Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) experiments

A few experiments I am doing with DVB. I am for some reason quite interested in transmission technology, but for me the technology is quite interesting but the content is not, so I'm not really interested in investing a lot of money in it. So DVB-S (Satellite) will not happen soon (although amateur tv is coming up using DVB-S..) and I'm avoiding DVB-C (Cable) until our local cable monopoly makes it a requirement. So the cheapest to test (no big investments, no subscriptions) is free-to-air DVB-T.

In the Netherlands DVB-T is offered under the brand name Digitenne. screen capture nederland 1 Free-to-air televion channels Nederland 1, Nederland 2, Nederland 3, a regional TV station and several public radio stations are available, and with a Digitenne subscription you get access to several extra commercial TV stations and extra commercial radio stations which are Conax encrypted.

For experimentation I decided on a simple solution: A cheap USB DVB-T stick. The local computershop offers the Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T-Stick for a reasonable price and according to Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T-Stick on the LinuxTV site this one works nicely with Linux. A peek at my laptop showed that Ubuntu even comes with the correct driver dvb-usb-dib0700. That should almost be plug and play...

The good thing is I can take this USB-stick anywhere. And it will be a nice 'when the TV-cable fails completely and I want some world news' solution.

The result is indeed 'plug and play', the device was detected by the kernel, the driver loaded and DVB works. Scanning for channels is easy once an initial transmitter is set up correctly.

DVB inner workings

I can always deal a lot better with technical stuff when I have at least an idea how it works on the inside. The main difference between the DVB-S, DVB-C and DVB-T standards is how many bits of information can be encoded per signal change (the old baud versus bits per second) and how much forward error correction is included.

DVB-S for transport from Satellite assumes lots of signal loss in the path, therefore uses QPSK modulation (only 4 possible quadrants), high symbol rates (around 22 MHz) and forward error correction (FEC).
DVB-C for transport via Cable systems assumes a relatively clean environment so it uses up to QAM256 modulation (256 possible encodings per change) on a single carrier and simpler forward error correction and high symbol rates (default 6.9MHz).
DVB-T for terrestrial transmitters. This assumes adverse conditions such as signal loss and multipath reflections and has QPSK, QAM16 or QAM64 modulation, uses 2k (1705) or 8k (6817) carriers in OFDM and high rates of forward error correction. Orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) is a modulation technique using multiple parallel carriers, the source combines those multiple carriers using an inverse FFT and the receiver can get all the carriers from the entire signal using an FFT. Each carrier is QPSK, QAM16 or QAM64 modulated which means a lot of bits are 'in the air' at the same time but times between signal changes can be relatively long (.. in microseconds). This design helps mitigate multipathing problems.
This allows for multiple transmitters on the same frequency transmitting exactly the same bitstream (an extreme case of multipathing), known as a Single Frequency Network (SFN).

After demodulation and error correction, all DVB starts to look alike with a transport stream (TS) with a number of elementary streams (ES) in it, encoding video, audio, teletext, service descriptions and time information. The 'catalog' of available streams, the program association table (PAT) is available via the stream with packet identifier (PID) 0x0000. One transport stream can contain the elementary streams of multiple services so the PAT contains multiple Program Map Tables (PMT) listing the video, audio, teletext of one program as a list of PIDs and standard data types.

The program dvbsnoop can be used to get a deep view of the inner workings of DVB. For example the program association table in all detail, the electronic program guide (EPG) or just a view of the teletext data.

At home

At home in Utrecht I should be able to receive the DVB-T signal from transmitters in Utrecht, Maarssen and Lopik which are all on the same frequency, so I only have to set up one set of channels.

