[kurai]

I haven't played with the PVR-testing branch builds for a long time, so I don't really know how far they've progressed with integrating the EPG & recording functions - sorry.

I got an Avermedia A850 DVB-T usb tuner. Easy to set up. You just stick a device chipset specific linux-compatible firmware file in a directory in your Linux setup, and it gets sent to the tuner hardware as the kernel detects it during startup.
Info is pretty thin on the ground for supported DVB-S/2 devices though, as you've discovered, so it's going to be lots of Google-Fu I suspect

In XBMCFreak's Dharma build TVHeadend source protocol is already integrated, so you just select "HTS TV Headend client" from the "Add network location" browse menu, and fill in the IP/host. You then get "htsp://127.0.0.1:9982", for example, added to your list of sources.
That gets treated as a virtual directory, and your detected channels are listed within as individual entries. No need to configure a separate URL for each.

[danz0l]

thanks mate, very helpful. Can you set up a record from xbmc dharma then or do you have to go onto the tvheadend website server page ? I'm assuming this way you do'nt get an EPG ?

I notice that the Avermedia A850 DVB-T is just for TV Ariel and not satellite right ?

[ant_thomas]

I notice that the Avermedia A850 DVB-T is just for TV Ariel and not satellite right ?

The clue is in the name... DVB-T

DVB-T - Digital Terrestrial (Aerial)
DVB-S/S2 - Digital Satellite (S2 gives HD channel support)
DVB-C - Digital Cable

[kurai]

XBMC Dharma ... or do you have to go onto the tvheadend website server page ? I'm assuming this way you do'nt get an EPG ?

Exactly.

The full EPG and recording integration options are only in the PVR-testing XBMC branch as yet, slated to be rolled into the next XBMC release, Eden (11.0).

From a cursory glance the current state of the PVR-testng branch seems to be perfectly usable - most of the current code from the Dharma beta branch looks to have been merged across to it - just be prepared for some potential breakage of PVR features in intermediate SVN builds as the devs tidy it up and complete features in preparation for merging it back into the main release trunk.

[danz0l]

The clue is in the name... DVB-T

DVB-T - Digital Terrestrial (Aerial)
DVB-S/S2 - Digital Satellite (S2 gives HD channel support)
DVB-C - Digital Cable

AHA that clears things up a great deal thanks

[danz0l]

Exactly.

The full EPG and recording integration options are only in the PVR-testing XBMC branch as yet, slated to be rolled into the next XBMC release, Eden (11.0).

From a cursory glance the current state of the PVR-testng branch seems to be perfectly usable - most of the current code from the Dharma beta branch looks to have been merged across to it - just be prepared for some potential breakage of PVR features in intermediate SVN builds as the devs tidy it up and complete features in preparation for merging it back into the main release trunk.

I'd love to give this a shot but as yet haven't found any solid ideas on which DVB-S/S2 to buy. Its not altogether obvious which one would give the most compatibility in linux.

[hepi]

What does your dish setup look like? LNB type? Disecq? Multiswitch? CAM? You won't find extensive information about DVB hardware in this forum (yet). Have a look at the linuxTV.org wiki, especially at www.vdr-portal.de (via Google translate) and the mythtv forums.

If you want to test things you just have to invest 50-90 € for a new DVB-Box and you have to jump into cold water and buy one that is known to have driver support on Linux (most likely via s2-liplianin). Sell it if it doesn't work good enough. You are too cautious. I have boxes that do not work absolutely perfectly but I'm still satisfied and I have doubts that the boxes would work much better on Windows. So if you can get a TechnoTrend S2-3600 DVB-S2 USB Box for around 50 € (Amazon.de) you are ok as long as you don't need Disecq.

Am I repeating myself? Yes, but this discussion is beginning to go in circles... ;-)

[danz0l]

LOL thanks hepi yes i understand that the ownership on buying hardware is solely on me but what i was hoping is advice from others who have already gone down this path with something like

Hi, i bought such and such, it works pretty well in linux, works perfectly in xbmc and wasn't that hard to set up.

Being new to all this, jumping in feet first when your spending £60+ a time on hardware that maybe isn't supported via xbmc / linux is foolish without at least some rudimentary advice from those more in the know and already using systems that do what you are trying to achieve.

To be honest it was only doing a ps x in linux that i realised that tvheadend was running as default on xbmclive dharma and this led me to thinking maybe linking my satellite to my media centre made a heap of sense. Still in the learning stages though

I'm sorry if you feel we are going around in circles

[hepi]

Actually, in your case a cheap DVB-T stick (under 30 GBP) might be the right choice to collect experiences (for example AVerMedia AVerTV Volar Black HD/-A850) with pvr-testing2 and VDR. There is no easier way to do this then using yaVDR ATM.

If this is all too much hassle for you, you need to wait another year and then XBMC will most likely have the features you want.

Cheers,
hepi

[danz0l]

Thanks Hepi. More interested in freesat than ariel freeview, but i understand what your trying to say.

I appreciate your help.