[tlug] LinVDR hardware in Japan

[Marcus Metzler <mocm@example.com>]

Patrick Niessen writes:
 > Hi guys,
 > 
 > I am interested in video and linux.  There are now numerous Linux projects 
 > relating to this, amongst others LinVDR (http://linvdr.org).  Most of them 
 > seem to be developed in Europe and require a DVB card to capture digital MPEG 
 > Video streams from satellite.
 > 
 > These cards are also available in the US with NTSC format (so they should be 
 > ok for Japan too).  But my question is, will they work with the Japanese 
 > Satelite systems like PerfecTV ?
 > 
 > I am normally all for trying out things, but as these card can be expensive I 
 > would rather not be a pioneer on this one.
 > 
 > Has anyone tried the new HD / DVD  VCRs out yet?  I would like to make them 
 > region free, but perhaps they are too new for hacks being available yet ...
 > 

The Japanese digital TV standard is very different from the European
DVB and the American ATSC. Although the all use MPEG2 transport streams to
convey the audio and video streams, the encapsulation of service
information differs. In addition they all use different modulation
methods to transmit the signal. This requires different frontends
(i.e. tuner and modulator) for each system, which means new
drivers. Furthermore, in the US and Japan you have HDTV content in
digital television, which requires an MPEG decoder that can handle
these resolutions or, if decoded in software, a fast CPU. 
Apart from the DVB drivers for the European/Australien cards
(www.linuxtv.org or www.metzlerbros.de) there is the Gnu Radio
Project, which managed to tune, demodulate and decode an ATSC signal
with  the help of a (very expensiv) AD-Converter
(http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuradio/gnuradio.html). 
I haven't seen anything for the Japanese standard ( I think it is
called ISDB) yet.

Marcus

-- 
/--------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Dr. Marcus O.C. Metzler        |                                   |
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| mocm@example.com            | http://www.metzlerbros.de/        |
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