TVHeadend: SAT>IP decoder installation and configuration

Setting a permanent LAN IP address via DHCP Reservation

• Once the router has correctly detected the device, it will be assigned a random IP address. Set your desired one by using DHCP Reservation.
• The process of configuring IP address reservation in the DHCP server may vary depending on the router manufacturer. Below I will give a general description of the process. For the purposes of our configuration, we assume that our device has been assigned an IP address reservation of 192.168.100.20.
  • Logging into the router’s administrative interface:
    • Enter the router’s administrative interface via a web browser,
    • Log in to your administrative account,
  • Finding the DHCP section:
    • In the router’s interface, find the section related to DHCP or LAN Settings,
  • Selecting DHCP Reservation:
    • In the DHCP section, look for an option related to IP address reservation,
  • Adding reservations:
    • In the case of TP-Link, Netgear or Asus etc.:
      • Select DHCP Reservation or a similar option,
      • Add a new reservation, specifying the device’s MAC address and assigned IP address (e.g. 192.168.100.20)
    • In the case of MikroTik:
      • Go to the IP > DHCP Server,
      • In the Leases tab, find your device,
      • Double-click on the selected device,
      • In the DHCP Lease window of the selected device, click Copy,
      • In the New DHCP Lease window, set your desired IP address, then save the configuration by clicking Apply and then OK.
  • Restart the device and wait for the decoder to get a new IP address.
• Log in with the default password (pass: admin) to the decoder to verify the availability of the device on the network.

• The main page of the decoder looks like the following screenshot, you won’t notice much detail here. More configuration will be done in TVHeadend.

Step 3 – First configuration in TVHeadend

WebUI login

• To get started, open the TVHeadend Web Interface. After the successful installation and launch of TVHeadend, point to your web browser. Enter https://tvh.xyz.com or use the IP address of the Synology server with the added port on which TVHeadend is running (default 9981). For example, http://IP-ADDRESS-SYNOLOGY:9981.
• If you have configured an administrator login and password, log in using them. To continue with the following configuration, you will need an account with administrator privileges.
• Then, go to the Configuration tab, and then to DVB Inputs – TV adapters. At this point you should notice SAT>IP detected by the decoder. In the screenshot below, I have previously configured two satellite positions (due to the availability of HotBird and Astra in my residential area).

Parameter setting

Decoder

• Click on Digibit Twin and the device parameters will appear on the right. Below you will find configured settings that work perfectly:
  • Basic Settings
    • Tuner configuration: Auto
  • Advanced Settings
    • RTP/AVP/TCP transport supported: No
    • Fast input switch: Yes
    • Full mux RX mode supported: Yes
    • Signal scale: 240
    • Maximum PIDs: 32
    • Maximum length of PIDs: 127
    • Addpids/delpids supported: Yes
    • FE supported: Yes
    • Force pilot for DVB-S2: No
    • Send rolloff settings for DVB-S2: Auto
    • PIDs 21 in setup: No
    • Local bind IP address: empty field
    • Disable device/firmware-specific workarounds: No
    • Check tuner-number in signal-status messages: Yes
  • Expert Settings
    • Skip TS packets (0-200): 0
  • Read-only Info
    • In this section we will read the available metadata of our decoder, which TVHeadend has detected.

Decoder tuner

• Go to the configuration of the first and second tuners by clicking on SAT->IP DVB-S Tuner #1, and then enter the following configuration:
  • Basic Settings
    • Enabled: Yes
    • Name: leave default SAT>IP DVB-S Tuner
    • Over-the-air EPG
      • If you plan to download the EPG from the satellite, mark this option as active. On the other hand, if you intend to set up EPG downloading separately and do not want to occupy the tuner for this purpose, leave this option unchecked.
    • Satelite positions
      • If you have one satellite position, enter 1. If, on the other hand, you use two satellite positions (e.g. HotBird and Astra), enter 2. If your antenna installation is more advanced and supports a larger number of satellite positions, enter the appropriate number corresponding to the number of available satellite positions in your antenna installation.
    • Master tuner: This tuner
  • Advanced Settings
    • Priority: 0
    • Streaming priority: 0
    • Initial scan: No
    • Idle scan: No
    • Free subscription weight: 0
    • Linked input: Not linked
    • Transport mode: Default server config
    • UDP RTP port number (2 ports): 0
    • Next tune delay in ms (0-2000): 50
    • Send full PLAY cmd: No
    • Grace period: 0
    • Force teardown delay: No
    • Pass subscription weight: 1
    • Pass specinv: Do not use
    • Tuner bind IP address: empty field
  • Expert Settings
    • Remove scrambled bits: No
    • Delivery system: All
• Save the above configuration and configure the second tuner.

