[linux-dvb] Re: Which DVB-S card ?

[Denis Cheong <denis@denisandyuki.net>]

I agree, it appears to be a driver issue -- but if you are buying a card 
to use under Linux (and if you are reading this mailing list, you 
obviously are), then there is no point in buying a card if the Linux 
driver for it doesn't work!

If you don't need decryption, it may not be an issue.  If you use 
something other than an Irdeto CAM it may not be an issue - there are 
supposed to be particular CAMs that don't have a problem, Irdeto is not 
one of them.  Theoretically the decryption method in the CAM shouldn't 
matter, but the budget-ci driver seems to be rather picky.

It is probably a incorrect way that the driver does something, probably 
in initialising the CAM after changing channels / streams, but I don't 
know enough to figure out why/where/how, or to fix it.  So after about 4 
months of struggling to get it working, with no success, I give up and 
go to a full featured TT.

I say this only to hopefully help others in their decision in answering 
the question posed in the subject line - if you are trying save $50 by 
getting a budget card, on the hope that the drivers will "just work", 
don't hold your breath, save your heartache and pains and get the full 
featured card - the budget-ci CAM support is just too immature to work 
reliably or universally.

(I do acknowledge all the hard work the developers have put into getting 
the budget-ci to support CAMs, but it doesn't work for me - and others - 
and the code isn't documented enough to debug it without a lot of time, 
effort and intimate knowledge of DVB-S CI protocols)

Irek Defee wrote:

> As far as I see it, this is not the problem of card but
> CI driver.
>
> Irek
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-dvb-bounce@linuxtv.org [mailto:linux-dvb-bounce@linuxtv.org]
> On Behalf Of Denis Cheong
> Sent: 12. elokuuta 2004 17:43
> To: linux-dvb@linuxtv.org
> Subject: [linux-dvb] Re: Which DVB-S card ?
>
> Robert Schlabbach wrote:
>
>  
> > From: "Vincent Bernat" <bernat@free.fr>
> >
> >
> >    
> > > Now, trying each card is a  bit expensive. Are  there some cards which
> > > are better  than the  Nova-S  (in the  budget category)  ?  Skystar  2
> > > maybe ?
> > >   
> > >      
> > I'd lean towards a card with the Zarlink tuner/demodulator with the
> > enhanced autoscanning capabilities. The STV0299B on the NOVA-S can only
> > autodetect the FEC rate, but not the symbol rate like the Zarlink can.
> >
> > I'm not exactly sure which card(s) the Zarlink is on, though, and how
> >    
> good
>  
> > it is otherwise.
> >
> >
> >    
> I would definitely recommend against the STV0299 (and as far as I'm 
> aware any Budget-CI).
>
> Despite months of efforts trying to get a TT-Budget-CI working with 
> Irdeto 2 decryption I'm giving up and am now waiting on my full-featured
>
> card to be delivered.
>
> While it may be a single eroneous line in the DVB driver, a fundamental 
> floor in the STV0299, something particular to my Irdeto 2.09 CAM, the 
> smart card, the encryption, or with MythTV, I've run out of patience 
> with the blasted thing. 
> I now see that the budget-ci issue has been discussed here to some 
> extent - that is, it simply doesn't decrypt anything even though it has 
> a signal, a lock, and has found the audio/video streams.  The 
> workarounds others have are very creative, but bottom line is they don't
>
> work for me, and I think I've tried everything that anyone could suggest
>
> to fix it.  The most I can get under Linux is a show recorded once or 
> twice, then for no apparent reason it will drop out and never find a 
> stream again.
>
> This card worked first time, perfectly under Windows XP, and I swear did
>
> used to work reliably under Linux at one stage, but now it's broken - 
> and despite having tried to revert to all of the old working versions of
>
> the drivers & software, it's remains 100% stuffed.
>
> I would be interested in hearing any success stories with the STV0299 
> based budget-ci cards & Irdeto decryption, as it's been a long time 
> since I've seen anything on the decrypted-end of my smartcard.
>
> Denis.
>
>
>
>
>
>