DVB adapters, tuners and scanning

Castreon can receive channels directly from DVB-C (cable) and DVB-T / DVB-T2 (terrestrial) cards installed in the server. A single tuner tuned to one frequency (a mux) serves all channels that take services from that mux — the mux is read once and shared.

Tuners

Open DVB adapters. The Tuners section shows the cards found in the server and what they see right now: the supported standards and modulations, whether the tuner is free or Used by a process, and the signal state (for example locked on signal, signal, no lock, no signal). It is read-only — nothing is tuned from here.

If the server has no DVB cards, the page says “No DVB card”. Castreon works without them too: sources can come over the network.

New adapter

An adapter is a card set to one frequency. Click Add adapter:

• Name — how you recognize it (for example “Cable 586 MHz”);
• Device — the tuner, chosen from the cards found in the server;
• System — DVB-C (Annex A for Europe), DVB-T or DVB-T2;
• Frequency — in kHz (for example 586000 for 586 MHz; the panel shows the MHz equivalent and warns you if the value looks wrong);
• for cable: Symbol rate (in kBd, for example 6900) and Modulation (or auto);
• for terrestrial: Bandwidth (MHz) and, for DVB-T2 with multiple streams, the PLP;
• Enabled — while it is enabled, the tuner is reserved for Castreon and no other program can take it.

You get the exact mux parameters from your cable operator, or from the public tables of the terrestrial network.

Scanning services

Once the adapter is enabled and locked on signal, click Scan. Castreon reads the tables of the running mux and lists the services found (TV and radio channels) with their name and provider. Scanning does not touch the card and interrupts nothing. The list also refreshes by itself every few minutes; recently appeared services are marked new.

A channel from DVB

In the channel editor, under Sources, choose the DVB type, then the Adapter and the Service (searchable). The channel name is filled in from the service name. If the same service is already used by another channel, the panel warns you — it is allowed, but usually a mistake.

Disabling and deleting

• Disable — releases the tuner; channels taking from it stop.
• Deleting an adapter leaves its channels without a source — the panel asks for confirmation.