On 08/28/2014 04:47 AM, P. van Gaans wrote:
On 07/28/2014 01:44 AM, Kaya Saman wrote:
Hi,
I'm wondering what the best solution for getting satellite working on
Linux is?
Currently I have a satellite box with CAM module branded by the
Satellite TV provider we are with.
As I am now migrating everything including TV through my HTPC
environment I would also like to link the satellite box up to the HTPC
too to take advantage of the PVR and streaming capabilities.
I run XBMC as my frontend so I was looking into TV Headend to take care
of PVR side of things.
My greatest issue though is what is the best solution for getting the
satellite system into the HTPC?
After some research my first idea was to use a satellite tuner card;
models are available for Hauppauge and other vendors so really it was
about which was going to offer best compatibility with Linux? (distro is
Arch Linux with 3.15 kernel)
The model of card I was looking was from DVB-Sky:
http://www.dvbsky.net/Products_S950C.html
something like that, which has CAM module slot and is DVB-S/S2
compatible and claims to have drivers supported by the Linuxtv project.
Or alternately going for something like this:
http://www.dvbsky.net/Products_T9580.html
as it has a combined DVB-T tuner, then using a USB card reader for the
CAM "smart card".
Has anyone used the cards above, what are the opinions relating to them?
Also would they work with motorized dishes?
Since I'm not sure if "all" CAM's are supported as apparently our
satellite tv provider wanted to lock out other receivers so they force
people to use their own product;
my second idea was to perhaps use a capture card with RCA inputs.
Something like this:
http://www.c21video.com/viewcast/osprey-210.html
perhaps or a Hauppauge HD-PVR mk I edition:
which according to the wiki is supported.
Looking forward to hearing advice.
Thanks.
Kaya
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Hi Kaya,
Hi,
many thanks for the response!
RCA inputs is probably the last thing you want. Less quality, more of
a pain to set up.
Unfortunately I need the composite inputs due to a set-top box which is
used to watch (non-English) sports with; and they are paid channels. The
box is non-HD so only RCA (Phono) or SCART output.
You may or may not be able to use that CAM - but even if it's
supported, a CAM has downsides. It generally only supports one channel
at a time - and surely not multiple channels from different
frequencies (if you have more tuners). And it's more expensive, both
the tuner (that needs a CI slot) and the CAM you need. Also, I'm not
sure if tvheadend nowadays supports a CAM - it used not to, but
support may have been added.
The main downside of a phoenix-mode cardreader is that it's harder to
set up, but if you can find a guide for your provider it's generally
doable. It's cheaper, more flexible and allows for faster channel
switching.
I doubt the provider will have a guide as they "claim" to want to lock
everybody into their own set-top box - the non-HD one described above.
As for a tuner, I personally suggest going for a USB-tuner. You never
know if you want to connect you tuner to a notebook or NAS or anything
in the future, with USB you're more flexible. If you do go for PCI-e,
Tevii appears to have some supported products that are also available.
If you go for USB, support is somewhat problematic (problematic
because many supported tuners are no longer available in stores),
you'll have to see what's locally available. (perhaps also check
second-hand) Be careful, some devices have various revisions. Always
check http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Device_Information
I did go this route eventually (since writing my initial post) :-)
currently - though this was supposed to be my "last resort" route.
I grabbed a Hauppauge WinTV PVR-1900 EU version.
According to these guides:
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Pvrusb2
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-1950
http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-1900
It is supported.
I will need to write a separate posting for it though as I'm a little
stuck with it. The BER is quite high and also I can't switch to the
'composite' input most of the time though on rare occasion it does work?
The PCI/ or PCI-E card is still an option for me as it will go into a
rather large HTPC case which I can also use as a server for distributed
TV around the network.
Very recently, Antti reviewed a patch from nibble.max to support the
DVBsky S960. (and presumably it's direct clones from Mystique) This is
a pretty cheap tuner that can still be found in shops. It would appear
that as soon as this patch gets merged, this device will be supported
if you compile v4l-dvb yourself, and in time support will make it into
the kernel.
In any case, you want something with in-kernel support - something
that's only supported by s2-liplianin or vendor drivers (like many
dvbsky and TBS products) will only break in the long term. Only
exception to this is Sundtek, but I personally have mixed feelings
about closed source userspace drivers. I wouldn't recommend them
personally.
In my research I got suggested the Digital Devices line of products:
http://www.digitaldevices.de/
They are German so hopefully the quality will be extremely good and they
all seem natively supported.
Good luck,
Many thanks.
P. van Gaans
Kaya
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