OT: Digital TV decoder USB sticks

[Boaz Rymland]

trying to answer your mail below i noticed that indeed my reply has 
little relevance to linux-il so i'll add my words below...


geoffrey mendelson wrote:

>
> On Sep 27, 2009, at 12:17 AM, Boaz Rymland wrote:
>>
>> Just wanted to update that although the dongle supposed to be 
>> working, it fails to find any channels:
>> - drivers are loaded when its pushed into the USB socket. devices are 
>> appearing under /dev/dvb (IIRC) (tried also chmoding them to 777).
>> - kaffeine appears to communicate with the dongle ok and when combing 
>> the frequency scale I do see some high signals along the scan (tried 
>> to use "auto" area mode, NZ, and several IL suggested configurations 
>> as well).
>> - vlc method described in this thread is not showing any video as well.
>> - Under Windows, the dongle works ok - finds the Israeli channels 
>> with no hassle (well, after buying the connecting an amplified 
>> antenna. Kudos to the experts in our ministry of communications for 
>> the lame launch of DTT broadcasts [or in other words - what is a 
>> trial/testing period for?])).
>>
>> So, while I remain optimistic about the prospect interoperability of 
>> the Apex 328 dongle with Linux (Ubuntu 9.04), I wasn't successful in 
>> making them sing together.
>
>
> What program works under windows? I have not been able to get mine to 
> work with the software on the CD, I never get any audio. It does work 
> with VLC and DVBviewer which costs as much as the dongle cost me.

I use the plain stock Windows CD, on my Vista. It just works, and works 
ok - with sounds, as I'd expect from a Windows application. If you have 
dual head setup try moving to a single head and test it again. Can't say 
much other than that.

>
> I have not been able to try it on Linux because I found that the 
> UBUNTU netbook package does not have VLC on it, and I have to re 
> download it, convert it to an ISO and then burn a DVD to install it on 
> a memory stick. This is because my ubuntu computers are too slow to 
> decode the signal, and I can't afford to mess with repartitoning my 
> netbook.
what would putting it on a usb stick help ? does this stick have some 
processor with it? (don't you refer to a simple diskonkey?).
>
> I tried it with some other freeware windows programs and it also could 
> not find any channels. The same with two different MacOS programs.
i can imagine the frustration. and the hours those trials take... .
>
> In windows I found that if I save the chanels.conf file I gave you and 
> point vlc to it as in "vlc channels.conf" It figures out what to do.
>
> Geoff.
>
>