Digital TV (DVB T2) Consolidated thread IV

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petebull123

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That's lot's of boxes you have been using. :D
That MyGica STB looks promising especially the dual tuner one. :)

Not sure whether MyGica did start selling the ATV1950AC.
According to the forum at their site, it seems some users were complaining about issues they had with the previous model ATV1900. Would be good if can get a hold of their user manual to see how the box streams live TV to a secondary Android phone/tablet. DLNA?

Anyway, not tempted....yet, hehe :D
My Konka set is used as spare tuner for watching TV since I'm not using it to record due to its proprietary format.

:)
 

albertlee

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You asked me that before, hehe.
The reply is here. (Post #711 old thread) :D
'Old set' refers to the no brand/model set.

:)

LOL, dun recall. How about the K3 STB? I ask in the K3 thread but no one reply.

Edit: silly me, didn't even read first!
 
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peterchan75

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Not sure whether MyGica did start selling the ATV1950AC.
According to the forum at their site, it seems some users were complaining about issues they had with the previous model ATV1900. Would be good if can get a hold of their user manual to see how the box streams live TV to a secondary Android phone/tablet. DLNA?

Anyway, not tempted....yet, hehe :D
My Konka set is used as spare tuner for watching TV since I'm not using it to record due to its proprietary format.

:)

You are far ahead ! :D
I just want to get a good and reliable set and use it until it kaput.
Just like my LG recorder. It has some slight problem but we manage get around it. I hope it can last for another few months.
Before this LG set, we had a Akira set from Carfore at Suntec. That bugger refused to wake after it went on standby mode.:s22:
 

petebull123

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You are far ahead ! :D
I just want to get a good and reliable set and use it until it kaput.
Just like my LG recorder. It has some slight problem but we manage get around it. I hope it can last for another few months.
Before this LG set, we had a Akira set from Carfore at Suntec. That bugger refused to wake after it went on standby mode.:s22:

I feel at this juncture, it's better to just get a cheap set and use it until kaput. Treat good and reliable as a bonus, like strike lottery, hehe. :D Since it's cheap, buy another one as spare just in case, if you like. :s22:

DVB-T2 market is not yet as matured as HDD/DVD recorders.
In the latter, many features are already standard across most brands so much so that to up the ante, some manufacturers add features like skipping of adverts and automatically extracting recorded filenames from the EPG, etc.

It would be good to see such features in DVB-T2 STBs in the near future. Otherwise, imagine you have a recording from 2 months ago and you are trying to figure out what exactly did you record....:eek:

:)
 

peterchan75

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LG Recorder is great. All files are in icon and when it's highlighted, the icon turns into a movie screen.
 

freezerz

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You might want to refer to fellow freezerz's setup here whereby he used a single antenna for the whole flat.
Recently set up for my parents flat which is an old 3 room flat. They still have the MATV connection (besides the SCV one) that links to the rooftop antenna. I connect the STB to the MATV, can receive consistently 90+% HD signal strength.
 

russ5254

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Just got on board the digital broadcast bandwagon and discovered some stuff which i would like to share - some of the info have already been posted by others in the other threads before.

1. It seems digital channels are either you receive it or you don't, unlike analog broadcast which is blurry/grainy/double image..etc - which is the biggest complaint.

2. Most important thing about non-HDB/SCV type antenna is your location on the island (how far away from the various transmitting stations, matters a lot for non-s'pore channels) and position of antenna in the house (directionality/antenna shape design).

I live at woodlands v near MRT station.
I can receive the following digital broadcast using antenna with amplifier (old model Wavecom ANT-T1202) and my LF630T has built in DVB-T2 tuner:
1. ALL s'pore channels (ch5,8,suria,U,okto,vas,cna) - no need to buy expensive antenna if your tv has dvb-t2 capability - theaaronloy's method really works: youtube watch?v=HJ9_YveIPhc
btw, it is the wire cord that matters. the plug just act as a weight to support the wire.. 8-P

2. m'sia channels (tv1,tv2,tv3,ntv7,8tv,tv9,tvah,bnc) - these need antenna that has amplifier otherwise cannot receive - it's either you have (super clear) or you don't (black screen). i turn off the power supply, i still get all the s'pore digital channels but zero m'sian channels.

So for digital signals, once I can receive sufficient "strength" for a particular signal/frequency, no amount of moving the antenna position/wire, etc.. makes any difference. Digital signals contain error correction capability - the information/data is discrete piece by piece (0/1) not like analog signal which is continuous - that is why need the STB to decode/correct the error back to analog.

For analog signals when my antenna is positioned to give the best possible quality for a m'sian channel, the s'pore channels are super poor quality (and vice versa). for that matter, the amplifier makes the singapore channel even worse while improving the m'sian channel quality. that is why some ppl complain that booster is useless or making things even worse.

So design of the antenna (shape of the wire and all that stuff) matters a lot for analog signals due to directionality. But for digital signals, as the youtube video proves, there is no strong need for fancy designs/amplifiers if the signal strength is good.

For all you engineering undergraduates who has exposure to transmission line theory and digital communications - these subjects can help you understand why things are they way they are..
 

russ5254

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hi freezerz, would you happen to notice how low the signal strength drop to before it starts to affect the reception? I'm new to digital tv.
 

freezerz

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Not sure about that, I can consistently get about 90%. Only get freeze frames / blank screen 2/3 times in the last year of usage, and never turn on the signal display during those times to check. So far happy with the cheapo STB / antenna combo.
 

russ5254

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freezerz, thanks a lot for your reply! your idea of disconnecting the MATV connection into your flat at the DB is excellent!!! that's what i did for my phone line when i switch from Singtel landline to Starhub VOIP.. :cool:
 

albertlee

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Recently set up for my parents flat which is an old 3 room flat. They still have the MATV connection (besides the SCV one) that links to the rooftop antenna. I connect the STB to the MATV, can receive consistently 90+% HD signal strength.

