Re: [Hampshire] DVB Tuners

On Friday 09 Nov 2012, Dr A. J. Trickett wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Every now and then I think I may get a DVB tuner for my computer. Now that
> Hannington has been upgraded to HD I could even watch/record stuff in HD
> (in theory) on my computer - our TV is still ye olde CRT.
>
> The Hauppauge PCTV Systems DVB-T2 290e nanoStick HD is apparently supported
> in Linux on 3.0 Kernel and above. It's also not so expensive on Amazon and
> other online retailers.

To answer my own question I bough one from Amazon. It arrived yesterday. You
get a tiny little USB tuner, a short USB extension cable, a small remote
control, a short cable to a small indoor aerial and a converter plug for the
aerial if you use a standard UHF aerial and cable.

I plugged it in, and once seated in the USB socket a little blue light came
on. My stock Debian 3.2.0 kernel detected it and loaded the drivers without a
problem (it thinks it's Sony device). Kaffeine detected it and was happy to
tune it up, signal strength 60-70% on the supplied aerial. VLC doesn't work
directly you need to install a separate DVB apps pack and then run a manual
tune - once that is done you can use the resultant file in VLC as a media
playlist.

In use with either Kaffeine or VLC on my aged system I was able to get TV
reception okay. There were a few digital artefacts and some picture breakup
but for a tiny internal aerial going through 3 heavy 1930s walls it did very
well. I may install a loft aerial in the room above my office and run a cable
to it if that turns out to be required.

--
Adam Trickett
Overton, HANTS, UK

Despite all its complexity, fuzziness, uncertainty and spooky action-
at-a-distance, quantum mechanics is probably a Good Thing.  However, I
must also note that QM permits Microsoft Windows to exist.
    -- John Walker