DVB-C PCI Cards

On this page you will find information regarding DVB-C PCI cards.

Please be aware that:

• The information contained here is likely non-exhaustive and, despite best efforts to do otherwise, may contain errors. (Please help to keep these lists up-to-date so that they are useful for everyone!)
• If your device is not listed, try:
  • searching the existing mailing list archives:
    • Linux-Media Mailing List (LMML) archives (via vger or .... )
    • or from the older mailing lists (now largely deprecated in favour of the LMML):
      • dvb mailing list archives (via spinics or MARC ... )
      • v4l mailing list archives (via .... )
  • searching for information with Google or other internet search engine
  • by posting a question about the device directly to the LMML (but please do conduct a search first, as it may already have been discussed!)
  • Note: when it comes to support, it is generally a good idea to try the current V4L-DVB sources because some device drivers can be very new and thus may have not made their way into the mainstream kernel.

In any regard, in respect to the above listed suggestions, you may find it to be the case that your device is actually already supported or that experimental support is available.

• Because the component constitution on many devices are often similar or identical, there may be devices that are unlisted but may actually work with the existing driver framework for previously supported devices. In such a case, your non-listed but working device will likely be reported in your system messages as being one of those previously supported devices. If you encounter such an occurrence, please do report your success on the LMML so that proper detection/identification of your device can be added within the drivers.
• Lastly, it bears worth repeating the request: Please help to keep these lists up-to-date so that they are useful for everyone!

Supported DVB-C PCI Cards

The following table lists the confirmed working DVB-C PCI cards and provides a brief summary of their features and components. If you need more technical information on a device, have a look at its specific wiki article.

Hardware Decoding Cards

Vendor Model	Components	Connectors	Comments	Pictures
Hauppauge WinTV DVB-C Rev. 2.1 [1]		Antenna in Antenna out Video-connector-cable Jumper2 Common Interface	was ~ 200 € (plus CI & analog)
Hauppauge WinTV-Nexus-CA German Swedish		Antenna in Composite Video-IN Composite Video-OUT Audio Line-OUT Audio Line-IN Digital Audio OUT (S/PDIF) Common Interface	Identical to the TechnoTrend Premium C-2300 (TT is the OEM) Analog tuner is not supported problems with sound was ~ 325 €
TechnoTrend PCLine Premium DVB-C Rev. 2.1 (C2100) [2]		Antenna in Antenna out Jumper2 Common Interface	C2100 was discontinued, replaced by the C2300 model was ~ ca. 200 €
TechnoTrend Premium DVB-C 2300 OT [3]		Antenna in Audio In Audio Out SPDIF Out Video Composite Out Common Interface	replaces the C2100, adding SPDIF out and an analog tuner (which is not supported under Linux) overall, currently not as well supported as the C2100 -- 128-QAM doesn't work properly note that there is NO Antenna out or NO Jumper2(thus no RGB out) on this card was ~ 100 €

