[linux-dvb] Re: Newbie seeking answers.

[Scott White <scott@clubguide.com>]

Hay Simon,

Newbies always welcome, I am pretty much one myself.  You really
probably should read the archives as this question gets asked pretty
much every week in one way or another.  However, it's a nice day so I
don;t mind helping out where I can here

> I am very new to this so forgive my ignorance. I am planning on building a VDR with dvd+rw facilities. What I would like to know is this.

Our holy grail.

> 1. Are there any UK suppliers of DVB-t cards and CAM's suitable for ITV-Digital broadcasts (or am I just dreaming )

DVB-t is no problem, I have the Hauppauge NOVA-T PCI working under
Linux.  This is a budget card so it the driver will present you with an
MPEG stream.  You need to use a software decoder like mplayer and then
you need some way to get this to your TV, perhaps a graphics card with
SVid out.  (My Plasma has VGA so not so much of a problem for me).

There are no other UK suppliers of DVB-T cards that I have seen

There is lots of discussion on the lists about CAMs and the like, loads
of ideas, but nobody has written this yet and nobody is in the process
of doing it, so it is free to air channels only.

 
> 2. Am I correct in assuming that to do timeshifting I need 2 cards. 

Not necessarily.  Depends how you put your apps together.  

> 3. are there any audio facilities on the DVB-t cards, if so which cards have it. 

Well the audio is an MPEG streem also, so this will also need to be
decoded in software.

> 4. if there is any additional info you think I might need please let me know. 
> 

Some sites for you

www.linuxtv.org (probably been there if you have got this far)
www.linuxstb.org 
www.videolan.org

One solution to what you want to do would be to use a Video capture card
and an external STB for the non-free to air channels, or even the MPEG
encoding card.  

Let me know how you get on.  If you make it work I'll build one
identical.

Scott


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