View Full Version : Gigablue 4K receivers and USB tuners
white_westie
10-03-21, 12:07
Currently looking at upgrading to a Gigablue UHD UE or QUAD box, so a question for anyone with these boxes especially in Ireland.
If an optional DVB-S2X tuner is fitted into the PNP slot, can I use an external usb dvb-t (Sony PlayTV) dongle to add DVB-T tuners?
I thought Ireland uses dvb/t/t2 type usb tuners but would need to know if their were drivers for that chipset.
According to this:
https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/playtv-tuner-not-found-in-tvheadend-server/5662/7
the Sony PlayTV dongle should work. It needs the dib0700 driver.
white_westie
10-03-21, 15:05
Yep, should have said that I am currently using it on an old ET9x00 for the last number of years - Also seems to work on my et8000 as well.
It's just I thought...... when reading through various posts last week, I saw a comment about usb tuners not working in Gigablue boxes - might have something to do with the boxes that have the FBC tuner module! Cannot find it now of course.......
Why are you adding an extra digital tuner? Those fbc tuners have 8 demodulators.
Why are you adding an extra digital tuner? Those fbc tuners have 8 demodulators.
Access to Saorview would be my guess.
white_westie
10-03-21, 15:43
Currently have 2 boxes each with twin dvb-s2 tuners, one has a built in hybrid configured as dvb-t, and the other is using a usb dvb-t tuner.
Due to power issues recently, 1 box has lost its sat tuners, and also seems to have damaged some lnbs.
So in looking around for possible replacement, I was looking at a 1 box solution for the house.
Gigablue UE with FBC tuner and unicable 2 lnb will supply 8 tuners for 28east - these can be used by other stb(s) in client or fallback mode, firestick, tablet or pc's connected to network.
To handle the other sats 19e, 13e, 5w (I have a T90) I was fitting the 2nd sat tuner, and because I also need dvb-t tuners was wondering could I use the usb tuner as well!
I should have said DVB tuner- ooops. And I should have noticed your signature. To get an answer you would need to post in gigablue section and even then its unlikely a user will have 2 x fbc and 1 by dsb sx. What may happen is box will only recognise a max of 4 tuners or miss the DTT ones. I did a search and found a gigablue forum with this result, the fix was using openhdf. I tried to join but failed to answer the question .. "
https://www.gigablue-support.org/gigablueforum/forum/index.php?thread/14268-dvb-t2-mit-usb-stick/
You can get unicable with legacy outputs as well but you may know that.
If you want to watch or record any terrestrial channel in Ireland, any box with a dual dvb-t will do.
white_westie
10-03-21, 18:19
I should have said DVB tuner- ooops. And I should have noticed your signature. To get an answer you would need to post in gigablue section and even then its unlikely a user will have 2 x fbc and 1 by dsb sx. What may happen is box will only recognise a max of 4 tuners or miss the DTT ones. I did a search and found a gigablue forum with this result, the fix was using openhdf. I tried to join but failed to answer the question .. "
https://www.gigablue-support.org/gigablueforum/forum/index.php?thread/14268-dvb-t2-mit-usb-stick/
You can get unicable with legacy outputs as well but you may know that.
Thanks for response, especially the gigablue support link - had searched around for stuff, but that site never popped up for me.
As regards my question, you have put it better than me - an FBC module is 2 physical tuners, add in the 2nd dual tuner and that's 4, maybe that's the physical limit supported by the drivers.
Was sure I saw a comment on this site about this, probably from Abu himself, anyway will keep looking, but am reconsidering my options.
In relation to unicable lnbs with legacy outputs, can I assume that they are basically just multiple lnbs in 1 package, similar to traditional twin or quad, and that the legacy ports are fully independent of the scr port?
I should have said box may only recognise 4 tuners and omit the dtt even with the correct driver BUT with that image HDF you may get one dtt tuner or even both recognised. Yes legacy is the old LNB outputs and fully independent. Could help you.
And I noticed the CT9000 and the ET4000 can you replace tuners in these? I have the xtrend 10000 with 4 tuners, 2 x dvb and 2 x dtt both internal.
white_westie
10-03-21, 21:24
I should have said box may only recognise 4 tuners and omit the dtt even with the correct driver BUT with that image HDF you may get one dtt tuner or even both recognised. Yes legacy is the old LNB outputs and fully independent. Could help you.
And I noticed the CT9000 and the ET4000 can you replace tuners in these? I have the xtrend 10000 with 4 tuners, 2 x dvb and 2 x dtt both internal.
Agree on the possibility of a 4 tuner issue - found some unanswered posts going back asking a similar question to what I am asking!
As regards replacement tuners for my current setup, its not really an option.
I have the hybrid tuner on the ET8000 configured as dvb-t (did use it as a dvb-c for a while as well!), and all working fine.
My trusty CT9000 (which got converted to an ET9000 somewhere along the way) got a bit of a power wobble, and does not see the sat tuners anymore - boots up okay, sees the hdd and usb tuner, dvb-t works fine locally, sat works using fallback configuration to the ET8000.
