How to get Kaffeine to work with the HDHomeRun Dual TV tuner box

[Dang]

Recently I purchased a HDHomeRun Dual (a TV tunner box that streams TV out to your LAN).
I got it set up and working on my network just fine and also set up MythTV to watch TV.
However, for simple viewing, MythTV was a bit overkill and I wanted a simpler app.  So I set
up VLC to work with it.  However, I was a little disappointed by the lack of features in VLC
and even wrote a bash script to tune the different channels.  Needless to say, it was rather
cumbersome.  I then looked into using Kaffeine and found there was a package
called dvb_hdhomerun to allow Kaffeine to see the tunner on the LAN.  The packages were written
for Narly Nachos, but I was able to get it to work beautifully in PCLOS.

For those few that may have the HDHomeRun Dual (Dual for two tunners) and would like to get
Kaffeine to work with it in PCLOS, here is what I did... (this is not a blow by blow, you need
to have a little experience and maybe read the readme for the two packages)

Part I Installing the libhdhomerun package from Silicondust

1.) dowload libhdhomerun...
http://download.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/libhdhomerun_20110323.tgz

This allows your pc to access the HDHomeRun box.  Don't try the hdhomerun_config_gui, it's not
neccessary and I could never get it to work anyway.

2.)Make the libhdhomerun_config program and libhdhomerun.so file by running
make in the libhdhomerun directory (you may have to resolve some dependancies, but that is easy
enough with synaptic.

3.) Copy the two files (as root) to ...

cp hdhomerun_config /usr/bin
cp libhdhomerun.so /usr/lib

Part II Installing the dvb_hdhomerun package

1.) Download the dvb_hdhomerun package from...

http://cdnetworks-us-1.dl.sourceforge.net/project/dvbhdhomerun/dvbhdhomerun_0.0.9.tar.gz

2.)Unpack it and go into the kernel directory and run "make", then "make install"

3.) Check to see if the dvb_hdhomerun modules are in the kernel

# modprobe -l |grep homerun
you should see three...

extra/dvb_hdhomerun.ko
extra/dvb_hdhomerun_fe.ko
extra/dvb_hdhomerun_core.ko


4.)  Make sure that "cmake" and "avr-gcc-c++" are installed via synaptic.

5.)  Go into the userhdhomerun directory and edit the CMakeLists.txt file
to reflect where the libhdhomerun directory is.....
SET(LIBHDHOMERUN_PATH /<enter your directory path here>/libhdhomerun)

5.) Run make in the userhdhomerun directory

6.) Run modprobe to install the modules

# modprobe dvb_hdhomerun

7.) You can now test it, execute the userhdhomerun which is now in ~/userhdhomerun/build.

8.) Start kaffeine, you should now see two device tabs under television/configuration
You should also be able to scan and find your stations

9.) To make it all work after a reboot do this....

   add dvb_hdhomerun to /etc/modprobe.preload
   so that the modules will be loaded at boot

   # copy userhdhomerun to /usr/bin

   add the line....

   userhdhomerun > /dev/null

   to the /etc/rc5.d/S99local file.

Thats it!  Let me know if it does or doesn't work for you.
Perhaps someone with more time and knowledge than me could create a hdhomerun package
for synaptic  
 

[Just18]

However, I was a little disappointed by the lack of features in VLC
and even wrote a bash script to tune the different channels.

This is a little off topic I suppose, but it intrigued me ....

what features were missing from VLC?

what is the output from the Homerun device?
does it send out SAP information which VLC could pick up?

From your description I wonder if the sapserver with suitable config file would be sufficient for VLC to lock in on the channels with little user effort?

EDIT:
           It appears that this device doe snot multicast, so its output is direct to a particular PC on the network        .....  unless I have misunderstood.

That is a serious limitation IMO ..... all the transponder channels should be made available to all PCs on the LAN ....  using multicast.


regards.

[Dang]

Yes, I don't think this unit does multicast, however, I think that silicondust has a higher end unit that does.
VLC picks up the stream via UDP.  It also doesn't seem to allow me to scan and save my channels and have a program guide that works. Basically, my script tells the HDHomeRun device which tuner, channel and ip address to send the stream to.  Then VLC has to be listening at ....udp://@:1234.  If not the HDhomerun device will stop broadcasting.  Kaffeine just interfaces with HDHR much better than VLC.
I don't know what a sapserver is - does it have something do do with Acers?

