Hauppauge Nova-T MythTV Configuration Guide
DVB-S (Freesat)
WinTV Nova-HD-S2 Single Satellite Tuner
This is a DVB-S2 card, but will work with DVB-S. Freesat in the UK, including the HD channels, is currently transmitted in DVB-S. However, the BBC have stated that at some point the HD channels will change to use the DVB-S2 standard. Therefore, this card is a good future-proof option.
The Nova-HD-S2 uses the same firmware as the WinTV-HVR-4000 quad-mode card, so any information on the HVR-4000 is applicable. It apparently works out-of-the-box on 2.6.28 kernels, so as Intrepid uses 2.6.27, you need to compile the latest v4l-dvb driver. You aslo need to download the dvb-fe-cx24116.fw firmware file. This is all straightforward and is explained in detail on the Linux TV WIKI:
Note that the v4l-dvb driver code referenced on the above page is a development version and is subject to change. I had a problen with scanning certain transponders and it turned out to be a broken v4l-dvd driver. I recompiled a newer version and it worked. Worth bearing in mind.
DVB-T (FreeView)
Nova-T 500 Dual Tuner
This dual tuner, low-pofile card works out-of-the box on Intrepid and Jaunty. The firmware is provided by the "restricted drivers" packages. See the MythTV WIKI for instructions on how to configure the remote control:
Nova-T Single Tuner (cx88)
These Conexant-based cards have worked on Ubuntu for years. No special firmware required.
Older Nova-T Single Tuner (tda1004x)
The older Nova-T cards were based on the tda1004x chipset and require some firmware to be loaded. If you get the something like the following in /var/log/messages when scanning for channels, then you're missing some firmware:
Feb 7 18:25:29 ripley kernel: [4294696.111000] DVB: registering frontend 0 (Philips TDA10045H DVB-T)... . Feb 7 18:25:47 ripley kernel: [4294728.644000] tda1004x: waiting for firmware upload (dvb-fe-tda10045.fw)... Feb 7 18:25:47 ripley kernel: [4294728.838000] tda1004x: no firmware upload (timeout or file not found?) Feb 7 18:25:47 ripley kernel: [4294728.838000] tda1004x: firmware upload failed
Getting the Firmware
You no longer need to get the firmware off a Windows box; you can use the get_dvb_firmware script, which is distributed as part of the Linux source code, to fetch it off the internet. Run the script, telling it which firmware to fetch (the clue is in the error message above, in this case tda10045).
get_dvb_firmware tda10045
This downloads a file such as tt_budget_217g.zip, which contains a dvb-fe-tda10045.fw firmware file. Copy it into the firmware directory:
cp dvb-fe-tda10045.fw /lib/firmware
Note that if you're still on on Breezy, the firmware directory is: /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware
Reboot your machine and the card should be recognised:
Feb 7 23:49:13 ripley kernel: [4294723.099000] tda1004x: waiting for firmware upload (dvb-fe-tda10045.fw)... Feb 7 23:49:14 ripley kernel: [4294724.473000] tda1004x: firmware upload complete