hello everybody,

i'm planning to buy a Satellite Card, I found 2 brands in Computer Mall

1- PowerColor
2-Vvmer

i just wanted to know which one is better, and why

thanks in advance

Are you planing on a VDR ?
http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr/

I was thinking of building a PVR/VDR. (Tivo like device). I looked at several DVB Cards in the market here in Cairo.

The powercolor* looks like a cheap bastard without hardware MPEG encoder. The other one was the 900LE Pinnacle PCTV sat (also without MPEG encoder). There is an experimental driver for it at http://www.linuxtv.org

The one that is supported very well on linux is the Siemens/Hauppage. It comes in two models one complete with an MPEG enconder and another cheaper without. I am searching for that one like crazy.

I found an ECS motherboard that comes with a AMD Duron 1.2 processor DIMM ram and 2 PCI +Video +Sound +LAN +THizLinux CD for just 550LE !!!

Simply, I am atempting this because Humax made a PVR that might cost 4000LE when hits the market here. And ofcourse without DVD or CD. Mine will support DivX, ogg, Mp3. Plus a LAN connection for burning the recorded material.

BTW, I dont care about non-free channels and that Common Interface stuff. I am for free to air stuff. CI module adds to the price of a DVB card.

* The linux penguin is on the box, but i am not sure if it works.

Note that you can record video without hardware MPEG encoder built in. Although you will not be able to watch what you are recording at the same time.

I dont know about that Vvmer though.

thanks for your detailed reply,

i also searched for the Hauppage card but couldnt find it.

but will the powercolor work fine under windows or i wont be able to watch while recording?

Salamo 3alaikom,

I hope again that those who use unknown abbreviations could write them in brackets. Note that not all users are aware of these things.

Thanks and Salam.

Peachy: Those cheap cards do not contain hardware MPEG encoding and thus they will use all your cpu power to encode the data stream. So the same thing with windows, you will not be able to watch what you are recording. (I am not sure though)

Habdin:

VDR: Video Disk Recorder, a very cool project to make a linux based digital satellite reciever that can record live broadcast and record shows acording to preset timers (that are based on Electronic Program Guide).

Tivo: Lurk on Slashdot

DVB: Digital Video Broadcast, the standard in which Digital Satellite TV and Digital Terrestial TV use.