I couldn’t find a r/linuxhardware alternative community, so I decided to ask here.
I have a TBS5530 DVB-S/T/C USB device and I am not happy with it due to https://github.com/tbsdtv/linux_media/issues/193
I don’t want to recompile kernel or use out-of-tree media_builds everytime I upgrade my kernel (ubuntu22.04).
Therefore I am looking for a device that has built-in kernel driver or simply loadable one with apt install linux-modules-XXX .
I prefer USB devices since I use it with both my desktop & laptop.
Does anyone know such hardware available to buy ?
Note to myself: seems I am 175th subscriber and this is my 1st post. yay !
I got myself a Hauppage PCIe digital tuner and installed it in one of my servers that’s on all the time. Using TVHeadend, you can easily stream it to any device on your network, or use something like Wireguard or Tailscale if you want to use it outside your network.
It doesn’t require a custom kernel, but Hauppage recommends using theirs for quicker updates.
Yeah, I haven’t had a need of one in awhile, but Hauppauge used to be the best devices for use with Linux.
If in doubt, grab a USB device that’s listed as having a compatible driver on the TVDB
I’m not sure exactly what you’re hooking it up to, but I had good success with this Hauppauge USB tuner hooked up to one of those flat antennas. I used it on Ubuntu Server 20.04 if I recall correctly, and they have a PPA as well as fairly helpful Linux instructions. Some of their other products might do the satellite and cable channels as well as over the air, but I have no experience with it, so your mileage may vary.
I used DVB-S/S2 cards and DVB-T sticks for many years with VDR, but a few years ago I gave up and got a separate tuner box (Octagon SF8008). I was fed up with the kernel module compilation, and the DVB cards or USB boxes only lasted a few years until they died. Every time I wanted to record something, the desktop PC had to run. All the time I used the PC the cards were powered and that probably didn’t help with their longevity.
I’m using cards from https://www.digital-devices.eu/; a Cine S2 v6.5 from 2015 and a DuoFlex S2 v4 from 2017 for 4 DVB-S2 tuners total. I’ve found them to be of high quality and the upstream kernel supports them.
Unfortunately, it seems the modular hardware I’m using is no longer sold. The cheapest currently available product is an expensive 8 tuner card.
Sounds familiar.
I’m using TBS octa DVB-T(2)/DVB-C tuner card, which is streaming the channels to my LAN (by using Tvheadend, Mumudvb, or Astra), but I was also frustrated about compiling the driver for it whenever there was a kernel update (https://github.com/tbsdtv/linux_media). Eventually I created a Debian virtual machine and configured the tuner device available for it by using AMD IOMMU and Qemu/KVM PCI pass through. It has worked very well, and there’s no need to update the kernel if you don’t care about the security and vulnerabilities ;D
The card I’m using: Multimedia controller [0480]: TBS Technologies DVB-S2 4 Tuner PCIe Card [544d:6178]