DIY

DIY – Build a TV server yourself

List of parts

You will need parts from „Electronics” and „Other parts – both casings” sections. Additionally depending on the size of casing you choose you will need parts from „Other parts – smaller casing” or „Other parts – larger casing” section.

Part Quantity Additional notes
Electronics
Raspberry Pi 3 1
official RPi power supply T5989DV 5.1V 2.5A 1
microSD 16GB memory card GoodRam M1AA-0160R11 UHS-I class 10 1
3-way TV splitter Teleste BSS3 1
DVB-T adapter Media-tech MT4171 3
Other parts – both casings (Available in DIY kit)
F plug – IEC plug adapter 3
F plug – IEC socket adapter 1
Ethernet plug – socket 50cm cable 1
micro USB angled plug – panel mount socket 20cm cable 1
Other parts – smaller casing (Available in DIY kit)
Gainta G761 casing 1 with drilled mounting, sockets and ventilation holes
USB plug A – socket A 12cm cable 3 cable length (without metal parts of plugs) should be ≤ 13.5 cm to fit in Gainta G761 casing
M2.5 x 5mm screw with countersunk head 4
M2.5 x 8mm metal spacer 4 spacer with threaded holes on both ends
M2.5 x 5mm screw with button head 4
M3 x 20mm screw with countersunk head 2
M3 hexagonal nut 2
Other parts – larger casing
Gainta G715 casing 1 with drilled sockets and ventilation holes in rear panel – see below
F connector nut 1
RS Pro casing for RPi 1
USB plug A – socket A 30cm cable 3
casing stand 2 see below
screw for mounting TV splitter 1

Assembling notes

In smaller casing you will have to remove jacket from Ethernet cable in order to fit it in the external casing.

Use double-sided tape or cyanoacrylate superglue to fix:

  • RS Pro enclosure to Gainta G715 enclosure,
  • socket of Ethernet cable to TV server enclosure.

Larger casing rear panel

The picture below shows the layout of sockets and ventilation holes:

You can mill holes in Gainta G715 panel using CNC machine (cost < €1). Load this PDF file to it. Alternatively you can print a panel on a 3D printer (cost about €2). Give this STL file to 3D printer, use grey PLA and 90% filling. Printing lines should be parallel to longer edge of panel and outer side of panel should lie on table during printing to be more smooth.

Larger casing stand

If you want to put enclosure upright then two following stands will be useful:

You can print them on 3D printer. Give this STL file to 3D printer, use grey PLA and 40% filling. Two stands should cost about €2. Fix self adhesive foots to the bottom of the stand to increase friction.

Software

If you do not want to perform all steps described in Technical documentation to install the software then you can download the ISO image of the ready-to-use system from https://myserver.opentechnologies.pl/files/tvserver6.5.7z (2.1GB, md5 checksum: bda860136b4f8bfd44a564225f2a38dc. Unpack it with 7-Zip. Write it to the SD card using USB Image Writer program in Linux or similar program in Windows. It will take about 15 minutes on class 10 SD card. Insert the SD card to Raspberry Pi, connect network cable and then connect power adapter.

You can access TV server by:

  • remote desktop (RDP): IP: raspberrypi, username: pi, password: skW3dk2Ak
  • TVHeadend administration panel: URL: http://raspberrypi:9981, username: tvadmin, password: Acr1Zur5
  • Kodi: four users with following names and passwords: tvuser1/zcp14Ar1, tvuser2/zcp14Ar2, tvuser3/zcp14Ar3, tvuser4/zcp14Ar4

However you should change default passwords for security reasons:

  • RPi admin: in the standard way in Raspberry Pi
  • Tvheadend admin: using sudo dpkg-reconfigure tvheadend command in Raspberry Pi terminal
  • Tvheadend users: by Tvheadend configuration panel

Expand the partition to the entire SD card – connect to TV server by remote desktop or SSH and run sudo raspi-config command in Terminal; select Advanced Options > Expand Filesystem; press Finish and Yes to reboot server.

Log in to Tvheadend configuration panel as tvadmin and remove test multiplexes and channels:

  • in Configuration > DVB Inputs > Muxes select all multiplexes and press „Delete” button
  • in Configuration > Channel/EPG > Channels select all channels and press „Delete” button

Configure Tvheadend by setting multiplexes, services and channels in your location. You can follow user guide to do it.

From now you will be able to normally use TV server as described in the user guide.

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