diff --git a/sys/dvb/dvbbasebin.c b/sys/dvb/dvbbasebin.c
index 9a1bbd9fe9..5361a0b354 100644
--- a/sys/dvb/dvbbasebin.c
+++ b/sys/dvb/dvbbasebin.c
@@ -920,6 +920,7 @@ dvb_base_bin_uri_set_uri (GstURIHandler * handler, const gchar * uri,
     GError ** error)
 {
   DvbBaseBin *dvbbasebin = GST_DVB_BASE_BIN (handler);
+  GError *err = NULL;
   gchar *location;
 
   location = gst_uri_get_location (uri);
@@ -927,7 +928,7 @@ dvb_base_bin_uri_set_uri (GstURIHandler * handler, const gchar * uri,
   if (location == NULL)
     goto no_location;
 
-  if (!set_properties_for_channel (GST_ELEMENT (dvbbasebin), location))
+  if (!set_properties_for_channel (GST_ELEMENT (dvbbasebin), location, &err))
     goto set_properties_failed;
 
   /* FIXME: here is where we parse channels.conf */
@@ -935,18 +936,24 @@ dvb_base_bin_uri_set_uri (GstURIHandler * handler, const gchar * uri,
   g_free (location);
   return TRUE;
 /* ERRORS */
+post_error_and_exit:
+  {
+    gst_element_message_full (GST_ELEMENT (dvbbasebin), GST_MESSAGE_ERROR,
+        err->domain, err->code, g_strdup (err->message), NULL, __FILE__,
+        GST_FUNCTION, __LINE__);
+    g_propagate_error (error, err);
+    return FALSE;
+  }
 no_location:
   {
-    g_set_error (error, GST_URI_ERROR, GST_URI_ERROR_BAD_URI,
+    g_set_error (&err, GST_URI_ERROR, GST_URI_ERROR_BAD_URI,
         "No details to DVB URI");
-    return FALSE;
+    goto post_error_and_exit;
   }
 set_properties_failed:
   {
-    g_set_error (error, GST_URI_ERROR, GST_URI_ERROR_BAD_URI,
-        "Could not set properties from DVB URI");
     g_free (location);
-    return FALSE;
+    goto post_error_and_exit;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/sys/dvb/gstdvb.c b/sys/dvb/gstdvb.c
index 90a6cf74a9..3942debfaf 100644
--- a/sys/dvb/gstdvb.c
+++ b/sys/dvb/gstdvb.c
@@ -24,12 +24,21 @@
 #include "config.h"
 #endif
 
+#include <gst/gst-i18n-plugin.h>
+
 #include "gstdvbsrc.h"
 #include "dvbbasebin.h"
 
 static gboolean
 plugin_init (GstPlugin * plugin)
 {
+#ifdef ENABLE_NLS
+  GST_DEBUG ("binding text domain %s to locale dir %s", GETTEXT_PACKAGE,
+      LOCALEDIR);
+  bindtextdomain (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR);
+  bind_textdomain_codeset (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, "UTF-8");
+#endif /* ENABLE_NLS */
+
   if (!gst_dvbsrc_plugin_init (plugin))
     return FALSE;
 
diff --git a/sys/dvb/gstdvbsrc.c b/sys/dvb/gstdvbsrc.c
index 057cb4d0d1..f1aca863eb 100644
--- a/sys/dvb/gstdvbsrc.c
+++ b/sys/dvb/gstdvbsrc.c
@@ -913,13 +913,6 @@ gst_dvbsrc_plugin_init (GstPlugin * plugin)
 {
   GST_DEBUG_CATEGORY_INIT (gstdvbsrc_debug, "dvbsrc", 0, "DVB Source Element");
 
-#ifdef ENABLE_NLS
-  GST_DEBUG ("binding text domain %s to locale dir %s", GETTEXT_PACKAGE,
-      LOCALEDIR);
-  bindtextdomain (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR);
-  bind_textdomain_codeset (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, "UTF-8");
-#endif /* ENABLE_NLS */
-
   return gst_element_register (plugin, "dvbsrc", GST_RANK_NONE,
       GST_TYPE_DVBSRC);
 }
diff --git a/sys/dvb/parsechannels.c b/sys/dvb/parsechannels.c
index ea6423aa0c..4a29af77d5 100644
--- a/sys/dvb/parsechannels.c
+++ b/sys/dvb/parsechannels.c
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <gst/gst.h>
 
