Worldwide IPTV subs pass 48mn

IPTV showed "exceptional" growth in the 12 months to March of this year, with the number of worldwide subscribers increasing by over 34% in the period to reach 48.2mn, according to new figures announced by the Broadband Forum.
In a report compiled for the Forum by Point Topic, France was found to still be placed at the head of the table of top ten countries in terms of IPTV subscribers, with China a close second and Taiwan also now on the leader board in ninth place.
Europe continues to be the top-performing region for IPTV with over 21mn subscribers, but Asia is catching up fast with 18mn, and both China and Taiwan are showing annual growth rates of more than 50%. Out of the 2.9mn new IPTV subscribers added worldwide in the first quarter of this year, 1.4mn came from Asia, according to the report.
The report also found that the number of fixed broadband subscribers worldwide increased by 2.9% on a consecutive basis in the first quarter of this year to reach 15.2mn, giving the biggest quarterly increase in the last two years.
Asia remains the fastest-growing region for broadband subscribers, with a growth rate of 16.2% in the 12 months to March of this year - almost double that of the Americas. Asia's fixed broadband subscribers now make up 42% of the global total, up from 40% last year, with Europe and the Americas coming behind with 30% and 25% respectively. Emerging markets are also believed to be making strides, with the Middle East and Latin America advancing quickly.
The strong Asian broadband growth is believed to be due in part to the continuing success of broadband in China, with 42% of the net additions in the first quarter of this year coming from China and its territories (the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau).
In terms of access technologies, fibre (including various hybrid DSL/fibre rollouts) is by far the fastest-growing, with an increase in its subscriber base of more than 20% in the 12 months to March 2011. DSL and cable are also believed to still be growing, and for the first time fixed wireless access (FWA) as a technology is beginning to take off, according to the report.
With the rapid development of IPTV subscribers, it has also pushed forward the related industries and new DVB products. Some young but potential companies have gradually developed their own unique products with the high technology. One of the outstanding examples is Tenow. This young team has managed to write an impressive success story in just a few years, with self developed application and above all a focus on innovative products, it has gained a great reputation in digital industries. Now let’s have a look at the latest featured products;
Tenow’s Newest Products

1.       TBS 6984 Quad Tuner card—IPTV providers in particular are waiting for this card, it offers 4* DVB s2 transponders. Four channels can be received at the same time from up to four different satellites.
2.       TBS 6925 Professional Tuner card—It is professional card for data reception. The key feature is to receiver DVB s2 32 APSK , ACM, CCM,VCAM model. These would be preferred by satellite data download providers.
3.       TBS 5980 USB Qbox with CI—This is intended to used for connection to a laptop: DVB S2 CAM box with USB, it would let you watch PayTV channels on your laptop.

How to Run TBS 6925 Digital Tuner card on Linux and Ubuntu

Ubuntu Linux is a great basis for a general purpose MythTV Media Centre and has the latest version of MythTV (0.22) ready to install from its DVB software repositories. This guide shows you how to get MythTV working for free-to-air digital satellite channels in the UK with the new TBS 6925 card. However, much of it will be applicable to anyone using a DVB-S/s2 tv card.

