Hi,
I am looking for DVB-T usbstick for my beaglebone. I am asking here
not to get information what stick will be accepted by Linux (such
informations are on the net) but for the personal exsperience users
made with certain devices in conjunction with the Beaglebone, since
this is no fully blown desktop PC.
In first place I am interested in a DVB-T stick with is not too deaf
with the antenna. My use case is mainly the recording of broadcasts
and not to watch TV ... but not totally unhappy if this would be
possible also ... 
I dont know whether different DVB-T sticks (or better: the drivers
which need to be installed) will claim different sizes of the
ever-too-less space of memory...so this would be also a concern.
What DVB-T usb-stick can be recommended for the use especially with
the Beaglebone?
Thank you very much in advance for any help!
Have a nice weekend!
Best regards,
mcc
Hello Mcc,
What you ask is leading edge. You might be the one to further the DVB-T
support in the area of the Beagle product line.
I suggest you get started with the DVB-T usb dongle with the…
RTL 2832 and E4000 chilset. The RTL 2832 is more commonly supported
in the linux community. The E4000 is the better of the tuner ic’s.
I will also be dabbling in getting the above mentioned DVB-T dongle working
but it may be the beagleboard. Here are some links if they dont get mangled.
Stick info , one of many vendors , RTL 2832 wiki
have fun and keep us posted of your progress.
Don Lewis
Hi Don,
thank you for your enthusiastic email.
Let me guess:
you are interested more in SDR radio with the gnuradio application
than me in recording TV shows...
You also want me to push the rudimentary driver, which exists for
that chip and is based on linux 3.2.x,r further into a
workable something.
But I asked for a DVBT-dongle which I want to use to record TV shows
and which is not deaf with the antenna.
I asked this, because - while I was searching the net -- I read in
beforehand, that escially that chip. the RTL2832 is suspicious for
being deaf. Read for example:
http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/03/31/sdr-rtl-gnu-radio-update/
and search for "deaf"...
I tried that dongle on my PC and could varify, that that one is
deaf and cheap. But mostly deaf.
Is there anything else for recording TV shows (nothing else), which
is already been supported under linux (existing stable and useable driver)
which is not deaf and is definetly working in conjucntion with the
beaglebone?
Best regards,
mcc
djlewis <djlewis@tcworks.net> [12-10-13 17:56]:
You do have the option of building a good low noise preamp for the RTL2832, and a decent antenna with some directivity, and gain will do you wonders. one still has to remember though that a tiny dongle driving quantized samples to gnu radio for processing in the digital domain on a signal that’s 5-6Mhz wide is going to be comparably deaf when a modern analog superhet front end along with circuitry costing 10x the price is set as the gold standard. the DVB dongles work, and they work well for what they are, but remember that any reciever is actually just part of a full system, and things can always be done to that system to get it working better. all the best, I’ll be starting this project with my bone shortly as well.
Eric
I think that any cheap dvb usb decoder should be deaf as in a usb stick there is no enough room for a good amplifier. Also the antenna shipped with the usb dvb stick is very small, so it should have a scarce gain, so you will have to use a larger and amplified antenna. Other challenge you will have to face is that Beagleboards have no power to transcode dvb data to h264 (or any usable format) in realtime so you will have to dump the dvb data to a hard disk, and after that, in a PC you will have to transcode.
Hi again MCC,
Deafness in regards to the tuner which i stated is the recommended E4000
is relative to several factors.
Your antenna should be matched to the frequencies you wish to receive.
Antenna should have a clear view to the station transmitters.
If you stuck a rabbit ear on it inside hoping for good coverage then do not
expect much unless you are in relative proximity and in line with the signal.
I did get my DVB-T dongle for general coverage reception. And using it with appropriate
outdoor antennas it does fairly well. If you are using it with the supplied antenna then forget it.
That antenna is nothing more than a paper weight. with a homebrew antenna centered on about
126MHZ I get fair coverage from 6m through 70CM. I have not tried to receive TV. I dont watch it.
It does well for NOAA weather stations within a 50 mile radius, It does pickup the TV signals
well over a mountain and 22 miles away without a directional antenna.
note: I can even pickup the APT satellites when overhead but not as well as my old Bearcat scanner.
If you have tried the correct outdoor antenna and are not wearing a happy face I would recommend
you spend some money for a better product. These inexpensive usb dongles do not have a
preamp. Matter of fact it is recommended by users they be up close to the antenna to reduce
signal loss. But then we run into the 15ft USB limitation.
To summarize, Eric says it it all very well.
I do use a simple SDR receiver for 160 - 10 meters that works very well. Comparable to a $600.00
receiver. It is connected to a 126ft dipole. It has no preamp and is a quantized sample type like Eric mentions.
It is the Ensemble RX II kit by Tony Parks . I use it most every day and night. I put away a $1600 transceiver
as this unit does wo well. Only need the xcvr for talking which I dont do much.
Don Lewis - AF5FP
Addendum:
“The E4000 contains a single input LNA with RF filter, whose centre frequency can be programmed over the complete frequency range from 64MHz to 1700MHz. This greatly simplifies antenna management especially for applications that require support for more than one broadcast standard. A single VCO covers the entire frequency range with low phase noise for optimal performance.”
From the manufacturer Elonics . Read more at their site.