MPlayer
The Linux video "Swiss Army knife", which plays almost every movie format imaginable [1].
Watching DVB streams
Note that you must configure a channels.conf file and store it in the ~/.mplayer before you can view DVB streams. Instructions on how to do this are detailed in How to install DVB.
You can watch DVB streams with MPlayer by typing:
$ mplayer dvb://
For a specific DVB stream (as listed in the channels.conf file), type:
$ mplayer dvb://"STREAM NAME"
Recording DVB streams
It is possible to record DVB streams using MPlayer, but there is more functionality in Mencoder, a command-line encoder built on the MPlayer code.
If you want to record a stream with MPlayer, you can use:
$ mplayer -dumpstream dvb://"STREAM NAME" -dumpfile stream.ts
This will dump the stream in MPEG-TS format to the file stream.ts (note that this file can be very large - ~1GB for 30 minutes). You can then use Mencoder or MPlayer to convert that file to a usable video format.
DVB Limitations
- Only free-to-air broadcasts are supported. Decryption through CAM is not implemented in MPlayer.
- There is (presently) no DVB subtitle support in MPlayer.
MPlayer and satellite dishes
If you are using MPlayer with a satellite dish that has a C-Band lnb LO: 5150 or standard Ku Band lnb LO: 10750 such as are commonly used in North America, MPlayer will tune the channel if you use the L Band frequency in your .mplayer/channels.conf file instead of the C or Ku Band frequency. To calculate the L Band frequency for C Band, 5150 minus frequency in Mhz equals L Band frequency in Mhz. For Ku Band, frequency in Mhz minus 10750 equals L Band frequency in Mhz.
For example to tune C Band 4.060 Ghz
5150 - 4060 = 1090
Use 1090 for the frequency in channels.conf instead of 4060.
For Ku Band 11.799 Ghz
11799 - 10750 = 1049