I created /usr/share/doc/dvb-utils/examples/scan/dvb-t/nl-Utrecht with all the known transmitters (now fixed for my previous error):

# Digitenne (Utrecht / Maarssen / Lopik / Amersfoort, The Netherlands)
# Source of channels/info: http://www.radio-tv-nederland.nl/
#
# T freq bw fec_hi fec_lo mod transmission-mode guard-interval hierarchy
T 706000000 8MHz 1/2 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE  # UHF 50
T 818000000 8MHz 1/2 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE  # UHF 64
T 762000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE  # UHF 57
T 498000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE  # UHF 24
T 522000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QPSK 8k 1/4 NONE   # DVB-H: UHF 27

Now scan from the dvb-utils finds lots of services. The service list from scan -x 0 /usr/share/doc/dvb-utils/examples/scan/dvb-t/nl-Utrecht:

Nederland 1:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7011:7012:1101
Nederland 2:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7021:7022:1102
Nederland 3:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7031:7032:1103
Regio TV Utrecht:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7041:7042:1104
Radio M Utrecht:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7112:1111
Radio 1:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7122:1112
Radio 2:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7132:1113
3FM:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7142:1114
Radio 4:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7152:1115
Radio 5:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7162:1116
Radio 6:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7172:1117
Concertzender:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7182:1118
FunX:706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7192:1119

This is limited (by the -x 0) to free-to-air services, which excludes most of what is transmitted by Digitenne.

Logo from RTV Utrecht

DX: receiving distant stations

DXing (trying to receive distant stations) with DVB-T has the disadvantage that there is a sharp division between 'works' and 'does not work' with DVB, the effect that is sometimes known as the digitall cliff. So no 'I think this is a tv-signal because I see some correct sync pulses' like in analog TV DXing. The advantage is that when some bits do come in correctly, it is possible to identify the transmitter from the program information which is transmitted.

I played with trying to receive extra stuff at home several times. The easy experiments are done using w_scan, an automatic full-band scanner for DVB-T and DVB-C. This program will scan the entire VHF-III band (177.5 - 226.5 MHz center frequency) and UHF band (474 - 858 MHz center frequency) for signals and will then try to decode dvb-t on the frequencies with enough signal.

Some signals are very weak, to try and find out whether those are actually valid dvb-t signals I use dvbtune or zap to tune to the frequency (and either try to guess modulation, error correction and guard interval or let the automatic tuning in zap do its work), watching the signal strength and error rates and then use dvbsnoop in another window to try to get valid data from PID 0x10 which can give a hint to what services are active on that channel. Both have their downsides: dvbtune can't set up the tuner for automatic tuning nor does it accept QPSK (maybe I'll submit a few patches for this) and (t)zap needs a line in a channels.conf file. Both will monitor the signal strength and error rate when asked, which helps in finding the right place for the antenna when trying to pick up a marginal signal.

When I take the antenna to the highest point in the house I can receive the Digitenne signal for multiplex 1 at 618 MHz (most likely from Hilversum) almost error-free which gives me the following extra:

TV Noord-Holland:618000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7041:7042:1104
Radio Noord-Holland:618000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7112:1111

And the other programs in multiplex 1.
Logo from RTV Noord Holland

At 786 MHz I get Digitenne multiplex 2 (encrypted service):

RTL 4:786000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:1011:1012:1013:b00:11:0:0:0
RTL 5:786000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:1021:1022:1023:b00:12:0:0:0
RTL 7:786000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:1031:1032:1033:b00:13:0:0:0
..

And at 826 MHz Digitenne multiplex 2 (encrypted service):

RTL 4:826000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:1011:1012:1013:b00:11:0:0:0
RTL 5:826000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:1021:1022:1023:b00:12:0:0:0
RTL 7:826000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:1031:1032:1033:b00:13:0:0:0

This can come from a number of locations, most of which should have low chances. Only with a directional antenna I can be sure.. although it might also be caused by reflections.

