[mythtv-users] PCI-E Capture Card for Australia

[Stephen Worthington]

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 09:39:27 +1000, you wrote:

>On 06/23/14 19:23, Stephen Worthington wrote:
>> On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 14:44:24 +1000, you wrote:
>>
>>> Hello all
>>>
>>> I am currently in the process of moving my MythTV from a dedicated box in
>>> the lounge room to my dedicated central server. I currently have a Hauppauge
>>> WinTV-Nova-T card that has been working well. When I move it to my server,
>>> it no longer functions due to a dodgy PCI-E-to-PCI converter chip on the
>>> motherboard (ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev
>>> 01)). The capture card will work for about 5-10 minutes before failing and
>>> not recording properly after that.
>>>
>>> It appears that the only solution is to move to a PCI-E capture card. Can
>>> anybody recommend a PCI-E based card (for Australia) that works well. Given
>>> my server runs 24/7, I am particularly interested in cards with drivers that
>>> are known to continue to work after extended up-time
>>>
>>> I am currently running kernel version 3.10 with a standard Gentoo install
>>>
>>> Many thanks
>>>
>>> Jason
>> Have you considered USB tuners, or are they affected by the
>> motherboard problem too?
>> _______________________________________________
>
>No, the USB tuner would not be a problem
>
>I always considered USB tuners to be a "laptop-solution". I have been 
>worried by the issue of weight from the antenna cable dragging down on the 
>USB dongle. I've also been worried by a slight knock to my server causing a 
>cable to become unplugged.

USB tuners work just fine, not just for laptops.  The USB tuners and
cables need to be somewhere safe so they do not get knocked.  But the
same applies to all cables - I have had the aerial cable to my
mother's Hauupauge Nova-TD PCI card unplugged by the cleaners knocking
the cable while vacuuming.  There are some very cheap USB tuners that
work well with Linux, but the ones I have are no longer on the market
as far as I can tell.  There is a dual USB tuner that is the same as
your old Nova-T card except it does not have the PCI to USB converter
chip.  It was still on sale in the UK when I last looked a few months
ago, but all the places that listed it in New Zealand had it as out of
stock.

If you take a look at:

  http://www.buydvb.net
  http://www.tbsdtv.com

all the TBS tuners are fully supported in Linux and seem to be good
quality, but for some you have to compile the TBS drivers every time a
new kernel is installed.  For me, that is not a problem as I already
have to compile a kernel patch in the v4l code in order to record
decrypted DVB-S with ffdecsawrapper.  TBS have single, dual and quad
PCIe DVB-T2 cards that would work in Australia, and single and dual
DVB-T2 USB tuners.  I have a TBS 5922 USB DVB-S tuner.

With all USB tuners, you need to have a USB cable between the tuner
and the USB socket, as tuners are normally too big to plug directly
into the back (or front) of a PC without obscuring the nearby sockets.
Most (but not all) USB tuners are delivered with a cable like that,
and having it on a cable allows you to position the tuner and its
aerial cable safely away from being knocked.  And, of course, you can
use your own (longer) USB cable if necessary.  Here is a picture of my
laptop tuners:

  http://www.jsw.gen.nz/mythtv/laptop_tuners.jpg