Record TS Stream Using USB ISDB-T TV Stick

Table of Contents

1. Overview

A USB ISDB-T TV tuner can receive digital TV signals through an antenna.
By using specific PC software, you can capture and record the raw TS (Transport Stream) from the broadcast.

Essentially:

TV Stick → Demodulation Software → Save as .TS file

2. What You Need

Hardware

A USB ISDB-T TV stick (e.g. RTL2832P RTL2832U, IT9135, AF9035, etc.)
Antenna
Windows or Linux computer

Software

Different chips use different drivers and applications.
Below are common examples:

Chipset	Recommended Software	TS Recording
RTL2832U	DVBViewer, ProgDVB, SDRSharp + RTL2832U driver	✓
IT9135 / AF9035	TotalMedia, BlazeDTV, DVB Dream	✓
Linux (any DVB driver)	w_scan + dvbv5-zap + dvbstream	✓ (CLI)

3. Installation Steps (Example: Windows)

Step 1 – Install Driver

Plug in your USB TV stick.
If Windows does not install it automatically, use the vendor’s driver (Realtek, ITE, etc.) or Zadig tool.
Once installed, check Device Manager — it should appear as something like: ISDB-T BDA Digital Tuner or RTL2832U DVB-T Dongle

Step 2 – Install Viewing Software

Let’s use DVBViewer as an example (you can also use ProgDVB or BlazeDTV):

Install DVBViewer.
Open Options → Hardware, and confirm your tuner is detected.
Perform a channel scan (choose ISDB-T mode and your region/frequency band).
Once channels are found, you can watch the broadcast.

Step 3 – Record the TS Stream

Open the desired channel.
Click Record.
The software will save the original Transport Stream (.ts) file to your recording folder.
The file name usually includes the timestamp, e.g.: 2025-11-05_13-30-00_Channel1.ts

Tip: The .ts file contains all streams — video, audio, subtitles, and metadata.
You can view it with VLC or analyze it with TSReader.

4. Linux Command Line Example

If you are on Linux with DVB drivers installed:

# Scan channels
w_scan -ft -c JP > channels.conf

# Tune to a channel and record
dvbv5-zap -c channels.conf "NHK-G" -r &
dvbstream -o -ps 8192 > output.ts

This will create a raw output.ts file containing the broadcast stream.

5. Using the Recorded TS File

You can:

Analyze it with tools like TSReader Lite or FFprobe
Play or transcode it using VLC or FFmpeg
Extract specific programs with: ffmpeg -i input.ts -map 0:p:101 -c copy output_video.ts

Summary

Step	Action
1	Install the TV stick driver
2	Launch DVBViewer / ProgDVB / TotalMedia
3	Scan and open the desired channel
4	Click “Record” to save the TS file
5	Play or analyze with VLC / FFmpeg / TSReader