Suspect its a psu issue, and have changed some capacitors, but nogo. The power issue also damaged lnbs and a disecq switch.
The sat tuners are soldered onto the mainboard, so not really replaceable!
In looking at a replacement, came across unicable and fbc tuner's, so will probably go down that route, especially now that I understand a bit more on how the 6 leaf tuners can be configured across the root tuners, and how the legacy outputs work on the unicable lnbs.
Too much time on my hands....
abu baniaz
11-03-21, 02:49
Oops, I forgot about this. USB tuners do not work on my GB UE 4K. They install, show up as tuners and can be configured. But they do not lock to pre-existing channels. Nor do they find channels on a scan.
Even my Sundtek tuner does not work.
But have you tried it with that HDF image??
abu baniaz
11-03-21, 15:01
But have you tried it with that HDF image??
If that was directed to me, I have not tried HDF. I have tried Pure2, PLI, Vix, ATV and TeamBlue
Apparently HDF does the trick. I dont have the box to try myself.
white_westie
12-03-21, 16:29
@Abu - thanks for confirming about the USB tuner
@bmitie - if I get a box I will give a HDF image a try
Still considering my options - more reading to do!!
abu baniaz
12-03-21, 22:14
I tried hdfreaks (openhdf-6.5-gbue4k-94-20210128_usb.zip) same thing for me. USB tuners do not work. Scan finds nothing using the USB tuner. Selecting a service results in a blank screens. It is fine with the designated tuners.
white_westie
07-04-21, 21:26
Got my hands on a shiny new Gigablue UE 4K stb 2 weeks ago, so I thought I should update the thread on my findings.
Basically I am trying to get a Sony PlayTV usb dual dvb-t tuner working on this box - it uses the dib0700 driver pack.
Box came with Teamblue 6.4 installed, so installed the drivers, rebooted, configured them, but a scan returned nothing!
Tried the oldest version of 6.4 as well as the 6.3 versions - nothing scanned.
Decided to install the extra dvb-s2x tuner in the pnp slot, and tried the images again - no change.
So downloaded all the images from openpli, openvix, openatv, teamblue and openhdf I could find taking the oldest/latest from each major version.
For each I did the following:-
fresh flash, no restore, minimum configuration (display + network), downloaded dib0700 drivers, rebooted, configured dvb-t tuners and attempted scan.
All failed to scan and find anything except 2
openvix 5.1.003 20180828
openpli 6.2 20190512
Both found all the channels on the 2 tp/channels we have in Ireland.
Common thing between them, is that both used the drivers from 20180405.
Did a checksum on the driver files in each image, and they matched exactly.
Using the github history on the gigablue-platform-util-gb7252.bb file, I could see the next driver pack was dated 20180914.
This coincided with a change in the bcm sdk
https://github.com/oe-alliance/oe-alliance-core/commit/e05da7f15ec22231ad6bfbc438f70973fe8c33f0
[GigaBlue | gb7252] update build
* Update drivers to new BCM SDK
* add opengl Support
* add Kodi Support
* add Chrome-WEB Browser
* add Youtube.TV
* add Bluetooth Audio Support (need optional BCM Bluetooth USB Adpater)
* add QT HBBTV Support
* add Support for new Gigablue DVB-S2X Single and Dualtuner with Multistream
* update LCD modes to only support regular modes (no more pip in lcd)
* Info: Quadpip at the moment only supports 1080i and 2160p as video resolution (the fix to support 720p and 1080p is coming later)
* remove support of 480 and 576 video resolution - new BCM SDK dropped that
Had a look at the driver pack, and it's also the first occurrence of the file dvb.ko, so its a different set of files than the working set.
Not sure if it means anything, but for all the images I tried (except 1 openhdf), the tuners were recognised, they could be configured, and using the Signal/Satellite panel, the tuner could be selected, so could the 2 tps/channels, and in each case a signal level was detected and a signal lock was shown.
So I assuming then that the code was able to talk/control the tuner and also get some feedback from it at a tp level.
So a question for any of you guys who have a better understanding how the code, drivers and tuners all hang together - do you think this is a driver issue?
maybe something left out in the conversion to the new sdk etc
It would be cool if I could get it working with the later images - 12 tuners available in 1 box is useful.
TIA
WW
Andy_Hazza
08-04-21, 13:20
It’s a driver issue with your receiver. Has been reported on different threads on this forum also. Don’t think it will be fixed anytime soon either.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
white_westie
08-04-21, 23:33
@Andy - thanks for the confirmation.
Am I correct in saying that the Gigablue UE, QUAD and TRIO all share the same drivers, so would have the same problem? What about the X3?
Possibly looking for a box with dual dvb-s2 mis tuners and dual dvb-t tuners - dont think any exist hence looking at what boxes support usb tuners!
Any insights on the Octogan SF8008 or Zgemma Hxx boxes?
TIA
WW
Would not the 8 Sat and 2 T tuners on the Gigablue UE be enough?
@Andy - thanks for the confirmation.
Am I correct in saying that the Gigablue UE, QUAD and TRIO all share the same drivers, so would have the same problem? What about the X3?