+#include <gst/gst-i18n-plugin.h>
+
 #include "parsechannels.h"
 
 GST_DEBUG_CATEGORY_EXTERN (dvb_base_bin_debug);
@@ -43,7 +45,8 @@ GST_DEBUG_CATEGORY_EXTERN (dvb_base_bin_debug);
 
 /* this will do zap style channels.conf only for the moment */
 static GHashTable *
-parse_channels_conf_from_file (GstElement * dvbbasebin, const gchar * filename)
+parse_channels_conf_from_file (GstElement * dvbbasebin, const gchar * filename,
+    GError ** error)
 {
   gchar *contents;
   gchar **lines;
@@ -149,17 +152,21 @@ parse_channels_conf_from_file (GstElement * dvbbasebin, const gchar * filename)
 
 open_fail:
   {
-    GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (dvbbasebin, RESOURCE, READ, (NULL),
-        ("Opening channels configuration file '%s' failed : %s", filename,
-            err->message));
+    if (err->code == G_FILE_ERROR_NOENT) {
+      g_set_error (error, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR_NOT_FOUND,
+          _("Couldn't find DVB channel configuration file"));
+    } else {
+      g_set_error (error, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR_READ,
+          _("Couldn't load DVB channel configuration file: %s"), err->message);
+    }
     g_clear_error (&err);
     return NULL;
   }
 
 no_channels:
   {
-    GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (dvbbasebin, RESOURCE, READ, (NULL),
-        ("Channels configuration file doesn't contain any channels"));
+    g_set_error (error, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR_FAILED,
+        _("DVB channel configuration file doesn't contain any channels"));
     g_hash_table_unref (res);
     return NULL;
   }
@@ -182,7 +189,8 @@ destroy_channels_hash (GHashTable * channels)
 }
 
 gboolean
-set_properties_for_channel (GstElement * dvbbasebin, const gchar * channel_name)
+set_properties_for_channel (GstElement * dvbbasebin,
+    const gchar * channel_name, GError ** error)
 {
   gboolean ret = FALSE;
   GHashTable *channels, *params;
@@ -195,7 +203,7 @@ set_properties_for_channel (GstElement * dvbbasebin, const gchar * channel_name)
     filename = g_build_filename (g_get_user_config_dir (),
         "gstreamer-" GST_API_VERSION, "dvb-channels.conf", NULL);
   }
-  channels = parse_channels_conf_from_file (dvbbasebin, filename);
+  channels = parse_channels_conf_from_file (dvbbasebin, filename, error);
   g_free (filename);
 
   if (!channels)
@@ -424,9 +432,9 @@ beach:
 
 unknown_channel:
   {
-    GST_ELEMENT_ERROR (dvbbasebin, RESOURCE, READ, (NULL),
-        ("Couldn't find configuration properties for channel \"%s\"",
-            channel_name));
+    /* FIXME: is channel name guaranteed to be ASCII or UTF-8? */
+    g_set_error (error, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR, GST_RESOURCE_ERROR_NOT_FOUND,
+        _("Couldn't find details for DVB channel %s"), channel_name);
     destroy_channels_hash (channels);
     return FALSE;
   }
diff --git a/sys/dvb/parsechannels.h b/sys/dvb/parsechannels.h
index b5a493609b..3e59fe72d9 100644
--- a/sys/dvb/parsechannels.h
+++ b/sys/dvb/parsechannels.h
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@
 #ifndef PARSE_CHANNELS_H
 #define PARSE_CHANNELS_H
 
-gboolean set_properties_for_channel(GstElement *dvbbasebin, 
-  const gchar* channel_name);
+gboolean set_properties_for_channel (GstElement  * dvbbasebin,
+                                     const gchar * channel_name,
+                                     GError     ** error);
 
 #endif