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Installation of a USB-DVBT Stick

One way to watch television on a computer is through DVBT (there are other ways, f.e. through internet; advantages of DVBT are a wider range of channels, higher quality and you are able to record).

Example: Avermedia AverTV Digi Volar EX

Prerequisites

You need:

System Requirements

Before purchasing the device be sure your system fulfills the minimum requirements and is supported by Linux. In this case the requirements are

The Avermedia AverTV Digi Volar EX stick is supported by Linux (see details on the respective packaging or website, a list of supported USB-DVBT Sticks you may find here: http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-T_USB_Devices ).

What kind of USB do I have?

Issue the command "lsusb" on the commandline. The output should look like this:

user@system:~$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

In this case we have both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 slots

1.1 or 2.0?

To figure out which USB slot is 1.1 and which 2.0 put a USB device of your choice into a USB slot and issue the commnad "lsusb" again. Now the output should look a little different. Here an example:

user@system:~$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 090c:6000 Silicon Motion, Inc. - Taiwan (formerly Feiya Technology Corp.) SD/SDHC Card Reader (SG365 / FlexiDrive XC+)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

We have a Card Reader connected to Bus 001 which is a USB 2.0 slot.

Installing the USB-DVBT Stick

Put your USB-DVBT Stick in the USB 2.0 slot. You can check if your system recognizes your USB-DVBT Stick with lsusb. If it does, the output should look like this:

user@system:~$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 07ca:a815 AVerMedia Technologies, Inc. AVerTV DVB-T Volar X (A815)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

In the case of the Avermedia AverTV Digi Volar EX Stick download the firmware for the card (in this case: dvb-usb-af9015.fw) and copy it to /lib/firmware (probably as superuser through root, su or even better through sudo). Reboot your system. If not yet done, connect the stick to a DVBT antenna. To find channels and be able to watch them you might want to install a digital television viewer (f.e. Me TV; to find channels: View/Channels and select your region).

See also


CategoryProprietarySoftware CategoryHardware