S-cube

Users Guide - English for s-cube TV Streamer

Introduction

Thank you for purchasing our s-cube TV Streamer. The s-cube provides easy way to make your live TV channels available over your local area network as a multicast stream.

Features of s-cube

• Depending on the equipped tuner modules it can support Analogue Video-In (SVideo/Composite), DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T, DVB-C
• Support for Multicast Streaming
• HTML Management Interface
• Auto-Stream on boot
• s-cube 1100 (1 tuner module), 1200 (up to 2 tuner modules) and 1400 (up to 4 tuner modules) are different in the enclosure and the number of integrated tuner modules

Installation

First Quick Start

The initial configuration can be done

1. from a remote web browser or
2. by connecting a VGA screen and keyboard to the s-cube.

Initial configuration via Browser over LAN

Unpack the s-cube and the power to the s-cube. The unit is switched on automatically and is booting. If you connect the s-cube during boot-up to your local network and in case you have a DHCP server running, the s-cube will get a IP address assigned by your DHCP server. If you can’t find out what IP address has been assigned to the s-cube then boot-up the s-cube without network plugged and plug after boot-up (approx. 1 min).

In case the s-box does not get any IP address on initial boot it will get the following IP address: 192.168.0.178

For accessing the s-cube for initial setting you need to reconfigure your local network on your PC or Laptop from where you want to reach the s-cube with your browser to the 192.168.0.0 network (for example 192.168.0.1). Then just type the default s-cube IP 192.168.0.178 in your browser URL bar and you should be connected instantly to the s-cube management console.

Go to the system setting menu and configure the s-cube to your local network inside the network settings.

Initial configuration via Monitor and Keyboard

Unpack the s-cube and connect the power supply, the VGA monitor, the USB keyboard and your network to the s-cube. You will see the Diagnostic screen after boot-up.

Go to the Setup menu and configure the network parameters of the s-cube for your local network and restart the unit.

Now you can connect to the s-cube management console via HTML by typing the assigned s-cube IP address inside your browser URL.

http://<IP_of_s-cube>

Configuring the s-cube TV Streamer equipped with analogue modules

This chapter guides you through the configuration of the s-cube via the HTML management console on analogue encoder modules.

Before you configure the s-cube please make sure you have connected the audio/video sources via a s-video or composite cable per module or your analogue aerial to the RF connector.

You can setup the connection to the s-cube HTML Management Console by typing the IP-Address of the s-cube into your browser URL bar:

http://<IP_of_s-cube>

The above interface appears with the number of installed analogue tuner modules.

After clicking on the Analog TV Encoder button on the top left menu the following menu appears:

Select the analogue module for your channels that you want to configure e.g.

Analog module by Card number
Module 1	card 0
Module 2	card 1
Module 3	card 2
Module 4	card 3

Once selected the analogue module to be configured you can now select the analog input source and assign a multicast address to it as you can see in the following screenshot:

If your video source is connected via Composite input then select Channel name “Composite 1”. In case your video source is connected via S-Video then select Channel name “S-Video 1” (Composite 2 and S-Video 2 only for future options). In case there are no channel names listed press the “Scan channels” button.

Once selected the video source, a multicast address and port number onto where this video channel is streamed to (e.g. 225.0.0.1 port 10000), need to be assigned and the “Enabled” and “Multicast” checkboxes need to be checked. To save all settings press the “Apply configuration” button.

If you connect an aerial to the RF connector you can select the region and then one of the channels/frequency to be streamed.

The analog encoder default settings are as follows:

Video standard: PAL-B/B1/G/H
Video: 720x576, 25 fps
Video: MPEG-2, 4x3, Variable Bitrate (VBR), 6000000 (6 MBit/s), Peak 8000000 (8 Mbit/s)
Video: GOP Size 12, 2 B-Frames, GOP Closure
Audio: 48 kHz, Layer II, 224 kbps, Stereo, No Emphasis, No CRC
(if the above settings need to be changed follow the instructions in Appendix A)

Configuring the s-cube TV Streamer equipped with DTV modules

This chapter guides you through the configuration of the s-cube via the HTML management console on DTV modules (DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-S2 and DVB-C).

