Help needed cutting the chord (UK)

Live TV & DVR
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Server Version#: Latest
Player Version#: Latest
Tuner Make/Model: TBA

Hello,
I would like to purchase a tuner that will work in the UK either for an antenna or “Freesat” feed from my satellite dish. I just don’t know what tuner hardware will work for me. I was looking at the Vbox range but am faced with various options and I don’t know which one would work.

I could use my existing satellite dish or install an antenna.

I have ethernet to most rooms where we watch TV (bedroom relies on WiFi) and I use an M1 Mac Mini to run my Plex Server. I also have a NAS for storage.

I also have a Sony TV running Android TV and a couple of Apple TVs.

I currently subscribe to SKY Q but need to cancel it to prepare for gas and electricity cost increases.

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Does anyone know if I can get UK local broadcast TV into my Plex using a Satelite Dish and the Vbox XTi 4134 for DVB-S/S2?

https://vboxcomm.com/landing/plex/

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At one point someone was requesting direct integration in Plex DVR of Vbox’s network tuner functionality. I don’t know how far along that got possibly @ChuckPa or @dane22 can give an idea?

If it didn’t get far enough along or wasn’t integrated then another option is to utilise IPTV features, through a HDHomerun emulator (e.g. HDHRProxyIPTV). This will enable the box to appear to Plex Media Server and Plex DVR as a Silicondust HDHomerun network tuner.

You could also alternatively choose from an internal PCIe (potentially faster - direct link to CPU and GPU) tv tuner card, this will directly work locally on the server. I have a Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD which is supported, under both Windows and Linux. Note with a new enough Linux distribution it’s possible, to have the tuner card work natively with the firmware files already packaged. When setting up Linux distribution’s tv tuner support.

I would recommend utilising Ubuntu Linux Server 20.04.4 distribution, as it has a significantly hardened kernel. As well as other features which can make that, server really secure. It’s personal use service features, of Ubuntu Advantage would help here, due to its EMS option and LivePatch feature.

Plex DVR feature’s are a subscription feature unless you have a Lifetime Plex Pass purchase.

If on Windows, a really good idea is to use some service wrapper software in order, to ensure that Plex Media Server continues running even when signed out. There’s several options of this software, the most useful for configuration options would be WinSW.

Also it is very actively developed, to ensure a very wide support on Windows.

For either implementation you also will need something like a NAS or having file sharing active, for Plex Media Server to be able to direct stream the media. I would recommend having it so that access to media shares are restricted to account logons.

Both server and/or NAS will need static Internet Protocol (IP) addresses so both can talk to each, other continuously without DNS (name resolution) issues.

Especially allowing the Plex Media Server service account to only access the multimedia which it will be streaming on your home network. Also ensure that your devices are up to date to keep out malicious activity.

1 Like
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Another thing to consider is how good is the hardware, where the server is going to be installed. As this will require hardware accelerated transcoding functionality. And potentially a fair amount of storage for both the data of the server and/or your multimedia.

Depending on your CPU and/or GPU you may need an separate graphics card (not in processor graphics). Though if its going to be really busy and/or recording high quality recordings (including Live TV) then a graphics card is required. Also enough RAM is required to run the operations of the software.

Live TV & DVR (Set Up and Manage) | Plex Support

Supported DVR Tuners and Antennas | Plex Support

Frequently Asked Questions - DVR & Live TV | Plex Support

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Hi,

Thanks for your reply, but I won’t be using Linux or Windows. I am using Mac. Linux is way beyond me and I don’t want to have to buy install and maintain a Windows system. I have a Windows laptop for work but I don’t want to use it for this (unsuitable anyway).

Much of what you refer to is far above my head, but I think my fairly new M1 Mac Mini will be up to the job. If not, then Plex isn’t the solution for me.

My Plex server works great for streaming media from my SSD and external NAS drives and my friends’ remote Plex setup also.

I tried to purchase a Silicondust HDHomerun network tuner but they don’t seem to be available in the UK. Hence I am looking at purchasing the 4134 DVBS as Vbox say it is compatible with Freesat and Plex as well (EPG/recording etc.). Just want to check it will work before I do.

Plus I am sure I will need some assistance setting it up!

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They were available in the UK before the semi-conductor issues, as at one point I was considering one myself. However the semi-conductor issues, amongst others has restricted availability to likely US, Canada and/or Australia.

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The M1 Mac Mini will be up to the task especially when utilising Apple Silicon with native apps. Bear in mind that if it does other things, it can reduce resources for the multimedia.

It’s at its best if the server is dedicated to being a home server, more resources set aside for the functions.

1 Like
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I purchased the Vbox XTi 4134 for DVB-S/S2 and attempted to set it up.

Now I am beginning to understand your reply which was more helpful than I originally gave you credit for!

Your comment quoted here could be a solution for me and I was wondering if you could elaborate on this please?

This thing is horrible to set up.

I think I am going to have to return the device. I purchased it primarily to use with Plex. It has the Plex logo on the box. However, it is cumbersome and almost impossible to tune the device to channels and then match the channels to a guide.

My satellite dish points to is the Astra 2E,2F,2G satellite service with a standard LNB setting and type Ku-band universal.

I am presented with a list of 79 Transponders with frequency and polarization options and do not know which ones I need. So I have to scan all of them. This takes 20 minutes at a time. No problem if you only need to do this once in a while.

Then I am presented with a list of 700+ channels including 100s of duplicated channels.

Attempting to select the ones I need and then matching this to a guide, either on the vBox TV app or Plex is impossible. I have wasted over 5 hours so far.

If I leave the selection and labelling to auto, then when trying to get Plex to match a guide to the list takes forever and times out before I am able to manually configure the guide to the channels I need.

I have also tried to first only select channels I need in the vbox “quick” setup wizard. This is also impossible because the wizard resets everything each time it is run, there seems to be no way to go back to edit the scanned channel list. There is also no option to select a region so I am presented with the channels for my region. If I spend the time to select the presented channels and unselect the duplicates the thing times out, hangs or crashes. Each checkmark selection takes 3-4 seconds to respond making it tedious, time-consuming and therefore impractical to do at this stage of the setup process.

If I knew which transponders to scan to avoid all the duplicates, it may be doable. I can’t find any information for this online.

If the HDHRProxyIPTV emulator isn’t something fairly simple that runs on the vBox or within Plex, I don’t think I will be capable of setting it up. In which case could you recommend ANY hardware that I could perhaps use to easily tune Freesat channels in the UK and provide a guide that will work with minimal maintenance with or without Plex?

Thanks for your willingness to help me so far!

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Don’t whether it will help but kingofsat website lists frequencies for astra 28 etc

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Thank you. Yes, that could be useful. I had a quick look. I had already found https://en.satexpat.com/ which was also helpful. I had no idea I would need such a website or that they existed.

What I definitely need now is a good EPG that I can somehow set up to auto-update, either from a URL directly or somehow download and store on my NAS with a way to get it to automatically update.

The Plex EPG guides are helpful, but none of the EPG options Plex provides cover all the channels I want. EG. Either some channels are either missing from the EPGs altogether or the +1 channels aren’t all there. I also find the matching of the channel guides to my tuner’s channels arduous and pretty flakey. Match too many at a time and Plex won’t let me save the list and I have to start all over again.

I would prefer to use an XMLEPG file of my own which has all the channels I need. Do you know of a good service? I don’t mind paying.

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