Analog TV, DVB, FM Radio, and SDR Tuner ICs
A collection of radio-frequency tuner chips used on TV cards, USB DVB sticks, FM radios, and software-defined radio dongles from the mid-2000s onward. The chips convert over-the-air analog TV, digital TV (DVB-T/T2/C/S), and FM broadcasts down to a baseband signal that a separate demodulator or SDR frontend can sample.
recommendation
Worth keeping but documenting as legacy-heavy because this directory bundles dozens of tuner chips spanning roughly two decades, most of them long out of production, alongside a small number of parts (notably Silicon Labs Si2157/Si2177 and Rafael Micro R820T2) that still see active patch traffic on the linux-media list as recently as 2026 and remain in current retail SDR dongles. A blanket deprecation would break niche but real users; per-driver pruning would be the better path.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
linux-media saw a 2026 patch adding Si2177 support in si2157.c, showing ongoing functional development rather than abandonment.
- lore.kernel.org
linux-media carried a 2026 si2157 analog-format fix series, indicating current bug-fix traffic in this directory.
- nooelec.com
R820T2-based SDR hardware was still being sold new on a current retail product page, evidencing ongoing niche deployments.
- rtl-sdr.com
R820T/R820T2 are legacy chips with discontinuation pressure, but the article documents continuing downstream product availability and demand.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not a removal candidate: local Kconfig/sources show a live driver directory with many tuner IC drivers spanning analog TV, digital TV, radio, and SDR. lore_file_timeline on si2157.c (MCP lore-http) showed activity through 2026-03-24, and the cited lore URLs came from that MCP result; an attempted lore_regex removal scan found no hits for drivers/media/tuners and the subject scan timed out, so there is no positive evidence of active deprecation/removal discussion. Web search produced the Nooelec retail URL and the rtl-sdr.com article: together they show at least some supported tuner families are still sold new, but mostly in niche SDR/TV-receiver markets. Because the directory mixes actively maintained niche parts with many clearly old tuner ICs, the right posture is keep but annotate as legacy-heavy rather than deprecate or remove.