Hardware
Freesat currently uses the DVB-S standard for all channels, but the HD channels may be changing to use DVB-S2 at some point in the future. For that reason, it may be worth investing in a DVB-S2 card such as the TBS 6925. Different from the other Linux TV card, TBS 6925 is intended for professional use. It can support 16APSK/32APSK transponders, DVB s2 CCM, DVB s2 VCM and DVB s2 ACM mode. The key feature of this sat pc card is to capture multiple Transport Stream and Generic Stream up to 190 Mbit/s channel bit rate and support a Wide range symbol rates from 200Ksps to 45Msps. It works seamlessly with Linux system and supports Mythtv well. It has updated the latest Linux driver which supports all kernels up to 2.6.38. No double it is the best mythtv supported card. MythTV can record and play the HD channels as long as your PC is capable.
Installation MythTV on Ubunt
You have two choices when installing MythTV on Ubuntu. You can either install from the standard Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Xubuntu CD and then add the additional packages or try the ready made Mythbuntu distribution.Mythbuntu contains all the packages you need for Ubuntu and MythTV on one CD. It is especially recommended for beginners when installing from scratch. However, it uses the Xfce desktop which, in my opinion, is not as polished as the standard Gnome desktop. For this reason I prefer to install from the standard Ubuntu CD and then load the MythTV packages on top.You can download the latest Ubuntu CD image from here. The Desktop Edition is probably the one to go for. This is a live CD, so may take a while to boot up before you can click the "install" icon on the desktop. Follow the steps you will be easily to setup Mythtv on Ubunt.
Installing TBS 6925
Turn off your computer and unplug it from the wall. Open up the case and look for a short, white card expansion connector on the motherboard. Next to it should be at least two more white connectors that look similar but are longer. If this connector is already being used by another card, you can still install your tuner in a long connector. The PCIe card with TV tuner for Linux will still run as a PCIe x1 when installed into the longerx4/ x8 or x16 connector.
The next is to install the Linux drivers for TBS 6925. You can find it the latest Linux kernel on the attaching CD or download it directly from buydvb.
Run TBS 6925 Tuner card on Linux and Ubuntu
To configure Myth, you run the mythtv-setup utility and step through the options. Select it from the menu: System->Administration->MythTV Backend Setup.Once you have logged in again, run MythTV Backend Setup once more. Click OK to stop the mythbackend process and and the mythtv-setup utility should run. Select TBS 6925 DVB S2 card, change the Card Type to "DVB s2 capture card (v3.x)". It should detect it and show your card details. It is possible to use "virtual tuners" to record more than one channel on a single tuner as long as they are on the same multiplex. Select the "Recording Options" button and set "Max Recordings" to >1. This governs how many simultaneous recordings can be made from theTBS 6925. There are currently up to 20 channels broadcast on a Freeview multiplex. See here for more details.If you have two cards or a dual tuner, repeat the above steps, changing the DVB Card Number to 1.
After finding the DVB S2 card with the video source, A good Display Name would be "Freeview". Set the Video source to the one we've just defined, "EIT".Hit "Scan for channels" and set the correct country. Hopefully, this will find a load of channels and radio stations. Go here and check you have all the channels you need. If there are any you don't want, uncheck the "Visible" box.On the latest versions of MythTV there is a button on here to download the channel icons.
Now you can exit the setup utility. It will ask you if you want to run mythfilldatabase. Answer NO because we're using the EIT. Now run a MythTV Frontend from the menu: Applications->Sound & Video->MythTV FrontendAt this point you should finally be able to watch Freesat HD TV!
As we know, TBS 6925 is a professional satellite card. Many unknown or locking satellite frequency and transponders can be scanned under 16APSK/32APSK .More surprises would be waiting for your with this amazing sat pc card.
Related Articles
1. Special Satellite Frequency that TBS6925 can receive
2. How to Use TBS6925 watch satellite TV with XBMC and MythTV
3. TBS 6925- Most Professional Satellite TV tuner Card

What is a CAM or conditional access module

A conditional access module (CAM) is an electronic device, usually incorporating a slot for a smart card, which equips an Integrated Digital Television or set-top box with the appropriate hardware facility to view conditional access content that has been encrypted using a conditional access system. They are normally used with direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) services, although digital terrestrial pay TV suppliers also use CAMs. PC TV Card form factor is used as the Common Interface form of Conditional Access Modules for DVB broadcasts.

The primary purpose of the Cam is to derive control words, which are short-term decryption keys for video. The effectiveness of a CAM depends on the tamper resistance of the hardware; if the hardware is broken, the functionality of the CAM can be emulated, enabling the content to be decrypted by non-subscribers. CAMs are normally removable so that they can be replaced after the hardware security is breached. Replacement of the CAMs in a system is called a card swap-out.

The standard format for a conditional access module is a PC TV card which takes a smart card to authenticate, although CAMs with the 'smart card' burnt into memory can be found. In addition, CAM emulators exist for many systems, either providing an interface to allow the use of more than one type of card, or a card not designed for that receiver.

Some encryption system for which CAMs are available are Logiways, Nagravision, Viaccess, Mediaguard, Irdeto, KeyFly, Verimatrix, Cryptoworks, Mascom, Safeview, Diablo CAM and Conax. NDS VideoGuard encryption, the preferred choice of Sky Digital TV card can only be externally emulated by a brand cam. Such as conax CAM module, Some digital boxes & TVs have a socket where you can plug in a CAM if you want to watch channels whose transmissions are encrypted. Most of CAMs are compatible with MPEG2 & MPEG4 Receivers.

What’s the difference between Common CAM and Professional CAM

There are two kind of conditional access modules available in the market: Common CAM module & Professional CAM module. The common module is often one channel while professional module can have multi-channels, like two channels, four channels, eight channels, etc. Most of the individual users would choose common CAM module when want to watch encrypted transmissions. Professional CAM module is intended for professional use. Most are applied in DVB test or industries.

How to Use TBS6925 watch satellite TV with XBMC and MythTV

To watch satellite TV on your PC with XBMC and MythTV, you'll need at least one satellite TV tuner card or a satellite provider that offers satellite IPTV access. That Linux TV card hardware doesn't have to be installed on the same computer on which you want to watch HDTV. We'll call the computer with the tuner hardware the backend. The computer used to view TV will be called the frontend. The backend and frontend can be one and the same machine. XBMC will be run on the frontend on linux

TBS6925 PCI-E DVB-S2 Card is a new released professional satellite TV tuner card, which is regarded as one of the best TV tuner card for Mythtv or linux. This mythtv TV card can capture 16 APSK and 32APSK Demodulator. It also supports CCM, VCM, and ACM mode at the same time. The key feature is that TBS 6925 can receiver multiple Transport Stream and Generic Stream .it even can support up to 190 Mbit/s channel bit rate capture. TBS has updated Linux tv tuner drivers which supports all kernels up to 2.6.38, which enable users to freely watch or record HD FTA satellite with XBMC and MythTV in Linux, especially the HD Mediaset channels

As far as we know, XBMC currently supports the following backends:

1. HTS Tvheadend
2. VDR
3. MythTV
4. MediaPortal
5. ForTheRecord

So, if you want to run the TV card on Linux, You'll have to install (at least) one of them.

Set up MythTV on Linux

1.    Set up your TV tuner card as DVB type in mythtv-setup's. On the capture card setup page, you will see a button called "DiSEqC." Highlight it and press enter. Start with a blank screen and the word "(Unconnected)." Highlight "(Unconnected)" and press enter. You will see a list of DVB hardware myth can manage. Select "Switch."

2.    On the switch configuration screen, give your switch a name. In the example, the switch is called "DiSEqC Switch." Set the type to "DiSEqc" For "Number of ports," Choose the number of LNB ports your switch has. Choose "Finish."

3.    You will now see your switch represented in the graph, and an "(Unconnected)" node for each port. We will set up an LNB on Port 1. Choose the first port in the list and press enter. Choose "LNB."

4.    Give the LNB a unique name (a good choice would be the name of the satellite it is aimed at). Choose the LNB Preset type for your locale and select "Finish."

5.    Escape out to the top MythTV-setup menu. Enter the "3. Video Sources" menu. Set up a new listings source for each orbital location even if they are all from the same provider. You can use EIT or any normal Myth grabber.

6.    Escape out to the top Mythtv-setup menu. Enter the "4.Input connections" menu. Highlight your TBS6925 card and press Enter. You will see a screen unique to DiSEqC setup. Select the DiSEqC switch port with the LNB we are setting up (in the example, port 1).

7.    Continue to the next page. Set the video source to the source you set up for this orbital location. When you are satisfied with the settings, highlight and select "Scan For Channels."

8.    MythTV will default to the "Tuned Scan." You will need the transponder frequencies, polarities, and symbol rates for each transponder you wish to scan. If the scan fails, check your dish pointing and/or settings and try again. When the transponder has finished scanning, you can press "Back," and attempt a "Full Scan of Existing Transports" scan type.

Set up XBMC on Linux

XBMC Media Center includes a media source that can communicate with a MythTV backend using the Myth Protocol and MySQL database queries to the mythconverg database. This requires that the MythTV configuration is checked to ensure XBMC will be able to communicate with MythTV, which depends on whether XBMC is running on the same machine.

