dvbv5-scan
dvbv5-scan is a command line frequency scanning tool for digital TV services. Its purpose is to attempt to locate the signals available on a digital TV tuner. Depending on the source, signals may be present on one or more of the possible channels, it is dvbv5-scan's purpose to find out which channels are actually in use.
dvbv5-scan scans for a list of physical channels/transponders and identifies if there is an MPEG Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) service available. A single "physical" channel (also called a transponder) may have multiple signals within it, encapsulated in MPEG-TS. Those virtual channels are called "services" in MPEG-TS terminology, and may have one or more audio/video/other elements inside. dvbv5-scan will also retrieve the information from the MPEG-TS Network Information Table (NIT) about the availablity of other channels in the stream. This information also includes the Service ID, which corresponds to the "station name" or "channel number" that you might find in a program listing or TV Guide.
dvbv5-scan looks for signals that are compliant with version 5 of the DVB API, and backward compatable with the older v3 DVB API. It was developed as part of DVBv5 Tools suite, which resides in the v4l-utils git repositiory [1]. It is based on a new channel/service file format that it is capable of supporting all types of DTV standards. It can also support the legacy format used by the legacy dvb-apps.
For other dvbv5 tools, please see the main article.
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
The example above shows dvbv5-scan being asked to scan a list of channels, which it does and discovers a total of 38 channels. Note that each of these channels can have zero, one or multiple television signals encoded within it. For instance, in this case Channel 1 contains a video signal from a broadcaster known as "Globo", while Channel 2 is a digital radio channel known as "Trilhas Sonoras".
The output of the program is sent to the "db_channel.com" text file with several entries with will have not only the physical channel/transponder info, but also the Service ID, and the corresponding audio/video/other program IDs (PID), like:
[Globo] SERVICE_ID = 5 VIDEO_PID = 288 AUDIO_PID = 289 FREQUENCY = 573000000 MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 5247500 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A
Parameters
There are several options that could be used on dvbv5-scan:
| 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. The LNBf model is case insensitive |
| -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 |
Please notice that, for Satellite systems, the LNBf and other corresponding settings are needed. the supported LNBf models by dvbv5-scan and dvbv5-zap are:
UNIVERSAL Europe 10800 to 11800 MHz and 11600 to 12700 MHz Dual LO, IF = lowband 9750 MHz, highband 10600 MHz DBS Expressvu, North America 12200 to 12700 MHz Single LO, IF = 11250 MHz EXTENDED Astra 1E, European Universal Ku (extended) 10700 to 11700 MHz and 11700 to 12750 MHz Dual LO, IF = lowband 9750 MHz, highband 10600 MHz STANDARD Standard 10945 to 11450 MHz Single LO, IF = 10000 MHz ENHANCED Astra 10700 to 11700 MHz Single LO, IF = 9750 MHz C-BAND Big Dish - Monopoint LNBf 3700 to 4200 MHz Single LO, IF = 5150 MHz C-MULT Big Dish - Multipoint LNBf 3700 to 4200 MHz Dual LO, Bandstacking, LO POL_R 5150 MHZ, LO POL_L 5750 MHz DISHPRO DishPro LNBf 12200 to 12700 MHz Dual LO, Bandstacking, LO POL_R 11250 MHZ, LO POL_L 14350 MHz
Other examples
example channel list:
[CHANNEL] DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A FREQUENCY = 113000000 SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE MODULATION = QAM/64 INVERSION = AUTO [CHANNEL] DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A FREQUENCY = 121000000 SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE MODULATION = QAM/64 INVERSION = AUTO [CHANNEL] DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A FREQUENCY = 130000000 SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = AUTO [CHANNEL] DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A FREQUENCY = 330000000 SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = AUTO [CHANNEL] DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A FREQUENCY = 338000000 SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = AUTO [CHANNEL] DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A FREQUENCY = 346000000 SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = AUTO
example service list:
[Das Erste] SERVICE_ID = 28106 VIDEO_PID = 101 AUDIO_PID = 102 103 106 PID_0b = 2171 PID_06 = 105 104 84 PID_05 = 2070 FREQUENCY = 113000000 MODULATION = QAM/64 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A [Bayerisches FS Süd] SERVICE_ID = 28107 VIDEO_PID = 201 AUDIO_PID = 202 203 206 PID_0b = 2171 PID_06 = 204 PID_05 = 2178 FREQUENCY = 113000000 MODULATION = QAM/64 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A [hr-fernsehen] SERVICE_ID = 28108 VIDEO_PID = 301 AUDIO_PID = 302 303 PID_0b = 2171 PID_06 = 304 PID_05 = 2270 FREQUENCY = 113000000 MODULATION = QAM/64 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A [Bayerisches FS Nord] SERVICE_ID = 28110 VIDEO_PID = 201 AUDIO_PID = 202 203 206 PID_0b = 2171 PID_06 = 204 PID_05 = 2178 FREQUENCY = 113000000 MODULATION = QAM/64 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A [WDR Köln] SERVICE_ID = 28111 VIDEO_PID = 601 AUDIO_PID = 602 603 PID_0b = 2171 PID_06 = 604 PID_05 = 2370 FREQUENCY = 113000000 MODULATION = QAM/64 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A [Planet HD] SERVICE_ID = 50003 VIDEO_PID = 6821 AUDIO_PID = 6822 FREQUENCY = 130000000 MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A [13th Street HD] SERVICE_ID = 50004 VIDEO_PID = 6831 AUDIO_PID = 6832 6833 FREQUENCY = 130000000 MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A [ProSieben HD] SERVICE_ID = 50015 VIDEO_PID = 6841 AUDIO_PID = 6842 PID_06 = 6844 FREQUENCY = 130000000 MODULATION = QAM/256 INVERSION = OFF SYMBOL_RATE = 6900000 INNER_FEC = NONE DELIVERY_SYSTEM = DVBC/ANNEX_A