Thursday, March 17 2005 @ 09:06 PM EST Contributed by: glosser
The Linux Journal provides this tutorial on getting a TV Tuner card up and running in Linux.
Watching my beloved Orioles play is one of my favorite summertime activities. Unfortunately for me, my family doesn't share my passion for the Birds. After having to choose one too many times between heading upstairs to watch TV or remaining downstairs to use the computer, I had an idea. I decided to get one of those nifty TV tuner cards. A quick virtual trip to newegg.com confirmed that I could choose among several in my price range. At the time, though, it was the end of baseball season, so I shelved my plans for a while.
A couple of months passed and Christmas was right around the corner, so I revived my TV tuner card plans. In preparation, I did a bunch of Googling and reading, and I subscribed to the Video4Linux mailing list (see Resources). This research was vital to the success of the overall project. I strongly recommend that anyone interested in using a TV tuner card in his or her Linux system spend some time researching before purchasing, as proper research can make all the difference. After checking prices and researching various tuner cards, I finally settled on the Hauppauge WinTV Radio card. This specific model number is referred to as either the WinTV-dbx or the model 401. I chose this card for its price, stereo sound and the FM radio tuner. Additionally, many people who posted on the Video4Linux list reported their success with the card. Having made my decision, I placed my order and commenced waiting for it to arrive.
When the card arrived, I opened the package and found a pretty blue box containing almost everything needed for installation. Inside the box was the card itself, an audio cable for connecting to the soundcard, an FM antenna, a remote control and the software needed to install the card in Windows. Coaxial cables used to provide input to the tuner, however, conspicuously were absent. After some grumbling and a trip to Radio Shack, I was ready to install the card.
Installing the card into a vacant PCI slot was easy enough. Connecting the coaxial cable and the antenna was a little difficult, because I have big hands and there wasn't much room between the two connectors. The audio cable connected easily to the line-in of my sound card, and the remote control's infrared receiver similarly was effortless to plug in. It was time to boot the computer.