[Just18]

Yes, I don't think this unit does multicast, however, I think that silicondust has a higher end unit that does.
VLC picks up the stream via UDP.  It also doesn't seem to allow me to scan and save my channels and have a program guide that works. Basically, my script tells the HDHomeRun device which tuner, channel and ip address to send the stream to.  Then VLC has to be listening at ....udp://@:1234.  If not the HDhomerun device will stop broadcasting.  Kaffeine just interfaces with HDHR much better than VLC.
I don't know what a sapserver is - does it have something do do with Acers?

Thanks for the confirmation about the single steam rather than multicast.

SAP is Session Announcement Protocol .....  a stream containing links as in a Playlist
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~jac22/books/mm/book/node184.html

Such a 'playlist' will show in the VLC Playlist under Local Network - Network Streams

regards

[MBantz]

I have packaged HDHomerun drivers for Linux to PCLinuxOS and I'm using this with MythTV.

Please notice that there are two HDHomerun models around, one with multicast capabilities and one without, also there are US and European models. All HDHomerun are FTA (free to air) models,

that said, this tuner is the most powerful model I have seen so far - having tried almost 10 DVB-T tuners - and it's even stronger than the tuner in my new Phillips LED TV,

working beautifully with MythTV,

cheers,
MBantz

[Just18]

I have packaged HDHomerun drivers for Linux to PCLinuxOS and I'm using this with MythTV.

Please notice that there are two HDHomerun models around, one with multicast capabilities and one without, also there are US and European models. All HDHomerun are FTA (free to air) models,

that said, this tuner is the most powerful model I have seen so far - having tried almost 10 DVB-T tuners - and it's even stronger than the tuner in my new Phillips LED TV,

working beautifully with MythTV,

cheers,
MBantz

Nice one!  

BTW, can you explain what you mean by the emboldened text above please?

Sensitivity of the tuner maybe?

I must look at the price comparison between this device and USB DVB-T dongles.


EDIT:
          Anything I read about the device tells me it is MPEG-2 only so it would be useless here as we have MPEG-4 broadcasts.

Also, it appears that multicasting is only available in commercial units
http://www.silicondust.com/products/models/tech3-eu/
....  which seems to be about €350 delivered, including VAT.

[MBantz]

I have a -very- weak signal where I live, and only 'normal' way of getting a tv-signal where I live is via expensive cable providers with commercial-only channels. Not for me.
I install a DVB-T antenna, (not on the roof, can't do that here) and get a signal. The swedish channels are received with 100% signal, but the danish (where I live) is 50%+ only.
With a weak signal reception, the tuner is important, and HDHomerun is as the only one providing an acceptable signal. All tuners provides a fine signal if you have a roof antenna.

We are using mpeg-4 primarily - and this is supported by HDHomerun. The tech-3 unit I have purchased for my work is capable of multicast - but I haven't worked much with this unit yet,

cheers,
MBantz

[Just18]

I have a -very- weak signal where I live, and only 'normal' way of getting a tv-signal where I live is via expensive cable providers with commercial-only channels. Not for me.
I install a DVB-T antenna, (not on the roof, can't do that here) and get a signal. The swedish channels are received with 100% signal, but the danish (where I live) is 50%+ only.
With a weak signal reception, the tuner is important, and HDHomerun is as the only one providing an acceptable signal. All tuners provides a fine signal if you have a roof antenna.

We are using mpeg-4 primarily - and this is supported by HDHomerun. The tech-3 unit I have purchased for my work is capable of multicast - but I haven't worked much with this unit yet,

cheers,
MBantz

Thanks for the explanation 

Glad to hear that it also does MPEG-4 .....  as everything I read mentioned MPEG-2 only.

I would be interested to hear of your experiences when you get around to using multicast from the tech unit .......  does it have a 'router' built in which would prevent unwanted streams from going on the LAN (to the LAN router), or is it dependent on the LAN router to handle the multicast connections?

A two tuner with multicast will be of interest to me in the future .......  I had intended using a small, light PC for the purpose, with two USB DVB-T dongles, or maybe a dual-tuner single dongle, as we will have two muxes to receive from.
That should allow any PC on the LAN to receive and/or record all channels simultaneously - LAN capacity allowing.