Before you configure the s-cube please make sure you have connected the appropriate antenna cable for the equipped DTV tuner module.

Connect to the s-cube HTML Management Console by typing the IP-Address of the s-cube into your browser URL bar:

http://<IP_of_s-cube>

You will see the number of equipped tuner modules and the configuration menus on the left side.

To first scan your existing channels (transponder or multiplex) open the appropriate tuner module menu and press the scan channels button. In case of DVB-S and DVB-S2 please select the appropriate satellite where your dish is pointed to.

Please note: The option “append to existing channels” is not yet supported.

You will see if the tuning process can find channels. If you only can see “tuning failed” please check your antenna cable or your dish.

After channel scanning is processed (may take up to 30 min with DVB-S/S2) you will see the found transponders or multiplexes containing the various channels. If you click on a tansponder link you will see the channels listed (bouquet) within this transponder. Now you can select the channels you want to have streamed of this tansponder by clicking the checkbox on the right.

To select the channel to be streamed, click on the appropriate transponder by clicking on it. It will uncollapse and show the available channels (bouquet) of this transponder.

If you search a specific channel and you do not know the transponder press the channels button (may take several seconds) and search for the name for example *CNN*.

After selecting the channels to be streamed you will see them on the stream area (top of the screen) and can configure the multicast addresses. Please note that multiple channels need to have either different multicast addresses or different port numbers. You can disable a stream temporarily by unchecking the stream in the enabled field.

Finally to start streaming the configured streams you need to press the “Apply configuration” button.

You can remove each stream channel by selecting the trash icon on the Action row. Please note: If you want to start a stream from another transponder you need to remove all streams from current used transponder in case you have no more free tuner cards available.

System settings

In the “System settings” menu you can set the password to limit the access to the configuration menu.

Clean the pre-defined channel lists of each type of tuner module.

Configure the network settings as fixed IP or DHCP (this is only for administration menu and not for multicast streaming addresses).

System update configuration and system update start-up button.

Known issues, limitations, and not yet supported features

This chapter describes the known issues with this software release, limitations and not yet supported features.

HTTP Stream =

• HTTP Stream is not yet supported

Analogue TV program scan

• Analogue program scan is currently not supported. Please select the channel/frequency of your desired analogue TV program.

Audio issues while Analogue TV Streaming from tuner

• Streaming analogue TV channels from RF aerial may have issues on audio playback with VLC media player.

DISEQ

• Diseq is currently not supported.

Multicast and WLAN

• We recommend multicast capable routers otherwise the stream is spamming on every port of your network switches.
• Multicast streams may affect WLAN networks and should be avoided to be streamed within networks where WLAN access points are connected.

DVB-S2

• In case you receive HDTV channels via DVB-S2 tuner please be aware that the format is MPEG-4p10 (H.264) with 1080i resolution. To decode this format on a PC e.g. with VLC requires minimum 3 GHz Pentium class power.

CA Module

• Only FTA but no Conditional Access modules are supported.

MS Explorer 7

• To access the s-cube HTML management CPU We recommend Mozilla/Firefox Browser or earlier version than Explorer 7 as there might be issues with timeout.

Update from file

• Update via local file is currently not supported. Update only via remote FTP server.

Password protection

• Password login for the management console is currently not supported.

Appendix A – Changing default parameters for Analogue modules

The Appendix A describes how to change the default settings of the analogue modules.
For each analogue module there could be a text file placed via FTP in:
/wfs/analog_parameters.${CARD_ADAPTER}
Where ${CARD_ADAPTER} is id of the card from 0 - 3

To set Video standard use:

-s INDEX

index : 0
ID : 0x000000000000000F
Name : PAL-BGH
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 1
ID : 0x00000000000000E0
Name : PAL-DK
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 2
ID : 0x0000000000000010
Name : PAL-I
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 3
ID : 0x0000000000000100
Name : PAL-M
Frame period: 1001/30000
Frame lines : 525

index : 4
ID : 0x0000000000000200
Name : PAL-N
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 5
ID : 0x0000000000000400
Name : PAL-Nc
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 6
ID : 0x00000000000D0000
Name : SECAM-BGH
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 7
ID : 0x0000000000320000
Name : SECAM-DK
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 8
ID : 0x0000000000400000
Name : SECAM-L
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 9
ID : 0x0000000000800000
Name : SECAM-L'
Frame period: 1/25
Frame lines : 625

index : 10
ID : 0x0000000000001000
Name : NTSC-M
Frame period: 1001/30000
Frame lines : 525

index : 11
ID : 0x0000000000002000
Name : NTSC-J
Frame period: 1001/30000
Frame lines : 525

index : 12
ID : 0x0000000000008000
Name : NTSC-K
Frame period: 1001/30000
Frame lines : 525

--set-ctrl=<ctrl>=<val>[,<ctrl>=<val>...]

