Pinnacle PCTV DVB-S2 Stick (461e)

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460e CapOpen 300px.jpg

A combined DVB-S and DVB-S2 USB 2.0 device from PCTVSystems.

Overview/Features

PCTV DVB-S2 Stick (461e) is a handy high-end USB stick to receive high definition digital satellite TV. It makes reception of HDTV and SDTV possible via DVB-S2 and DVB-S. It is the successor of the PCTV 460e model that is not for sale any more. Both models are externally the same, but different components are used inside.

Components Used

Driver support

Support has been added to kernel, and is included since 3.14 in all stable kernel releases. [1]

On the bottom of the device will be an LF Rev (USB ids listed are hopefully correct:

Log:

kernel: em28xx: New device PCTV PCTV 461 @ 480 Mbps (2013:0258, interface 0, class 0)
kernel: em28xx: DVB interface 0 found: isoc
kernel: em28xx: chip ID is em28178
kernel: em28178 #0: EEPROM ID = 26 00 01 00, EEPROM hash = 0x033c71a0
kernel: em28178 #0: EEPROM info:
kernel: em28178 #0:         microcode start address = 0x0004, boot configuration = 0x01
kernel: em28178 #0:         AC97 audio (5 sample rates)
kernel: em28178 #0:         500mA max power
kernel: em28178 #0:         Table at offset 0x27, strings=0x148c, 0x1874, 0x0a6a
kernel: em28178 #0: Identified as PCTV DVB-S2 Stick (461e) (card=92)
kernel: em28178 #0: dvb set to isoc mode.
kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver em28xx
kernel: em28178 #0: Binding DVB extension
kernel: i2c i2c-9: a8293: Allegro A8293 SEC attached
kernel: DVB: registering new adapter (em28178 #0)
kernel: usb 2-1: DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Montage M88DS3103)...
kernel: em28178 #0: DVB extension successfully initialized

Firmware

The demodulator requires a firmware file that must be uploaded by the driver: dvb-demod-m88ds3103.fw

The file is part of OpenELEC dvb-firmware package: download

Target directory: /lib/firmware

Frontend

IR Remote Control

The IR receiver is detected by the kernel.

kernel: em28178 #0: Registering input extension
kernel: Registered IR keymap rc-pinnacle-pctv-hd
kernel: input: em28xx IR (em28178 #0) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb2/2-1/rc/rc0/input21
kernel: rc0: em28xx IR (em28178 #0) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb2/2-1/rc/rc0
kernel: em28178 #0: Input extension successfully initalized
kernel: em28xx: Registered (Em28xx Input Extension) extension

Known issues

  • The LED indicator does not work as described in the manufacturer documentation. The LED will signal green, regardless of the power supply of the LNB. So even if your LNB or multi-switch needs a power feed to work and you don't have the external power supply connected, the PCTVs LED will signal green. No reception is possible in this situation.
  • At least in some cases the PCTV 461e will not supply the LNB with the feeding power. The forum post [4] describes the problem and gives a working solution: A fully connected (USB and external power source) PCTV 461e does not supply any operating power to the LNB/Multi-switch. So no reception is possible. The following workaround seems to work: Install the manufacturer supplied TV-reception program under windows and search for a channel. Watch it for a few seconds. Now you can disconnect it from Windows and connect it to your Linux installation. This worked for the forum poster and for me.

External Links