Simple HDTV viewer?

[Jarod Wilson]

On Sep 03, 2007, at 12:03, Scott Ehrlich wrote:

> I have a 64-bit AMD system with USB2.0 and I just received my WinTV  
> HVR 950 Hauppauge tuner.   I'd heard so much about MythTV, that I  
> opted to try and configure it on my system.  I quickly came to the  
> conclusion it is too much for what I want to do.
>
> I'd be very happy to have an Xterm-size application read the CATV  
> info from the stick and let me channel-surf cable and/or HD  
> channels in a simple app.
>
> This will also give me a chance to see if a simple setup (Compaq  
> Presario with ATI Radeon 200m video card) can work - with video and  
> audio.   If so, I'd then try it on an older Compaq Armada M700 with  
> USB 1 (I'd get a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card).
>
> What are people's insights/experiences with the above?   I'd like  
> to not have to rely on Windows for my HD viewing, and I have no  
> plans to replace any existing tvs.  This can also give me the  
> chance to bring the stick to friends and family and maybe bring my  
> laptop with me and show people what is capable - if I can get it to  
> work at home!
>
> I am running Ubuntu Feisty on the desktop - as my main system, I  
> have no plans to reinstall it.   But I can install any distro on  
> the laptop - it is my testbed.


No need to change distros just to watch HDTV. I'd suggest installing  
xine. I believe its dvb support should work just fine with the  
digital side of the stick. May need to use xawtv or tvtime (or  
similar) for the analog side, not sure. Worst-case, I believe the cli  
tools in dvb-apps can be used to tune the digital side of the card,  
then just point mplayer at the card, more or less. Not sure what  
vlc's support for dvb devices is like, but I'm pretty sure some folks  
use that as well... Me, I mostly just use mythtv...

As an aside, I've avoided getting an HVR-950 myself, since it doesn't  
do QAM (cable) HDTV and the driver situation for it is a nasty mess 
[*], but there are a few other similar sticks that do that I'm  
eyeing... I'm leaning toward one from El Gato that can do QAM, works  
under OS X and *should* work under Linux (or will not too long after  
I get it... :).

[*] The HVR-950 drivers are currently not in the v4l-dvb tree, as  
there's this rather nasty conflict between their primary author,  
Markus Rechberg (http://mcentral.de/) and the rest of the v4l-dvb  
community... But you're looking for the em2880 driver there.

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org