[Gloucs] Cheap Analogue TV USB recommendation?

[Andrew Oakley]

Can anyone recommend a cheap *analogue* TV USB device please?

I have seen several cheap analogue TV USB sticks, but I'm wondering which ones are well supported under Linux? I'm using Ubuntu Long Term Support (8.04 now, will migrate to 10.04 later this year).

I already have a Hauppauge Win-TV Nova-T USB device for DVB-T digital Freeview TV, which works flawlessly and out of the box (zero configuration in Ubuntu 8.04). I have already built a Freeview PVR solution and it works fine (I chose Me-TV, much simpler than Myth-TV but less featured). However I would like an analogue TV card so that I can watch my existing Sky+ satellite system which is relayed throughout the house on UHF PAL, for watching programmes which are not on Freeview (ie. new series of Lost on Sky1).

Hauppauge analogue TV sticks seem rare as hen's teeth and expensive (£50 ish) when I do find them. What about the cheaper brands such as Kworld or Freecom? Is it worth buying an even cheaper generic brand and just hoping for the best, or is that unrealistic?

And yes, I know I could torrent these shows... but what's the point when they're already sitting on my Sky+ box in the lounge?

Andrew Oakley
Head of Software Development
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
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