[mythtvnz] TV tuner cards - low cost recommendations?
Steve Hodge
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
Sun, 25 Feb 2007 10:50:27 +1300
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On 2/24/07, Graeme Nelson <graeme@cheerful.com> wrote:
>
> I'm wanting to start playing around with PVR, etc. and am wanting to
> know if anyone has had any success with low cost tuner cards (e.g. the
> first 10-20 entries on http://www.pricespy.co.nz/pno_853.html).
>
I started out this way - with a cheap framegrabber. I got one from Dick
Smith and found that dispite what it said on the box it was not supported by
Linux. They were happy to refund the price.
The thing you have to watch for is the tuner. The tuners on these cards used
to be large metal boxes and these were well supported in Linux. But now a
lot of cards have so-called "silicon tuners" which are essentially a tuner
in a single chip. These are less likely to be supported in Linux. If you are
recording the output of a Sky box you don't need a tuner at all and can just
use a video capture card such as this one here (which I've used
successfully): http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/XH6594
.
Several people have mentioned the CPU-intensive nature of framegrabbers.
What hasn't been mentioned is the fact that the CPU requirements are highly
correlated to the capture resolution and that you can turn this quite a way
down without losing picture quality. Most PVR owners capture at full DVD
resolution - 720x576 for PAL countries because there is no significant
advantage to capturing at a lower resolution. But with a framegrabber you
can use something like 480x576 without losing quality. At one time in my
system I had two framegrabbers and had the recording settings configured so
that I could capture with both and playback at the same time with my Sempron
2800+. I usually had it set so that I could either record two programs or
record one and watch one. It was sensitive to other CPU users though - no
kernel compiles at the same time.
So, I'd say a framegrabber is a reasonable choice if you're not certain what
you want to do in the future. With FreeView comming you might consider a
DVB-S card as a second tuner which will work fine with a framegrabber as
they have very low CPU requirements. If you currently have Sky Digital you
might consider a tuner-less video capture card (and then a DVB-S card
later).
A PVR150 is also a good choice if you don't mind paying the extra or want to
reserve CPU use for other things.
Cheers,
Steve
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On 2/24/07, <b class=3D"gmail_sendername">Graeme Nelson</b> <<a href=3D"=
mailto:graeme@cheerful.com">graeme@cheerful.com</a>> wrote:<div><span cl=
ass=3D"gmail_quote"></span><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"borde=
r-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-le=
ft: 1ex;">
I'm wanting to start playing around with PVR, etc. and am wanting to<br=
>know if anyone has had any success with low cost tuner cards (e.g. the<br>=
first 10-20 entries on <a href=3D"http://www.pricespy.co.nz/pno_853.html">
http://www.pricespy.co.nz/pno_853.html</a>).<br></blockquote></div><br>I st=
arted out this way - with a cheap framegrabber. I got one from Dick Smith a=
nd found that dispite what it said on the box it was not supported by Linux=
. They were happy to refund the price.
<br><br>The thing you have to watch for is the tuner. The tuners on these c=
ards used to be large metal boxes and these were well supported in Linux. B=
ut now a lot of cards have so-called "silicon tuners" which are e=
ssentially a tuner in a single chip. These are less likely to be supported =
in Linux. If you are recording the output of a Sky box you don't need a=
tuner at all and can just use a video capture card such as this one here (=
which I've used successfully):=20
<a href=3D"http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/XH6594">h=
ttp://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/XH6594</a>.<br><br>Se=
veral people have mentioned the CPU-intensive nature of framegrabbers. What=
hasn't been mentioned is the fact that the CPU requirements are highly=
correlated to the capture resolution and that you can turn this quite a wa=
y down without losing picture quality. Most PVR owners capture at full DVD =
resolution - 720x576 for PAL countries because there is no significant adva=
ntage to capturing at a lower resolution. But with a framegrabber you can u=
se something like 480x576 without losing quality. At one time in my system =
I had two framegrabbers and had the recording settings configured so that I=
could capture with both and playback at the same time with my Sempron 2800=
+. I usually had it set so that I could either record two programs or recor=
d one and watch one. It was sensitive to other CPU users though - no kernel=
compiles at the same time.
<br><br>So, I'd say a framegrabber is a reasonable choice if you're=
not certain what you want to do in the future. With FreeView comming you m=
ight consider a DVB-S card as a second tuner which will work fine with a fr=
amegrabber as they have very low CPU requirements. If you currently have Sk=
y Digital you might consider a tuner-less video capture card (and then a DV=
B-S card later).
<br><br>A PVR150 is also a good choice if you don't mind paying the ext=
ra or want to reserve CPU use for other things.<br><br>Cheers,<br>Steve<br>=
<br>=20
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