Notes on using tvheadend on beaglebone black with MediaTV Digital Home DVB-C

[kamakamadaun]

I spend a considerable amount of time getting a sundtek tuner to work with tvheadend on a beaglebone black. Sundtek support has been fantastic in helping with this so this post is to share my observations about how to solve some issues I have incountered.
There are also a few remaining issues I hope to get some help on.


Installing tvheadend
We need to install python

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opkg install python-distutils
opkg install python-compile
opkg install python-doctest

Then install tvheadend form source since there are no packages available for this platform

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git clone git://github.com/tvheadend/tvheadend.git
cd tvheadend
./configure
make install
You will get a number of warnings about missing packages. It seems to work anyway though...


The first time you launch Tvheadend you will want to use the command:

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/usr/local/bin/tvheadend -C
To launch Tvheadend after that simply use the command without the -C argument:

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/usr/local/bin/tvheadend

To make it work you need to make a user

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groupadd tvheadend
useradd -g tvheadend -G video -m tvheadend


Then we need a startup script to make it start at boot
Create file named /etc/init.d/tvheadend
and copy the following

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#!/bin/bash


# Required-Start:    $local_fs $remote_fs mediasrv


TVHNAME="tvheadend"
TVHBIN="/usr/local/bin/tvheadend"
TVHUSER="tvheadend"
TVHGROUP="tvheadend"

case "$1" in
  start)
    echo "Starting tvheadend"
    start-stop-daemon --start --user ${TVHUSER} --exec ${TVHBIN} -- \
                -u ${TVHUSER} -g ${TVHGROUP} -f -C
  ;;
  stop)
    echo "Stopping tvheadend"
    start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --name ${TVHNAME} --signal 2
  ;;
  restart)
    echo "Restarting tvheadend"

    start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --name ${TVHNAME} --signal 2


    start-stop-daemon --start --user ${TVHUSER} --exec ${TVHBIN} -- \
                -u ${TVHUSER} -g ${TVHGROUP} -f -C

  ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: tvheadend {start|stop|restart}"
    exit 1
esac
exit 0


Set the permissions to make it runnable:

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chmod 755 /etc/init.d/tvheadend
Enable start during boot process

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update-rc.d tvheadend defaults
Finally start it manually so we can configure it:

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/etc/init.d/tvheadend start



Setting up the driver
Before you can do anything you need to install the drivers for the tuner
http://support.sundtek.com/index.php/topic,4.0.html
Now you can setup the channels in tvheadend



Avoid high CPU usage
1.
Under configuration --> DVB Inputs --> TV adapters find your adapter and set "Full Mux RX mode" to ON.
This should lower CPU usage.


2.
One problem with the BBB is that it lowers the clock frequency to lower power usage. However that means that there is not enough power to run the tuner when the clock frequency is set low.
This can be fixed by making the BBB change the frequency less frequently by setting:

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cpufreq-set -g conservative
Current settings can be seen by running:

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cpufreq-info

Unfortunately this is reset 10 min after reboot by a script. So we need to change that.
In "/lib/systemd/system/cpu-ondemand.service" change ondemand to conservative


3.
Turning the log off can help prevent CPU spikes.
Create or modify the file "/etc/sundtek.conf" and add.

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loglevel=off

EDIT: Updated the way to set the CPU governor so that it doesn't reset.
EDIT2: Added info about turning off the log.

[kamakamadaun]

Remaining issues

Starting driver correctly
SOLVED
even if "systemctl status sundtek.service" reports that the drivers are started correctly it appears they are not. Upon reboot I need to manually run the following to get the tuner working:

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/opt/bin/mediaclient --start

CPU spikes
SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN SOLVED
I still get CPU usage spikes for mediasrv. mediasrv normally uses ~12% CPU but often suddenly jumps to 70%. This combined with tvheadend uses all the CPU. This causes dropped frames as reported by tvheadend as:

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2014-02-05 23:45:47.621 TS: 514000/DR K: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2360: Continuity counter error
2014-02-05 23:45:47.621 TS: 514000/DR K: TELETEXT @ #2362: Continuity counter error
2014-02-05 23:45:47.621 TS: 514000/DR K: MPEG2AUDIO @ #2361: Continuity counter error
2014-02-05 23:45:51.627 TS: 514000/DR K: MPEG2AUDIO @ #2361: Continuity counter error, 1 duplicate log lines suppressed
2014-02-05 23:45:51.627 TS: 514000/DR K: MPEG2VIDEO @ #2360: Continuity counter error, 1 duplicate log lines suppressed
2014-02-05 23:45:51.627 TS: 514000/DR K: TELETEXT @ #2362: Continuity counter error, 1 duplicate log lines suppressed
2014-02-05 23:45:51.926 parser: transport stream MPEG2VIDEO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 237913200, last = 237204000
2014-02-05 23:45:52.094 parser: transport stream MPEG2AUDIO, DTS discontinuity. DTS = 237891243, last = 237146043

and mediasrv report repeatedly in the log:

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Resetting TS Port

This is severe enough that many files are very painful to watch.

[Sundtek]

Thank you for your feedback!

Maybe you can try to turn off the logfile:

/etc/sundtek.conf
loglevel=off


There should not be any CPU spikes generated by the driver, if so there must be some reason behind that.

Do you have any /etc/sundtek.conf file? If so please post it here.

You can also start a script once a device is detected by the system

/etc/sundtek.conf
device_attach=/path/to/yourscript.sh


yourscript.sh might contain your additional commandline commands (eg. to set the cpu scheduler)

[kamakamadaun]

The only sundtek.conf seem to be /opt/doc/sundtek.conf.
Is that file used or just a reference?

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# Please make this file available to others
# by sending it to <lirc@bartelmus.de>
#
# this config file was automatically generated
# using lirc-0.8.4a(devinput) on Sun Aug 16 23:03:30 2009
#
# contributed by
#
# brand:                       sundtek.conf
# model no. of remote control:
# devices being controlled by this remote:
#

begin remote

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  eps            30
  aeps          100

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  toggle_bit_mask 0x80010004

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      end codes

end remote



[Sundtek]

Nope, sundtek.conf is fully optional.

You can create it and use the callback device_attach for starting the cpu commands and restarting tvheadend once a device is available to the system.

[kamakamadaun]

After turning off the log it has been running for some hours now while only very occasionally dropping a single frame. So it seems to have solved the CPU spikes.
I have updated the guide accordingly and also added the right way to handle the CPU governor.

Any hints about getting the driver to start correctly?

[Sundtek]

Ok, we found some time to review systemctl.

We updated the driver installer to deploy the systemd scripts, just reinstall the driver.
After a reboot the driver should be started automatically

$ systemctl -a | grep sundtek
sundtek.service            loaded active   exited    Sundtek MediaTV
$ systemctl -a status sundtek.service
sundtek.service - Sundtek MediaTV
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/sundtek.service; enabled)
     Active: active (exited) since Sat 2000-01-01 00:28:59 UTC; 2min 12s ago
    Process: 129 ExecStart=/opt/bin/mediaclient --start=4 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
     CGroup: name=systemd:/system/sundtek.service
        |-246 /opt/bin/mediasrv -d --pluginpath=/opt/bin
        `-248 /opt/bin/mediasrv -d --pluginpath=/opt/bin

[kamakamadaun]

Thanks! This solved the last problem. Now everything seems to be working perfectly.