[Q] Freeview HD TV (dvb-t2 1080i) streamed to Nook HD+

[snailseyes]

I'd like to be able to watch live TV on my Nook HD+ (Cyanogenmod 10.2.1), after all it's portable, wireless and has more pixels than my 32" telly. Internet streams (BBC iPlayer, ITV Player) have terrible compression artifacts. Broadcasts received through a roof-top aerial offer substantially better quality. So I have got a USB dvb-t/dvb-t2 tuner plugged into my aerial and an old laptop. Using this and VLC, I can receive Freeview SD and HD multiplexs and stream the selected TV channel over my LAN.

The Nook HD+ can play network streamed videos, using either XBMC or MX Player. While this works well for the SD channels, the tablet won't play the HD channels. This is a Nook specific problem; because the same setup can stream to a RapsberryPi with Openelec and it plays the HD okay. So the Nook is trying to play the HD streamed TV channels using software decoding and naturally doesn't have the CPU power to manage.

Which leads to the question, why won't the hardware decoder accept the stream? MPEG2-ts, 1080i, h.264 video and aac audio, these shouldn't be a problem. What is it about the broadcast signal that is tripping up the Nook's GPU? Is there a workaround?

 

[snailseyes]

Inadvertently fixed it seems, live streaming from dvb-t2 usb tuner is working for me now. I've got h/w+ decoding in MX Player and h/w decoding in DICE Player. Hurrah, objective accomplished, from aerial to tablet, my Nook HD+ can play broadcast Freeview HD channels.

 

[highwaypatrolusa]

How has you connected your usb tv receiver to your nook hd ? my nook hd has no usb port.

 

[snailseyes]

Wifi. I did wonder about using the USBhost switcher app (and a USB cable adapter), but the real problem was plugging the tuner into a convenient aerial outlet, and conversely the huge benefit of being wireless.

These day I'm using a Raspberry Pi rather than a old laptop as the server. TV tuner plugs into a Raspberry Pi, running Tvheadend/Openelec to receive and stream the channels, which connects by ethernet cable to a router. Kodi 14.2 on the HD+ receives the stream by wifi and plays it, just need to configure with the IP address of the Pi.

I gave up on the HD broadcasts though, stuttering motion proved to be more annoying than SD fuzziness while watching live sport. I did wonder if the Nook's hardware decoder was trying to play 50hz broadcasts at 60hz.