From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 27 09:21:12 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BD22E1065679 for ; Tue, 27 May 2008 09:21:12 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tevans.uk@googlemail.com) Received: from ik-out-1112.google.com (ik-out-1112.google.com [66.249.90.177]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48E228FC0A for ; Tue, 27 May 2008 09:21:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tevans.uk@googlemail.com) Received: by ik-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id c30so1336156ika.3 for ; Tue, 27 May 2008 02:21:11 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:subject:from:to:cc:in-reply-to:references:content-type:date:message-id:mime-version:x-mailer; bh=RuExARWaU19JPI70+Hhbcuhr99iD2MYFYdQ2ms18UFQ=; b=jqnFoWrYEvs39hskwwywl5InZhoId1hYoFAbd4y158dSjUoxnmt5g14iz4SAZbYhy2V/JxNpCYEsLS+x/0er7E3ZghivMZrsBvhJZVrMODn/1/ahpG1xCwrQBK5gtBZFKUwOAJlutocpniGjFNxs9X/+nGM66LpzzTTc9384Bws= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=subject:from:to:cc:in-reply-to:references:content-type:date:message-id:mime-version:x-mailer; b=pih2X7ShHDoSjnYzIYBT05R9IUzs0TVycpxn2mUcn4u9KzZCKFMZ61q/IOudMH2oDRrCCj+tKFceBNo/hEoaKFeBG8NhqhiFISkXEr8GrgTVVR0vW4z1yBub/HIy0yNUZRLLhy//hur9Y0VEigDsrlEIQupJ8rPmkMhiemn2/lU= Received: by 10.86.73.3 with SMTP id v3mr5531213fga.68.1211880070935; Tue, 27 May 2008 02:21:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ?127.0.0.1? ( [217.206.187.80]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 13sm23787540fks.12.2008.05.27.02.21.08 (version=SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Tue, 27 May 2008 02:21:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Evans To: Fritz Katz In-Reply-To: <142121.24995.qm@web63013.mail.re1.yahoo.com> References: <142121.24995.qm@web63013.mail.re1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="=-mAaugod+gDLJo4cOjchc" Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 10:21:07 +0100 Message-Id: <1211880067.10665.36.camel@localhost> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.12.3 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port Cc: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Subject: Re: TV-Tuner cards ( NTSC / PAL / SECAM ) - which works best? X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 09:21:12 -0000 --=-mAaugod+gDLJo4cOjchc Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Fri, 2008-05-23 at 16:53 -0700, Fritz Katz wrote: > --- Fritz Katz [Thu, 22 May 2008 13:31:07 -0700 (PDT) .. > My task is to put together a system that can ship > world-wide, be able to display any TV signal, and have > all the capabilites that FreeBSD can provide > (internet, graphics, games). Potential applications > are huge. For example, running JAVA the system could > be used to build a low-cost Cable (OCAP in the US or > DVB in Europe) or satellite (DirecTV, DISH, etc) > Set-top box. >=20 > We just need to find which of these manufacturers can > deliver a robust "Combo / Hybrid" tuner under FreeBSD: >=20 > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_tuner#Manufacturers >=20 I doubt you will find a 'one size fits all' box. Just in the UK, you can receive DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-C and (coming soon!) DVB-C2. DVB-{T,S,S2} can also be used for 'pay TV' using a CAM. I know of one card (without even Linux drivers) that does DVB-C and DVB-S. The only DVB-S2 cards I know only support DVB-S/S2. There are some DVB-T cards that support either DVB-C or DVB-S, but none that support DVB-S2. Hi-def in the UK is available over DVB-S and DVB-S2 (and presumably over DVB-C as well, unsure), and is usually very high bitrate MPEG 4 AVC MBAFF, which is EXTREMELY hard to decode in real time for a general purpose computer. This either means you need a very fast (expensive) computer, or you don't have hi-def support. This makes it very unappealing - cheap and crap or expensive and not-quite-so-crap. For the US market, it is much easier (I believe), as most of their HD content is delivered as MPEG-2, which is much easier to decode. Tom --=-mAaugod+gDLJo4cOjchc Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (FreeBSD) iEYEABECAAYFAkg70n4ACgkQlcRvFfyds/fbhACcDo/zF9EJ1qzSNe+kv9c9e7Hr l9gAnjZkWVd6UIsEKWYW28tPDBatPTPr =OIcd -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-mAaugod+gDLJo4cOjchc--