[linux-dvb] Re: grr.. Any DVB-T adaptors which work reliably?

[Richard Walker <runnyhunny@ntlworld.com>]

On Monday, June 30, 2003, at 10:44  pm, Edward Wildgoose wrote:

> Has ANYONE managed to get a DVB-T card working with VDR in a completely
> reliable way?  What did you need to do?  The problem I am facing (and 
> many
> others it seems) is that the TT DVB-T card falls over constantly and 
> the
> frontend locks up when you change channel more than a few times.  It's 
> not
> clear if this is a problem with motherboard/powersupply/heat, etc, or
> whether this card is simply fundamentally flawed.
My setup is reasonably reliable at the moment.

I'm using an 800 MHz Athlon, with Debian (testing) and kernel 2.4.20.  
My DVB hardware consists of a Nebula DVB-T, Hauppauge/TT Nova-T and 
Nova-S.  I have applied the patches for v4l2, and use the dvb-kernel 
driver branch.  I use VDR with a Dxr3 card for output.

From what I've read here, the full-featured cards are not terribly 
reliable.  There always seem to be threads about ARM/firmware crashes, 
particularly in the UK.

Are you sure your signal is good enough?  I find that my set-top-box is 
pretty care-free, but my DVB-T cards are *exceptionally* picky about 
the signal - they'll click and break-up much more easily.

I also find that the DVB drivers and/or VDR are not very good at 
recovering from bad/no signal conditions.  They do like a stable signal!

At the moment, I'm finding things quite stable, although dvb-kernel is 
particularly variable.  Every now and again I pull down new code from 
CVS.  Sometimes, it seems more stable - but other times, it isn't.  For 
example, on the current build that I'm running, the rewind/forward 
functions in VDR don't work properly (I get stills, rather than moving 
images).  However, if I revert my drivers, it's OK.

> Is it alternatively possible to add a budget card and use that 
> exclusively
> in vdr instead?  Something like making vdr ignore the full featured 
> card
> except for output of the tv signal (I'm straying OT here...)
You can tell VDR to only use certain cards, but don't think you can 
tell it to use one only for the output (and not as a tuner).  From what 
I've read, you need to keep all your DVB cards in supply of a good 
signal.

> Alternatively are there any other full featured cards for DVB-T yet..?
Nope.

I quite fancied a fully-featured DVB-T (or DVB-S) card so I could dump 
my Dxr3, but now I'm not so sure I want to - especially if I can get an 
RGB output from my Dxr3, and the VDR Dxr3 plugin keeps improving.




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