USB Tuner

[malcolm]

I was having pixelation problems with the standard supplied USB tuner on my Beyonwiz T2, so after looking at the forum i bought the Realtek RTL2832U + R820T HDTV TV Tuner. When the unit arrived, i downloaded the driver (dvd-usb-RTL2832) and installed it. After connecting the Realtek USB tuner and rebooting the PVR, i could see that the new USB tuner was recognised along with the 2 inbuilt tuners. However when changing the default tuner to "C" it is not showing any TV channel. I am looping the cables from "A" to "B" to "C". I have also tried just connecting the TV arial directly to the new USB tuner with the same result. I have tried the Realtek tuner on my PC and it works fine so i know the new unit works.
I am also running the latest software on the PVR.
Can anyone provide any suggestions on what i may have missed or did wrong.

Malcolm

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Hi Malcolm,

What does it look like; a blackie or a bluey or something else?
Blackie - https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1wuYUHVXX ... -Input.jpg
Bluey - https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB15IWYLVXX ... R820T2.jpg

... i downloaded the driver (dvd-usb-RTL2832) and installed it.
... I am also running the latest software on the PVR.

If you're running the latest general release firmware 20180417 then there is no need to install the USB tuner driver as it is already present.
I'm not sure you can even download a driver that is already installed. Perhaps you overwrote the installed driver with something else.
What firmware are you running as 'latest software' doesn't tell us much?

Check the mode assigned to the tuner. Check MENU>>Information>>Devices or MENU>>Setup>>Tuners>>Tuner configuration, and check the status of the USB tuner. You want it to show DVB-T or DVB-T2 - if it is anything else then restart the GUI and check again.

The tuner dongle may not actually have a Rafael Micro tuner module inside it. Can you take a look at the messages file /var/log/messages. The USB tuner entries should look like this if you've a Rafael Micro tuner module (note the 5th & 6th lines):

Code: Select all

Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: usb 1-1.6: dvb_usb_v2: found a 'Realtek RTL2832U reference design' in warm state
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: usb 1-1.6: dvb_usb_v2: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: DVB: registering new adapter (Realtek RTL2832U reference design)
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: usb 1-1.6: DVB: registering adapter 1 frontend 0 (Realtek RTL2832 (DVB-T))...
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: r820t 0-001a: creating new instance
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: r820t 0-001a: Rafael Micro r820t successfully identified
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: Registered IR keymap rc-empty
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: input: Realtek RTL2832U reference design as /devices/platform/ehci-brcm.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.6/rc/rc0/input2
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: rc0: Realtek RTL2832U reference design as /devices/platform/ehci-brcm.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.6/rc/rc0
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: usb 1-1.6: dvb_usb_v2: schedule remote query interval to 400 msecs
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: usb 1-1.6: dvb_usb_v2: 'Realtek RTL2832U reference design' successfully initialized and connected
Dec 18 10:08:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_rtl28xxu

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Additionally, I remind myself of a point Dennis made a few days ago -
the USB tuner dongle cannot be hot-plugged; you must reboot if you do that.

[malcolm]

Thanks for the info.
The usb tuner is the same as the link to the "blackie".
Not sure where you can see the latest firmware details. When i go to MENU>>Setup>>Software Manager>>Check for Updates - it comes back with nothing upgrade. Under MENU>>Information>>About - Last Upgrade is 2016-08-18 17:47

Can you please direct me to where i can see the firmware version?

The mode assigned to the tuner is - RTL2838UHIDIR (DVB-T)

Latsly, from the log below, it may appear that this particular USB tuner may not have a Rafael micro tuner inside
Start Log
Dec 18 13:47:07 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: dvb dvb.0: dvb:registering adapter 0 frontend 0 ()...
Dec 18 13:47:07 beyonwizt2 user.notice kernel: vtunerc0: VTUNER_SET_NAME 'RTL2838UHIDIR'
Dec 18 13:47:07 beyonwizt2 user.notice kernel: vtunerc0: VTUNER_SET_TYPE 'DVB-T'=>'RTL2838UHIDIR'
Dec 18 13:47:07 beyonwizt2 user.err kernel: vtunerc0: unknown IOCTL 0x21
End Log

Can you please confirm that this is the case.

