[Android Head-Units] kaween:
Aftermarket DVB-T solution for (most) Anrdoid car units

Hi guys !

Since I was having some time on my hands, the DAB+ thing was just one of a couple little gadgets I tested.

Another one was : is it possible to use a generic DVB-T TV tuner on one of our units ?

The short answer is : oh yes we can.

This info might be intersting for anyone who ever missed the presense of a DVB-T tuner in their units. Now, most sellers do not offer this option and those who do tend to be quite pricey.

Also, these DVB-T tuners are either model-specific for a certain unit, meaning that it will become useless when you ever would decide to buy another unit.

Or you could buy an external generic box : these tend to be quite expensive, and need to be connected over the AUX port of your unit. The CVBS signal is not the greatest quality (fuzzy video), and these external generic boxes can not be controlled over the touchscreen of your car unit, they need to be controlled using an RF-controller, which is rather clumsy as solution.

So, here's what you need.

* a cheap DVB-T android tuner with OTG. (I used this one : h t t p://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ultra-Mini-Micro-USB-DVB-T-ISDB-T-Digital-Mobile-Streamer-ez-TV-Tuner-Receiver-Stick/32282744521.html )

* a micro usb female to male usb converter (the dvb-t tuners DO exist in USB too, but most of them can't cope with Android, also by using the micro usb version, I could still use it on an android phone if need be - I used this one : http://www.dx.com/p/micro-usb-female-to-usb-male-adapter-black-172524#.VWS5w8_tlBc )

* a good DVB-T antenna ... which I still had around. Be sure you pick a version with MCX connection or if you can't find that, buy the adaptor to MCX from "whatever connects to your DVB-T Antenna)

.... and that's it !

The TV stick is ultra small : 1x1x0.5 cm's I guess. The usb adapter is actually bigger than the tuner is. :)

Once hooked up, install the free software (Pad TV, found on Play) and stick the TV tuner in a free USB port. Start PadTV and select "Live TV". Now, it MAY be that your radio hasn't seen the TV Tuner yet, in which case the software will give you a "no hardware found" reply : in such case, just remove the stick and insert it again. The radio will now see the stick and ask if you want to connect the PadTV software to the presense of the stick. Once it does that, you're home free : let the tuner scan the bands of your country, and enjoy DVB-T with on-screen control, recording facility, DVB-T based radio station reception .... and totally radio-model independant.

Couple of pics as proof of concept and to illustrate the ridiculously small size of this little gadet ....

Now, there's a little possible extra here : there are more expensive versions of these sticks, capable of DVB-T2 .... and these sticks also are capable of DAB+ reception. I've been speaking with a seller who expressed they were looking into adding DAB+ reception to the software as the hardware itself was perfectly capable of decoding such a stream. If this would materialize, we'd have a very cheap method of DAB+ and DVB-T(2) reception, totally independant of the brand of headunit and totally void of any vendor-lock. It would also be .... totally cool. :D