Astrometa DVB-T2

The 2013 revision's case

This device is commonly found on E-commerce sites that ship directly from China. The hardware supports DVB-C, DVB-T and DVB-T2.

Support

DVB-T supported since kernel 3.13, DVB-T2 since 4.6. Drivers being developed support DVB-C with 64QAM/128QAM, but not 256QAM.

Components

The device was usually shipped with these components:

• USB interface: Realtek RTL2832P
• Demodulator: Panasonic MN88473 (2013 revision: MN88472) (2018 revision: Sony CXD2837ER)
• Tuner: Rafael Micro R828D (TVR801: R820T)

The USB interface bridge for all devices are supported by rtl238xx driver. All tuners are supported by the same driver (rt820t). The demulator driver varies from version to version: it can be mn88472, mn88473 or cxd2841er.

The different revisions of the Astrometa DVB-T2 have been released under many different "brand" names. This page cannot list all of them. If you buy a new tuner from an unknown or no brand for under 30 euros or so, you will probably get some Astrometa clone.

2013 and 2014 revision look very similar. Probably, the text on the 2013 revision always reads "FM+DAB+SDR", while the 2014 one says "DVB-T/T2/C+FM+DAB". However, seller pictures do not always reflect that change and one could end up buying a random version even years later.

The 2014 revision version is also sold as "Andoer Digital DVBT2 USB TV Stick" or "Docooler YRC1415458446568TZ". Those devices are identical in appearance to the usual Astrometa devices.

TeVii sells a similar device under the name "H630". The case is black. The PCB layout is a bit different, e.g. the IR sensor is in a different position.

There is a version of the device called TVR801, which uses an unlabelled Rafael Micro R820T tuner. According to official sources, this one does not support DVB-C.

In 2017, a clone of the 2014 version with a red PCB (original Astrometa one's is green) also appeared on E-commerce sites that ship from China. The case looks like the H630's, but is white with silver text that reads "DVB-T/T2/C/FM/DAB". This device is shipped in bulk in just a plastic bag with a simple stick antenna, a remote control (21 buttons) and a Mini CD that dates to 09 Jan 2017. Some sellers call it OXA ZC905500 or S SKYEE. It is also sold under the name "iViewHD" inside the case of the TVR801 and its antenna has an USB-powered amplifier. See 2018 update below!

In 2018 several clones are being shipped using the Sony CXD2837 chipset. This has a driver from kernel 4.14 onwards (it is now covered by the cxd2841er driver), but the device as a whole does not work because the RTL2832 driver has not been updated to recognise it. However, updated RTL2832 driver has been accepted to the media_tree (as mentioned here) so you can compile it yourself (see How to Obtain, Build and Install V4L-DVB Device Drivers#Retrieving_from_the_upstream_development_Kernel_tree) or use a specialized distribution such as LibreELEC (kodi appliance) which supports this device out-of-the-box, provided you enable the bundled "DVB drivers from the latest kernel (media_build)" add-on. These changes will most likely be included in the next mainline kernel. In most cases the RTL chip does not appear to be connected to the tuner, so these devices will not work for DVB-T either. Even though the chipset is different and incompatible, the same USB vendor and product IDs are used (15f4:0131). The clones with the Sony demodulator reported so far are:

• Blue coloured PCB either with a white case or a black case, both with silver writing. You (or a potential seller) can tell if this uses an incompatible Sony chip by holding it in front of (or for the black ones: directly under) a light source and see the colour of the PCB through the holes. dmesg output, lsusb -vvv output and PCB photos here
• Green coloured PCB with a case matching the 2014 revision. The only way to tell if this uses the Sony chip (or is the 2014 revision with working Panasonic chipset) is to open the case and read the part number on the chip.

All these models share the same USB IDs.

In late 2015, a version with analog video input and analog tuning capabilities was released, powered by the Conexant CX23102-11Z USB bridge. It has a different device ID (0135) and is a different device. Support is unknown.

	2013 revision	2014 revision	TVR801	2017 revision	2018 revision	2015 revision: DVB+Analog TV
Sample promo shot	(some may look like the 2014 revision)	(some may look like the 2013 revision)	(case also used for other revisions or devices, often without the text)		or same as 2014 or 2017 revision
Bottom PCB	same as 2014 revision (different demod, no number 1422)	("1422" and text missing sometimes)
Top PCB	same as 2014 revision
USB Bridge	Realtek RTL2832P	Realtek RTL2832P	Realtek RTL2832P	Realtek RTL2832P	Realtek RTL2832P	Conexant CX23102-11Z
Demod	Panasonic MN88472 (said to not support DVB-T2 v1.3.1, which is used in e.g. Germany)	Panasonic MN88473	Panasonic MN88473	Panasonic MN88473	Sony CXD2837ER	Panasonic MN88473
Tuner	Rafael Micro R828D	Rafael Micro R828D	Rafael Micro R820T (probably doesn't support DVB-C)	Rafael Micro R828D	Rafael Micro R828D or AT628 (same as R828D)	Rafael Micro R828D
USB IDs	15f4:0131 (Hanftek)	15f4:0131 (Hanftek)	15f4:0131 (Hanftek)	15f4:0131 (Hanftek)	15f4:0131 (Hanftek)	15f4:0135 (Hanftek)
Supported	yes	yes	most likely	yes	most likely since 5.0	unknown

