DVBv5 Tools

DVBv5 Tools (not to be confused with the similarly named, but much older, DVB tools legacy 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 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-zap

The dvbv5-zap tool can be used on several different modes, depending on the parameters used.

The typical use is to tune into a channel and put it into record mode:

$ dvbv5-zap -c dvb_channel.conf "trilhas sonoras" -r
using demux '/dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0'
reading channels from file 'dvb_channel.conf'
service has pid type 05:  204
tuning to 573000000 Hz
audio pid 104
  dvb_set_pesfilter 104
Lock   (0x1f) Quality= Good Signal= 100.00% C/N= -13.80dB UCB= 70 postBER= 3.14x10^-3 PER= 0
DVR interface '/dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0' can now be opened

The channel can be watched by playing the contents of the DVR interface, with some player that recognizes the MPEG-TS format.

For example (in this specific case, it is an audio only channel, but the same could be used for audio/video):

$ mplayer -cache 800 /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0
MPlayer SVN-r37077-4.8.2 (C) 2000-2014 MPlayer Team
TS file format detected.
NO VIDEO! AUDIO MPA(pid=104) NO SUBS (yet)!  PROGRAM N. 0
==================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mpg123] MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 layers I, II, III
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mpg123] afm: mpg123 (MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 layers I, II, III)
==================================================================
AO: [alsa] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...

The dvbv5-zap tool can also be used to monitor a DVB channel:

$ dvbv5-zap -c dvb_channel.conf 573000000 -m
using demux '/dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0'
reading channels from file 'dvb_channel.conf'
service has pid type 05:  204
tuning to 573000000 Hz
Lock   (0x1f) Quality= Good Signal= 100.00% C/N= -13.90dB UCB= 384 postBER= 96.8x10^-6 PER= 0
  dvb_set_pesfilter to 0x2000

PID	FREQ	SPEED	TOTAL
0000	9.88 p/s	14.5 Kbps	1 KB
0001	1.98 p/s	2.9 Kbps	376 B
0010	18.77 p/s	27.6 Kbps	3 KB
0011	48.42 p/s	71.1 Kbps	8 KB
0012	1455.53 p/s	2137.8 Kbps	270 KB
...
1fff	1033.60 p/s	1518.1 Kbps	192 KB
TOT	25296.44 p/s	37154.2 Kbps	4700 KB

Lock   (0x1f) Quality= Good Signal= 100.00% C/N= -13.90dB UCB= 384 postBER= 96.8x10^-6 PER= 0