Digital TV receiver on a chip...

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Thu, 10 Feb 2022 06:20:47 -0800 (PST)) it happened Wim Ton
<wim.ton@gmail.com> wrote in
<cc32d77c-4191-4e11-9f11-81c8bb8de934n@googlegroups.com>:

The common dongles are just a direct conversion receiver and an AD converter. The rest of the processing must be done by the
host.

That is not correct,
There are 2 chips in the dongles,
the second one, the RTL2832U, does full decoding to transport stream format,
but can be configured to output sequential IQ data.


So all you need in software then is parse the transport stream (simple) and a MPEG2 or whatever format decoder.
Most PCs have that already implemented in hardware, even Raspberry does that (I remember buying a decoder key for a few $
for the older model to activate the hardware MPEG2 decoder).
In fact the Raspberry chipset is original a TV chipset.

Not sure what my new RP4 has enabled as decoder, interesting thread here:
https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=268356
Doing the HD playback in software on the Pi4 from things I recorded with my DVB-T2 and DVB-S2 boxes, was slow.

Many if not most rtl-sdr projects however configure the stick to only use the sequential IQ quadrature output,
such as my spectrum analyzer:
http://panteltje.com/panteltje/xpsa/index.html


I have never tried to receive digital TV with my sticks, I have Chinese made boxes that do that fine.
We moved to DVB-T2 recently here, and I had to buy a new Chinese TV box for that.

 

[Sid 03]

On Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 5:37:28 PM UTC-6, Don wrote:

Jan Panteltje wrote:
Sid 03 wrote:

Can someone recommend a chip that will allow a simple circuit to be built that
will allow the user to tune in a local TV stations and listen to the Audio
portion only. I know that most of the terrestrial TV stations have converted
over to digital broadcasting, but does that include the audio signal
? Would it be that hard to build a small radio to listen to the audio portion
?

Thanks

Type in google:
ebay digital usb tv stick

first hit:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/304053461399
looks like European standard, US may need a different one.

That said, I have several rtl-sdr sticks that are in essence digital TV decoders
but can be used for a wide spectrum of applications with the right software.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/272411458376

my spectrum analyzer uses that thing:
http://panteltje.com/panteltje/xpsa/index.html
and has radio too (new version has FM stereo too).

Lots of software and projects with it:
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/

more:
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/big-list-rtl-sdr-supported-software/

Inside, actually 2 chips:
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/improvements_v3new800x800.jpg?ffccfa&ffccfa

For the money a small miracle.
Great minds again... Somehow your follow up was overlooked by me until
now. ATSC compatibility still seems somewhat problematic.
Your first link says it supports DVB-T2, DVB-T, DVB-C, and the
VHF-/UHF band. But it doesn\'t support ATSC. It\'s hard for me to
understand why anyone in the USA would buy it, even if it\'s \"USA stock\"
with free shipping.
Danke,

--
Don, KB7RPU, https://www.qsl.net/kb7rpu
There was a young lady named Bright Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day In a relative way And returned on the previous night.

Jan, one of the USB sticks might work. I would like to find one that I could control w/Arduino or something small.
Thanks

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2022-02-08, Sid 03 <sidwelle@gmail.com> wrote:

Can someone recommend a chip that will allow a simple circuit to be
built that will allow the user to tune in a local TV stations and
listen to the Audio portion only.

Not any more, local tv is digital now. buy a tv dongle and plug it
into a computer then set up the software.

I know that most of the
terrestrial TV stations have converted over to digital broadcasting,
but does that include the audio signal ?

Yes but it\'s part of the digital signal. the audio portion is
MPEG1,MPEG3,AVC - a digital signal.

>Would it be that hard to build a small radio to listen to the audio portion ?

Use a small computer.

--
Jasen.

 

[Martin Brown]

On 08/02/2022 19:14, Lasse Langwadt Christensen wrote:

tirsdag den 8. februar 2022 kl. 19.40.20 UTC+1 skrev palli...@gmail.com:
sidw...@gmail.com wrote:
=====================

Can someone recommend a chip that will allow a simple circuit to be built that will allow
the user to tune in a local TV stations and listen to the Audio portion only.
** No such thing exists.
I know that most of the terrestrial TV stations have converted over to digital broadcasting,
but does that include the audio signal ?
** You bet it does. Fully digital in multi channel too.
Would it be that hard to build a small radio to listen to the audio portion ?
** A \"set top box\" will do what you ask.
Converts the digital TV signal back to analogue video and stereo audio.
Should be able to get a used one for next to nothing.

it would work, but I\'m not sure how easy it is to control without a display

A USB TV stick to implement an SDR would be my choice.
Then it is just a SMOP. Maybe a toy Linux version. eg

https://airspy.com/download/

(not a recommendation - never tried that one)

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

 

[server]

Jasen Betts <usenet@revmaps.no-ip.org> wrote in
news:su07eo$c18$1@gonzo.revmaps.no-ip.org:

On 2022-02-08, Sid 03 <sidwelle@gmail.com> wrote:
Can someone recommend a chip that will allow a simple circuit to
be built that will allow the user to tune in a local TV stations
and listen to the Audio portion only.

Not any more, local tv is digital now. buy a tv dongle and plug it
into a computer then set up the software.

I know that most of the
terrestrial TV stations have converted over to digital
broadcasting, but does that include the audio signal ?

Yes but it\'s part of the digital signal. the audio portion is
MPEG1,MPEG3,AVC - a digital signal.

Would it be that hard to build a small radio to listen to the
audio portion ?

Use a small computer.

https://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-Supports-Windows-Android-
H837/dp/B006PU81QE

It also tunes analog FM.

 

[server]

Martin Brown <\'\'\'newspam\'\'\'@nonad.co.uk> wrote in
news:su0a6s$1e9v$2@gioia.aioe.org:

On 08/02/2022 19:14, Lasse Langwadt Christensen wrote:
tirsdag den 8. februar 2022 kl. 19.40.20 UTC+1 skrev
palli...@gmail.com:
sidw...@gmail.com wrote:
=====================

Can someone recommend a chip that will allow a simple circuit
to be built that will allow the user to tune in a local TV
stations and listen to the Audio portion only.
** No such thing exists.
I know that most of the terrestrial TV stations have converted
over to digital broadcasting, but does that include the audio
signal ?
** You bet it does. Fully digital in multi channel too.
Would it be that hard to build a small radio to listen to the
audio portion ?
** A \"set top box\" will do what you ask.
Converts the digital TV signal back to analogue video and stereo
audio. Should be able to get a used one for next to nothing.

it would work, but I\'m not sure how easy it is to control without
a display

A USB TV stick to implement an SDR would be my choice.
Then it is just a SMOP. Maybe a toy Linux version. eg

https://airspy.com/download/

(not a recommendation - never tried that one)

There are SDR outfits out there, but they are NOT QAM or HDTV
recievers inasmuch as they do not have the processor for it in them.

There are dedicated HDTV tuners which are in the form of a USB
stick. Albeit a bit large.
<https://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-Supports-Windows-Android-
H837/dp/B006PU81QE>