122. DVB-T in VLC on Debian Wheezy

For some reason me-tv has stopped working properly today  (20/4/2012)-- I can't change the channels, screen size or drop down the menus. In order to quit, you have to kill the application. Something's clearly amiss. (Edit 22/5/2012: seems to be this bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/me-tv/+bug/958751 -- 09/01/2013: it's been fixed now ) kaffeine, although a KDE app, also works well, and is very simple to set up -- the EPG  also works better than vlc.

This is Kaffeine, not VLC

This is me-tv, not VLC

Oh well.

Given that it's Friday night I had to come up with a quick fix.

I've got a Leadtek 1000 DTS, which lspci makes show up as
01:06.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7130 Video Broadcast Decoder (rev 01)

See item 7 in http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/debian-testing-64-wheezy-small-fixes.html if your card isn't recognised (Hint: enable PnP in the bios)

So, where's what I did:
1. Install gnome-dvb-*
sudo apt-get install gnome-dvb-daemon gnome-dvb-client vlc

2. Set up your tv card:
gnome-dvb-setup

This bit's easy. Just click your way through. Eventually you'll realize that while gnome-dvb sets up channels ok, it only support recording -- not tv watching. And the whole totem + gnome-dvb-daemon? Not working yet it seems.

3. Start vlc
vlc ~/.config/gnome-dvb-daemon/channels_DVB-T.conf

If all went well you are now watching TV!
You should have a list over channels in your playlist (ctrl+L).
The EPG support could perhaps be better (me-tv is awesome) but you'll find rudimentary listings by going to Tools/Program Guide.

As for me-tv...it might be the same as this bug: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=667731


 Looking at /var/cache/apt/archives I don't see anything obvious:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  23232372 Apr 16 05:18 linux-image-3.2.0-2-amd64_3.2.15-1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3505210 Apr 16 05:18 linux-headers-3.2.0-2-common_3.2.15-1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    572064 Apr 16 05:18 linux-headers-3.2.0-2-amd64_3.2.15-1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    244210 Apr 17 07:32 libtag1-vanilla_1.7.1-2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      9132 Apr 17 07:32 libtag1c2a_1.7.1-2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    195492 Apr 18 03:33 libservlet2.5-java_6.0.35-3_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1348610 Apr 18 08:18 netpbm_2%3a10.0-15+b1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     94438 Apr 18 08:18 libnetpbm10_2%3a10.0-15+b1_amd64.deb

(I use my own kernel and not the debian one)

---

Here's my current channel_DVB-T.conf list (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia):

ABC News 24:226500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:2314:0:560
ABC1:226500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:563
ABC2 / ABC4:226500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:2307:2308:562
ABC3:226500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:2311:2312:564
ABC Jazz:226500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:2318:567
ABC Dig Music:226500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:2317:566
ABC1:226500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:561
GO!:191625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:517:700:1074
GEM:191625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:0:1073
Nine Digital:191625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:519:720:1072
EXTRA:191625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:520:730:1075
ONE:219500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:514:0:1585
TEN Digital:219500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:1589
ONE:219500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:514:0:1591
ELEVEN:219500000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:516:681:1592
SBS ONE:536625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:161:81:785
SBS HD:536625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:102:103:789
SBS TWO:536625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:162:83:786
SBS 3:536625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:161:81:787
SBS 4:536625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:161:81:788
SBS Radio 1:536625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:201:798
SBS Radio 2:536625000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_NONE:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:202:799

7:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:769:770:1328
7 Two:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:769:770:1330
7 Mate:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:769:770:1331