# linux suggestion for tv tuner card



## anarchist (Dec 17, 2007)

i have used ubuntu 6.06 and 7.04 in the past, but switched to XP for some harware isues with my laptop (card reader). now i have my desktop PC with "Enter" TV tuner card, which distro will support this card?

2. i have many movies in flv format (some of them i have already converted to DivX / Xvid). can i view them without converting?

i use my desktop mainly for TV / Movies / MP3. please suggest suitable distro

system: P4 3.0HT, Intel chipset 945, 1GB DDR2, 80GB HDD, DVD-Combo


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## FilledVoid (Dec 17, 2007)

> i have used ubuntu 6.06 and 7.04 in the past, but switched to XP for some harware isues with my laptop (card reader). now i have my desktop PC with "Enter" TV tuner card, which distro will support this card?



Enter is only the brand name. Thats not going to help much. You will need to know  the chipset to configure TV Tuner properly if any is needed at all. Most likely im guessing its one of Phillips Saa7134 chipset. If it is I have heard that someone has had success with Mandriva 2008 out of box. however I haven't tried it so don't quote me on it. I have a TechCom Tv Tuner and its sound isn't exactly very good. If you Tv Tuner has a cable from the TV Tuner Audio out to the sound card Audio in then your chances of getting audio increases.  From peoples experience I think that some have had success with PixelView Tv Tuners you might want to check around for this. 



> 2. i have many movies in flv format (some of them i have already converted to DivX / Xvid). can i view them without converting?



Yes you can view flv videos in Ubuntu not sure about 6.06 as I run 7.10 . Getting the TV Tuner card to work on any distro is going to be hard or at least it was in my experience. Personally Im biased towards Ubuntu so you might want to wait for others to suggest a distro.


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## FilledVoid (Dec 23, 2007)

Out of curiosity what company card is this?


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## anarchist (Dec 23, 2007)

as mentioned in first post, it is "Enter" brand. but i think Enter, Intex are just stamps, and does not matter for getting it worked.
i am presently studying linuxtv.org if i could find something there


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## FilledVoid (Dec 24, 2007)

> as mentioned in first post, it is "Enter" brand. but i think Enter, Intex are just stamps, and does not matter for getting it worked.
> i am presently studying linuxtv.org if i could find something there



Sorry what I meant to ask is if it had a certain model name. Anyway I have a TechCom tv Tuner and I posted how I got my partially workable TV Tuner card as shown at my blog *www.filledvoid.com/2007/12/15/techcom-tv-tuner-configuration-in-ubuntu/ Let me know if any of this helps  . before configuring make sure you read the whole posts. There are two gentoo wikis posted in there which might help configuring as well.


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## gary4gar (Mar 11, 2008)

^^^^
Wow, computer rants too
look at the funny kernel messages 



anarchist said:


> still audio is not coming through standard sound output of MB, using audio output directly from the audio out of tv tuner card.



Plug a cable from TV tuner card to the line in jack.,  of at the back of MOBO
there would be three sound jacks at back of mobo

1) MIC
2) sound( where you plug your speaker in)
3) the line( plug the cable here)

When you finish, how about posting a tut for it?
it will help others too



anarchist said:


> i have used ubuntu 6.06 and 7.04 in the past, but switched to XP for some harware isues with my laptop (card reader). now i have my desktop PC with "Enter" TV tuner card, which distro will support this card?
> 
> 2. i have many movies in flv format (some of them i have already converted to DivX / Xvid). can i view them without converting?
> 
> ...



Mplayer can plays any format till date i have thrown at it


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## FilledVoid (Mar 11, 2008)

> still audio is not coming through standard sound output of MB, using audio output directly from the audio out of tv tuner card.



Let me know if you get good audio from it. I cant get audio no matter what I do. Well at least nice quality audio.


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## anarchist (Mar 11, 2008)

@ filledVoid: audio quality is very good through tuner out. i think problem is in "alsa mixer" which is unable to use "rear speaker out" as "line in". as the same socket is used for rear speaker out in 4 way audio.
in windows for my motherboard (intel 945) i can use these sockets as either line in or stereo out.
@gary4gar: i am using that audio cable from tuner out to line in. and movie player in my ubuntu already searched and installed itself necesy codecs to play all type of movies


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## FilledVoid (Mar 11, 2008)

> @ filledVoid: audio quality is very good through tuner out. i think problem is in "alsa mixer" which is unable to use "rear speaker out" as "line in". as the same socket is used for rear speaker out in 4 way audio.



I couldnt get any sound out of the Rear out of the card :/ . Im waiting for Ubuntu Hardy heron to start to tinker on it again.


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## gary4gar (Mar 12, 2008)

anarchist said:


> the "line in" socket works as "rear out" / "line in" in windows. but in ubuntu i am unable to get it worked for either purpose. so i am not getting "rear out" in ubuntu.
> 
> regarding non-clear sound at your tuner card, it may be being decoded in different system like PAL-DK or PAL-I


By default Line in is muted.
Double-click on The Volume Icon near the System clock On Gnome desktop. from there Un-mute it


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## Dark Star (Mar 12, 2008)

How to : Enable Multimedia Suport in Ubuntu 7.10. This is for format querie/.. Also .. You  said that you got you TV tuner working in Ubuntu and you have posted a screenshot too *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=774475&postcount=771


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## gary4gar (Mar 12, 2008)

btw try *www.mythtv.org/


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## praka123 (Mar 12, 2008)

i have a small time experience with pinnacle pctv 50i(saa7134 based).I have configured it to work with dth.with tvtime,we can watch programs fine.for dth users,we have to switch on line-in each time  

I tried "xawtv" for recording purpose,but it turned out to be too buggy for me.I have got a few hours only to play with this card though(not my system!)

mythtv is bulky and confusing?
for ur info,there is mythubuntu-a complete distro that may suit these purposes.configure mythtv imho is pita


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## FilledVoid (Mar 12, 2008)

> the "line in" socket works as "rear out" / "line in" in windows. but in ubuntu i am unable to get it worked for either purpose. so i am not getting "rear out" in ubuntu.
> 
> regarding non-clear sound at your tuner card, it may be being decoded in different system like PAL-DK or PAL-I



The main reason this happens is something acting funny with ALSA> I got it to work previously after downloading the new ALSA packages and then compiling them on my system. By any chance are you using Realtek or Intel High definition Audio if yo do then you are facing the same problem that I did. I have blogged on how I was able to get the solution.


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