On Fri, Nov 9, 2012, at 08:52 PM, Dr A. J. Trickett wrote: > The Hauppauge PCTV Systems DVB-T2 290e nanoStick HD is apparently supported > in Linux on 3.0 Kernel and above. It's also not so expensive on Amazon and > other online retailers.
> Questions: > 1) Do these kind of devices actually work? is the signal strength in > Hampshire strong enough to get a decent picture without a proper external > aerial? We can see the Hannington transmitter clearly from our house and our > set-top DVB tuner has always claimed excellent signal strength. I purchased the cheapest no brand one I could find on Ebay. It is a compact matt black device with DVB-T emblazoned on it and no other distinguishing features. I was pleased to find bar locating a firmware file for it (by Googling the output of lsusb), it just works. This one is apparently built around the Afatech af9005 chipset which I understand is somewhat long in the tooth now, but I would expect more modern devices to work with similarly little fuss. The stub aerial it came with it not really sufficient for receiving indoors. I am about 14 miles from Rowridge and I can get only two multiplexes reliably and two more with a bit of careful adjustment of the aerial. A small yagi style aerial (£5 from ASDA I think) works just fine though. > 2) Other than the kernel module, what other software is required? I see that > both VLC and Kaffeine offer up digital TV as a video source. I use VLC as it's simple. It's a little fussy with a weak signal, occasionally hanging but it's not bothered me enough to try anything else. You need the dvb-apps package to do the initial channel scan and create a file for VLC to load. > 3) What kind of CPU/GPU is required to render HD video? My desktop PC is a > first generation AMD64 and the graphics card is a last generation basic AGP > graphics card, so neither are whizzy by modern standard. They can playback > MP4 files downloaded from the BBC fine but I wouldn't describe the playback > as perfect. I don't know, but I would guess if VLC renders an MPEG2 file ok (for example a DVD), it will cope with standard definition DVB too. > 4) I'm in no way attached the USB device I suggested and would welcome > comments about it and of alternatives. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
