MythTV and Satellite TV

[rocx]

I'm thinking of building a MythTV box so that I can copy shows and so forth. My question if I use the pvr function with satellite reception do I need a seperate video just to capture the satellite reception? Thanks

 

[avidday]

I am really not sure what you are asking. What do you mean by "video" ?

Where does your satellite feed come from? If you are in North America and use a set-top box then you will probably need an analogue capture card and an IR transmitter. If you are in Europe and recieve DVB-S, then you have the choice of recording the analogue feed from your DVB-S receiver, or get a DVB-S receiver card (and appropriate common interface smart card reader if you want encrypted signal).

Be aware that the hardware support in Linux is not as comprehensive as in Windows. It pays to do some homework before picking a card.

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[rocx]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the confusion basically I'm asking can I copy programs off a satellite box with a tuner card or do I need anything special?

I was thinking about the MythTV becasue its free, which is always a plus, but I think I found a card that should work with Windows and Linux.

 

[avidday]

If you are looking to record the analogue output from your satellite settop box then you probably don't even need a card with a tuner, just a capture card with a composite or S-Video input would be sufficient. What you still need is a way of changing channels on the satellite box. An infra-red transmitter is the most common way - your PC emulates the remote control on your satellite box to change to the channel you want to record.

As for the card you have chosen, would you care to say what it is. I am very familiar with linux v4l2 driver development and can probably tell you whether it will work (and what will and won't work).

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[Crashman]

For the TV to control the channels on the satalite receiver, you'll need something like an IR Blaster. I think Hauppauge has some packages that include the IR blaster with a remote control upgrade adding $14.

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[rocx]

I was actually thinking of buying a WinTV-PVR-350 card. I know the ATI cards are not supported.

Sorry for the confusion about the satellite receiver, I was not sure if I needed anything other then a tuner card. Thanks

 

[Crashman]

There was a company offering satalite receiver cards, but I don't even know what standard those used, how you would purchase programming (or perhaps it was for those international free channels), basically too many variable leave you using a satalite receiver box and a video input card.

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[dunklegend]

There are some cards to get FTA (Free To Air channels) maybe these are what you're referring to. I know a guy that has one it works pretty good and it was about $60.

Nothing is as easy as it looks

 

[avidday]

I was actually thinking of buying a WinTV-PVR-350 card.

There are three different versions of that card in the wild, AFAIK. Rev 1 & 2 are Connexant CX23415 based and should work with the ivtv driver. The Rev 3 board is completely different - it is Conexant CX23880 + CX23416 based (the so called Connexant "Blackbird" reference design), and support for it is considerably less well advanced in the cx88 driver. Although I don't use MythTV, I know there is MythTV support for the ivtv driver, I don't believe there is for the cx88 MPEG2 driver, although people are working on it.

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