Good to very good conditions can also give me a German transmitter, most likely from Wesel. I can get the program map, but trying to watch a channel gives too many errors. Scan results using w_scan:

tune to: 674000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_AUTO:FEC_AUTO:QAM_AUTO:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_AUTO:HIERARCHY_NONE
Network Name 'WDR D'
0x0000 0x0064: pmt_pid 0x1330 ARD -- MDR S-Anhalt (running)
0x0000 0x0081: pmt_pid 0x1320 ARD -- NDR FS NDS * (running)
0x0000 0x00e2: pmt_pid 0x1340 ARD -- SWR Fernsehen RP (running)
0x0000 0x0104: pmt_pid 0x1310 ARD -- WDR Düsseldorf (running)
0x0000 0x0109: pmt_pid 0x1350 ARD -- WDR Wuppertal * (running)
0x0000 0x010b: pmt_pid 0x1360 ARD -- WDR Duisburg (running)
dumping lists (6 services)
MDR S-Anhalt:674000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4913:4914:100
NDR FS NDS *:674000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4897:4898:129
SWR Fernsehen RP:674000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4929:4930:226
WDR Düsseldorf:674000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4881:4882:260
WDR Wuppertal *:674000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4881:4882:265
WDR Duisburg:674000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4881:4882:267

Antenna building

To improve reception I am looking at building a better antenna. The easiest (for me) design that I can use for UHF tv bands is probably the log-periodical antenna, as described for example at Alan Yates' Laboratory - UHF Log-Periodic Array. Using scrap materials like electricity wire that was not usable anymore and cardboard I created my own version.

Success with this project: I can also receive Digitenne multiplex 1, FTA with Omroep Flevoland at 514 MHz:

Nederland 1:514000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7011:7012:7013:0:1101:0:0:0
Nederland 2:514000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7021:7022:7023:0:1102:0:0:0
Nederland 3:514000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7031:7032:7033:0:1103:0:0:0
TV Flevoland:514000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7041:7042:7043:0:1104:0:0:0
Radio Flevoland:514000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:7112:0:0:1111:0:0:0

Digitenne multiplex 3 at 490 MHz (encrypted):

Eredivisie Live 1:490000:I999B8C23D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:2011:2012:0:b00:21:8720:2212:0
Eredivisie 2/AT5:490000:I999B8C23D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:2021:2022:2023:b00:22:8720:2212:0
TMF:490000:I999B8C23D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:2031:2032:2033:b00:23:8720:2212:0
MTV:490000:I999B8C23D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:2041:2042:2043:b00:24:8720:2212:0

Digitenne multiplex 4 at 682 MHz, all three probably from Lelystad.

Veronica/Jetix:682000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:3011:3012:3013:b00:31:0:0:0
RTL 8:682000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:3021:3022:3023:b00:32:0:0:0
één:682000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:3031:3032:3033:b00:33:0:0:0
Canvas/Ketnet:682000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:3041:3042:3043:b00:34:0:0:0

Mobile TV (DVB-H) at 530 and 570 MHz:

Service name:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:65000:0:0:0
CH_8:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:140:0:0:0
CH_2:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:134:0:0:0
CH_3:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:135:0:0:0
CH_4:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:136:0:0:0
CH_5:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:137:0:0:0
CH_6:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:138:0:0:0
CH_7:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:139:0:0:0
CH_1:530000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:133:0:0:0

Service name:570000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:65000:0:0:0
CH_8:570000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:140:0:0:0
CH_2:570000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:0:0:0:134:0:0:0
..

Extra FTA services in channels.conf for mplayer:

TV Flevoland:514000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7041:7042:1104
Radio Flevoland:514000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7112:1111

Logo from Omroep Flevoland

After dark reception improves: Digitenne multiplex 1 with Omroep Brabant at 546 MHz (first seen 2009-07-11, bit errors, not always found in the scan):

Nederland 1:546000:I999B8C12D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:7011:7012:7013:0:1101:8720:2211:0
Nederland 2:546000:I999B8C12D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:7021:7022:7023:0:1102:8720:2211:0
Nederland 3:546000:I999B8C12D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:7031:7032:7033:0:1103:8720:2211:0
Omroep Brabant:546000:I999B8C12D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:7041:7042:7043:0:1104:8720:2211:0
Omroep Brabant:546000:I999B8C12D12M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:0:7112:0:0:1111:8720:2211:0

Extra FTA service in channels.conf:

Omroep Brabant:546000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7041:7042:1104
Omroep Brabant:546000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7112:1111