Possibly looking for a box with dual dvb-s2 mis tuners and dual dvb-t tuners - dont think any exist hence looking at what boxes support usb tuners!
Any insights on the Octogan SF8008 or Zgemma Hxx boxes?
TIA
WW
The Giga UE/Quad4K and Trio are different architecture receivers. Trio is HiSilicon and is like the sf8008.
white_westie
09-04-21, 17:26
Would not the 8 Sat and 2 T tuners on the Gigablue UE be enough?
Jon, for most people it should be - freesat on sat tuners, cable or freeview/saorview on the optional hybrid tuner, a perfect box.
However, I still look at stuff on Astra 19E and Hotbird 13E so the extra tuners are not much benefit.
Am also trying to pull in the French/Italian multistream channels on 5W, so need dvb-s2 tuners that support multistrem (unfortunately the fbc tuners do not), hence the search for the odd tuner combination!
white_westie
09-04-21, 17:32
The Giga UE/Quad4K and Trio are different architecture receivers. Trio is HiSilicon and is like the sf8008.
Twol, thanks for info, must look at the tuner specs a bit closer in the future!
Last question - my understanding is that the current crop of fbc tuners do not support multistream, is that a hardware or driver restriction?
If it is driver related, do you see that changing in the future?
TIA
WW
@Andy - thanks for the confirmation.
Am I correct in saying that the Gigablue UE, QUAD and TRIO all share the same drivers, so would have the same problem? What about the X3?
Possibly looking for a box with dual dvb-s2 mis tuners and dual dvb-t tuners - dont think any exist hence looking at what boxes support usb tuners!
Any insights on the Octogan SF8008 or Zgemma Hxx boxes?
TIA
WW
The SF8008 and Zgemma H7S will work fine with saorview. I have both of them and currently using the H7S as it is a triple tuner- 1 terrestrial and 2 x satellite tuners. It also has the bonus of being able to house a 2.5" HDD which a lot of the new low footprint models don't.
white_westie
09-04-21, 19:25
The SF8008 and Zgemma H7S will work fine with saorview. I have both of them and currently using the H7S as it is a triple tuner- 1 terrestrial and 2 x satellite tuners. It also has the bonus of being able to house a 2.5" HDD which a lot of the new low footprint models don't.
Ronand - wondering did you have any reason to try a usb tuner with either?
I have 2 Sony PlayTV dual usb tuners which I have used with my xtrend's for the last few years, so looking to see if they will work with the later generations boxes.
As you can see above, they dont, and probably never will with the Gigablue boxes.
We only have 2 tp's on Saorview, so a dual tuner will allow for watching/recording on all channels on multiple boxes (with fallback configured).
Complication is that I am looking for dvb-s2x multistream tuners as well.
but you also said the a duel s duel t box would work the UE does this and more
My sf8008 is the twin sat version. But I was able to get saorview using an RTL-SDR dongle (7 euro approx). The RTL2832 drivers in the feeds work with these. I have had no reason to use a usb tuner on the zgemma as it is built-in
abu baniaz
13-01-22, 19:26
@white_whistle, do you have copies of the images with the older drivers? If so, can you upload them somewhere for me?
The GB images for around that time are still on the dev site.
/zz_OLD_STUFF/***Dev_Images_5.1***/5.1.027.xxx
abu baniaz
30-11-22, 14:47
Thread title changed.
white_westie
23-08-24, 16:50
@white_whistle, do you have copies of the images with the older drivers? If so, can you upload them somewhere for me?
@abu
Not a frequent visitor, but see you have an issue open on GIGABLUE-STB https://github.com/GigaBlue-STB/meta-gigablue/issues/8
Wondering are you still looking for an Openvix image (5.1.033 not 5.1.003 that I posted above) that works on UE with usb tuner?
WW
abu baniaz
23-08-24, 19:59
It would be great to have a copy of image that works with with USB tuners. (Or better still be able to build a recent one with older drivers.)
The issue is pointless and won't go anywhere. Regrettably, they said they don't sell USB tuners, so a non-issue for them. One of the other image teams said the USB tuners work, but would not elaborate on which ones.
white_westie
24-08-24, 22:10
Abu
I have 2 copies of the image 5.1.033 - an origional bare image from the download server, and an image backup I made after installing & configuration.
Did a test restore on both, and all good.
Bare image has no drivers for usb tuners, too lazy to try and load them manually.
However, the image backup restore has drivers, so I was able to test the dvb-t channels from Saorview and all good.
Is there somewhere on your servers I can dump them for you?
abu baniaz
26-08-24, 02:00
Thanks. On this thread if it allows you. Otherwise any upload site will do. Mediafire, OneDrive, Google Drive.
white_westie
26-08-24, 11:12
Abu
Old Openvix images that work with USB DVB-T Sony Play tuner Gigablue UE 4K
white_westie
26-08-24, 16:19
Abu
Old Openvix images that work with USB DVB-T Sony Play tuner Gigablue UE 4K
PS: forgot to change root pwd on bkup image - its 'stbroot!' (no quotes)
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