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Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
For those of you who would like to try GB-PVR as an alternative to Total Media, here's a detailed setup guide, kindly prepared by MarkyMark from the Freecom Forum. You can read all about and download this, excellent, freeware, programme at www.gbpvr.com and there's a comprehensive wiki (a help site) at www.gbpvr.com/pmwiki.
GB-PVR Setup Notes
1. The Capture Sources tab is used to setup the DVB Stick and define some
tuning information. Press the Add button to define a new source.
a. Give the new source a name in the Source Name field
b. Set Recording Source to BDA Recording Plugin. Press the Settings button beside the field to configure the type of device and tuning parameters.
i. Select the Only show devices detected in this machine and it should set the Device Type to Freecom DVB for you.
ii. If not, Set Device Type to Freecom DVB. Note that there are also device types called Freecom DVB type2, type3, type4 and type4, but I dont know what the differences are.
iii. Set the Country to the region in the UK where you live. For me this is Southern England
iv. Set the Region / Transmitter to the transmitter your receive your signal from. For me this is Crystal Palace.
v. Press OK.
c. Set the EPG Source. The default is XMLTV Plugin and I recommend using this. Dont use DVB EPG Broadcast as I found it didnt let you assign frequencies to channels (more of that later). The Settings allow you to point at an XML file that contains the channels that you wish to setup.
I use an application called XMLTV GUI (http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv/) that allows you to select channels and then downloads the listings from the Radio Times website. It saves the listing as an XML file which you can then point GB-PVR at. Save the XML file, but not in a directory under Program Files as there seems to be permission issues (this could be my user account set-up though).
d. Press the Update EPG button and this imports the channels into Channels box.
e. Press the Map digital channels to EPG channels button to scan for the available channels. The scan will start immediately if it is the first time you have scanned for channels. The scan will take a few minutes as it cycles though each MUX. On the right hand side the channel list will update as the channels transmitting on each MUX are identified.
Although some channels will be automatically assigned to those imported in the EPG this doesnt matter yet as once the frequencies are updated all channels will need to be manually re-assigned.
Press OK to close the Digital Channel Mapping window.
f. Press OK to close the Edit Recording Source window
2. Press OK to close the GB-PVR Configuration application and save the configuration.
3. Now the frequencies of the scanned channels can be updated. Only the channels that are currently broadcasting will be identified.
In the directory C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\BDA there will be a file with the name SCAN-1.cache (I assume if you have multiple sources then a SCAN.CACHE file will be created for each data source with a different number). It will have the following content:
T:C25,505834,0,0,8~NID:12293~ONID:9018~TSID:4100~P:4164~V:600~A:601~L:eng~PMT:4164~LCN:1~N:>BBC ONE
T:C25,505834,0,0,8~NID:12293~ONID:9018~TSID:4100~P:4164~V:600~A:602~L:eng~PMT:4164~LCN:1~N:>BBC ONE (Audio #2)
Ive only show one channel here, and the first piece of data (T:C25) is the MUX, the second (505834) is the frequency in KHz. It is this figure that needs to be rounded to the nearest MHz, in this case to 506000, so the file can be changed to:
T:C25,506000,0,0,8~NID:12293~ONID:9018~TSID:4100~P:4164~V:600~A:601~L:eng~PMT:4164~LCN:1~N:>BBC ONE
T:C25,506000,0,0,8~NID:12293~ONID:9018~TSID:4100~P:4164~V:600~A:602~L:eng~PMT:4164~LCN:1~N:>BBC ONE (Audio #2)
I cant edit the SCAN-1.cache file in the C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\BDA so I make a copy of is in my user directory and then overwrite it with my updated file.
4. Open the GB-PVR Configuration application and go back to the Digital Channel Mapping window for your data source. You will be able to quickly identify if this has worked as you will be able to click a channel under the Rescan and Stop buttons and the channel preview above these button should show the current programme being broadcast with the audio.
For each Channel Name assign the Tuning Request to the appropriate value in the drop down. You might find the channels repeated, but I dont think it matters which one you choose, but I always choose the one furthest down.
If you want to scan for channels that broadcast at other times during the day you can press the Rescan button at the time when the channel or channels are broadcasting and it will update the C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\BDA\SCAN.cache file. However, you will lose the changes you made before.
What I do here is I always keep a master copy of the SCAN.cache file in my user directory and manually add in the new channels that I didnt have before rounding the frequency to the nearest MHz as before and then copy it back to C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\BDA. I then assign these in the GB-PVR Configuration application as Ive just explained.
Press OK to close the Digital Channel Mapping window.
5. You can double check the frequency used to tune in the channel by looking in the Tuning Request column in the Edit Recording Source window. It shows the channel name followed by the entry from the SCAN.cache file (i.e. T:C25, 506000, etc.)
6. Press OK to close the Edit Recording Source window.
7. You can assign channel number on the Channels tab by typing the number directly into the Channel Number cell in the grid.
There are other settings you can change like the Aspect Ratio on the Playback tab. I havent changed anything else.
8. Run the GB-PVR application itself. You should be able to press Live TV and use the Cursor to cycle thought the channels. That should be it.
Other Notes
7 There will be tray icon that looks like a G.
7 After starting Vista and logging into your user account when you try to start GB-PVR and view the TV Guide or Live TV you will get the error
No channels have been setup. Please run the Configuration utility and setup the EPG source. Use Update EPG button to force the system to import the latest set of channels and program information.
You must perform the following
1. Quit out of GB-PVR
2. Close the tray icon
3. Start the Configuration application and press OK
4. Restart GB-PVR
7 If you use the XMLTV Plugin for the EPG, every time update the xml file
that contains the program listing you must select Update EPG from either the
tray icon or from the System menu within GB-PVR.
[Guide compiled by MarkyMark of the Freecom Forum and reproduced here with his kind permission]
The Techie from Sneckie