[mythtv-users] TV tuner cards - low cost recommendations?

[Michael Lynch]

On 3/1/07, Graeme Nelson <graeme at cheerful.com> wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> Thanks for all that wonderful and useful input, insights, and
> recommendations.
>
> A slight change to my initial experimentation configuration is that it
> won't be 768MB RAM, it will be 512MB RAM (I thought I had a spare DIMM
> slot, but I don't), though from what I have been reading on the MythTV
> web site, that shouldn't be a problem.
>
> I downloaded the drivers for the InnoDV SmartTV LE (which are Windows
> drivers only) and looked inside the .INF files, etc., and found that
> they use the Philips SAA7134 chip and a Philips tuner.  It looks very
> configurable, including 4 video sources (tuner, 2x composite, s-video)
> and 10 parameters per video source, plus much more.
>
> As I am planning on only having 1 (or maybe 2 at the most) analogue TV
> cards in my eventual/"production" PVR system (with 2 or 3 DVB(-S) cards
> providing the balance of the 4 tuner cards I plan to have), it sounds
> like having a frame grabber card should not be a problem (based both on
> the posts here and on the MythTV FAQ etc.).
>
> Based on those findings, and a (currently) very limited budget, I think
> I will go ahead with the InnoDV SmartTV LE card.  I will post about my
> experience(s) with this card in the mythtv-users list, with probably a
> reference to it in the mythtvnz list, so that others can (hopefully)
> benefit from my experience with it.
>
> TTFN.,
> Graeme
> (Computer expert, PVR noob!)
>

Look here for some saa7134 tips:

http://mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Compro_VideoMate_TV_Gold_Plus

Those notes are (mostly) from my setup using the Compro card that uses
the saa7134 chipset.  I was able to get video with relatively few
problems and also got audio without having to use a 'jumper' cable by
using the saa7134-alsa drivers.

Good luck.