Malcolm

[malcolm]

Yes i was aware that you must reboot after installing drivers and usb tuner.
Thanks

[MrQuade]

Under MENU>>Information>>About - Last Upgrade is 2016-08-18 17:47

Can you please direct me to where i can see the firmware version?

That's the spot where you should be looking and the date gives you the version.
There is a major revision number there too, and whoa Nelly, you are two years out of date. You'd probably be back on the 16.1 series firmware.
Since then, there has been a major update that puts the firmware into the 17.5 series, which can only be installed via the USB update method. Online update is not supported due to the magnitude of the changes.

Latest public firmware is here:
https://www.beyonwiz.com.au/forum/viewt ... 45&t=12456

This is also getting fairly old, so if you want to be fully up to date, then the latest beta works well for the most part:
https://www.beyonwiz.com.au/forum/viewt ... 56&t=12441

Installing either of these from USB will mean that you will need to re-enter all your settings and timers from scratch again. Your existing recordings and other harddisk contents will not be affected.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Okay, that 'Last Upgrade' info detail shows you're on old firmware there (from a 4.4-series of builds). The most recent general release (a 17.5-series build) is "New Firmware for (T2/T3/T4/U4) 17/04/2018".
That explains why you were able to install the Realtek driver.

You messages log snippet is from the tail-end of the log, look (about 40 lines) higher up for the string: found a 'Realtek RTL2832U reference design'.

[malcolm]

Thanks for all the help guys. You would think when you have only recently bought the PVR, it would come with the latest updates (not 2 years out of date). I downloaded the latest firmware and installed it all okay. After re-configuring my settings i found that the Realtek RTL2832 USB Tuner works fine when plugged in.
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

Cheers,
Malcolm

[Gully]

Thanks for all the help guys. You would think when you have only recently bought the PVR, it would come with the latest updates (not 2 years out of date).

Glad you got it sorted.

I agree with you about the firmware, you would expect at least to have the last official release. Where did you buy from and how long ago?

[malcolm]

Hi Gulley,
I purchased the unit brand new direct from Beyonwiz 21st March 2018.

Cheers,
Malcolm

[Grumpy_Geoff]

...I downloaded the latest firmware and installed it all okay. After re-configuring my settings i found that the Realtek RTL2832 USB Tuner works fine when plugged in.

I don't think we've previously had anyone on (4.4's) 2016-08-18 firmware that installed the *dvb-usb-rtl2832* driver and used a blackie/bluey. Perhaps the driver just doesn't work on that kernel/thingamajig.

[Gully]

I purchased the unit brand new direct from Beyonwiz 21st March 2018.

Hi Malcolm

That's a bit of a stretch to call a recent purchase in firmware terms.

For a start it clearly predates both of the versions we suggested you update with and while I would have expected it to have a 2017 firmware so more up to date than you got, I guess there is the dilemma for Beyonwiz of deciding to open boxes to update and risk customers feeling like they are not getting new products or leaving them as new and encouraging the customer to do the updating.

[tyreless]

Does anyone know the chipset of the beyonwiz mini usb tuner? Not a bluey or a blackie, more like a blacke sugarcube with “beyonwiz” on it, such as https://demo.beyonwiz.com.au/product/us ... t2-and-t3/. I’m looking for a driver (ipk) to run it in openatv.

[prl]

The chipsets are Afatech AF9033 and ITE IT913X AX.

I think you'll be covered by installing enigma2-plugin-drivers-dvb-usb-af9035. That package recommends all the lower level packages that are needed. You may need to reboot after installing the packages.

[tyreless]

Thanks prl, you got it right. I found the info just before reading your reply. In settings I found it listed as an ITE Technologies product , which led me to the chips. Openatv has appropriate driver plugins.

[prl]

No problem.