Are your two units 1Gb/s or 100Mb/s ? ......  again nothing I read mentioned gigabit connections.

Thank you 

[MBantz]

The tech3 unit should work independently on the network, I have only tested it on one pc with Vlc. I'm not sure if tech3 will multicast the entire mux or on per-channel basis.

The units are gigabit, I connect the HDHomerun to the MythTV backend (work also as frontend) with cable to gigabit switch. HD content work flawlessly. MythTV is capable of simultaneous recording of all channels in a mux per tuner  - and I have setup 6 virtual tuners in MythTV for this,

cheers,
MBantz

[Just18]

The tech3 unit should work independently on the network, I have only tested it on one pc with Vlc. I'm not sure if tech3 will multicast the entire mux or on per-channel basis.

The units are gigabit, I connect the HDHomerun to the MythTV backend (work also as frontend) with cable to gigabit switch. HD content work flawlessly. MythTV is capable of simultaneous recording of all channels in a mux per tuner  - and I have setup 6 virtual tuners in MythTV for this,

cheers,
MBantz

I hope you don't mind my continuing questions .....

It seems the info I have been accessing is out of date, particularly regarding the gigabit capabilities.

If the HDHomeRun will only multicast one channel at a time, then it is not for me, it seems.
Confirmation of that at some future time would be useful .....  if you can.

With that limitation of HDHomeRun, it seems I will be going back to the use of a light, maybe passively cooled, PC, with a couple of tuners, and running multicast software to provide all the channels to the LAN, for selection at each PC ......  possibly with VLC.

With that in mind I must look into the Raspberry Pi (or some similar small and cheap device) later in the year to see if it would be capable of doing this.

Thanks again for the info 

regards

[pags]

Is it feasible for a Myth server to access the tuner, and also act as the "multicast" for any clients (obviating the need for the client to directly access the HDHomeRun unit)?

[MBantz]

Is it feasible for a Myth server to access the tuner, and also act as the "multicast" for any clients (obviating the need for the client to directly access the HDHomeRun unit)?

Yes, when MythTV backend is configured with the two tuners in one HDHomerun unit, it is able to serve MythTV frontends with the combined tv-channels of two mux'es, just remember to add a couple more virtual tuners in the HDHomerun config in MythTV backend (default 2 virtual tuners per tuner), 

cheers,
MBantz

[pags]

Is it feasible for a Myth server to access the tuner, and also act as the "multicast" for any clients (obviating the need for the client to directly access the HDHomeRun unit)?

Yes, when MythTV backend is configured with the two tuners in one HDHomerun unit, it is able to serve MythTV frontends with the combined tv-channels of two mux'es, just remember to add a couple more virtual tuners in the HDHomerun config in MythTV backend (default 2 virtual tuners per tuner), 

cheers,
MBantz

Cool.

Thanks.

[wedgetail]

I am a bit interested in the Twin tuner HDHomerun, but searching information I can not convince myself that it is 1 Gb ethernet, (1000Mb/s), the information at Silicon Dust only says 100 Base-TX  (100Mb/s?)

In the link below a chap running a 1Gb router had a problem that got fixed by replacing with a 100 Mb/s router.
http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11359&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Downloaded flyer from Silicondust, 100 Mb/s.  Same details on Australian web page.

Question:
Does it matter, if not 1 Gb capable or when does it matter?

[Just18]

I am a bit interested in the Twin tuner HDHomerun, but searching information I can not convince myself that it is 1 Gb ethernet, (1000Mb/s), the information at Silicon Dust only says 100 Base-TX  (100Mb/s?)

Nor I ........

In the link below a chap running a 1Gb router had a problem that got fixed by replacing with a 100 Mb/s router.
http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11359&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Seems he had faulty hardware.

Downloaded flyer from Silicondust, 100 Mb/s.  Same details on Australian web page.

Do wonder if the specs change with location .....

Question:
Does it matter, if not 1 Gb capable or when does it matter?

It matters to the capabilities of the device to stream multiple streams simultaneously, particularly HD. (Of course if the device itself is not capable of doing this, then it hardly matters a lot if there is one more limitation in the mix)

Also, anything less is not a good buy when keeping an eye to the future .......  the older 10Mb/s is now obsolete and the 100Mb/s is very close to obsolete too.

A small headless PC with cheap DTT receiver/s would be more capable IMO.