Digital TV (DVB T2) Consolidated thread IV

[bobyong]

I recently bought a MyGica T230C to record shows and watch them back on my computer but I realize the audio on DVB-T2 doesn't sound as good as previously on DVB-T. I played both video clips using VLC.

DVB-T Audio
AC3 5.1: Sounds compressed, but listenable no high pitch screech
MP2 Stereo: Less compressed, sounds good and proper

DVB-T2 Audio
AAC 5.1: Sounds hollow and screechy
AAC Stereo: Sounds good but has a bit of high pitch screech

Here are the sample videos I recorded for reference (includes a DVB-T video clip previously recorded on another USB stick and a DVB-T2 video clip recorded on the T230C). Have to download the clips to playback properly as even dropbox doesn't encode the audio properly for the DVB-T2 video:

dropbox.com/sh/63s7x2facvq06gb/AAA4kuZ4bEAbVZZRVRF08vwsa?dl=0

I know the audio formats are completely different but I'm not sure if the audio is actually supposed to sound like that... or is this more of a hardware limitation of the USB stick not being able to record the digital video properly or am I missing codecs to properly playback the audio?

 

[albertlee]

I recently bought a MyGica T230C to record shows and watch them back on my computer but I realize the audio on DVB-T2 doesn't sound as good as previously on DVB-T. I played both video clips using VLC.

DVB-T Audio
AC3 5.1: Sounds compressed, but listenable no high pitch screech
MP2 Stereo: Less compressed, sounds good and proper

DVB-T2 Audio
AAC 5.1: Sounds hollow and screechy
AAC Stereo: Sounds good but has a bit of high pitch screech

Here are the sample videos I recorded for reference (includes a DVB-T video clip previously recorded on another USB stick and a DVB-T2 video clip recorded on the T230C). Have to download the clips to playback properly as even dropbox doesn't encode the audio properly for the DVB-T2 video:

dropbox.com/sh/63s7x2facvq06gb/AAA4kuZ4bEAbVZZRVRF08vwsa?dl=0

I know the audio formats are completely different but I'm not sure if the audio is actually supposed to sound like that... or is this more of a hardware limitation of the USB stick not being able to record the digital video properly or am I missing codecs to properly playback the audio?

I just tested using DVB Dream to record via DVB-C and play back using POTplayer without issue. BTW, I am using the same TV stick but an earlier model (ie. w/o the "C").

Which DVB software you use to record?

 

[albertlee]

Hmm, I downloaded the so-called "Bad Audio" video and it play fine using POTplayer.

 

[bobyong]

I just tested using DVB Dream to record via DVB-C and play back using POTplayer without issue. BTW, I am using the same TV stick but an earlier model (ie. w/o the "C").

Which DVB software you use to record?

I'm using NextPVR to do the recordings.

I just tried playing back the files with POTPlayer the stereo audio sounds better. The 5.1 track though still sounds hollow but definitely better than using VLC with the screeching being less noticable.

Thanks for your help , might just be the software I'm using to playback that is the problem. I'll give DVB Dream a try when I have the time, could be NextPVR messing up my recordings too.

 

[dontbyteme]

Does anyone own the Newmedia STB. Is the interface for the recording feature easy to use? Currently using one purchased from Qoo10 but the interface is not very user friendly (e.g. recordings are listed in long filenames, have to individually select the file and press a button to display preview of the content).

 

[albertlee]

I'm using NextPVR to do the recordings.

I just tried playing back the files with POTPlayer the stereo audio sounds better. The 5.1 track though still sounds hollow but definitely better than using VLC with the screeching being less noticable.

Thanks for your help , might just be the software I'm using to playback that is the problem. I'll give DVB Dream a try when I have the time, could be NextPVR messing up my recordings too.

More like issue with codecs rather than player. I tried playing on VLC portable and got the same issue when choosing the audio stream.

BTW, your T230C stick come with which TotalMedia version?

 

[albertlee]

Does anyone own the Newmedia STB. Is the interface for the recording feature easy to use? Currently using one purchased from Qoo10 but the interface is not very user friendly (e.g. recordings are listed in long filenames, have to individually select the file and press a button to display preview of the content).

You do know that NMS STB recording cannot be played on PC, ie. it's copy-protected.

And which STB model did you purchase from Qoo10?

 

[bobyong]

More like issue with codecs rather than player. I tried playing on VLC portable and got the same issue when choosing the audio stream.

BTW, your T230C stick come with which TotalMedia version?

It comes with TotalMedia 3.5. I installed it on my system but hardly use it since NextPVR is more functional (able to do recordings in the background).

 

[albertlee]

It comes with TotalMedia 3.5. I installed it on my system but hardly use it since NextPVR is more functional (able to do recordings in the background).

Which specific version? My come with 3.5.7.379, and I managed to find 3.5.55.293 which work on T230.

If you have time, can you try if your work with POTplayer. I know VLC work but is kind of cumbersome.

 

[albertlee]

@bobyong, does your TV stick have issue with USB? That is, it require reconnecting from USB port whenever the PC is power-off/on.

 

[bobyong]

Which specific version? My come with 3.5.7.379, and I managed to find 3.5.55.293 which work on T230.

If you have time, can you try if your work with POTplayer. I know VLC work but is kind of cumbersome.

