DVB TV uHAT
Les Pounder has two screens on his desk. One is for work and the other is now filled with quiz shows and adverts for dog food…
Les Pounder has two screens on his desk. One is for work and the other is now filled with quiz shows and adverts for dog food…
ADVB T2 tuner for the Raspberry Pi isn’t something that we ever considered, as it doesn’t fit into the “educational hardware” remit. But this new DVB TV uHAT is another product in their range that helps to grow the income of Raspberry Pi Trading, which in turn provides income for the Foundation, which spearheads educational outreach. No bad thing!
The DVB TV uHAT is designed for all 40-pin GPIO models of Pi and it features a new uHAT specification. The HAT standard was introduced in 2014 as a means to standardise board design for the Pi, and the uHAT looks to do the same for boards used with the Pi Zero range. The DVB TV uHAT fits on top of the GPIO, yet uses only the SPI bus, leaving us with access to the rest of the GPIO pins. The neat cut-out on the left side of the board means we have access to the DSI (display port) on the larger Pi models. The board is easy to install and requires only an external aerial to receive DVB TV transmissions.
We tested the board with the latest version of Raspbian, and after updating the software on our test machine we installed TVheadend, followed the wizard to detect our DVB tuner, and then scanned for channels. Within 10 minutes we had everything configured and ready to use. This is where things became more interesting.
For your viewing pleasure
To watch TV we have two choices. If our Pi is powerful enough (Pi 3 or Pi 3 B+) then we can watch television directly on the Pi. But if our Pi isn’t up to the task, then we can stream the TV channels over our home network and watch them on any device in the home. We tested this with our Ubuntu 16.04 rig, and VLC was able to play the streams with no issues. It’s also worth noting that this tuner will only enable you to watch two or three streams at once. This is because how channels are bundled together (multiplexed) to save bandwidth, effectively using the same space as an analogue channel, but offering many more channels.
Once we understood how TVheadend created the streams and where to find the stream URL, we quickly created a test script in Python that would play the video stream using a custom GUI. Along the way, we discovered that as well as watching TV we can record it! We can schedule recordings using TVheadend, or we can directly record to our computer using VLC. So now you’ll never miss an episode of EastEnders.
The DVB TV uHAT can also be used with Kodi and Plex media services to augment your own archive of media with live television and radio. Other uses for typical, Realtek-based DVB devices on the Pi are for SDR (Software Defined Radio) used to track aircraft in your area, and listen in to frequencies used for conversation. At the time of writing no one has attempted this hack with the DVB TV uHAT because it uses a Sony CXD2880 tuner, but we expect it’ll be just a matter of time before someone cracks it!
The DVB TV uHAT is extremely easy to use and offers a great service for your home. The ability to stream TV over Wi-Fi using nothing more than a Pi Zero W, running at only 250mA, makes this a low-power alternative for the home. This may be a “curveball” product that took us all by surprise, but it’s a welcome surprise nonetheless.