Digital TV and Linux

megamaced

megamaced

Geek Geek Geek!
I decided to install SuSE on my main computer last night. I was curious to find out whether my Hauppauge TV card would work OK.

I choose ALL of the TV programs (and related plugins) when I installed SuSE, then I configured the card in the hardware detection process of the SuSE installation. My hauppauge card was auto-detected, so there wasn't much configuration to be done.

Once SuSE had installed, and everything configured, I decided to try out some of the TV programs I had installed. Unfortunately none of them worked! I think they only work with analog TV cards, as opposed to my DVB-T (digital terristrial) card. Those applications were Zapping TV, MoTV, and a few others.
After seemingly getting nowhere, I remembered that the Kaffiene media player had some TV capability, so I decided to give it a spin. To my relief it actually worked! I was able to scan for channels, and watch them in glorious full screen. Even the Hauppauge remote control worked to a certain extent. I was very impressed, and that night vowed never to use Microsoft Windows again! :)

The next morning however, things did not go to plan. I booted up SuSE with the intention of watching BBC News 24 with my morning cereal ;) , but somethings gone wrong! Kaffiene no longer shows any DVB-T options. It's as if I've taken out my Hauppauge card altogether. Now I can't get any TV in Kaffiene at all :(
I can't understand why it would work one day, and then not the next?

Does anyone have an explaination?

My system overview is:

Hauppauge Nova-T PCI Card (The new chipset)
SuSE Linux 10.0
Kaffiene 0.7.1

Please help - this is the final obstacle I must get through before I can ditch Windows for good! :jump2:
 
Hehe.... and I though I was going mad....

From an ignorant POV - Linux is very funny like this.
I lost count of how many times things worked 100% untill the next boot...

With the risk of having my ear bashed by... we know who.... this is one area I found the three distros I have tried so far to be an absolute nightmare.

Now, after weeks of working with Linux, I still cannot watch DVD on my PC under Linux. I have tried to install and use MPlayer, Xine, Kaffeine and Totem, following various installation instructions. I can just about watch AVI files without a hitch.
Just for comaprison, under Windows, all you need to do is a two action plan - download K-Lite mega coedc pack (absolutely free) and install.
And it plays everything under the sun with no pre or post install configuration or anything....

There's my rant done. As for your problem.... I am glad it is you and not me.... :(
 
sabashuali said:
I lost count of how many times things worked 100% untill the next boot...
Click to expand...

Why oh why? :x: I swear I never touched a thing! Honest!

sabashuali said:
With the risk of having my ear bashed by... we know who.... this is one area I found the three distros I have tried so far to be an absolute nightmare.
Click to expand...

Hehe :D Unfortunately 'you know who' hasn't been online for a while to help me with my Linux problems. He's probably in bed as I type this - taking into account the time differences!

sabashuali said:
Now, after weeks of working with Linux, I still cannot watch DVD on my PC under Linux. I have tried to install and use MPlayer, Xine, Kaffeine and Totem, following various installation instructions. I can just about watch AVI files without a hitch. Just for comaprison, under Windows, all you need to do is a two action plan - download K-Lite mega coedc pack (absolutely free) and install.
And it plays everything under the sun with no pre or post install configuration or anything....
There's my rant done. As for your problem.... I am glad it is you and not me.... :(
Click to expand...

You're right to have a rant! Multimedia is a problem in Linux, and installing applications (any god damn application) can be a pain in the arse! By comparison, Windows is a breeze to set up.

Luckily for me, I have managed to get Kaffeine to play DVDs, Quicktime, AVI etc. Kaffeine was already pre-installed with SuSE, so all I had to do was download and install the RPM files for win32codec-all, libdvdcss and libxine1
 
[ot]I should have put everything in *ot* as this is not really the place.

megamaced said:
Luckily for me, I have managed to get Kaffeine to play DVDs, Quicktime, AVI etc. Kaffeine was already pre-installed with SuSE, so all I had to do was download and install the RPM files for win32codec-all, libdvdcss and libxine1
Click to expand...

Very lucky..... Kaffeine comes built into Kubuntu and Mandriva. Tough :swear: !!! even after installing the codecs in the right place and making sure the DVD drive is detected and set to the right DMA etc, etc, etc... the :swear: still will not open DVD's.... go figure...

As it happens it is really no biggy for me. Untill I find a good reliable A/V set-up in Linux, I leave all Video matters for Windows. I have to say that apart from Video stuff, I find Linux a breeze..... then again I have no fancy hardware like yours.... [/ot]
 
sabashuali said:
No, maybe i should not take OS's for granted... :confused:
and do a bit more learning... :confused:
Click to expand...

Yes you're right, you should stick with one distribution and learn it, rather then chopping and changing because something doesn't work.

However, different distributions work better in different situations. SuSE works great on my Celeron 2.8GHz, but I'd never use it on that old Compaq 233MMX 48MB RAM I found in the skip. For a computer like that, I need to download and install a new distribution.

[ot]I made a point a few weeks back in another post that a computer which is as old as the Compaq, is not capable of running Linux..... I take it back :) I had tried VectorLinux 5.1 on it before, and it was too slow. However, now I have installed VectorLinux 3.2 on it, and it runs brilliantly. I boots faster then Windows 98, and is more stable and pleasing on the eyes![/ot]
 
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