for Windows 7, DVB-T software for Windows XP, DVB-T tuner Asian manufacturing revolution, Eye TV Diversity DVB-T tuner, EyeTV Diversity, Genius TVGo, Genius TVGo (third revision), Homer Simpson, interference to television reception, KWorld Plus TV Hybrid USB Stick Pro 325U, Leadtek Winfast TV2000 XP analogue television tuner card, Linux operating system, Microsoft BDA drivers, mobile DVB-T reception, Scan Channels BDA, Two stage DVB-T signal decoding, Tzap (Linux), Ubuntu, Viterbi, W_scan (Linux)
This appendix presents all of the driver modules and their version information as shipped in the current version of UEK R5U3 (x86_64). This appendix is generated automatically. Note that driver versions and available drivers may change in subsequent errata releases, but the driver versions will always be the same or later than presented here.
This appendix presents all of the driver modules and their version information as shipped in the current version of UEK R6 (x86_64). This appendix is generated automatically. Note that driver versions and available drivers may change in subsequent errata releases, but the driver versions will always be the same or later than presented here.
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