[linux-dvb] Re: Recommended DVB-T card for UK use please

[Gavin Hamill <gdh@acentral.co.uk>]

On Fri, Mar 28, 2003 at 09:42:56AM -0000, Edward Wildgoose wrote:
> Hi, I am interested in getting started with VDR, but need a
> recommendation for a DVB-T card.  (By far the cheapest method seems to
> be "Freeview" and so I appear to need a DVB-T card?  I presume that
> DVD-S cards don't work?)

DVB-T is the only solution in the UK at the moment, although from June
1st, the BBC will be broadcasting all of its services via Astra 2D in
unencrypted Free-To-Air, rather than using SkyDigital's VideoGuard.

You won't be able to receive ITV, C4 or C5 via DVB-S, so this news is of 
limited use.

You /can/ get DVB-T cards featuring an on-board MPEG decoder, but they 
are /expensive/ - Hauppauge in the UK quoted me $329 (dollars since it's 
an import item) not including postage...
 
> Can I also try and glean a little other info which isn't immediately
> obvious without having a card to play with: Do the drivers offer a V4L
> interface to the extent that I can use xawtv, or even mythtv to view
> the picture?  Does this still apply if I have a card without an MPEG
> decoder (obviously I realise that the CPU load will be higher).

You're on the right track :) The full-feature (onboard MPEG decoder) do
provide a V4L /dev/video0 interface, whilst the Nova-T and other budget
cards do not (they are just tuners with a COFDM decoder and spew out a
raw MPEG Transport Stream).

The 'standard' VDR setup in the UK is a Nova-T (about £100) and a 
seperate Creative Dxr3 or Sigma Hollywood+ MPEG decoder card (about £25 
on eBay), since there is a plugin for VDR to use one of these cards as 
the primary output device. 

The plugin isn't perfect yet, but it's under active development and each 
monthly release squashes a whole box of bugs..

Cheers,
Gavin.



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