DVBv5 Tools

DVBv5 Tools (not to be confused with the similarly named, but much older, DVB tools project) is a small set of command line utilities that was developed to be compliant with the newer features provided by version 5 of the DVB API.[1] The tools should also be backward compatible with the older v3 DVB API.

This DVB toolset suite resides in the v4l-utils git repository, and uses DVBv5_library_(libdvbv5) libdvbv5.

It is composed of 4 tools::

• dvbv5-scan - Scans the channel transponders and gets the services available there;
• dvbv5-zap - Locks into a channel (zap), allowing other applications to get the stream at the dvr devices or to monitor the stream;
• dvb-fe-tool - Lists frontend properties and allow to manually set the DVB frontend
• dvb-format-convert - Converts from/to other formats used by DVBv3 apps into the dvbv5 format.

The DVBv5 file format is formed by a channel name, followed by a series of key/value properties.

For example, this is a channel file with one DVB-C channel on it:

[CHANNEL]
	DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A
	FREQUENCY = 573000000
	SYMBOL_RATE = 5217000
	INNER_FEC = NONE
	MODULATION = QAM/256
	INVERSION = AUTO

dvbv5-scan

A single physical channel (also called as transponder) may have several virtual channels inside it, encapsulated via a MPEG Transport stream.

Those virtual channels are called as "service" at the MPEG-TS terminology, and may have one or more audio, video and other types of elements inside it.

The dvbv5-scan goal is to scan for a list of physical channels/transponders and identify there the MPEG-TS services available.

The dvbv5-scan tool is smart enough to retrieve the information at the MPEG-TS Network Information Table (NIT) about other channels available on the stream.

Example:

$ dvbv5-scan ~/dvbc-test
Scanning frequency #1 573000000
Lock   (0x1f) Quality= Good Signal= 100.00% C/N= -13.80dB UCB= 0 postBER= 3.14x10^-3 PER= 0
Service SBT, provider (null): digital television
Service Globo, provider Globo: digital television
Service Record, provider (null): digital television
Service Band, provider (null): digital television
...
Service Trilhas Sonoras, provider (null): digital radio
New transponder/channel found: #2: 579000000
...
New transponder/channel found: #39: 507000000

There are several options that could be used on dvbv5-scan:

dvbv5-scan parameters

parameter	meaning
-3, --dvbv3	Use DVBv3 only
-a, --adapter=adapter#	use given adapter (default 0)
-d, --demux=demux#	use given demux (default 0)
-f, --frontend=frontend#	use given frontend (default 0)
-F, --file-freqs-only	don't use the other frequencies discovered during scan
-G, --get_frontend	use data from get_frontend on the output file
-I, --input-format=format	Input format: CHANNEL, DVBV5 (default: DVBV5). The input format is case insensitive
-l, --lnbf=LNBf_type	type of LNBf to use. 'help' lists the available ones
-N, --nit	use data from NIT table on the output file
-o, --output=file	output filename (default: dvb_channel.conf)
-O, --output-format=format	Output format: CHANNEL, ZAP, DVBV5 (default: DVBV5). The output format is case insensitive
-p, --parse-other-nit	Parse the other NIT/SDT tables
-S, --sat_number=satellite_number	satellite number. If not specified, disable DISEqC
-T, --timeout-multiply=factor	Multiply scan timeouts by this factor
-U, --freq_bpf=frequency	SCR/Unicable band-pass filter frequency to use, in kHz
-v, --verbose	be (very) verbose
-w, --lna=LNA (0, 1, -1)	enable/disable/auto LNA power
-W, --wait=time	adds additional wait time for DISEqC command completion
-?, --help	help
--usage	Give a short usage message
-V, --version	Print program version