Software Decoding Cards

Vendor Model	Components	Connectors	Comments	Pictures
KNC1 TV-Station DVB-C English	Philips Tinbox CU1216L/ A I G H M (~2003 aka v.1.0): TAIFUN 6034 A1 (tuner), LA7793 3BAE, LVC244A, EPCOS X6966D 8098 IRR2, Philips TDA10021HTB3 (demodulator) Note: Philips TDA1002x demodulator (TDA10021 until Q4/2006; TDA10023 starting end of Q4/2006) Philips SAA7146 (PCI bridge)	Antenna in Antenna Out Common Interface	support for the TDA10023 was added to kernel 2.6.22 (those running older kernels will require a patch) works out-of-the-box with MythTV-0.21
Satelco EasyWatch PCI (DVB-C)	Philips TDA10023	Antenna in Antenna Out Common Interface	works right out-of-the-box with KnoppMyth R5F27 was ~ ca. 60 € The Common Interface works in Mythtv (Mythdora)when used together with Conax CAM (Rev. 1.2) - 4.00e by Smit Tested with Swedish cable provider Com Hem
Siemens DVB-C PCI (PDF-Doku: [4] En. [5] Gr.)		Antenna in Video-connector-cable Common Interface	was ca.~80 € gebraucht (zzgl CI & analog)
TechnoTrend C-1500 German English	Tuner/PLL: older cards: TD1316A/SIHP newer cards: TD1316AL/IHP STV0297 demodulator SAA7146 PCI bridge	Antenna in Antenna out (only with the newer cards (i.e. featuring a TD1316AL/IHP)) Common Interface	the older cards (i.e. featuring a TD1316A/SIHP) are supported since kernel 2.6.13 the newer cards (i.e. featuring a TD1316AL/IHP tuner with antenna in and out)) are reported to have bad signal quality on most frequencies due to unknown bug in driver if running a kernel older then 2.6.16, and not using updated drivers from LinuxTV, a driver modification may be necessary for QAM128 reception; stv0297.c (line ~395, kernel 2.6.15): case QAM_128: delay = 200; sweeprate = 500; break; was ~ca. 52 €
TechnoTrend C-1501 German [6]	Philips tda827x [7] (Tuner ) Philips tda10023 Demodulator Philips saa7146 PCI-Bridge	Antenna in Common Interface	about 55 € (Sep 2008) Currently some problems locking to some of the channels. Hardware Compatibility Issues: Some motherboard chipsets are known for hardware incompatibilities with several PCI cards. Depending on motherboard chipset, BIOS, driver versions and connected PCI cards, it could be necessary to change the PCI latency of the DVB-C card or the latency value of other PCI cards. Acoustic and image interferences appeared for example with a TechnoTrend C-1501 and an ASUS M2A-VM motherboard (AMD 690G/ATI RS690 chipset, BIOS Revision 0701, one USB PCI card with NEC chip, Linux kernel 2.6.27) after 10 to 30 minutes playback. The error message "kernel: saa7146 (0) saa7146_i2c_writeout [irq]: timed out waiting for end of xfer" occured in /var/log/syslog when the PCI latency was too low. There were also acoustic and image interferences when the PCI latency was too high. The current PCI latency can be shown via command "lspci -v". Good results were achieved with a decimal PCI latency value around 144 (90 hex) with the mentioned hardware configuration (see manual page of setpci, example: setpci -v -s 03:06.0 latency_timer=96 ). Nevertheless, the appropriate value depends on the specific hardware configuration. Play around with the value and restart DVB-C playback. Otherwise, you can try to swap PCI cards or a different motherboard with a different chipset.
TechnoTrend DVB-C 1.0 Budget	PHILIPS Vista VES1820-N70851.N1 (tuner) VLSI VES1820 (demodulator) PHILIPS SAA7146AH (PCI bridge)	antenna out (top) antenna in (bottom)	Fit in Asus Pundit (AB-P2600) slim barebone was ~ ca. 90 €
TerraTec Cinergy 1200 DVB-C	Philips TDA1002x (demodulator) TDA10021 or TDA10023 Philips SAA7146	Antenna in Antenna out Common Interface	TerraTec Support Desk says "NO Common Interface"! support for the TDA10023 was added to kernel 2.6.22 (those running older kernels require a patch) was ~ ca. 80 € (w/o CI)
TwinHan VisionDTV Mini Cab DVB-C	Philips Conexant Fusion 878A (25878-13) (PCI Bridge)	Antenna in	only partially supported Strong artifacts in picture ~ ca. 90 €
TechniSat CableStar HD2	Philips TDA10021 Demodulator Phillips CU1216 Tuner Digimove Mantis Bridge	Antenna in Common Interface (needs second PCI-Slot)

Experimental Support

Vendor Model	Components	Connectors	Comments	Pictures
Azurewave/Twinhan AD-CP300 (VP-2033) [8]
Azurewave/Twinhan AD-CP400 (VP-2040) [9]
TerraTec Cinergy C DVB-C [10]	Philips TDA10023 (demodulator)	Antenna in (Digital TV and Radio) Antenna out Common Interface (supported, additional module) IR Remote	Works after some tweaking (see [11]) Clone of the Azurewave AD-CP400 (VP-2040) CI/CAM support (on cards with optional CI module) is not working ( 2024-12-19 )

Currently Unsupported DVB-C PCI Cards:

If you own one or more devices from the following list and you want to help with support development, please contact the Linux-Media Mailing List (LMML). Note that if your device is similar to or contains components for which driver development is currently being undertaken, then it is possible that you will pique the developers' interest and can obtain some assistance that, possibly, leads to full support for your device.

However, please note that inquiries to the mailing list:

• Should NOT be treated as an order drop-off queue. You're soliciting help from volunteer developers who work on V4L-DVB matters in their spare time, and such work can be non-trivial (i.e. requiring even thousands of hours work). So being demanding is one sure route to being ignored. (Honestly, this point really shouldn't even need to be written, but you'd be surprised at the number of irrational individuals who write into the mailing list demanding this or that).
• May pass without garnering a response—a distinct byproduct of the fact that there are a limited number of developers, whom might be able to help, that are associated with the project. Often times, even if they wished to help, their energies are entirely tied up with other projects. In such cases, the best path might be to try to spearhead the driver development for your device yourself, or hire someone who can.

Vendor Model	Components	Connectors	Comments	Pictures
TechniSat CableStar 2 PCI / Cable4PC PCI