Tuner positions

Let’s assume that our antenna installation, available in the apartment or house, includes two satellite positions – the mentioned Hot Bird and Astra.

• Set the same parameters and names for both items on the two tuners. In my setup, I named Position 1 as Position 1 (hotbird) and labeled Position 2 as Position 2 (astra).
• Leave the rest of the parameters by default:
  • Basic Settings
    • Enabled: Yes
    • Name: Position 1/2 (hotbird/astra)
    • Networks: blank, we’ll fill in later
  • Advanced Settings
    • Priority: 1
    • Timeout (seconds): 10
  • Expert Settings
    • Network limit per group: 0
    • Network group: 0
• Save the configuration.

Satellite networks

In the context of this tutorial, we will configure Hot Bird. It is worth noting that the configuration of other satellite networks is done in the same way.

• Under DVB Inputs, go to the Networks subsection;
• Click on Add, select DVB-S Network from the drop-down list;

• In the new configuration window that opens, complete the following parameters:

• • Basic Settings
    • Enabled: Yes
    • Network name: DVB-S/S2 Hot Bird 13E
    • Create bouquet: No
    • Pre-defined muxes: > 13.0E: Hotbir
    • Orbital position: 13E: Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B/13C/13D
  • Advanced Settings
    • Provider network name: leave blank, it will most likely fill in the name of TVN by itself later;
    • Network ID (limit scanning): 0
    • Network discovery: New muxes + changed muxes
    • Ignore provider’s channel numbers: No
    • SAT>IP source number: 0
    • Character set: ISO-8859-2
      • It is important to choose this type of character set, because if you choose another, strange characters may appear in place of Polish characters.
  • Expert Settings
    • Skip startup scan: Yes
    • Idle scan muxes: No
    • Use service IDs as channel numbers: No
    • ETC time offset: UTC
      • It is important to select this time offset, especially for EPG. Otherwise, there may be a time discrepancy between the EPG and real time.
  • Save the configuration.

Changes resulting from the replacement of Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B/13C/13D satellite positions

As a result of the replacement of the retired Eutelsat Hot Bird satellites 13B, 13C and 13E – and the introduction of new satellites at positions 13F and 13G in its place – there may be significant changes in channel availability and transponder frequencies. It is worth realizing that the TVHeadend database may not yet be updated with the latest transponders, which may lead to differences in access to channels.

To effectively deal with possible unavailability, I recommend using the manual definition of transponders in TVHeadend under the Muxes tab. In practice, this means manually adding the desired transponders to the TVHeadend database by manually entering the relevant parameters, such as frequency, symbol rate, polarization, etc. For this purpose, I recommend using the useful table of authors King of Sat. This process allows you to adjust the configuration to the current satellite settings, which ensures stable reception of channels.

Connection of satellite networks to the tuners

• Under DVB Inputs, go to the TV adapters subsection. Then indicate to the created two positions on the tuners to use the networks you just created – specifically:
  • Position 1 (hotbird) connect to Networks: DVB-S/S2 Hot Bird 13E
  • Position 2 (astra) connect to Networks: DVB-S/S2 Astra 19.2E
• Enter the above parameters both to the first tuner and similarly to the second tuner. Finally, save the settings.

Searching for new channels on satellite

• Under DVB Inputs, go to the TV adapters subsection,
• Select the desired satellite network, for example, Astra.
• Click Force Scan (making sure beforehand that the indicated transponders/muxes exist in the Muxes tab).

• Wait a while until the server detects all available services on the indicated satellite.

• You can view the process of searching for services in the Status tab.