DVB-T on the eeePC

By kristof on Sun, 07/06/2008 - 16:12

I acquired a Freecom DVB-T USB stick. This should extend the possibilities of my eeePC with digital TV capabilities, and make it into a better mobile device. I originally anticipated to get the ASUS U3000 (perfectly supported by Linux), but as these things go, the Loveno shop didn't had these in stock. Finding stuff like this which works flawlessly in Linux isn't easy, so I wasn't happy when I found out I got the Freecom revision 4 model, carrying the RTL2831U chipset, which isn't yet supported. Luckily, I stumbled upon this Ubuntu forum thread, which offers a quick and dirty workaround for Hardy.

After plugging in the stick, only thing left is firing up Kaffeine, and choose a dvb-t region file. After that, I tried scanning with the supplied little aerial antenna, but didn't received any channel. Only after I engaged a decent antenna with amplifier, all channels from the vrt and rtbf mux became available.

Kris Buytaert Mon, 07/07/2008 - 12:44

What pricerange should I be looking at ?

greetz

Kris

kristof_ Mon, 07/07/2008 - 13:11

Price varies between 45 and 60+ euro. Mine was about 59...

Anonymous Thu, 07/17/2008 - 21:22

I just bought an eee-pc (p900) and already had a freecom dvb-t stick. I would be more than happy if you could elaborate on the actions you took to get this combination to work!

kristof_ Thu, 07/17/2008 - 22:09

Simply, just by following the instructions on the link to the ubuntu forums :

1. Unpack rtl2831u_dvb-usb_v0.0.2mod-HARDY-by-fall-out.tar.gz to any location, e.g. your home folder.
2. cd to dir ./rtl2831u_dvb-usb_v0.0.2mod
3. run $ make and then $ make install

You will need the build-essential package and the kernel headers installed.

Plug in the stick, and check the 'dmesg' output. You will see the stick being recognised.

Last 2 notes :
a. this is the routine for the revision 4 chipset on the freecom. If you have an older stick, chances are that it has a different chipset, but it should be supported by video4linux.

b. If you can't scan any channels, there's much chance that your antenna is too weak.