I used to be able to receive DTV signal using MATV (even at low signal strength) but ever since town council decided to install solar farm at the roof top, reception is bad.

I was wondering whether it is possible to have both SCV and DTV (via indoor antenna) signal on the same coaxial cable using some form of combiner device without causing problem on SCV side. :s11:
 

russ5254

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Maybe Can try a Coax a/b switch (2 in 1 out). Can't post link yet : Amazon / Coaxial-A-B-Switch-1/dp/B0002ZPIQ4
 

albertlee

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Maybe Can try a Coax a/b switch (2 in 1 out). Can't post link yet : Amazon / Coaxial-A-B-Switch-1/dp/B0002ZPIQ4

Having this would defeat the purpose which is to have both TV signal available on the same coaxial cable.

This device should work, just worry it might interfere with SCV cable system.
 

freezerz

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Did you means 2 input combine into 1 output to the TV set? Won't there be signal clashes with each other? Don't think you will be able be receive anything... Go try out and let us know?
 

albertlee

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Did you means 2 input combine into 1 output to the TV set? Won't there be signal clashes with each other? Don't think you will be able be receive anything... Go try out and let us know?

Not to a single TV but the entire home coaxial network just like what you have done with a single antenna. Signal clashes is likely for cable signal that share the same DVB-T2 frequency but there are none.

Nah, unlikely to try out since first have to invest in the signal combiner. Anyway, local programs suck, only watch news from streaming site or from my USB TV stick.
 

SkimMilk

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I've used the 2TB Seagate HDD with the following STBs:
1. No brand/model STB from Aliexpress in Oct 2014. Surprisingly, it's still working, hehe.
2. Konka KHDT863 ==> proprietary recorded format. Not able to play back on PC or other media players.
3. K3 China STB from Aliexpress in Apr 2016.
4. K1plus STB from Aliexpress in Aug 2016. It's an Android Kodi player + DVB-T2 (+ satellite stuff unusable here)

:)
Hi petebull123, mind sharing your experience with the k1plus?

I see there's a kii pro and also a kiii coming soon. Very interested in getting such a box. Hopefully they are simple to use. :)

Sent from Xiaomi MI MAX using GAGT
 

petebull123

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Hi petebull123, mind sharing your experience with the k1plus?

I see there's a kii pro and also a kiii coming soon. Very interested in getting such a box. Hopefully they are simple to use. :)

Sent from Xiaomi MI MAX using GAGT

I have not really tested out all the features of the set. I have 2 main purposes when getting the set. Firstly, to be able to switch easily between Kodi and DVB-T2 without having to access the TV remote to switch HDMI ports, and turning on a separate STB.

Secondly, seeing that it has an ethernet port, to be able to transfer recorded DVB-T2 contents via LAN to my NAS or PCs without having to constantly plug/un-plug external HDDs or thumbdrives.

The set is essentially an Android box. Kodi and DVB-T2 appear as apps. You can load in more apps from Play Store (the usual, limited by memory). 4 USB ports are indeed useful - use 1 for wireless keyboard access and the rest can be used for external HDDs or thumbdrives.

Individually, Kodi works like normal, whether streaming from internet or playing back from LAN. I like the remote for this set. On some standalone Kodi sets that I have come across, I noticed that the remote does not come with buttons for stop, pause, fwd and rew - one has to access the on-screen menu for these functions, which becomes a multi-step process.

The DVB-T2 app functions as per any STB. One thing stood out is that it records each programme in two files (.ts or .mts [can't recall] and .media). The latter is just used by the app for media info like displaying of programme name, etc. So, you can access the .ts file by itself on any PC and do what you want with it. Can't tell you much more about the DVB-T2 functions as I haven't used it for recording for a while, with the following reason.

There is no multi-tasking (or maybe I didn't set it up properly, hehe :D). That means, at any one time, you are running Kodi or DVB-T2, not simultaneously. So, if you have set up the DVB-T2 to timer record some programmes, and then you switch to Kodi to watch some shows, it won't record since you are not running the DVB-T2 app. Another bummer is that if you want to timer record TV programmes, the set has to be on and running the DVB-T2 app - that means, you can't have the set in standby like normal DVB-T2 STBs (again, I may not have set it up correctly :D). In any case, my queries to the seller did not result in any useful info. :s22: More RAM may help so that apps can run in background...

For the transfer of recorded TV programmes via LAN, it works, albeit not so great in transfer speed (I used ESbrowser for the transfer, IIRC). Likely dependent on OS, processor and memory. So, I'm back to plugging/un-plugging HDDs, hehe. :s13:

The wifi works but since I place my set inside an enclosed TV console, the wifi signal strength is likely going to be affected. Anyway, I mainly make use of the ethernet port.

Miracast was provided in the pre-loaded apps. However, I couldn't get mine to work correctly. It will connect and then cut off immediately or it will just show "waiting to connect" even though my device shows it has already connected.

It is possible the issues I encountered could be due to it being a faulty set. I have not checked out the newer models. Hopefully, the functions have been improved somewhat.

Let me know if you have specific questions.
Cheers! :)
 

russ5254

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hi albertlee, i understand what you are asking is for 2 types of broadcast format to be COMBINED and made available through 1 cable instead of alternating between the 2 types of broadcast manually by flicking the switch (the most feasible way for now).

I have only come across "DVB-T and Satellite (DVB-S) signal mixer" at tdtprofessional dot com.
Specs says "This mixer unifies in a single cable signal from DTT and the signal from the satellite. Using a single cable we have both signals TV+satellite."

From the pic looks like no switch. If u can find one that is for DVB-T2+DVB-C pls feedback.
 
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