Logo from Omroep Brabant

And multiplex 1 with TV Gelderland at 642 MHz (first seen 2009-07-18, bit errors, not always found in the scan):

Nederland 1:642000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7011:7012:7013:0:1101:0:0:0
Nederland 2:642000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7021:7022:7023:0:1102:0:0:0
Nederland 3:642000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7031:7032:7033:0:1103:0:0:0
TV Gelderland :642000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7041:7042:7043:0:1104:0:0:0
Radio Gelderland:642000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:7112:0:0:1111:0:0:0

Notice the space after TV Gelderland. Somebody made a typo? Extra services:

TV Gelderland:642000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:7041:7042:1104
Radio Gelderland:642000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:7112:1111

Logo from TV Gelderland

The original antenna My self-built log-periodical antenna Front of the log-periodical antenna

DVB-T reception log: what I received where and when

Using a commercial outside antenna

Results:

TV Rijnmond;Digitenne:474000:I999B8C12D0M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:7041:7042:7043:0:1104:8720:2214:0
Radio Rijnmond;Digitenne:474000:I999B8C12D0M64T8G4Y0:T:27500:0:7112:0:0:1111:8720:2214:0

Logo from TV Rijnmond

TV West;Digitenne:722000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:7041:7042:7043:0:1104:0:0:0
Radio West;Digitenne:722000:I999B8C999D999M999T999G999Y999:T:27500:0:7112:0:0:1111:0:0:0

Logo from TV West

In the border area

Mirjams parents live in Limburg, in the south of the Netherlands. There I should be able to receive the DVB-T signal from Heerlen, Maastricht, Sittard and Roermond (Dutch), Aachen (Germany), Genk (Flemish Belgium) and Verviers (Walloon Belgium) and maybe Liege (Walloon Belgium), all depending on terrain and whether the transmitters actually transmit in that direction. It should be interesting to play with the available free-to-air channels there.

When I tested in Limburg I tried with the standard external antenna placed in a window connected to the Hauppauge WinTV NOVA T-stick. Reception gave lots of errors on the north-side of the house and was nearly error-free on the south-side. On the north-side the ZDF and rtbf did not even show up when scanning.

Digitenne for Limburg:

# Digitenne (Limburg, The Netherlands)
# Transmitters:
# Heerlen, Maastricht, Sittard, Roermond
# Source of channels/info: http://www.radio-tv-nederland.nl/
#
# T freq bw fec_hi fec_lo  mod transmission-mode guard-interval hierarchy
T 738000000 8MHz 1/2 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE # UHF 54
T 578000000 8MHz 1/2 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE # UHF 34
T 714000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE # UHF 51
T 818000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE # UHF 64

The same services as expected for Digitenne, with L1 radio / TV as local station.

I also saw German transmissions. The scan file for Aachen, Germany:

#
# Aachen (Aachen Karlshoehe / Stolberg)
#
# T freq bw fec_hi fec_lo mod transmission-mode guard-interval hierarchy
T 514000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM16 8k 1/4 NONE # 26 ZDFMobil
T 706000000 8MHz 2/3 NONE QAM16 8k 1/4 NONE # 50 ARD
T 602000000 8MHz 1/2 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE # 37 Regional

Services found (13 television):

ZDF(ZDFmobil):514000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_1_2:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:545:546:514
3sat(ZDFmobil):514000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_1_2:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:561:562:515
Doku/KiKa(ZDFmobil):514000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_1_2:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:593:594:517
ZDFinfokanal(ZDFmobil):514000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_1_2:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:577:578:516

arte(ARD):706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4385:4386:2
Phoenix(ARD):706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4401:4402:3
EinsFestival(ARD):706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4417:4418:5
Das Erste(ARD):706000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4369:4370:256

MDR S-Anhalt(ARD):602000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:6449:6450:100
NDR FS NDS *(ARD):602000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:6433:6434:129
SWR Fernsehen RP(ARD):602000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:6465:6466:226
WDR Aachen(ARD):602000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:6417:6418:257
WDR Köln *(ARD):602000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:6417:6418:262

Further scanning finds non-public channels. Given the Programmangebot DVB-T Nordrhein Westfalen (German) this must be from further away than Aachen.

