Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 10:21:07 +0100 From: Tom Evans <tevans.uk@googlemail.com> To: Fritz Katz <frtzkatz@yahoo.com> Cc: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Subject: Re: TV-Tuner cards ( NTSC / PAL / SECAM ) - which works best? Message-ID: <1211880067.10665.36.camel@localhost> In-Reply-To: <142121.24995.qm@web63013.mail.re1.yahoo.com> References: <142121.24995.qm@web63013.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
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--=-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--
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