[TriLUG] re: tv tuner cards

[Derek Smith]

Here's what I learned through the process of building a MythTV box.

There are two primary chipsets used by TV cards

BTTV (http://linux.bytesex.org/v4l2/bttv.html)
IVTV (http://ivtv.writeme.ch/tiki-index.php)

There are Linux kernel modules for both.  IVTV is what most of the Hauppauge cards use, which have a hardware based decoder for the TV signal (which saves your main CPU from having to do the decoding).
BTTV is used by brands like Pinnacle, WinTV, etc.

BTTV has a corresponding piece called BTAUDIO which allows the TV card to appear as another sound card, which eliminates the need to run a jumper cable from the TV Card audio-out to your sound card line-in.  

Most folks recommend the Hauppauge cards for the HW decoder, but if you have a good CPU and adequate RAM, then you will probably have equal success with the BTTV models.

Hope that is helpful.  The MythTV mailing list archive (http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/) is probably a good resource as well.

Regards,
Derek Smith

Mike M. wrote
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Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 07:58:14 -0400
From: unctux at nc.rr.com
Subject: [TriLUG] tv tuner cards
To: trilug at trilug.org
Message-ID: <bd66f7bd7328.bd7328bd66f7 at southeast.rr.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Anyone know of the best tv tuner card to get for linux? Or by the same
token any specific cards to stay away from. I have a few ideas but I
thought I would take advantage of the resources we all have available to
us and get some ideas from the group.

Mike M.