CNN Int.(CNN):722000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_AUTO:FEC_AUTO:QAM_AUTO:TRANSMISSION_MODE_AUTO:GUARD_INTERVAL_AUTO:HIERARCHY_AUTO:97:98:16390
VIVA(MTV Networks):722000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_AUTO:FEC_AUTO:QAM_AUTO:TRANSMISSION_MODE_AUTO:GUARD_INTERVAL_AUTO:HIERARCHY_AUTO:513:514:16416
Eurosport(MEDIA BROADCAST):722000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_AUTO:FEC_AUTO:QAM_AUTO:TRANSMISSION_MODE_AUTO:GUARD_INTERVAL_AUTO:HIERARCHY_AUTO:577:578:16420
TELE 5(BetaDigital):722000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_AUTO:FEC_AUTO:QAM_AUTO:TRANSMISSION_MODE_AUTO:GUARD_INTERVAL_AUTO:HIERARCHY_AUTO:465:466:16413

It was interesting that I could find lots of sources with the correct settings (modulation, coding rate, guard interval) for DVB-T receiption in the Netherlands and Germany, but not for Belgium. Some experimenting found that the correct values are for Walloon Belgium:

Found for Liege (Luik, Lüttich) in Belgium:

# Liege, Belgique
T 834000000 8MHz 3/4 NONE QAM16 8k 1/4 NONE

RTBF: FEC 3/4, QAM16, 8k carriers and 1/4 guard interval.
Services found (3 television, 6 radio):

la une(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:33:34:1
la deux(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:500:501:2
la trois(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:2081:2082:3
EURONEWS(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:2201:2202:4
La Prem1ere(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:51:11
Musiq3(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:53:12
Classic 21(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:55:13
VivaCite(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:57:14
brf(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:59:15
Pure FM(rtbf):834000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_AUTO:QAM_16:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:61:16

Flemish services are harder to receive, but after a few tries more success:

# Genk - Belgie
# T freq bw fec_hi fec_lo mod transmission-mode guard-interval hierarchy
T 506000000 8MHz 1/2 NONE QAM64 8k 1/4 NONE

VRT: FEC 1/2, QAM64, 8k carriers and 1/4 guard interval.

Scanning shows an alternate frequency:

Network Name 'VRTmux1'
>>> tune to: 482000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE
WARNING: >>> tuning failed!!!
>>> tune to: 482000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE (tuning failed)
WARNING: >>> tuning failed!!!

Services found (3 television, 9 radio)

Klara continuo:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4241:4240
MNM:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4225:4224
Studio Brussel:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4209:4208
Klara:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4193:4192
Radio 1:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4161:4160
Radio 2:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4177:4176
EEN:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4113:4114:4112
Canvas/Ketnet:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4129:4130:4128
Canvas+/Ketnet+:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:4273:4274:4272
Sporza:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4257:4256
Nieuws+:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4289:4288
MNM hits:506000000:INVERSION_AUTO:BANDWIDTH_8_MHZ:FEC_1_2:FEC_AUTO:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_4:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:4305:4304

I found out that electronicbude has already done a lot of the legwork in testing reception of dvb-t (German site) near that area. Reading the reports on that site suggest that I can receive Genk and Aachen, but Liege/Verviers will be a problem. Funny how the result for Belgium is the other way around: maybe a directional antenna can get the signal from Genk. With an appropiate antenna in Limburg (maybe with an amplifier) it might be possible to receive a lot more.

Full digitenne with Linux

Wilbert Stoopendaal gave me a good tip for full Digitenne with Linux reception: the Technotrend T-1500 card with the Technotrend CI module + Conax CAM works great and is recognized out of the box by a modern Ubuntu / Mythbuntu.

Bouquet or Multiplex

Digitenne uses the term bouquet for multiple services combined in one transport stream on one UHF channel but in correct DVB terms a bouquet is a number of services logically grouped together. I use the term multiplex which is for as far as I know the correct DVB term.