BTW, IMO this thread is linux-related enough to be on luv-main rather than luv-talk. On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 07:25:45PM +1000, Edward Savage wrote:
I am well aware of the wiki lists of 'compatible' cards and used the V4L one for my last two purchases which turned out to be rubbish.
given what i've observed in v4l over the years, I'd guess that anything less than 6 months old is likely to be either unsupported or experimental. anything 12 months old or more is likely to be either completely unsupported or extremely well supported....especially if the card is cheap or popular or common. more importantly, you need to be buy based on the tuner and related chips on the card, not the brand or even the model. brand & model can be a useful starting guide, *BUT* like many manufactures of windows-centric hardware DVB card manufacturers tend to change the chipsets used in their cards seemingly at whim. this kind of works for windows because they distribute drivers with the card. kind of sucks for linux because a brand & model that was known to work well may not work at all after the manufacturers starts shipping a new revision of the board (under the same model name/number - with, maybe, if you're lucky, a "Rev. B" or similar in small print somewhere on the box) BTW, a few years ago (when I was researching DVB cards for MythTV) this overclockers.com.au wiki page[1] was an OK source for info about cards available in Australia. I have no idea whether it's been well-maintained since then...but worth a look anyway. [1] http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/MythTV hmmm...they seem to have split it into multiple pages since I last looked. This page is the one you want now: http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/MythTV_Hardware it was last updated in Nov 2011. OTOH, it has some really out-of-date info in it. They list the DVICO Dual Digital 4 rev 2 as "confirmed unsupported"....which was completely true for a few months back in 2008. but it's been perfectly supported for years. I have two of them in my myth box. so, ummm, i wouldn't rely on that page at all. maybe try their forum: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=564660
So is anyone aware of a tuner card they can recommend that meet my requirements?
i've had very good results with DVICO Dual Digital 4 and Hauppage Nova-T-500 PCI cards. entirely trouble-free and reliable (however, I would check that the current revisions of the cards are still supported before buying). Both are dual-tuner DVB cards...dual-tuners are useful as they allow you to record + watch at the same time, or record two programs on different channels (transponders actually...with one tuner you can record multiple programs on the same transponder e.g. you can simultaneously record programs on all of the ABC channels with just one tuner). NOTE: They both require non-free firmware. I don't know of any that don't. These are PCI cards, not PCI-e. Most new motherboards have only one or two (or possibly even none) PCI slots these days. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au> BOFH excuse #169: broadcast packets on wrong frequency