Tuner/capture Cards for Linux (AMD64)

[ehbowen]

So, about 7 years back I made my first attempt at building a HTPC using a desktop (full-height) case, an ASUS M5A88-M motherboard with AMD processor, a Hauppauge tuner/capture card, and OpenELEC. It was a learning experience; one of the first things I learned was that I needed to check driver availability and compatibility before buying hardware...I never was able to find a Linux driver for the Hauppauge card, and the AMD64 CPU and 8GB RAM was overkill for a HTPC.

Fast forward 7 years. The Hauppauge card is now in a Windows 10 tower, where it is very happy. My current HTPC is a Raspberry Pi running OpenELEC and networked to my home NAS server. The former HTPC is now running Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS, which it does quite well, although it hasn't got a whole lot of hands-on usage lately.

I still would like to be able to use the Linux box as a PVR and capture machine. Does anyone have any personal recommendations for an ATSC tuner and analog capture card under Linux, new or used? Here are the requirements:

• Fit in a single PCIe-x1 or legacy PCI slot (half or full height). Alternatively, I will consider a USB device; I have four open USB 3.0 ports.
• Compatible with Kodi. I use NextPVR on the Windows machine, and ideally I'd like to be able to watch a recorded broadcast on any of my devices running Kodi.
• Preferably dual ATSC tuners.
• Drivers to operate under Ubuntu 16.04 LTS; preferably with current support for future upgrades.

Suggestions are welcomed.

[usually_quiet]

Hauppauge has historically provided pretty good (but not perfect) support for Linux users, although as a Windows user, I can't say I have personally benefited from it.

There is the Hauppauge WinTV-QuadHD with 4 ATSC tuners if you don't really need NTSC tuning or SD analog capture very badly. Linux detais: https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-quadHD_(ATSC_ClearQAM))

The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2255 dual ATSC/NTSC tuner card with SD analog capture is discontinued now. From what I have seen of late, third-party sellers are often asking ridiculously high prices for them, although Hauppage's web store still lists them for sale at $99. Hauppauge support recommends looking at the LinuxTV page for the card: https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-2255 For customization of the Linux driver, Hauppauge support suggests sending an e-mail message to: davidz@hauppauge.com I somehow missed this -- It looks like analog capture won't work when using Linux. Sorry about that

[Edit]The only other current dual ATSC tuner devices with Linux support that I'm aware of are the HDHomerun Connect and the HDHomerun Extend These are networkable devices rather than PCI-e. Linux page: https://www.silicondust.com/support/linux/ These devices work best with a wired network connection. They have no analog capabilities.

I use SiliconDust's HDHomerun Prime CableCARD tuner (another networkable device) for cable TV, which I like very much. My experience with SiliconDust support was great.

The only other non-Hauppauge dual ATSC tuner card I ever saw (I had two) was the Avermedia Duet, and it had no Linux support. The Duet cards I had lasted less than a year.

[Edit 2]I have the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250, the older brother of the HVR-2250. It also lacks support for analog tuning and capture under Linux.

Here is a chart from LinuxTV for Hauppauge products: https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge