TVMosaic (formerly DVBLink) TV/PVR-server application has been released as a cross-platform open-source software, following the closure of DVBLink business last year.
It used to be a commercial solution with support for digital TV tuners, live TV watching, PVR functions, DLNA, and more, and there was also a PVR client for Kodi that was part of the list of support PVR clients like TvHeadEnd.
DVBLogic did not release the full source code due to licensing requirements, and instead, released the code for TVMosaic Community Edition (CE) server on Gitlab under an MIT license. Some of the missing features include:
- The Licensing engine since the server is now open-source
- DLNA server
- TVAdvisor electronic program guide (EPG)
- DVBLogic TVButler USB tuner support except in Windows
TVMosaic is a cross-platform solution and is supposed to work on Windows 7 or higher, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit or higher, Debian 9.1 64-bit or higher, MacOS, 10.12 or higher, Raspberry Pi (except model 1), and various NAS from Synology, QNAP, ASUSTOR, and NETGEAR.
So in theory, that means you could install the TVMosaic server and restore most of the functionality of the commercial solution. However, if you’re using the company’s USB tuner, Windows will be your only option. Besides the Kodi PVR client, other clients include the TVMosaic Android app and TVMosaic iOS and AppleTV apps which we are told will be made open-source soon as well.
Apart from existing users, I’m not sure many people will use the TVMosaic CE server, even it’s now open-source, as several Kodi members already mentioned they had switched to NextPVR or TvHeadEnd after the company folded, although other members lamented the lack of support for Acamd and NewCS Smartcard emulators in competing solutions. So only time will tell whether TVMosaic server can grow as a now open-source project. If it does, features like DLNA could probably be restored via the miniDLNA project, while EPG support might take a bit more work. [TVMosaic CE should already have built-in EPG support, it’s just TVadvisor data source that is gone. See comments section]
Thanks to Andreas for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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I’m kind-of happy about this, I was a satisfied customer of theirs until the end. DVBLink/TVMosaic just worked at a time when I always ran into issues with other packages. Then again, I’ve set up TVHeadend now and we only occasionally watch broadcast TV so I can’t see myself bothering to go back to TVMosaic again.
Just one small thing: the last line of the article says “EPG support might take a bit more work”, but TVMosaic has a fully functional EPG that works with e.g. xmltv data (and presumably also works with OTA EPG data). The TVAdvisor was their EPG data source that only worked for a small number of geographies and clearly that won’t come back online.
TVHeadend and the venerable RPi hardware has been my go to option for years. Even the oldest Pi could both decode DVB and work as a backend.
How is the 4K 60fps playback from Youtube etc, Jerry ?
Might not work, but 60fps 4k Youtube != DVB. My DVB configuration is 720p/1080i @ 24 fps.
so nothing over the technical abilities of the standard Freeview, Freesat tuner in a UK TV . While pvr features are so dirt cheap.
That’s a very commendable move from them. Thanks. I hope this won’t be an exception, more like a rule.
BTW the TVButler stick looks like a clone of Logilink VG0022A or TerraTec Cinergy TC2, which both are supported by kernel drivers (since 5.5 and 5.6). Even the Windows drivers want to install IT9300 BDA driver. Probably only VID and PID needs to be added for it to function with Linux.
I shared this article to the TVHeadend forum.
I’ve only ever tried TVH, but I will try tvmosaic now.
I rely on dvb-s/s2 for radio (radio stations on satellite address much better quality than DAB here in the UK). With DLNA to serve the files, an alternative epg that can Chromecast, and an RSS generator, the tvh recordings can be enjoyed on any device in my house, or taken with me.