User Controls

brightness (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=128 value=128 flags=slider
contrast (int) : min=0 max=127 step=1 default=64 value=64 flags=slider
saturation (int) : min=0 max=127 step=1 default=64 value=64 flags=slider
hue (int) : min=-128 max=127 step=1 default=0 value=0 flags=slider
volume (int) : min=0 max=65535 step=655 default=58880 value=60928 flags=slider
balance (int) : min=0 max=65535 step=655 default=32768 value=32768 flags=slider
bass (int) : min=0 max=65535 step=655 default=32768 value=32768 flags=slider
treble (int) : min=0 max=65535 step=655 default=32768 value=32768 flags=slider
mute (bool) : default=0 value=0

MPEG Encoder Controls

stream_type (menu) : min=0 max=5 default=0 value=0 flags=update
0: MPEG-2 Program Stream
2: MPEG-1 System Stream
3: MPEG-2 DVD-compatible Stream
4: MPEG-1 VCD-compatible Stream
5: MPEG-2 SVCD-compatible Stream

stream_vbi_format (menu) : min=0 max=1 default=0 value=0
0: No VBI
1: Private packet, IVTV format

audio_sampling_frequency (menu) : min=0 max=2 default=1 value=1
0: 44.1 kHz
1: 48 kHz
2: 32 kHz

audio_encoding_layer (menu) : min=1 max=1 default=1 value=1 flags=update
1: Layer II

audio_layer_ii_bitrate (menu) : min=9 max=13 default=10 value=10
9: 192 kbps
10: 224 kbps
11: 256 kbps
12: 320 kbps
13: 384 kbps

audio_stereo_mode (menu) : min=0 max=3 default=0 value=0 flags=update
0: Stereo
1: Joint Stereo
2: Dual
3: Mono

audio_stereo_mode_extension (menu) : min=0 max=3 default=0 value=0 flags=inactive
0: Bound 4
1: Bound 8
2: Bound 12
3: Bound 16

audio_emphasis (menu) : min=0 max=2 default=0 value=0
0: No Emphasis
1: 50/15 us
2: CCITT J17

audio_crc (menu) : min=0 max=1 default=0 value=0
0: No CRC
1: 16-bit CRC

video_encoding (menu) : min=0 max=1 default=1 value=1 flags=readonly
0: MPEG-1
1: MPEG-2

video_aspect (menu) : min=0 max=3 default=1 value=1
0: 1x1
1: 4x3
2: 16x9
3: 2.21x1

video_b_frames (int) : min=0 max=33 step=1 default=2 value=2 flags=update
video_gop_size (int) : min=1 max=34 step=1 default=12 value=12
video_gop_closure (bool) : default=1 value=1
video_bitrate_mode (menu) : min=0 max=1 default=0 value=0 flags=update
0: Variable Bitrate
1: Constant Bitrate

video_bitrate (int) : min=0 max=27000000 step=1 default=6000000 value=6000000
video_peak_bitrate (int) : min=0 max=27000000 step=1 default=8000000 value=8000000
video_temporal_decimation (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=0 value=0 spatial_filter_mode (menu) : min=0 max=1 default=0 value=0 flags=update
0: Manual
1: Auto

spatial_filter (int) : min=0 max=15 step=1 default=0 value=0 flags=slider
spatial_luma_filter_type (menu) : min=0 max=4 default=0 value=1
0: Off
1: 1D Horizontal
2: 1D Vertical
3: 2D H/V Separable
4: 2D Symmetric non-separable

spatial_chroma_filter_type (menu) : min=0 max=1 default=0 value=1
0: Off
1: 1D Horizontal

