Dvb-apps

Note: The correct title of this article is dvb-apps. It appears incorrectly here due to technical restrictions.

dvb-apps is a distribution of tools useful for low-level testing and configuration of DVB hardware. In various places it is also called dvbutils or dvbtools. Many consider these tools essential to anyone with a DVB adapter.

Getting dvb-apps

Precompiled

Most Linux distributions have a dvbutils package which will be a breeze to install. For example, with Debian or Ubuntu install the package with:

apt-get install dvb-utils

or

apt-get install dvb-apps

If you have a system based on atrpms.net you can install the utilities with:

yum install linuxtv-dvb-apps

Note: Fedora 12 has dvb-apps and w_scan in the updates repo.

Source

Alternatively, you can build them yourself from the source code. There are two ways of obtaining the sourcecode:

Option 1: Obtain the source code from CVS:

cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.linuxtv.org:/cvs/linuxtv login (use an empty password)
cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.linuxtv.org:/cvs/linuxtv co dvb-apps

Option 2: Obtain the source code by downloading it:

1. Pick the most up to date version from http://linuxtv.org/downloads
2. Unpack it using tar xvjf linuxtv-dvb-apps<your version>.tar.bz2

Once you have the source code (and are in the correct directory), build and install it by typing:

make
make install

The apps

NOTE: Several of these tools may not operate properly while you are running the mythbackend. If mythbackend is running, it may have a lock on your DVB card, denying access to one of these tools.

(dvb)scan

(dvb)scan is on some systems called "dvbscan" and on others called "scan", it is used to produce a channel configuration file. This is the first step to any successful DVB setup. You use it like this:

scan /usr/share/doc/dvb-utils//examples/scan/dvb-t/au-sydney_north_shore -o zap | tee ~/.mplayer/channels.conf

which gives you a file that mplayer can use (e.g. mplayer dvb:// -vo null)

*zap

tzap (and it's siblings szap, czap, & azap) is a command line channel changing and signal monitor program. It can also set your card device up for recording. This util is the most basic means of testing your card. e.g.:

 tzap -c ~/.mplayer/channels.conf ABC1

dvbdate

dvbdate is a utility for working with the time signal from DVB transmissions. You can view the transmitted date/time and set the system clock. This looks to be a useful alternative to setting up NTP.

ttusb_dec_reset

This utility resets Hauppauge DEC USB DVB adapters.

dvbnet

This util appears to create a new network adapter based on the /dev/dvb/adapterN/net0 device.

dvbtraffic

This appears to analyze dvb traffic, but only on /dev/dvb/adapter0 as it's hardcoded!

av7110_loadkeys

This util is used to load the remote control configuration on certain DVB units.

dib3000-watch

This util gathers signal statistics from dib3000 modulators.

External links

• The linuxtv.org DVB Wiki - These guys created the dvb-apps tools!