[rescue] DVB vs. DBS?

[Eric Webb]

Friend and I were talking about building PVRs and the feasibility of recording 
digital satellite (as in Dish Network) programs instead of CATV stuff.

I did some googling tonight and I'm wondering if someone can shed some light 
on the differences between DBS and DVB.

I think that DVB is the international agreement/standard towards digital 
television, be it satellite, over-the-air, or cable.  In the US, the 
regulatory body will be the ATSC, and the US standard bears the same name.  
HDTV is one of the formats specced under "DVB".

DBS, on the other hand, is "old-school" digital, as used by, e.g., Dish 
Network.  It is NOT a DVB-formatted broadcast.

Do I have any of this right?

Moving on to PCI cards that would support these standards, if I have the above 
correct, then it would seem that a card that is DVB-capable may not be the 
same as a card that is DBS-capable.

(I'm not even going to begin to discuss whatever encryption or authorization 
schemes are in use, nor the way that schedule/programming information is 
transmitted.  I assume that's all software once you have the hardware going.)


-E.