Mythtv and TBS 6205 quad tuner - SOLVED

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vbcoen
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Location: Hatfield, Herts, UK
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Mythtv and TBS 6205 quad tuner - SOLVED

Post by vbcoen »

Having installed this card with no problems I find when scanning channels (in Herfordshire) I cannot get any HD channels or for that matter any in the 100 series channel numbers.

Tested with v0.27 and 0.28 using mythbuntu v 12.04.3 and 16.04.3.

Any one know what is wrong?

Vince
Last edited by vbcoen on Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
MikeB2013
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Re: Mythtv and TBS 6205 quad tuner

Post by MikeB2013 »

I am also in Hertfordshire, my Freeview is from Sandy Heath transmitter.
I am not using 6205, but I am using a tbs 6280 (dual dvb-t/t2).

I presume you have installed the latest drivers from the tbs support site.

The lack of any channels in the 100 range indicates that atleast 2 multiplexes are not being found. BBC One HD, BBC Two HD etc on are one multiplex, BBC News HD is on another.

Are there any messages in the output of dmesg command in a terminal session after doing a channel scan in mythtv-setup indicating firmware download failure (if so it is likely that your card needs some firmware in /lib/firmware) ?

Have you checked Freeview coverage for your area ?
If you goto https://ukfree.tv/prediction and input your postcode it will give you a prediction and the name of closest your transmitter. If you click on the transmitter shown in the map it should take you the transmitter information page which gives the channels, which multiplex and transmitter power for the multiplex. Some HD multiplexes have much lower power than the main multiplexes, which may mean your card is not getting signal.

I would use mythbuntu 16.04 and mythtv 0.28, mythbuntu 12.04 is too old, and mythtv 0.27 is pretty much out of support, current mythtv version is 29, and mythtv 0.28 is still in support.

Mike
MikeB2013
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Re: Mythtv and TBS 6205 quad tuner

Post by MikeB2013 »

Just noticed something interesting in tbs user guide for tbs 6205 here https://www.tbsiptv.com/download/tbs620 ... _guide.pdf

For linux drivers they are showing the open source drivers rather than what is on their main support site.

The interesting bit in the .pdf file is use of dvblast in section 7.2 of the document, it is doing something with DVB-T2 on one of the HD multiplexes 474000000, this the one that carries BBC One HD etc.
seblonsdale
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Re: Mythtv and TBS 6205 quad tuner

Post by seblonsdale »

Having just gone through the rather painful process of upgrading from Mythbuntu 14.04 to plain Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with mythtv 0.29 (using the PPA), I also had issues initially tuning into DVB-T2 HD channels.

This may have been an issue with me restoring the mythtv database (including channels) into my new setup but the solution for me was: (via mythtv-setup):
-delete all existing channels & transponders
-found the relevant multiplex/transponder carrying HD channels for my area
-in channel setup, add new DVB-T2 transport and then added in the specific details for me which were:
freq 474,000,000
256qam (note not qam auto)
8mhz
dvb-t2
-then in channel setup, did a scan of individual transport pointing at the new transport and finally got HD channels.

Note am using a TBS 6285 quad tuner card which afaik is the predecessor to the 6205 card and had to use the TBS Open source drivers rather than the TBS closed source ones (which I had used previously), The closed source ones wouldn't work with the relatively recent kernel in Ubuntu 18.04.

I would do a writeup on the mythtv wiki of my recent install but I can't seem to register.

Hope that helps
deadite66
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Re: Mythtv and TBS 6205 quad tuner

Post by deadite66 »

I have use a 6205 card with ubuntu 17.10, bit of a pain compiling the entire opensource media tree, takes an age.
using apt-mark hold to lock the linux kernel so it doesn't upgrade.
Intel Core i5-11500, ASRock B560M-ITX/ac, 240GB SSD + 4TB WD Blue, ArchLinux, mythtv 31, TBS 6205 QUAD FREEVIEW DVB-T2
Urkster
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Re: Mythtv and TBS 6205 quad tuner

Post by Urkster »

Hi

UK based TBS6285 user here with the same problem, used to all work flawlessly.
My local transmitter is Crystal palace (fwiw)
I am using the latest closed source drivers and mythtv 29 and linux - 4.4.0-127-generic.

When I try to manually add a new transport, the “digital TV standards” I have available to choose from are “DVB” or “MPEG”, with “DVB-T2” conspicuous in its absence!

Do you all specifically have DVB-T2 as an option to choose here?

Been struggling for a little while with this now, wasn’t sure if the problem was drivers or a transmitter change or something else…

Should I try the open source drivers? I have a vague recollection of failure when trying them in the past…

Cheers
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