PCBs of TVR801 and 2017 revision have the same color, the difference on the pictures comes from different lighting. There is another rare version described in Antti's blog, which pretty much the 2017 revision with a green PCB (and has some very little differences).

RTL2832P configuration

The RTL2832P has 2 PID filter paths. One for the internal demod and one for a possible external one.

External ts mode

0x21[3]         enable_ETS, set to enable external ts input
0x21[5]         pass_err, when set reject error packets
0x21[6]         PID_mode, when set reject matched PIDs
0x21[7]         PID_output, when set output data from enabled PID filters
0x22[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (0-7)
0x23[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (8-15)
0x24[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (16-23)
0x25[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (24-31)
0x26-0x27[12-0] PID_0, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x28-0x29[12-0] PID_1, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x2A-0x2B[12-0] PID_2, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x2C-0x2D[12-0] PID_3, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x2E-0x2F[12-0] PID_4, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x30-0x31[12-0] PID_5, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x32-0x33[12-0] PID_6, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x34-0x35[12-0] PID_7, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x36-0x37[12-0] PID_8, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x38-0x39[12-0] PID_9, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x3A-0x3B[12-0] PID_10, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x3C-0x3D[12-0] PID_11, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x3E-0x3F[12-0] PID_12, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x40-0x41[12-0] PID_13, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x42-0x43[12-0] PID_14, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x44-0x45[12-0] PID_15, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x46-0x47[12-0] PID_16, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x48-0x49[12-0] PID_17, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x4A-0x4B[12-0] PID_18, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x4C-0x4D[12-0] PID_19, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x4E-0x4F[12-0] PID_20, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x50-0x51[12-0] PID_21, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x52-0x53[12-0] PID_22, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x54-0x55[12-0] PID_23, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x56-0x57[12-0] PID_24, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x58-0x59[12-0] PID_25, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x5A-0x5B[12-0] PID_26, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x5C-0x5D[12-0] PID_27, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x5E-0x5F[12-0] PID_28, PID storage register 13 bits wide

These filters would overlap with the internal ts address space.

0x60-0x61[12-0] PID_29, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x62-0x63[12-0] PID_30, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x64-0x65[12-0] PID_31, PID storage register 13 bits wide

Most likely the the external PID filter path has less then 32 pid filters.

Internal ts mode

0x61[5]         pass_err, when set reject error packets
0x61[6]         PID_mode, when set reject matched PIDs
0x61[7]         PID_output, when set output data from enabled PID filters
0x62[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (0-7)
0x63[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (8-15)
0x64[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (16-23)
0x65[7-0]       PID_enable, when set enable PID in corresponding register (24-31)
0x66-0x67[12-0] PID_0, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x68-0x69[12-0] PID_1, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x6A-0x6B[12-0] PID_2, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x6C-0x6D[12-0] PID_3, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x6E-0x6F[12-0] PID_4, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x70-0x71[12-0] PID_5, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x72-0x73[12-0] PID_6, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x74-0x75[12-0] PID_7, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x76-0x77[12-0] PID_8, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x78-0x79[12-0] PID_9, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x7A-0x7B[12-0] PID_10, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x7C-0x7D[12-0] PID_11, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x7E-0x7F[12-0] PID_12, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x80-0x81[12-0] PID_13, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x82-0x83[12-0] PID_14, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x84-0x85[12-0] PID_15, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x86-0x87[12-0] PID_16, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x88-0x89[12-0] PID_17, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x8A-0x8B[12-0] PID_18, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x8C-0x8D[12-0] PID_19, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x8E-0x8F[12-0] PID_20, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x90-0x91[12-0] PID_21, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x92-0x93[12-0] PID_22, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x94-0x95[12-0] PID_23, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x96-0x97[12-0] PID_24, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x98-0x99[12-0] PID_25, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x9A-0x9B[12-0] PID_26, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x9C-0x9D[12-0] PID_27, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0x9E-0x9F[12-0] PID_28, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0xA0-0xA1[12-0] PID_29, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0xA2-0xA3[12-0] PID_30, PID storage register 13 bits wide
0xA4-0xA5[12-0] PID_31, PID storage register 13 bits wide

External links

• Astrometa HD-901T2 teardown
• Astrometa AMDVB-T2 v2 teardown of second revision