# FreeBSD on Satellite STB



## balanga (Dec 21, 2017)

Is anyone aware of a Satellite STB - a box including a DVB-s2 interface on which FreeBSD will run?


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## PacketMan (Dec 22, 2017)

Nope.  I think you would be better off trying to find a satellite box with IPTV Mpeg TS output, and use TVheadend to pull the video.


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## balanga (Dec 22, 2017)

Or build my own STB by adding a USB DVB-s2 dongle to a box running FreeBSD.... Trouble is a dongle probably cost more than an STB...


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## PacketMan (Dec 22, 2017)

When you say STB do you mean TV set top box or do you mean Satellite Receiver?  The two are very different things; although a satellite receiver does provide the set top box functionality.

If I were you I would focus on getting multimedia/tvheadend working, and then using an IP media player to stream to your TV, or use a 'smart' TV if you can.  (I actually built a FreeBSD box and used it to for Plex Home Theater, but the application (and FreeBSD port) has since been abandoned.  Kodi would be a somewhat similar media player.)  Once you get a set up like this working you may like it so much you will want more rooms in your place to be set up the same way. The one nice thing about TVHeadend is it can ingest multiple different sources simultaneously.  I gave up on it (a few times) because ports like multimedia/emby-server work well for my needs, and I find the TVheadend info sorely lacking and the user forum weak at best unless you are doing the same old thing everyone else is already doing with it.


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## balanga (Dec 22, 2017)

PacketMan said:


> When you say STB do you mean TV set top box or do you mean Satellite Receiver?  The two are very different things; although a satellite receiver does provide the set top box functionality.
> 
> I find the TVheadend info sorely lacking and the user forum weak at best unless you are doing the same old thing everyone else is already doing with it.



I've only just discovered the TVheadend forums and they seem ok to me...


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