dvbv5-zap(1)

💖 dvbv5-zap(1) — the tuning tool, but make it make sense 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to dvbv5-zap(1) — the DVBv5 tool for service tuning. she's a command line girlie who tunes digital TV services and she is literally so good at her job. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

dvbv5-zap — DVBv5 tool for service tuning 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dvbv5-zap [OPTION]... channel-name

dvbv5-zap [OPTION]... frequency-name (for monitor or all PIDs mode)

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

dvbv5-zap is a command line tuning tool for digital TV services that is compliant with version 5 of the DVB API, and backward compatible with the older v3 DVB API. no cap, she speaks both languages 💜

by default she uses a new channel/service file format that is capable of supporting all types of Digital TV standards. she can also support the legacy format used by the legacy dvb-apps. iconic behavior tbh.

the dvbv5-zap tool can be used on several different modes, depending on the parameters used. it's giving versatility.

⚠️ bestie listen. in order to be able to use it in record mode, where both the audio and video Packet IDs (PIDs) are output to a dvr record node, the input file should contain the PIDs — e. g. they should have been produced by a digital TV zap application like dvbv5-zap. don't skip this step, she will not be happy 😭

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -c, --channels=channel-name-file — reads the channels list from file. defaults to ~/.tzap/channels.conf. yes queen, that's your home directory.
• -3, --dvbv3 — forces dvbv5-zap to use DVBv3 only. super useful to test if the legacy API support is actually working. vibe check on the old API 🔥
• -a, --adapter=adapter# — uses the given adapter. default value: 0.
• -A, --audio_pid=audio_pid# — picks a different audio Packet ID (PID). by default she uses the first audio PID she finds at the channel-name-file. main character energy, but you can override her.
• -C, --cc=country_code — sets the default country to be used by the MPEG-TS parsers, in ISO 3166-1 two letter code. if you don't specify it, the default charset is guessed from the locale environment variables. she's intuitive like that ✨
• -d, --demux=demux# — uses the given demux. default value: 0.
• -f, --frontend=frontend# — uses the given frontend. default value: 0.
• -I, --input-format=format — the format of the input file. heads up bestie: caps is ignored. it can be:
  • channel — for dvb-apps compatible channel file;
  • zap — for dvb-apps compatible zap file;
  • dvbv5 (default) — for the dvbv5 apps format.
• -l, --lnbf=LNBf_type — the type of LNBf to use. help lists the available ones. she'll tell you, just ask 🫶
• -L, --search=string — search/look for a string inside the traffic. used only on monitor mode.
• -m, --monitor — enables monitor mode. on this mode, she will monitor the DVB traffic for all Packet IDs (PIDs) received by the device, showing the Packet IDs (optionally filtered by a string), and presenting some traffic statistics: number of packets per second, number of Kbytes per second, and total traffic. those statistics are shown per PID and the total per MPEG-TS. it's giving full surveillance, but make it cute 🍓
• -o, --output=file — output filename. if specified, it will output the content of the MPEG-TS into the file with the first video PID and the first audio PID (or the one specified by audio_pid#). use -o - for directing the output to stdout. 💅
• -p, --pat — adds PAT and PMT MPEG-TS tables to TS recording (implies -r).
• -P, --all-pids — don't filter any pids. instead, outputs all of them. no gatekeeping 🙈
• -r, --record — sets up the /dev/dvb/adapteradapter#/dvr0 for MPEG-TS record.
• -s, --silence — increases silence (can be used more than once). shhh 🤫
• -S, --sat_number=satellite_number — satellite number. used only on satellite delivery systems. if not specified, disable DISEqC satellite switch.
• -t, --timeout=seconds — the amount of seconds to keep the tool running for zapping and for recording. useful if you want to record a program whose duration you already know. she'll clock out on time ⭐
• -U, --freq_bpf=frequency — SCR/Unicable band-pass filter frequency to use, in kHz. used only on satellite delivery systems.
• -v, --verbose — be verbose. useful to check if the MPEG-TS is happening fine. this option can be used multiple times to increase verbosity. she can talk MORE 👑
• -V, --video_pid=video_pid# — video pid program to use (default 0).
• -w, --lna=LNA — enable, disable, or put LNA power in auto mode. not all frontends support it. valid values are:
  • 0 — disable
  • 1 — enable
  • -1 — auto
• -W, --wait=time — adds additional wait time for DISEqC command completion. she's patient, okay?
• -x, --exit — exit after tuning. bye bestie 👋
• -X, --low_traffic — also shows DVB traffic with less than 1 packet per second. used only in monitor mode. no PID left behind 💜
• -?, --help — outputs the usage help.
• --usage — gives a short usage message.
• --version — prints program version.

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🌈 EXIT STATUS 🌈

on success, it returns 0. periodt. 💅

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

🎬 Recording a channel

the typical use is to tune into a channel and put it into record mode:

$ dvbv5-zap -c dvb_channel.conf 'music' -r
using demux '/dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0'
reading channels from file 'dvb_channel.conf'
service has pid type 05: 204
tuning to 573000000 Hz
audio pid 104
dvb_set_pesfilter 104
Lock (0x1f) Quality= Good Signal= 100.00% C/N= -13.80dB UCB= 70 postBER= 3.14x10^-3 PER= 0
DVR interface '/dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0' can now be opened

the channel can be watched by playing the contents of the DVR interface, with some player that recognizes the MPEG-TS format.

for example, this audio-only channel can be played with mplayer:

$ mplayer -cache 800 /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0
MPlayer SVN-r37077-4.8.2 (C) 2000-2014 MPlayer Team
TS file format detected.
NO VIDEO! AUDIO MPA(pid=104) NO SUBS (yet)!  PROGRAM N. 0
==================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mpg123] MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 layers I, II, III
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mpg123] afm: mpg123 (MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 layers I, II, III)
==================================================================
AO: [alsa] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...

👀 Monitoring a channel

the dvbv5-zap tool can also be used to monitor a DVB channel:

$ dvbv5-zap -c dvb_channel.conf 573000000 -m
using demux '/dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0'
reading channels from file 'dvb_channel.conf'
service has pid type 05:  204
tuning to 573000000 Hz
Lock   (0x1f) Quality= Good Signal= 100.00% C/N= -13.90dB UCB= 384 postBER= 96.8x10^-6 PER= 0
  dvb_set_pesfilter to 0x2000

PID     FREQ    SPEED   TOTAL
0000    9.88 p/s        14.5 Kbps       1 KB
0001    1.98 p/s        2.9 Kbps        376 B
0010    18.77 p/s       27.6 Kbps       3 KB
0011    48.42 p/s       71.1 Kbps       8 KB
0012    1455.53 p/s     2137.8 Kbps     270 KB
…
1fff    1033.60 p/s     1518.1 Kbps     192 KB
TOT     25296.44 p/s    37154.2 Kbps    4700 KB

Lock   (0x1f) Quality= Good Signal= 100.00% C/N= -13.90dB UCB= 384 postBER= 96.8x10^-6 PER= 0

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💀 BUGS 💀

report bugs to Linux Media Mailing List <linux-media@vger.kernel.org>. pls be nice, they're doing their best 🫶

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright (c) 2011-2014 by Mauro Carvalho Chehab.

License GPLv2: GNU GPL version 2 <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

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okay that's the whole page bestie 💖 this was DVBv5 Utils 1.32.0, dated Fri Oct 3 2014, and yeah — that's the whole dvbv5-zap(1) manual. slay, go tune something, and remember: the facts stay the same, only the vibe changed ✨🎀