temporal_filter_mode (menu) : min=0 max=1 default=0 value=0 flags=update
0: Manual
1: Auto

temporal_filter (int) : min=0 max=31 step=1 default=0 value=8 flags=slider
median_filter_type (menu) : min=0 max=4 default=0 value=0 flags=update
0: Off
1: Horizontal
2: Vertical
3: Horizontal/Vertical
4: Diagonal

median_luma_filter_minimum (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=0 value=0 flags=inactive slider
median_luma_filter_maximum (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=255 value=255 flags=inactive slider
median_chroma_filter_minimum (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=0 value=0 flags=inactive slider
median_chroma_filter_maximum (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=255 value=255 flags=inactive slider

Configuration example:

This example sets card #1 to work with NTSC and sets constant bitrate with 192kbps audio bitrate

Place the following file on the s-cube via FTP:
/wfs/analog_parameters.0
(card indexes: 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 )

The text file has to be Linux format. All parameters have to be in one line without new line symbol at the end

-s 10 --set-ctrl=video_bitrate_mode=1,audio_layer_ii_bitrate=9

Appendix B – Supported network cards

     Ethernet 10 or 100 Mbit

"Sun Happy Meal 10/100baseT support"
"Sun GEM support"
"Sun Cassini support"
"3c509/3c529 (MCA)/3c579 "EtherLink III" support"
"3c590/3c900 series (592/595/597) "Vortex/Boomerang" support"
"3cr990 series "Typhoon" support"
"SMC Ultra support"
"EtherWORKS 3 (DE203, DE204, DE205) support"
"NE2000/NE1000 support"
"AMD PCnet32 PCI support"
"AMD 8111 (new PCI lance) support"
"Adaptec Starfire/DuraLAN support"
"Broadcom 440x/47xx ethernet support"
"nForce Ethernet support"
"Intel(R) PRO/100+ support"
"Myson MTD-8xx PCI Ethernet support"
"National Semiconductor DP8381x series PCI Ethernet support"
"PCI NE2000 and clones support"
"RealTek RTL-8139 C+ PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support"
"RealTek RTL-8129/8130/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support"
"RDC R6040 Fast Ethernet Adapter support"
"SiS 900/7016 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support"
"SMC EtherPower II"
"Sundance Alta support"
"TI ThunderLAN support"
"VIA Rhine support"
"Silan SC92031 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter driver"
"AT-LAN-TEC/RealTek pocket adapter support"
"D-Link DE600 pocket adapter support"
"D-Link DE620 pocket adapter support"

     Ethernet 1000 Mbit

"Alteon AceNIC/3Com 3C985/NetGear GA620 Gigabit support"
"DL2000/TC902x-based Gigabit Ethernet support"
"Intel(R) PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet support"
"Intel(R) PRO/1000 PCI-Express Gigabit Ethernet support"
"IP1000 Gigabit Ethernet support"
"Intel(R) 82575 PCI-Express Gigabit Ethernet support"
"National Semiconductor DP83820 support"
"Packet Engines Hamachi GNIC-II support"
"Packet Engines Yellowfin Gigabit-NIC support"
"Realtek 8169 gigabit ethernet support"
"SiS190/SiS191 gigabit ethernet support"
"New SysKonnect GigaEthernet support"
"SysKonnect Yukon2 support"
"VIA Velocity support"
"Broadcom Tigon3 support"
"Broadcom NetXtremeII support"
"QLogic QLA3XXX Network Driver Support"
"Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet support"
"Atheros L1E Gigabit Ethernet support"

     Ethernet 10000 Mbit

"Chelsio 10Gb Ethernet support"
"Chelsio Communications T3 10Gb Ethernet support"
"Intel(R) 10GbE PCI Express adapters support"
"Intel(R) PRO/10GbE support"
"S2IO 10Gbe XFrame NIC"
"Myricom Myri-10G Ethernet support"
"NetXen Multi port (1/10) Gigabit Ethernet NIC"
"Sun Neptune 10Gbit Ethernet support"
"Tehuti Networks 10G Ethernet"
"Broadcom NetXtremeII 10Gb support"

Appendix C – Supported USB DVB-T Sticks

Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-T stick