To communicate with a MythTV backend, add a new Source from the Videos section. The source should have a URL that looks like: myth://username:password@i.p.address This URL needs to be specified manually as many skins don't support the ability to configure a MythTV source.

When you select the newly added MythTV media source five folders will be listed:

• All Recordings - to watch anything that has been recorded all in one folder.
• Guide - to view the EPG for a channel
• Live Channels - to display what is currently being aired
• Movies - to list the movies that have been recorded
• TV Shows - to list each series of TV shows that have been recorded

Watching Live TV

After choosing Live Channels a listing of the channels used by MythTV is displayed.

When a channel is chosen, the currently playing TV show on that channel is shown.

Note that channel changes can take some time depending on the DVB-S2 tuner card and configuration being used by MythTV.

Viewing the Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

After choosing Guide a listing of channels used by MythTV is shown.

When a channel is chosen, the listing of upcoming programs on that channel is displayed.

There is a future project to be able to schedule programs to record from the EPG similar to the functionality available in the MythTV frontend.

The last thing is to enjoy the HD satellite programs as you like. That is to say, TBS 6925 would be a perfect TV tuner card for Mythtv .You should never miss it.

Related article: TBS 6925- Most Professional Satellite TV tuner Card

TBS PCI-E TV Tuner Card Comparison

TBS 6925- a Professional Satellite TV tuner Card Locking Mediaset

TBS 6925 is one of Tenow’s new released professional satellites PC tuner card, which can support 16APSK/32APSK transponders, CCM, VCM and ACM mode. That’ a breakthrough in satellite reception. The key feature of this sat pc card is to capture multiple Transport Stream and Generic Stream up to 190 Mbit/s channel bit rate and support a Wide range symbol rates from 200Ksps to 45Msps. After its release, it has gained a wide reputation from satellite hunters or hobbyist. Now we would like to display more details and analytic the internal formation of this professional pc card. 

In the past, most of TBS cards use second generation of dual DVB-S2 chips from Conexant/NXP (CX24117 + CX24132). Of course, it is a great combination of tuner and demodulator and it's better than first generation of DVB-S2 chips. Unfortunately, they don't have 16APSK/32APSK, which it is a deadly limit for a number of professional users. As TBS 6925 is intended for profession use, we adapt a new and powerful chip, which is more expensive but can receive and demodule16APSK/32APSK. TBS 6925 uses NIM module based on design from ST Microelectronics for professional users that need 16APSK/32APSK support and incorporated their "advanced" series of chips. That’s why it assures to get stable 16APSK/32APSK transponder.

After a long test, TBS 6925 has succeeded in locking multiple Transport Stream and Generic Stream, especially in Mediaset and MIS stream. there are some other 16APSK transponders over Europe except the one on Hotbird 13E satellite for example on 5W, 12.5W and 32APSK for example on 21.6E.Mediaset on HotBird use Multi stream for 16APSK mode. Now let me show you what we managed to find using different status registers of the ST-based NIM on TBS 6925:

* Mediaset:

- all frequencies on 13E (11334H, 11373H, 11432V) use CCM with Multiple Input Stream (MIS) enabled (there are two active streams) and also active Input Stream Synchronization Indicator (ISSYI), roll-off factor value is 0.20

- all frequencies on 5W (11667V, 12585H) use the same setting as on 13E that are mentioned above

* 12717H on 12.5W: it's ACM with 4 active Multiple Input Streams (MIS) enabled

* 11495V on 45W: it's ACM with 1 active Single Input Stream (SIS) and roll-off factor value is 0.20

* 11915H on 31E: it's 16APSK CCM with 1 active Single Input Stream (SIS) and roll-off factor value is 0.25

Besides, TBS6925 is fully compatible with windows 7 Media Center and many other popular DVB applications, e.g. Crazyscan, DVBDream, DVBViewer, DVBlogic, ProgDVB, Skynet, TSreader. It works seamlessly with Linux and window XP/VISTA/7 system. To be mentioned, TBS is devoted to updating the latest Linux driver available for TBS 6925. It can support Linux system well. All the drivers are fully open-source under GPL license.