pcHDTV-3000: HDTV Tuner Card for Linux (and Windows, Sort of)
By Brooks Talley |
November 9th, 2004
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The pcHDTV-3000 (MSRP $189) looks like an excellent choice if you’re looking to build a homebrew PC-based HDTV DVR system — as long as you’re running Linux. Brave windows users might consider it as well, since the card ships with Windows drivers despite being “not supported” on that platform. The card itself is full-featured and includes the source for its Linux drivers, so it should be a viable long-term solution — especially since it ignores the Broadcast Flag.
Because the card (or at least its current drivers) ignores the Broadcast Flag, you’ll be able to use your PC-based DVR the way you’d expect; you’ll be able to record a program on one machine and watch it from another, for instance. And while the card’s pure-software approach to HDTV decoding may mean a higher CPU load than a hardware approach, when combined with the open source drivers it means that this is a truly open platform that will remain flexible and usable for years to come.
The card will only be legal in the US until July 1, 2005, when it becomes illegal to sell equipment that doesn’t honor the Broadcast Flag. So if you’re thinking about going this route, you might want to nab one now before they start going for two or three times the price on eBay.
Via:Slashdot
Filed in: Peripherals