FreeBSD support for modern TV tuners?

[dieterbsd at engineer.com]

> There's this guy under Linux, don't know about FreeBSD for it:
> http://pchdtv.com/ HD-5500

The cx88 driver supports the HD-5500.  I have the older HD-3000 card
and the cx88 driver is better than the linux driver.
http://corona.homeunix.net/cx88wiki/Overview/SupportedCards
These require a slot per tuner, and PCI slots are going away.

The HDHomerun doesn't need a slot or a device driver.  It provides
better info than most tuners.  However word is that some other
tuners get better reception.  And it doesn't do analog TV or FM.

> Would also like to play with ripping the full bandwidth raw ATSC-TS
> from the air and transcoding that if the MPEG2 wasn't good.

When recording ATSC-TS you can save disk space by filtering out the PIDs
you don't need.  I usually only save 2 PIDs (1 video, 1 audio).  Some 
tuners
can filter PIDs for you, or you can do it after recording.

What do you mean by "if the MPEG2 wasn't good"?  Transcoding to a 
different
lossy format will lose quality.  IIRC there are lossless formats out 
there
but I haven't tried them.