watch cable tv

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anangavajra
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2018 4:26 am

watch cable tv

#1 Post by anangavajra »

I want to watch cable tv on my laptop, both the set-top box and the computer have a hdmi port. But I don't know how to get the programs displaying on my mx linux system sucessfully. Any help will be much appreciated.

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sanlav
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:03 pm

Re: watch cable tv

#2 Post by sanlav »

Probably you make an almost standard error.
99.9% of HDMI ports on PCs are output only.
An " inxi -F " from terminal should help if posted here. If any of the Graphics info match the Audio info such as nVidia/AMD/Intel names in those infos then is an standard HDMI Output.
I have an Intel/nVidia video combo coupled with an webcam with microphone so my inxi -F is useless to you and require some system tweaking.

Edit : Not yet possible the use 2 HDMI Outputs to get an Input to your PC.

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fehlix
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Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:09 pm

Re: watch cable tv

#3 Post by fehlix »

anangavajra wrote:I want to watch cable tv on my laptop
You would need to pass the DVB-C TV-signal from your set-top-box into your laptop by using an DVB-C USB-adapter.
To watch TV on your laptop you can use VLC, which is capable of playing DVB-TV. Alternatively you can install SMPlayer (based on mediaplayer) or even use the KDE-app Caffeine - to mention only a few. For VLC and SMPlayer alike apps you'll need to prepare the proper channels.conf in advance so you can select the channels provided by your DVB-C set-top-box. Caffeine has integrated channel-scanner to find the correct TV-channels available.
Hope this helps! Good luck! :happy:
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anangavajra
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Re: watch cable tv

#4 Post by anangavajra »

sanlav wrote: If any of the Graphics info match the Audio info such as nVidia/AMD/Intel names in those infos then is an standard HDMI Output.
The outputs are:

Graphics: Card-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics driver: i915
v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 400 (Braswell) v: 4.5 Mesa 13.0.6
Audio: Card-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series High Definition Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-1-amd64

so I think you are right, I cannot watch tv through hdmi directly.

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anangavajra
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Re: watch cable tv

#5 Post by anangavajra »

fehlix wrote:You would need to pass the DVB-C TV-signal from your set-top-box into your laptop by using an DVB-C USB-adapter.
I don't have a DVB-C USB-adapter yet so I will buy one first then try the apps you mentioned (vlc is my favorite). Would there be any subsequent questions I will post here for help again.


Thanks both of you very much.

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sanlav
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Re: watch cable tv

#6 Post by sanlav »

Edit 2: I have an Intel/nVidia video combo coupled with an webcam with microphone + an really old tv-tuner based on bt878 so my inxi -F is useless to you and require some system tweaking.

I don't really get it what kind of "adapter" will reverse the signals.,.

My simple solution would be an search for " T2 + C USB tuner " if in Europe or the american equivalent. I found a couple of tuners in aprox. 40-50 Euro range and the setup would be :

set-top box -->> USB tv-tuner -->> USB plug on machine + kernel module (if needed... generally does) + software ( tvtime, vlc, etc)

That way you will have an HDMI input translated via USB to your machine. Still require some money...

clicktician
Posts: 136
Joined: Sat May 02, 2015 4:35 pm

Re: watch cable tv

#7 Post by clicktician »

If you're in the US, you may wish to check with your cable company before you invest in a tuner.

In 2012, the FCC allowed cable companies to go all encrypted digital, even on basic and local stations. Many did just that. I have Charter (Spectrum) and there are no clear QAM channels offered. You must have a set top box to watch anything, and the picture must come from the analog (RCA) or digital (HDMI) output of the box not the antenna lead, which made the tuners in digital-ready TVs obsolete. I could no longer use my Hauppauge tuner and caffeine.

There are excellent HDMI => USB digitizers. I have Avermedia, but they are windows/mac products and I have never gotten them to work with Linux.

I don't know your situation and needs, but I am a subscriber of AT&T DirecTV Now which is an internet TV service. I am also a beta tester for the next version (no release date yet) which has a splendid cloud-based DVR and program guide. I use it exclusively on my MX 17.1 notebook. It requires Google Chrome and Windows/Mac and will refuse to run on anything else, but it works flawlessly on MX after I changed my User Agent to present my machine as Win 10.

There are several others such as Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, Hulu, and fuboTV, tho I do not know if you can get them to work with Linux browsers.
Son, someday all this will belong to your ex wife.

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