My TotalMedia version is showing up as 3.5.7.361 (i.imgur.com/uyLBJie.png), which seems outdated compared to what was delivered with your unit.

Not sure what you meant by trying out POTPlayer - I should try recording in TotalMedia then playing in POTPlayer? Still getting the same results as with the NextPVR recording, where it sounds better than playing in VLC but still has issues with the 5.1 track sounding hollow/screechy. I think I'll stick to using POTPlayer and using the stereo track since it sounds ok.

@bobyong, does your TV stick have issue with USB? That is, it require reconnecting from USB port whenever the PC is power-off/on.

Yes my TV stick has the same issue. I found one workaround which is to turn off the fast start-up in Windows power option (i.imgur.com/Ak8EtGk.png) but it may not be a good option if your machine is still using older hard drives because it'll slow down the start up time.

 

[albertlee]

My TotalMedia version is showing up as 3.5.7.361 (i.imgur.com/uyLBJie.png), which seems outdated compared to what was delivered with your unit.

Not sure what you meant by trying out POTPlayer - I should try recording in TotalMedia then playing in POTPlayer? Still getting the same results as with the NextPVR recording, where it sounds better than playing in VLC but still has issues with the 5.1 track sounding hollow/screechy. I think I'll stick to using POTPlayer and using the stereo track since it sounds ok.

Yes my TV stick has the same issue. I found one workaround which is to turn off the fast start-up in Windows power option (i.imgur.com/Ak8EtGk.png) but it may not be a good option if your machine is still using older hard drives because it'll slow down the start up time.

Thanks for the updates.

POTplayer (and VLC as well) support USB TV Stick, it work well on VLC but give a blank screen for the former. Haven't figure out how to get POTplayer to work, thought your might since it's a different model.

As for the sound issue, don't think DVB-T2 signal carry 5.1 track, only stereo or surround sound but I could be wrong.

 

[zoneguard]

As for the sound issue, don't think DVB-T2 signal carry 5.1 track, only stereo or surround sound but I could be wrong.

You can check the codec information in vlc. Track 1 of the "Bad Audio" is 3F2R/LFE format or 5.1.

 

[albertlee]

Yes my TV stick has the same issue. I found one workaround which is to turn off the fast start-up in Windows power option (i.imgur.com/Ak8EtGk.png) but it may not be a good option if your machine is still using older hard drives because it'll slow down the start up time.

Holycow, you're right, tried out your solution and it worked! Being trying to figure this one all this while. Like what you said, turning off fast start-up sure slow down thing a lot.

 

[bobyong]

Thanks for the updates.

POTplayer (and VLC as well) support USB TV Stick, it work well on VLC but give a blank screen for the former. Haven't figure out how to get POTplayer to work, thought your might since it's a different model.

As for the sound issue, don't think DVB-T2 signal carry 5.1 track, only stereo or surround sound but I could be wrong.

Cool, I didn't know VLC could directly utilize the USB tuner. Usually I just use VLC to open a network stream to NextPVR if I wanted to watch live TV since it can act as a web server to the channels.

--

As for PotPlayer I would say its quite buggy to get it to play but I did get it semi-working on my device... haven't properly tested its functionality (I think there is no option to switch audio track and subtitles)

I configured it to use DVB-T and just stuck to default settings and demuxer and tried to autoscan in the channel management (i.imgur.com/Jl6aYIx.png) to get all the channel and was getting the black screen as you mentioned when I tried to play any channel.

But strangely after that, I went to device setting and changed the demuxer to "Built-in MPEG2 Demuxer" and opened the digital TV again and could get the channel I was on previously to show up (i.imgur.com/FuEDCWC.png), but I couldn't switch to any other channel as it would just be a frozen screen. To get it working again I had to switch back to the recommended/default demuxer, change channel, and switch again to the built-in demuxer. Quite troublesome to get it partially working...

Maybe you could test and see if it is the same case for your device?

 

[xaiver0510]

I got a samsung tv with dvb t2 tuner but not receiving the digital channels.

High floor in tiong bahru.

Is the coverage island wide already?

Shifted tv nearer to window (just beside windows) but no dice.

 

[gregory_choo]

I got a samsung tv with dvb t2 tuner but not receiving the digital channels.

High floor in tiong bahru.

Is the coverage island wide already?

Shifted tv nearer to window (just beside windows) but no dice.

do you have an antenna for dvb-t ?

if yes, what is the name/model no ?

 

[xaiver0510]

do you have an antenna for dvb-t ?

if yes, what is the name/model no ?

no antenna. so even if i buy a new tv with dvb-t2 tuner, still have to get an antenna?

i asked around, planning to try using a old hi-fi antenna and diy it

 

[csc12345678]

Initially when I first got my DVB-T2, my quality was 100% without USB powering the antenna. Then later, it went down to 50,60 or 70%. Recently, back to 100%

I wonder what they did !

 

[gregory_choo]

no antenna. so even if i buy a new tv with dvb-t2 tuner, still have to get an antenna?

i asked around, planning to try using a old hi-fi antenna and diy it

"hifi antenna" is for FM radio, it is not suitable for dvb.

It is easier to buy a new antenna, passive antenna is cheap, less than $10

If you want to diy, the easiest antenna to make is biquad antenna.

See this link for instructions.

https://blog.gtwang.org/diy/diy-digital-tv-antenna/

You can improve the reception by replacing cloth hanger wire with thick copper wire.