[mythtv-users] good capture card?

Brad DerManouelian myth at dermanouelian.com
Thu Jun 19 03:59:12 UTC 2008


On Jun 18, 2008, at 8:36 PM, Depo Catcher wrote:

>
> Top posting?
>
> I talked to the Best buy guy, he said suggested a few cards and said  
> they would work with any cable provider.  But said they would only  
> work in Windows.  Why does linux have all these different formats  
> and encryption?  My friend has an apple and he just plugged the  
> cable in and it worked.  I want a card just like that, but works in  
> Linux/MythTV.

Top-posting is when your reply is on top of the last reply. Acceptable  
in one-on-one email conversation, get very confusing very quickly on  
email lists.

He plugged his cable into an apple? I assume you mean some Apple  
computer product. I also assume you mean an Apple TV since that's the  
only TV-related Apple computer. I also assume you didn't plug cable TV  
into it since it doesn't accept television input. It only outputs to a  
television.

The guy at Best Buy is an idiot. He just wants to sell you something.  
He doesn't care if it actually works with your digital and/or analog  
cable box.

This is not a Windows vs. Linux issue. This is a "How do I get video  
from my cable provider to a computer in a useable way?" issue. You  
would have to answer these same questions no matter how you plan on  
capturing television with a computer of any kind.

The guy at Best Buy is an idiot. That was important enough to say twice.

All that said, if you are having these types of questions, I would say  
you are not ready to dive into MythTV. It's not consumer-ready. It's  
meant for software developers, people already familiar with linux and  
people who are willing to spend many many hours of tinkering to get  
things working how you need them to work. Honestly - it's not easy. It  
will take a lot more work before it becomes easy.

If you still insist on getting something to capture cable, go for the  
HD HomeRun. It will have the fewest issues. It's an external box that  
doesn't require a PCI slot and you don't have to load special kernel  
drivers to get it to work.

-Brad



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