Usb Tv Tuner For Pandora

[WizardStan]

I started a similar thread to this and the summary for it was:

That's about TV out. This thread is about TV in. All your points are valid (except for that last one, I don't get why anyone else would have to buy a device for the few who are interested in it) only when trying to output video on USB. It's entirely feasible to use a USB tuner to watch TV.

 

[JayFoxRox]

I have a terratech piranha, a msi movievox (which is a capture card, similar requirements), a medion tv receiver (dads) and a good amount of webcams (also similar requirements if I consider the HD cams) and it doesn't work too good on my old P4 2.8GHz. Sometimes the framerate seems to drop - those things can really stress your CPU. I'm even worried about proper webcam support. I have seen some eyetoy / beagleboard blog post which said it works well though. But I wouldn't bet on TV receivers and capture cards - it could be that those are too slow to be of good use (unless the DSP is utilized).

 

[hobbyman II]

tbh most of the issues with tv sticks and insufficient cpu power are down to the incredibly crap application software they use, in my experience Happauges software is so bad you need a high end 3ghz machine and a video card with hardware decoding to get smooth playback/recording using their player application, then you get something like a cheapo no-name Chinese usb stick and it runs fine on a Asus mk1 netbook, go figure. :blink: , I guess Happauge wrote their application in visual basic or something :unsure:

edit: edited for clarity

 

[lennaick]

Why using Happauges software, When you can use Mplayer ?

 

[Kangal]

That's about TV out. This thread is about TV in. All your points are valid (except for that last one, I don't get why anyone else would have to buy a device for the few who are interested in it) only when trying to output video on USB. It's entirely feasible to use a USB tuner to watch TV.

Oh I see. Honest mistake, carry on (my wayward son) perhaps something like that might be feasible later down in track

 

[hobbyman II]

@Nerach

this is from my Pre-Linux days, the PC was "top of the range" and I wanted all the multimedia capability I could get, now days the net provides all the media I need and Linux provides me with all the software I could want, don't miss Windows, in fact I just converted another Windows virus victim to Linux (Ubuntu with version updates turned off), after 4 hours showing him how it works and setting up his online stuff he was amazed, his comment? "I thought Linux was really complicated and you had to type complicated stuff in to do things, and I get a sh*****d of free software, this is as good as Windows....better maybe"

slowly, slowly, the Penguin takes over h34r: soon "all your systems will belong to us ... dump your Windows .... you have no hope...hahahaha!"

 

[JayFoxRox]

hobbyman II: wtf? how is that related to nerachs post?

But what I said was related to mplayer and other options like kaffeine (which I use as it has the best gui for TV imo) already.

 

[droneb]

I started a similar thread to this and the summary for it was:

Bad Idea

WHY?

• USB->video out uses CPU not GPU (which means less power for other tasks= say goodbye to multitasking)
• CPU video is INFERIOR to a GPU which is dedicated (so you will get low fps with low pixels with a USB)
• And even if you said "what the hell, try it" ... DRIVER SUPPORT will not be there so it is impossible w/o a coder
• Plus, everyone would need to buy that device adding more costs

h34r: 'd

1)half truth, it depends if the usb device does the whole conversion so it woyld be the same as opening a net stream (localy XD).
if not, there is only the reconversion done in CPU hammering cycles away.
2)true(except the last part, think USB like a net device doing streaming).
3)thats the objective of the topic.
4)why everyone?, its a usb device!, buy it if you need it period.

 

[hobbyman II]

@JayFoxRox

he said.....

Why using Happauges software, When you can use Mplayer ?

I said......

this is from my Pre-Linux days, the PC was "top of the range" and I wanted all the multimedia capability I could get,

where "this" is the observation about Happauges dedicated software and it's requirements, and since I was a Windows slave I didn't even consider the possibility of other software being able to run the tuner, there's only the official software...right? :rolleyes:

the rest was a ramble where I drifted off topic, I do that a lot, or hadn't you noticed?

did anyone else take Legion onto the Migration fleet with Tali? that was sooo funny :lol:

"What! ? I would never bring active Geth to the fleet"

ROFLMAO

he's beehind yooouu!

LOL

 

[Mofokubik]

I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I don't see how cpu speed is a problem. Tv tuners have been out for a long time, and I remember being able to watch and record tv full FPS on a 500mhz computer. I'm not sure what the differences between tv tuner cards and usb tuners are, so I can't say what would or wouldn't work.

A little while ago I bought an el cheapo tv tuner on the internet for around 25 dollars, fought with it for a week and when I couldn't get the pos working I ended up throwing it away. I'd still like to record video, and if I could do so on the pandora, that would be the bee's knees.

 

[Exophase]

I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I don't see how cpu speed is a problem. Tv tuners have been out for a long time, and I remember being able to watch and record tv full FPS on a 500mhz computer. I'm not sure what the differences between tv tuner cards and usb tuners are, so I can't say what would or wouldn't work.

A little while ago I bought an el cheapo tv tuner on the internet for around 25 dollars, fought with it for a week and when I couldn't get the pos working I ended up throwing it away. I'd still like to record video, and if I could do so on the pandora, that would be the bee's knees.

Those old ones probably had a lot more hardware on them. Remember the big metal boxes? And HD/digital requires more computational decode.

 

[paulguy]

I also agree that in Windows, the software is a major issue. Not sure about hardware since I haven't used capture cards/sticks/dongles/boxes for terribly long.

What would be the difference between one that processed a lot internally and one that let the CPU do a lot? I imagine that either way, you're getting a stream of uncompressed RGB or other colorspace frames or a motion jpeg/mpeg2/mpeg4 stream. Both I could see being pretty hefty to decode. The one requiring a LOT of I/O time and the other requiring more decoding time... but you see both types nowadays, anyway.

The one difference I could see is the really really old ones that used a video overlay, but those are mostly useless (no recording ability).

The situation with capture cards overall seems rather shitty, as it is. In windows you have poor compatibility with devices that are maybe only 2-3 years old and you're often stuck with the provided software which is usually terrible. In linux you have poor compatibility with devices that are newer than 2-3 years, and pretty much anything that's relatively obscure or expensive, but you can generally use something pretty familiar like mplayer or VLC to play from it. I've tried VLC for windows but I'm often left with no sound or no video or no anything, and I guess mplayer for windows doesn't have that ability, last I messed with it.