TV Tuner Cards For Unix?

Posted by Cliff on Friday February 2, 2001 @11:24PM from the tv-dinners-in-your-window-manager dept.

Marooned asks: "I've been wondering what a good TV tuner card would be, preferably with good Linux compatability (preferably working under 2.4). Yes, someone already asked about this but it was a while ago, but he got few replies. There are a lot more options now (ATI Radeon All-in-One, GeForce w/tvout, etc.), and since we're all richer and wiser now (than when the first article was posted, I wanted to know if anyone can recommend a good card to go along with my SBLive! and Cambridge DTT 3500. Any takers? (Advice on a DVD drive would be welcome too)" Most of the video features on these cards are supported, but I'm not quite sure as to the extent of Linux support available for the TV tuning features on today's cards.

1 of 42 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

A Whole Lotta Replies by Peale · 2001-02-02 21:10 · Score: 4

I don't see anything of value here, so I'll add my own .02

I've got the Hauppauge WinTV GO! card. Works based on the BT878 chipset. This card goes for around $50 or so. Mono sound, but you can upgrade to better versions. Or, do what I did and pipe the feed into your Hi-Fi VCR and go from the VCR's audio out to your sound cards line in. Takes care of the sound issues!

The BT878 option is in the kernel tree, albiet quite hidden. You have to enable (IIRC) I7C(?) support, and then it is available under Video4Linux options.

Sorry I can't be more helpful as to what option you have to enable, I'm at my in-laws for the weekend, and have only built one 2.4 series kernel.

If you're going to be doing any video capturing, go for one of the more expensive cards, as the WinTV will only cap at 320x240.

Hope I've given some food for thought. Good luck!