[vdr] Re: Sky/sattelite

["Simon Dean" <linux-dvb@sickhack.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vdr-bounce@linuxtv.org [mailto:vdr-bounce@linuxtv.org] On Behalf
Of
> David Wall
> Sent: 13 April 2002 20:17
> To: vdr@linuxtv.org
> Subject: [vdr] Re: Sky/sattelite
> 
> Thanks Simon,
> I will probably  buy a nova t for the dvb recording and use a video
card
> for
> the tv out, will this work ok?

TV out from VDR is quite a sort after feature (well at least I think it
is :) but it isn't really a reality yet.  There's been some work done
getting a Matrox G200/G400 working as a TV out for VDR but I'm not sure
how far that project has progressed.  It might also require the use of a
full DVB card.  

One workaround is to purchase both a Hauppauge Nova-t and a Hauppauge
DVB-s.  You can use the combination with VDR even if the DVB-s card is
not actually used for receiving satellite TV (ie it isn't hooked up to a
dish).  The DVB-s card would just function as an MPEG2 decoder and high
quality TV out.  The Nova-t card would be used by VDR to view and/or
record digital terrestrial TV. 

The full and budget Hauppauge DVB cards are in reality just re-branded
Techno Trend cards (http://www.technotrend.de/) and other manufacturers
also re-brand them.  As DVB-s cards are widespread, you might be able to
pick up a Siemens or other branded DVB-s card from Germany for as little
as £100; compared to about £193 pounds for a Hauppauge DVB-s card.  

> I'll still need to record from my digi box, any suggestions?

Does the UHF/co-axial output of your digibox contain just the signal for
the channel it is currently decoding?  You would likely have to use an
analogue capture card to record from this output and that isn't possible
with the current version of VDR.  To include such support in VDR would
be a lot of work and would produce rather unsatisfactory results when
compared to DVB.  As far as I know there is no way to digital record Sky
satellite channels other than with Sky+.  

Simon