How to get HDTV on your Linux PC {Engadget HD}

Dec 27th 2005 5:53PM I can't say it was easy, but I have a HDTV tuner card in a linux 2.6 (gentoo) box, hooked up to an smallish antenna (1 1/2 ft x 4 ft) in my attic. I'm using a 2.8 GHz machine, which is just powerful enough to render a 1920x1088 (1080i) video stream. I use a 42" plasma TV for my monitor.

Capturing a full HD data stream ("ts" format) is about 8 gigabytes for an hour; you definitely want plenty of disk space to make your own HD PVR.

So, after all the work, I definitely think it's worth it to watch "free" HDTV, but then, I enjoy a challenge.